Story Line: 3
Puzzles: 2
Pictures: 5
Endings: 3
Writing Style: 4
Story Line:This book is slightly weak but still a lot of fun. The Klagon Hand you wear can do some neat stuff. However, the plot is one of the less remarkable for the series.
Puzzles:Probably the worst of the lot. Most are shockingly easy, although the introduction of illusions is very positive.
There's one blunder where a wrong choice lets you skip a puzzle. The idea of a time-warp forwards for another chance is nice, but they slipped up. You can go backwards and forwards.
The "no-hope" puzzle near the beginning is nice; a wrong choice leads to an impossible puzzle.
Pictures:There are some pretty freaky pictures of animals before and after Marko Khen mutated them. The de-mutation at the end is also nice.
Nelia Lorkan and the Biodroid have that futuristic feel(the mystery of the biodroid's ear is neat), and Marko's henchman Larat Roz looks plenty evil and crusty. Marko Khen is a little schmaltzy, but that changes near the end.
Endings:Some of the endings from more than one puzzle are over-generalized and still don't flow with the story.
For instance, page 6 is a neat ending, but it's illogical.
See puzzles for the continuity blunder and the no-hope puzzle.
You get attacked by some weird looking monsters, which is a blast, and it's funny when you and the Biodroid are stuck cleaning the decks of a pirate ship.
The big problem I have is that in two endings you are called back to spy center. On one, Dr. Nelia Lorkan is with you and on the other the biodroid is. What happens to them?
Writing Style:A ghastly blunder occurs on page 29: "None of the animals should be endangered because they are extremely rare." Err, he means the *individual* animals. Although this is not typical, the writing is often a bit loose.
Links to other books: Prince Quizon appears briefly at the beginning. One ending also leads you to a black hole outside Doorna, the planet in the fifth book of the series.
In a slight inconsistency, the non-death ending says your next mission is in sector 82, but Robot World is in sector 33.
But numbers are no fun to quibble over.
| Pages | Side choices | Puzzle | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2-3-29-8 | 13:37/26 | Find unique picture | 1 |
| 26-33-20-5 | 12-27-6 | Left or right hand? | 2 |
| 15 | 9:28/32 | Match shades of grey | 1 |
| 59-18-19-24 | 75 | ??-which ship fits in dock | 2 |
| 10 | 6 | Find the herbivore! | 2 |
| 91-82 | 11 | Missing shape in illusion | 2 |
| 35 | 38 | Fold over and compare mazes | 1 |
| 87 | 74 | Remember your code name. | 1 |
| 60-31 | 58 | Rotate 3-d shapes. | 2 |
| 77-16 | 23 | Lion or cobra? Fill in single triangles. | 3 |
| 30-25 | 28 | Where does line wind up? | 2 |
| 116-17 | 22 | Maze | 1 |
| 61-84 | 22 | Look for two-pronged string | 1 |
| 85 | 21 | Counting | 2 |
| 78 | 92 | Which small picture is part of the big picture? | 2 |
| 117-86-83 | 11 | Maze | 2 |
| 57-110-71 | 40 | Illusion | 2 |
| 79-56-111 | 37 | Map reading | 1 |
| 70-88-55 | 34 | Shape recognition over illusions | 1 |
| 93 | 80 | Angle reflection | 2 |
| 51 | 41 | Find exact same shape | 1 |
| 112-68-69 | 37 | Decoding | 2 |
| 72-73-114 | 41, 67 | Same shape | 1 |
| 4-81 | 94 | Maze of broken circles | 2 |
| 90-99-120-42 | 92 | # of lines | 1 |
| 89-118 | 49-63 | Scaling | 1 |
| 103-106 | 39 | Decoding | 2 |
| 62-63-76 | 49-63 | Bird's wing position | 3 |
| 102-43 | 100 | Maze of chutes | 1 |
| 113-38-109 | 96 | Continue a line through an illusion. | 2 |
| 45-46-47-48 | 107 | Find the herbivore 2 | 2 |
| 50 | 98 | Match pictures | 1 |
| 115-52-53-54-97 | 44 | Close doorsto fire | 3 |
| 95 | 98 | Count only one type of voltage bolts | 2 |
| 105-64-65-108 | 44, 98 | Decode | 1 |
| 7-14-101 | 92 | Count circles that overlap | 2 |
| 104-119-121 | The End |