THE LIBRARY
The latest book releases for curious minds
SPIN TO SURVIVE: DEEP SPACE DANGER
A THRILLING SPACE ADVENTURE WITH A TWIST
ILLUS PUBLI PRICE RELEA
AUTHOR GILES SPARROW
ILLUSTRATOR RUBY FRESSON
PUBLISHER QUARTO
PRICE £20 / $29.99
RELEASE OUT NOW
Some older readers will have fond memories of the Choose Your Own Adventure or Fighting Fantasy series of game books, whose popularity boomed in the 1980s and 1990s. They regularly featured in the bestselling lists of the time, mainly because each title placed the reader at the centre of the story and gave them agency over its telling, with options at the end of each section: do you choose to go left or right? Do you want to fight that hobgoblin? If so, turn to page 10, otherwise turn to page 12 to run away.
The age of the game book has long since passed, but the concept still has plenty of legs – gamifying STEM subjects is a great way of learning, whatever your age. Deep Space Danger is the fourth in the Spin to Survive series, putting the reader in the role of a cadet aboard a spacecraft bound for Mars when it’s hit by meteoroids that tear a hole in the service module. The rest of the crew are sucked into space or manage to escape in the crew transfer module, leaving you alone in a sealed part of the spacecraft with a series of life-or-death decisions to make. Do you continue the mission, attempt a return to Earth or seek help from a nearby asteroid-mining station?