Life''s going to be easy...said no one ever.

Especially for a PlayStation-loving twelve-year-old in a futuristic city.

Being twelve matters. Because that''s when I am packed off by the Council on a hardcore, muscle-numbing strugglethon across the five Thinais - the treacherous hills, fatiguing fields, muddy mangroves, dry desert lands and dense forests - to come out shining...or whining. The latter is more my style.

It''s me against Nature. Me versus wild animals. Me against who-knows-what-lurks. Me versus Me. Get the picture?

How this will help me grow up and glow up all in one go, I don''t know. But I''m about to find out.

So are you!