Children’s Book Review: The Tower of Melgoth by Matt Whelan*

Matt Whelan is the author of Adventure Quest Books and we were sent The Tower of Melgoth to review. My children’s favourite books include Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates, and most recently The Land of Roar, all of which follow a more adventure theme, which is why we knew that the Matt Whelan books would appeal to my three.

We like to all get snuggled up in the evening and read a story together, its time consuming, but we don’t do it every night as books can take a little while to finish, but it makes it so enjoyable! This book was very much the same, and we thought it would be the perfect one to enjoy together. However, once we got going with this book, it disappeared and went on a trip to school where it could also be read through the day too. So if you’re looking for the perfect book, either to read with your children, or for them to take to school check out our latest review of this Matt Whelan, interactive Book.

What we thought of The Tower of Melgoth

You might wonder to start with, what an interactive book is? Well, I certainly hadn’t heard of one like it before, although I am familiar with books like Where’s Wally and You Choose, which allow you to find Wally, or in You Choose, you choose where you might live, work, have as family and wear etc. But in terms of deciding your own story, this is very new to me. This interactive book is a way for the reader, to jump between the pages to essentially generate their own story. I think this is why my children found this book exciting, because they could choose which parts of the story to read next. When we were all together, we had to vote on which pages to go to, but of course, when my son read it alone, he could then decide where he wanted to go!

Matt Whelan seems to have created the perfect books for reluctant readers. My eldest son is just that, but from the moment we began to look at the book, getting ready begin reading, he was already wanting to take it to school. This is unheard of. Usually, I am normally trawling through our bookshelf, suggesting, and trying to select one I think he might like. With this book, there was no need, he was already keen to read it, down to the fact that he would be able to choose how his story went.

As usual with my book reviews, I don’t like to give too much away, but what I can say is that each turn of the page to a new location, meant for a different outcome. When reading the book you are the lead character, which means when you decide which page to jump to, you might determine who you will fight, or whether you’ll rescue someone, and in some drastic cases you might just accidentally end your adventure (as in die!). The great advantage with being able to create your own destiny within the books means you can read it over and over as if you choose different pages to jump to you will them change your path/story.

I have no clue how Matt Whelan begins to write these books, as ensuring that the story is still a story, whilst jumping through all the pages, is crazy to think about, however, his skill means that this book truly works, and makes for such a fun read. Here are some thoughts from one of my children, in their own words.

My eldest son, says “its interesting and interactive. its fun because you don’t normally find books like that” 

Its true other than Dungeons and Dragons, I too don’t know any interactive books, like this, aimed at this age group. Like DD most are aimed at teens and older, so having one for 6-10 is such a great concept. They don’t have to read huge parts of a story all at once, they are constantly taking snippets which makes it easy to digest, and much easier for them to maintain their attention. I would absolutely recommend these books, and I would encourage children to read them in school, and show others how fun they can be too, so if you think this might be a book that will interest your children check out below where you can buy yours…

Where can you buy your Matt Whelan Adventure Quest Book? 

You can buy yours directly from Amazon.

How much is The Tower of Melgoth Book 

The paperback version retails for £5.99 while the Kindle copy for £3.49.  Do check prices on Amazon as this might change.

About the book

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arrowcroft Press
Format : Paperback ‏ : ‎
Number of pages : 174 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1838475109
Age Range ‏ : ‎ 6 – 10 years
Author : Matt Whelan

About the Author 

Matt Whelan is from Chester in the North West of England, and lives there with his wife, two sons and his dog Neo. He first found a love of books when his dad bought him, Lord of The Rings, to read as a ten-year-old boy. It took him no end of time (two years actually) with the help of a dictionary to read the books and set him off on his love for adventure novels.

When he became a father, he knew that this was the moment that he wanted to tell his own stories to his children, and how he finally came to develop and write his Adventure Quest, interactive books. Now he has a whole selection of books under his belt that make for the perfect books for any reluctant reader to date!

Review by: Lex Ward

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*We were sent a copy of the book in return for a feature. All opinions are our own.