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Skylanders Universe: The Machine of Doom
A powerful new threat challenges the stability of Skylands, and only its greatest champions can save the day. Together, Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Eruptor must embark on a courageous mission to stop the maniacal Kaos from taking control of the giant, ancient, and deadly weapon that could bring an end to all of Skylands.
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2012
13 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Onk Beakman
25 books5 followersOnk Beakman knew he wanted to be a world-famous author from the moment he was hatched. In fact, the book-loving penguin was so keen that he wrote his first novel, while still inside his egg (to this day, nobody is entirely sure where he got the tiny pencil and notebook from). Growing up on the icy wastes of Skylands' Frozen Desert was difficult for a penquin who hated the cold. While his brothers plunged into the freezing waters, Onk could be found with his beak in a book and a pen clutched in his flippers.
Yet his life changed forever when a giant floating head appeared in the skies above the tundra. It was Kaos, attempting to melt the icecaps so he could get his grubby little hands on an ancient weapon buried beneath the snow. Onk watched open-beaked as Spyro swept in and sent the evil Portal Master packing. From that day on, Onk knew that he must chronicle the Skylanders' greatest adventures. He traveled the length and breadth of Skylands, collecting every tale he could find about Master Eon's brave champions.
Today, Onk writes from a shack on the beautiful sands of Bistering Beach, where he lives with his two pet sea cucumbers.
Yet his life changed forever when a giant floating head appeared in the skies above the tundra. It was Kaos, attempting to melt the icecaps so he could get his grubby little hands on an ancient weapon buried beneath the snow. Onk watched open-beaked as Spyro swept in and sent the evil Portal Master packing. From that day on, Onk knew that he must chronicle the Skylanders' greatest adventures. He traveled the length and breadth of Skylands, collecting every tale he could find about Master Eon's brave champions.
Today, Onk writes from a shack on the beautiful sands of Bistering Beach, where he lives with his two pet sea cucumbers.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 20, 2012
This is the first in a series of books featuring the Skylanders video game characters. It’s a beginning chapter book and has lots of well done pictures.
Spyro and crew go on a quest to recover the Chattering Key in hopes of getting to the Machine of Doom before Kaos does. Along the way they run into perils like stone wyverns, mushrooms of despair, and of course the Machine of Doom.
My 5 year old son is a huge Skylanders fan and was desperate to get this book. I was worried that this was on of “those books”...you know the ones. Horribly written, horrible to read and only selling because it is a Skylanders theme book. I really wasn't expecting much since these types of books are usually poorly written. Imagine my surprise when this ended up being a very entertaining, fantasy-quest type of book.
The writing was well done; full of witty comments and clever word phrasing that made both me and my son laugh out loud. There are a number of places where silly strings of alliteration are used in very clever ways. The writing isn’t dumbed down for kids and uses some big words and some excellent description. Yes, we had to stop a few times to discuss what a word meant, but I am all good with that considering that my son is getting to learn some new words.
There is a lot of humor in here, some awesome action, and lots of teamwork between Spyro and his friends. There are even some surprising twists to the story and a decently thought-out plot.
The story is a good one; Spyro, Eruptor, and Gill Grunt go on a quest to recover the Chattering Key and get to the Machine of Doom before Kaos does. Along the way the solve puzzles and outwit the bad guys.
There are many black and white pictures throughout the book as well. These were very well done and often very humorous. The book is printed in a larger and unique font that made it fun and easy to read.
Overall this book way, way better quality than other books I've read that are knock-offs of game or toy lines. Highly recommended for fans of the Skylanders realm. This is a well written and fun story, that is actually enjoyable to read. Hopefully future books in this series are just as good as this one...then instead of groaning about having to read my son another cheap, poorly done book based on a game, I can actually look forward to the cool illustrations, fun humor, and a plot!
Spyro and crew go on a quest to recover the Chattering Key in hopes of getting to the Machine of Doom before Kaos does. Along the way they run into perils like stone wyverns, mushrooms of despair, and of course the Machine of Doom.
My 5 year old son is a huge Skylanders fan and was desperate to get this book. I was worried that this was on of “those books”...you know the ones. Horribly written, horrible to read and only selling because it is a Skylanders theme book. I really wasn't expecting much since these types of books are usually poorly written. Imagine my surprise when this ended up being a very entertaining, fantasy-quest type of book.
The writing was well done; full of witty comments and clever word phrasing that made both me and my son laugh out loud. There are a number of places where silly strings of alliteration are used in very clever ways. The writing isn’t dumbed down for kids and uses some big words and some excellent description. Yes, we had to stop a few times to discuss what a word meant, but I am all good with that considering that my son is getting to learn some new words.
