Shopping Maul (The Cluster of Echoes) Paperback – October 27, 2022

Shopping Maul sounds like an ordinary location but things turn out to be more complex here. If you have your wits about and are lucky enough to find the right course through the maul, this gm should not be to difficult to solve. Especially as you sometimes find redundancies or alternative solutions. But the emphasis still is on 'If'.... ;)Fifth book in the Cluster Hexalogy with different endings for survival. Finding the optimal route will probably give you the best hint on how the final entry of the series will start... I can hardly await it.....

I've enjoyed playing the various books in Victoria Hancox's Cluster Of Echoes series hugely, and Shopping Maul is one of the best entries in the series so far. A soulless enclosed environment like a shopping centre is a great place to set a horror story, and the stage is set for an unsettling mix of the creepy and the ordinary, with some truly horrific ideas and images appearing along the way. You thought gamebooks were for children? This one definitely isn't, even though you play as one! Winning the Golden Hare Treasure Hunt isn't actually that difficult (although you don't need them, there are significant advantages to tracking down all the clues to do so), but it's only the first phase of this adventure, as there's a psychotic villain (inspired by a certain unsettling 70s kids TV puppet) to be defeated, and the encounters along the way only get weirder (a mosquito - really?) and more horrific (seriously, don't mess with the escalators), with a few tense and urgent set pieces that prevent the pace from ever flagging. It's superbly written and flawlessly constructed, deploying clues and codewords to great effect, and relying solely on the player's wits rather than a lucky roll of a die (no dice are needed here). No prior knowledge of the Cluster series is required, though there are Easter Eggs for those who've read them. I would recommend Shopping Maul (and indeed any book in this series) very highly to anyone into gamebooks or horror fiction, and I look forward eagerly to the sixth and final book.

Another great puzzle gamebook for grown ups from Victoria Hancox. Not quite as horrific or atmospheric as some of the previous installments but definitely as entertaining with plenty of puzzles to keep you on your toes.For those unfamiliar with the series, this is the fifth of (I believe) six books in the cluster of echoes series. It can be played as a stand alone or in order. I'd recommend in order as you will have a sense of what to expect when starting but the book most certainly can be read on its own.The story centres on a teenage protagonist who enters a treasure hunt competition at a local shopping centre but only to realise not all is as it seems.As always with Victoria Hancoxs books you need to take notes on everything if you want to get the best outcome, no matter how irrelevant you think something might be.Plenty of replayability on offer also for those who like to reread to get every angle covered.Very much recommended.