Story Line: 7
Puzzles: 5
Pictures: 8
Endings: 5
Writing Style: 7
Story Line:This is a very nice one. You are sent off to distant Doorna to discover how and why monsters have taken over the planet. Although there is less high-tech contact(at least at first) this allows you to see a lot of different animals--friendly and unfriendly. There's a time limit(you can only breathe Doorna's air for 1 day before dying) that adds to the excitement. It's neat to see the glyphs in the caves, too, and there's even a mystery.
Puzzles:Some are shockingly easy, but there are a few good ones, like deciding which way to go from the path shadows trace. The maze of right angles is pretty neat, and the codes figure in some puzzles. There is a decent variety of puzzles as well. However there's one puzzle that doesn't make sense(fixing the setali's wing) and others that seem a bit manufactured.
Pictures:There's such a huge variety here. All sorts of monsters are on display, and even the control tower is pretty cool. You don't look quite so cool, though, and you never really get to use the camoflague feature(too bad!) and the picture of the "tall tower" that takes up four pages is interesting, but it's overdoing things, so I can't give this a perfect score.
Endings:Some of the endings from multiple pages don't make total logical sense. Although there are plenty of monsters out to get you and it's pretty cool where you get "stuck" in one ending, the endings are overall nothing special.
Writing Style:This book is quite well done. It has a mystery throughout the story line that is slowly revealed. It provides many hints as well, and it always tells you where to look back. The mystery isn't the most effective one in the series, but it will keep your interest.
| Pages | Side choices | Puzzle | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3-4-5-6 | 13 | How many lines connect 2 gridpoints w/o passing through another? | 2 |
| 11-8 | 13 | How many edges in a figure? (flat pyramid) | 1 |
| 14-7 | 10 | Light-ray spectrum. Which changes more? | 1 |
| 12-9-23-15-16-25 | 22 | # of diagonals of a hexagon. | 1 |
| 17-18-19-20-21-24-33-26 | 35-32-37, 47-40-37, 51-44:42/22/37 | 3 tunnels. One has a maze. | 2 |
| 37 | 42, 26 | Decipher the codes. | 2 |
| 49-64-53 | 46 | Triangles outline shape of door, snake. | 2 |
| 27-28-29-30-31-34 | 46 | Mirror image of window you fell out of. | 1 |
| 36-45 | 48 | Tell direction to walk from twin suns' shadows. | 3 |
| 52-43 | 41, 48 | Read a thermometer. | 1 |
| 59-60 | 39 | A maze. Where to start? | 1 |
| 78-65 | 79 | Molecule is missing a piece. Which is it? | 2 |
| 88 | 67 | Which tree fits book's description? | 1 |
| 50 | 63 | The kayjay's lost--find him through the camoflague. | 2 |
| 75 | 48 | Which way to bend the tree? | 1 |
| 54-39-66 | 61 | Which stun threads tie tree, stop monster? | 1 |
| 56-57-58 | 79 | Which plants fit book's description? | 1 |
| 90 | 93 | Count circles and triangles--12 of which? | 1 |
| 62-101-80 | 91 | Which direction have stars shifted? | 1 |
| 76-77 | 55 | 2 superimposed patterns. What do they look like? | 1 |
| 68-69-70-71-72-73-74 | 103 | Maze where you must hit 3 of one square, none of the other before exiting. | 2 |
| 82-83-84-85-86-87 | 102 | Stars have rotated--clockwise or counter? | 2 |
| 107-112 | 81 | How many holes to thread(bad puzzle?) | 1 |
| 94-95-96-97-98-99-100 | 113 | Which finger has most bones? | 1 |
| 104 | 115 | Maze of bouncing off right angles | 2 |
| 108-117-114 | 55 | Which spot to press on cocoon? | 2 |
| 109-110 | 38 | What is the glyph for the signal? | 1 |
| 105-116-106 | 115 | Maze. | 1 |
| 111-118-119-120-121 | The end! |