1. Find the Kirillian!
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley (original artwork), Steve Fastner (reissue cover)
First Published: June, 1983
ISBN: 0-553-23506-0 (original), 0-553-25863-X (reissue)
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 16
Plot Summary: You must rescue a young prince and retrieve valuable
jewels from an evil interplanetary criminal named Phatax.
Translations: Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: This isn't a bad start to the series... Some of the
puzzles are fairly interesting, though the vast majority are exceedingly
simple, pointless, or entirely based on random luck. This book was later
released with a different cover, probably because Space Invaders look of the
first cover illustration was a bit dated by the mid 80s.
2. The Galactic Pirate
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Marc Hempel (original artwork and reissue cover) and Mark Wheatley (original artwork only)
First Published: June, 1983
ISBN: 0-553-23507-9 (original), 0-553-25862-1 (reissue)
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 25
Plot Summary: Marko Khen, an evil space pirate, has been mutating
harmless animals into huge monsters and using them to terrorize innocent
planets. You must find and stop him.
Translations: Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: This book is similar in quality to the previous one.
Most of the puzzles are similar as well, being for the most part mazes and
pattern recognition challenges.
The reissued version of this book is not part of my collection; the scan
is courtesy of Jaret R. Morgan.
3. Robot World
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley
First Published: August, 1983
ISBN: 0-553-23700-4
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 23
Plot Summary: An experiment to see if robots can be used as settlers
goes terribly wrong when the robots involved decide to destroy humans for
their imperfection. You must stop the rebellion and rescue Dr. Cyberg, the
creator of the robots.
Translations: Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: The difficulty level is a bit higher in this book;
some of the puzzles require a bit more thought than those in the earlier
books did. Some effort is also made to make the book slightly less
linear by allowing the reader to visit a few locations in random order.
5. Monsters of Doorna
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Marc Hempel and Steve Fastner (cover), Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley (interior)
First Published: November, 1983
ISBN: 0-553-23941-4
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 22
Plot Summary: A report of attacking monsters in a distant sector
sends you on a mission to go farther from Spy Center than any agent has ever
before gone, using an experimental X-wing (!) spacecraft.
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: This is largely an average book -- I wasn't particularly
impressed with it, but I also have no major complaints. As with the rest of
the series, many of the puzzles are rather pointless, but there are a few
clever ones -- my favorite involved using shadows to determine the direction
of the movement of two suns. Too many choices relied on memorizing details
of illustrations seen long ago, though. The illustrations, which are a vital
part of these books considering the brevity of the text, largely failed to
impress me, but I can at least appreciate the creativity of conveying the
height of the story's mysterious tower by forcing the reader to turn the book
sideways and look at two consecutive two-page pictures; too bad the actual
art is less than awe-inspiring. The final thing worth mentioning about this
book is the fact that it turns out to be a direct sequel to a previous title;
while I like this sort of thing, it didn't really advance the story much
here.
8. Mission to Microworld
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Alex Nino and Steve Fastner
First Published: August, 1984
ISBN: 0-553-24521-X
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 24
Plot Summary: You receive a call from your old friend the biodroid,
but when you soon discover that the planet he called from has disappeared.
My Thoughts: Due to the presence of the biodroid and Dr. Cyberg,
this is something of a sequel to Robot World. Although this use of
series continuity is interesting, the rest of the book is average.
Errata: At the bottom of page 5, you should turn to page 8 (not page
6 as the book says). Also, at the bottom of page 11, you should turn to page
6 (not page 8). If you follow the incorrect order in the book, you will skip
some puzzles (I think it's 2).
(Thanks to Jason Horner for these
corrections.)
10. Planet Hunters
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Steve Fastner (cover), Darrel Anderson (interior)
First Published: February, 1985
ISBN: 0-553-24532-5
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 24
Plot Summary: You must capture the Planet Hunters, a trio of fiendish
criminals who destroy entire planets for sport.
My Thoughts: This is a fairly uninteresting entry in the series.
None of the puzzles are particularly inspired and the plot couldn't be much
more linear.
11. The Red Rocket
Author: Seth McEvoy
Illustrators: Steve Fastner (cover), Darrel Anderson (interior)
First Published: May, 1985
ISBN: 0-553-25078-7
Length: 121 pages
Number of Endings: 26
Plot Summary: To prevent an interplanetary war, you must retrieve
a treaty lost in space centuries ago.
My Thoughts: This book refers back to almost all of the previous
books in the series; it's a direct sequel to Robot World and it draws
characters from various other stories. Apart from this it is fairly
unexceptional.
