Escape From A Video Game: The Secret of Phantom Island review

Our now 11-year-old son loved the Trapped in a Video Game book series by Dustin Brady. He read all of them and was quite bummed out when that series ended. Thus, when Escape from a Video Game: The Secret of Phantom Island arrived he was very excited. That excitement didn’t last long and I was curious as to why he gave up on the book less than 10 minutes after starting it. The answer will make some readers agree with him, might re-categorize the book for others, or have those puzzle kids jumping through book hoops to do the book.

‘Do’ the book isn’t a typo. Escape from a Video Game: The Secret of Phantom Island is a choose-your-adventure book that also incorporates puzzles into some of the choices. If you, as a reader are jumping into The Secret of Phantom Island as a linear story you’ll be frustrated and left scratching your head as to what those choose-your-adventure readers find great about them anyway.

These are the books that end each shortened chapter with a choice as to what you think will happen next in the story. If you think that they’ll open the door then go to page 84, if you think that they’ll fall through a trap-door into a pit of alligators, go to page 112. Middle school readers have seen these before and what Brady does is ups the ante by adding puzzles with some situations, as well as, death for those readers that choose poorly.

Even when that happens readers are invited to write a haiku about their death and proceed on a different path.  There’s a great sense of humor that disarms those readers who are not at all friendly to choose-your-adventure books. Part of that is accomplished because each ‘choice’ is short, in some cases only lasting half a page. That way, readers can go through a number of paths before they stop reading for the night. As a parent, who wants their children to actually sleep that could present a problem. Once readers build up momentum in the story it’s more challenging to stop reading. That’s a good thing and a bad thing.

Because the book is a staccato motion, it’s not relaxing to read. Our son loved reading Trapped From a Video Game, but he’s a reader more used to a linear story. The Secret of Phantom Island has a story that’s jammed with action and humor, but there are dozens upon dozens of ways to get there.

Dustin Brady is aware that some readers might not know the way to read an ‘adventure’ book. He very clearly states upfront that if you read the book according to the pages you’ll be confused. He also gives you tips on how to read the book and assures you that there are answers to the challenges in the back of the book.

If you’re a middle school reader who likes puzzles and challenges then The Secret of Phantom Island is a book that you’ll immediately grasp onto. If they’re a reader who likes books and isn’t expecting to go back and forth between pages while making decisions then this book will frustrate them. It’s a bold direction for the feel and reading level that Trapped in a Video Game set up. To an extent, it’s also very logical. If you’re trapped in a video game, then coding might be something that interests you. Coding leads to puzzles, choices, as well as, planning and pivoting from those decisions that didn’t work out as well as you thought they would.

The Secret of Phantom Island isn’t a book, per se. It’s much more of an activity book with a choose-your-adventure backbone. The story is lots of fun once you get into it, but middle school readers will have to patient in order to get there.

Escape From a Video Game: The Secret of Phantom Island is by Dustin Brady and on Andrews McMeel Publishing.

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