5.0 out of 5 based on 1 reviews. – Customer review on 26/01/2009

OK, it has been many a year since I fit into this reading age bracket, but sometimes it's nice to sit down for some light reading... something you know you can blitz through in a couple of days without having to devote more than a passing thought to. Having a son who is now into homeschooling and is quite a bright spark (if I do say so myself) when he gives himself a chance, it was interesting to see how well he took to this book.

With puzzles in the book itself, and additional puzzles, tasks, codes to break and logic-locks to decode on the bonus cards that are available*, as well as missions, quests and games to beat on the website, he was very rapidly finding he had a few more rev's in his mental engine than he thought. It was great to see how he latched on to the challenge of not only reading through the book, but also decoding the hidden extras. They gave him a reason to research, and expanded his maths, history, co-ordination and cognition skills in a really fun way that he could enjoy without feeling like he was actually 'working'.

The story flows well, the characters are easy to connect with, and the tasks they undertake are far from unbelieveable, which gives it a really '...but what if...' feel that helps to capture the attention of even the yongest, fussiest reader.

On a more personal note, though I found the website a bit OTT in places, it was a lot of fun to wander through with my son, and the cards had me as enthralled as he was. In order to 'test' them, I went through and completed the clues, tasks and puzzles first, and then let him dive in to tackle them himself. That way, if he got stuck, I knew roughly where he needed to go and could give him a nudge in the right direction. Little did I realise that the crafty little sprog would find solutions I hadn't spotted to some of the puzzles! It's amazing to see how well kids can find ways to solve a problem we adults would never have considered.

Overall, I can't wait to see what book 2 holds... roll on December 2nd 2008! Oh yeah, and there are prizes to win too... but personally, I don't see that as a big factor. If the first book is anything to go by, this is shaping upi to be something quite spectacular in it's own right. Extending a story across multiple media is nothing new... the Wachowski brothers did it with the "Matrix" storyline, spreading it across movies, games, comics and online offerings... but this is aimed at kids and has a far more accessible, interactive structure that really seems to appeal. It's like taking "Indiana Jones" and "National Treasure", blending them together and slapping the kids right into the key role... simply brilliant!