Complete the Quest: The Poisonous Library by Brian McLachlan has been on my radar for a while but I knew it wasn’t going to be a book I would necessarily connect with. I had a feeling that The Bear would enjoy it since he does like a choose your own adventure type of format. So I let him tell me the things he likes about the book.

Complete the Quest: The Poisinous Library is a role playing adventure story that reads like a comic book. Amazing so far, comic book plus a game that’s offline so you can’t really go wrong. For me, I loved the colourful art and the dynamic story but I just didn’t get into the game aspect of the book. The Bear LOVED it! We borrowed it from the library and it was read consistently for the couple of months we had it as we renewed it once. I asked him what he liked best about the book he had three things he really enjoyed.

1. He really enjoyed the side quests. He loved reading the story but really enjoyed how you could go off the regular story path to a whole side quest to make the story increasingly more interesting.

2. He really enjoyed the whole game aspect of the book. Children are spending more time than ever online so when we can take the things they love about role playing games online and bring them offline we are creating an experience and expanding their creativity.

3. He loved that he could go back to the story over and over again and have a new experience each time. He could choose different characters and different paths meaning the book will have a long shelf life and will be one that is returned to often.

Brian McLachlan has created this incredible reading experience for young readers and one that will stay with them for a long time. The Bear mentioned that it wasn't like other books that you read once and then forget about, it’s a book that will grow and change as the reader grows and changes. We really hope there are other Brian McLachlan quests ready to be explored someday.