ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 15th April 2016 - "Von Doogan and the Great Air Race" by Lorenzo Etherington (David Fickling Books)

The glorious return of the man with the quiff! Our second Book of the Week this week is the awesome "Von Doogan and the Great Air Race" by Lorenzo Etherington
Have you ever read a book that has actually made your brain hurt (but in a good way), wowed you with stunning visuals, and actually left you with a real sense of achievement once you've worked your way through it?

Regular Phoenix Comic readers will already know all about Von Doogan, the weekly adventure and puzzle strip by Lorenzo and Robin Etherington.

We've already loved volume 1 of the collected "Von Doogan - Curse of the Golden Monkey" to bits here, and we're still completely hooked by the intense puzzling and fabulous action the followup offers.

In "Von Doogan and the Great Air Race" our hero is taking time out after reaping the rewards of his last quest. But sitting around at the Adventurer's Club is boring, and soon "The Doog" hungers for a new challenge, possibly his toughest yet!

The competitors line up for The Great Air Race! Will Von Doogan be triumphant? Only with your help!

First, Doog's got to secure himself a co-pilot and a plane (and boy did we ever love his choice of vehicle, a bright sparkling red B-17 Flying Fortress - MAN that dude has style!). Only you can help Von Doogan to solve each puzzle (no cheating by looking at the answers at the back but there are helpful clues provided near the back as well, we'll let you look at those!)

The challenges are quite often brutally tough but it's so satisfying when your answer starts to come together, and you realise you've solved one more puzzle bringing you closer to fortune and glory.

FOLD THE PAGE? ARE YOU CRAZY??!?!

Yes, the puzzle shown in the image above was probably the only one we really got stuck on and we were equally stuck when we first encountered it in the comic too. FOLD OUR PRECIOUS COMIC? FOLD OUR PRECIOUS BOOK? Nope, not going to happen (thankfully if you're canny enough, you can at least scan it, print it and fold it to get the answer without cheating if you're a truly dedicated Dooganeer).

We love Von Doogan and this adventure lets Lorenzo go to town devising brilliant puzzles but also drawing the two things he excels at. Fantastic, truly fantastic vehicles and (ahem) gorgeous kick-butt ladies!) I've probably gushed way too many times over Lorenzo's artwork (Go google for "Stranski" and you'll see what I mean - I'd give my left earlobe to be able to draw like that!) With a glorious saturday morning matinee feel, and absolutely NO LET-UP in the frenzied pace of the adventure as it unfolds, it's an utterly genius idea to bring together brilliant storytelling with fab brain-mashing puzzling.

Wow, just wow.

Basically, if you haven't already picked up a copy of this (Von Doogan and the Great Air Race was released on 7th April 2016) then you have a whopping Doog-shaped hole in your life that you need to get filled pronto, compadre. Get out there, get a copy, and put your brain to brilliant use! While you're about it, also check out Von Doogan's current adventure "The Empire of the Zombie Queen" in the weekly Phoenix Comic!

Someone was DELIRIOUSLY happy when this book turned up!

Charlotte's favourite puzzle: The "Coffee Table" puzzle, I think she had about 3 goes before she nailed it, clever stick!

Daddy's favourite puzzle: Loved the puzzle about matching the planes with their owners (mainly because I'm completely hopeless at maths and a lot of the puzzles involve some serious number crunching!)

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)

"Von Doogan and the great Air Race (Von Doogan Volume 2)"

Written and illustrated by Lorenzo Etherington

Published by David Fickling Books

Publication Date: 7th April 2016