When The Crazy Horse Electric Game was published, Chris Crutcher had already established a solid reputation for himself as a refreshing new voice of young-adult fiction that appealed to both critics and audiences. Most reviewers had praised him for addressing popular themes with adolescents, such as divorce, drugs, mental and physical handicaps, and gang violence in a manner that managed to be both humorous and unsentimental. However, critics' opinions were mixed about the effectiveness of The Crazy Horse Electric Game. Todd Morning, in his review in The School Library Journal, states:

Willie's present-tense narration is annoying, and does not work well for this story that covers several years. The author is best in the effective description of Willie's effort to recover from his injury. But this is the best that can be said for a novel that often seems contrived.

Roger Sutton of the Bulletin of...