Item - The Galactic Pirate

The Galactic Pirate features Marko Khen, a space pirate with an eyepatch (one wonders how he got it! Metal swords aren't a thing in space. But hey, he looks appropriately sinister) and robot bird pet. Marko's crime is mutating harmless animals he's stolen from the Interplanetary Zoo into more violent forms. It's your job to stop him and his henchpeople, including Dr. Nelia Lorkan, whom I remember contrasting with the friendly Dr. Nera Vivaldi who kept popping up in CYOAs. Between them and exotic galactic animals (mutated or non) there's a lot of really neat illustrations, both of the animals and (more common to the series) of pixelated layouts for puzzles, that make GP one of the most attractive of the BaIS series to read. The puzzles aren't terribly difficult--indeed, as an adult, you would feel silly missing them--but, a few count-the-object puzzles aside, they mostly make sense in terms of the plot. There's even a secret code to unravel, where you know some letters, or you have two destinations with different repeating letter patterns. These requires some satisfying reasoning.

The endings also start to develop a bit more wit. "You are about to become interplanetary stew!" / "Your next of kin will be notified of your heroism." / "The judge sentences you to 99 years." And some are legitimately creepy, like when you are hooked up to biodroids to become one of them, or you're trapped by circular gobblers with sharp teeth and mean grins. And one fourth-wallish one says "when you wake up, you find yourself on the way to page 63 ... but you don't quite make it." I always found this eerie. There's also a lose-either-way branch if you make an initial wrong choice, which feature two cool ways to get shipwrecked in space. TGP features more of them than Find the Kirillian, since you are planet-hopping to find Marko Khen. TGP experiments in many ways, and it's largely very successful.

The book also equips you with a bionic weapon called the Klagon Hand, which feels very sci-fi and spy-ey and of course helps you through some tight jams. And along the way you also run into a biodroid you must fight and then befriend.

TGP has a good variety of villains and exotic life forms that make it feel vibrant, and a good range of puzzles, too. And the resolution is pleasing. It even foreshadows Monsters of Doorna, the fifth book in the series, at one point. I remember finding only the Spanish version of TGP in the Chicago public library system, too, before buying a copy on eBay, and I remember figuring out Spanish words based on what I remembered. The pictures really brought me back as well. I'd rank it in the middle four of the twelve-book series.

More reviews by andrewschultz

Now this is more like it.

After the comparatively bland nature of the first entry (Find the Kirillian), this book has much more interesting and individual touches.

The Klagon hand was a wonderful idea that I absolutely adored as a youngster. The biodroid that you convert to your side was also inspired. I remember being really nervous when it looked as if he might go back to the 'bad guys.'

Again, the puzzles are generally interesting, although not too challenging for anyone of adolescence or over.

More reviews by Aussiesmurf

In the second volume of the Interplanetary Spy series, you face off against Marko Khen, the Galactic Pirate of the title. True to his name, he sports an eye patch and a robotic parrot. His modus operandi is to steal rare animals, mutate them into violent monsters, then use them to further his crimes. In this entry you get a James Bond-type multi-purpose gadget-glove, the Klagon Hand, and an amusing side-kick in the biodroid. Continuity is established with references to Prince Quizon from the previous book. The plot is still linear with pass-fail visual challenges, some of which don't make sense, and repeated generic death endings, but they don't distract from the overall fun. There's a nice plot-twist near the end, and this volume generally improves upon the formula established in the first book. 3 out of 5 stars

More reviews by auximenes

This book is similar in quality to the previous one. Most of the puzzles are similar as well, being for the most part mazes and pattern recognition challenges.

More reviews by Demian

My recent re-read revealed that the puzzles are pretty good and the artwork is better than I remember. There are only a couple puzzles that don't require a choice. The concept of growing biodroids in nutrient tanks is pretty cool, and the one you meet looks a lot like "Solar: Man of the Atom." There are many great endings you can encounter if you make a poor decision, including "you made a fatal mistake, everything blows up!"

More reviews by Dtar