Puzzle books for the young are to be encouraged, I find – all ages of brain need their training. But when they try to integrate a story, or present a world in which the puzzles are set, it had better be done well. This starts with the plot and kind of matter-of-factly jumps into puzzle mode, and I thought the tasks actually had no bearing on the narrative, when I finally realised they did. There's an early riddle that is answered by the page following it, for instance, and you have every chance of not even realising, so your progression through the story isn't really hindered by not getting things right, but at the same time the story and puzzles are connected and a flow is maintained by both.

So the formatting of this book is a success, but what of the story? Well, it's hokum through and through. You – this is second person – are a kid at a museum treasure hunt, and end up BAMFing through to the real neolithic and other historical periods, instead of finding the things you seek on the actual displays. However anyone relishing playing detective in ancient Egypt or being press-ganged into being a gladiator would probably feel a touch short-changed by how little there is to this. Like I say, it's a puzzle book, not a novel.

All told the story is definitely for the under-tens, and so are the bulk of the puzzles. The mazes certainly aren't as forgiving as some of the word puzzles, mind. Generally the tasks are fine, and we don't, to repeat, need to finish every single one before reading on, although it would make a lot more sense for us to do so. So once again, if anything, it's the story that lets this down – some cheesy morals placed on the page, no real resolution, and no real oomph for any of the short sections to get far. Yet this is probably a three and a half star purchase – we can forgive the narrative, perhaps, when the time spent engaging with this is probably a lot more than the normal book purchase. And my brain training suggests to me that's worth four stars, hence my averaging out at 3.5.

I read this with my 10-year-old while travelling. This was a great activity book to keep him entertained, and he really enjoyed how the puzzles were linked by a story.

Some of the puzzles were tricky to solve in ebook format (although we found a workaround using screenshots of the pages and my phone stylus), but I think this would work great in paperback format.

A recommended read for reluctant readers or those looking for a puzzle book to them entertained.

Thank you to Netgalley and Collins Kids for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My 10 year old and I read this together and really enjoyed it. We've previously read my old Usborne puzzle books and enjoyed them and when I saw this on Netgalley I thought it might be similar. This felt like more of a mixed activity book linked by a story and would be much better suited to a hard copy rather than an ebook as it's not really possible to do some of the puzzles properly when it's not on paper. However, we this really enjoy the story and my daughter loved the puzzles. This style of book is great for reluctant readers and makes it more interesting for adults reading along too. Would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read.

I love the way all the puzzles are connected by a story. It makes the activities far more engaging. The puzzles are relatively easy to solve though some of the ones might be visually trying for a fifty something teacher like me. I love this one and think my students would love it.