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Item - Ice Age Explorer

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(First printing)
(First printing)
(First printing)
(First printing)
(Book fair edition)
(British edition, first printing)
(British edition, first printing)
(British edition, first printing)
(British edition, first printing)

Combined Summary

Series: Time Machine — no. 7
Platforms: Kindle (Kindle edition)
Microsoft Reader (Microsoft Reader edition)
Translated Into: La era glacial (Spanish)
O explorador da idade do gelo (Portuguese)
Raziskovalec ledene dobe (Slovenian)
Author: Dixon, Dougal
Illustrators: Stout, William (cover)
Henderson, Doug (interior)
Nino, Alex (interior)
Dates: June, 1985 (First printing)
2001 (Microsoft Reader edition)
August 28, 2013 (Kindle edition)
ISBNs: 0553166093 / 9780553166095 (Book fair edition)
0553247220 / 9780553247220 (First printing, British edition, first printing)
Length: 123 pages (plus data bank and data file)
Number of Endings: 1
Cover Price: US$1.95 (First printing)
UKĀ£1.25 (British edition, first printing)
User Summary: You must travel back to the Ice Age and discover what inspired a unicorn-like cave painting.
Demian's Thoughts:

This is a fairly interesting book; it's not all that different from the earlier dinosaur-related book in structure, but the subject matter is less familiar.

More reviews by Demian

Dtar's Thoughts:

This story bounces you around in time and location as you search for creators of cave art and one subject that they had drawn. Since one of these goals involves interacting with prehistoric humans, I find it a bit more interesting than book 2. The ending features a nice bit of speculative anthropology.

More reviews by Dtar

Shadeheart's Thoughts:

[Rating: 0/10]
[Recommended? NO]

While the promising potential of the premise in the Time Machine adventure "Ice Age Explorer" is at least partially well-handled, there were particularly few redeeming components to save the quest from its prominent, pitiful weaknesses. It's unfortunate how the dangers are kept at arm's length even though the era's appealing visual-oriented choice-based design system fares well as far as reader immersiveness goes. The writing drifts from uninspired and clunky to very much aware of the narrative's potential, but - as with the majority of the books in the series - I think the adventure would've been more enjoyable had it avoided limiting itself to a single correct path; the inventory selection at the start is a bit arbitrary, I might add, and less seamlessly woven into the story compared to the databank, use of setting and handling of "characters". While the year it take place in may be 35000 BC, you won't find too many pointers suggesting a whole lot of imagination was put into the writing of this quest apart from what had commonly been covered in existing documents/research books or documentaries at the time this was written; though the research isn't exactly dated, per se, retrospectively there are parts scattered about here and there which feel VERY incomplete.

These books, which in all truth are merely self-indulgent and hard-to-find excursions into a different point in time, appear hyper-focused on their short-lived novelty value - a real shame, since the design and the execution of the linear quest itself isn't all that great to begin with. With the exception of collectors of the series or the most ardent of pseudo-history buffs, I'm afraid I can't recommend this title or any of its time-traveling trepidations. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

Special Thanks:Thanks to Ryan Lynch for the American and British first printing images.
Users Who Own This Item: Andys80s, angriestmonster, Ardennes, Arkadia, auximenes, bigcobra, bookwormjeff, CSquared, dave2002a, dblizzard72, domj29, Dtar, Eamonn McCusker, egokun, Erikwinslow, exaquint (book fair), firefoxpdm, Greeneuva, Himynameistony, hoops4ever, horrorbusiness, Hrk, jdreller, katzcollection, kinderstef, kleme, knginatl (orig., "book fair"), mdcowboy, mlvoss, nelsondesign, Nomad, novelist1982, ntar, Oberonbombadil (Original US 1st), outspaced, plowboy, Pseudo_Intellectual, Radical347, redpiper05, resurgens, Ryuran333, Seizure, Sheridan77, Smidgeccfc76, spragmatic, stock, stonemason, strawberry_brite, ThaRid, toadhjo, UncleMac, waktool (US 1st printing ($1.95, AU $3.50), UK 1st printing), Zolika
Users Who Want This Item: Alatar001, bonhomme, Cyan, Dronak, exaquint, Ffghtermedic, Gurvo, HAMBORSKI (I would like to purchase this book.), Mr ?, NEMO (regular&book fair edition), nordik (Ice Age Explorer), SherlockHolmes, ThisIslandEarth, Waluigi Freak 99
Users with Extra Copies: bigcobra
CSquared
dave2002a
ntar
redpiper05

Known Editions

First printing
Book fair edition
British edition, first printing
Microsoft Reader edition
Kindle edition

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Related Documents

Structure Diagram

Time Machine # 7 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.