Book review -- Iron Magicians: The Search for the Magic Crystals by Cetrix and Yuio

Book Summary
This middle-grade graphic novel series makes YOU the hero of a fantasy quest—pick your panel, find items, cast spells, defeat enemies, solve puzzles, and play through new storylines again and again!

Step inside a steampunk re-imagining of nineteenth-century Paris, where magic and machines exist in harmony. The Eiffel Tower—a secret weapon built with magic—is almost complete, but the crystals that power the structure are missing! Find the hidden crystals and survive your dangerous mission.

HERE’S HOW TO PLAY:
• Select your character and begin your quest.
• Numbers are hidden in every panel. Decide where you want to go next, and then flip to the panel with the matching number.
• Solve puzzles, cast spells, and defeat enemies in your quest for success. Only after you’ve collected all the crystals will your journey be complete.
• If you fail your mission, just start again from the beginning! You can play the book again and again, making different choices every time. 

Remember, this is no ordinary comic book—what happens next is up to you!

Flo's Review
I admit that I was intrigued by this concept as soon as I heard about it. And I'm happy to say that the execution was as fun as I'd hoped. In a nutshell, this was a combination of a comic book and a Choose Your Own Adventure book. The instructions are a little complex and may require attention and focus from a middle grader. For me, just reading for fun on a Saturday night, I chose to focus not on the puzzles but on following the storyline through the pages. And like I said, I had fun with it! I definitely think I will be giving this book to my niece or nephew, as it strikes me as a good one to give to a child to get them critically thinking while still having fun. 

Also, it looks like Comic Quests is a whole series! So if an adventure in Paris around the time when the Eiffel Tower was built is not your forte (which I can't imagine why not?!) then you can choose one of these.


Thank you so much to Quirk Books for sending me copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.