There is a lot of humor in here, some awesome action, and lots of teamwork between Spyro and his friends. There are even some surprising twists to the story and a decently thought-out plot.
The story is a good one; Spyro, Eruptor, and Gill Grunt go on a quest to recover the Chattering Key and get to the Machine of Doom before Kaos does. Along the way the solve puzzles and outwit the bad guys.
There are many black and white pictures throughout the book as well. These were very well done and often very humorous. The book is printed in a larger and unique font that made it fun and easy to read.
Overall this book way, way better quality than other books I've read that are knock-offs of game or toy lines. Highly recommended for fans of the Skylanders realm. This is a well written and fun story, that is actually enjoyable to read. Hopefully future books in this series are just as good as this one...then instead of groaning about having to read my son another cheap, poorly done book based on a game, I can actually look forward to the cool illustrations, fun humor, and a plot!
August 17, 2021
Nice quick read while stuck in a vehicle for hours- not even close to a quarter of the ride, but still something interesting while phone signals cut out.
It's a beginning chapter book-- so good for younger readers, but an older Skylanders fan can still enjoy it as well.
It's a beginning chapter book-- so good for younger readers, but an older Skylanders fan can still enjoy it as well.
January 18, 2025
This is a decent story set in the Skylanders universe, though not without some weird quirks (typo on the BACK COVER, text is run-on and hard to read for a few lines). It's otherwise a fun read, though, despite the difficulty of not really knowing the characters enough to care about them.
The overall problem with Skylanders is its biggest draw was being the only one of its kind—a game with attractive toy-shaped dongles—before Disney Infinity tried its hand with MUCH more popular characters, and Nintendo Amiibo took total control of the market by being usable across MANY unrelated games vs. a single title series. Not that I don't have any Skylanders myself despite never playing a single Skylander game (some of them are cute!), but I just never got into the story, and the main characters here other than Spyro are basically new—and highly forgettable—to me. I don't know.
Like, if you replaced Gill Grunt with Stealth Elf, maybe? ...but I suppose Stealth Elf wouldn't have the running gag of being a horrible singer despite believing herself to be an amazing one. Or trade Eruptor for Sonic Boom... or heck, ANY of the girl characters would have been nice, but nope, even the TALKING KEY is a male character somehow!
The story itself is entertaining enough, ignoring the representation, and the twist is actually pretty clever—even if it's projected from like TEN BILLION miles off, haha. Good read for fans of the series, probably significantly less interesting for complete newcomers.
The overall problem with Skylanders is its biggest draw was being the only one of its kind—a game with attractive toy-shaped dongles—before Disney Infinity tried its hand with MUCH more popular characters, and Nintendo Amiibo took total control of the market by being usable across MANY unrelated games vs. a single title series. Not that I don't have any Skylanders myself despite never playing a single Skylander game (some of them are cute!), but I just never got into the story, and the main characters here other than Spyro are basically new—and highly forgettable—to me. I don't know.
Like, if you replaced Gill Grunt with Stealth Elf, maybe? ...but I suppose Stealth Elf wouldn't have the running gag of being a horrible singer despite believing herself to be an amazing one. Or trade Eruptor for Sonic Boom... or heck, ANY of the girl characters would have been nice, but nope, even the TALKING KEY is a male character somehow!
The story itself is entertaining enough, ignoring the representation, and the twist is actually pretty clever—even if it's projected from like TEN BILLION miles off, haha. Good read for fans of the series, probably significantly less interesting for complete newcomers.
June 21, 2018
Nice Story
My boy really enjoyed this fast paced story. Well written with fun and comprehensive characters. Will buy the sequel. Strongly recommend for 5 year old Skylander fans.
My boy really enjoyed this fast paced story. Well written with fun and comprehensive characters. Will buy the sequel. Strongly recommend for 5 year old Skylander fans.
July 20, 2019
Divertido
June 15, 2013
My seven-year-old son loves the Skylanders video game series. I mean LOVES. We have so many of the collectable little action figures turned video game characters that storing them all takes up more than one shelf in our home entertainment unit. And you know, I kind of love them too.
I have to say that the gameplay itself is fairly addictive and the idea is genius. Instead of bitiching about the general state of the game industry and the piracy of product, Toys for Bob, the creators of the Skylanders series basically invented an entire new genre of video games, and in the process made the experience even more engrossing by introducing the idea of collectable figures that you have to purchase to then unlock and use in the game.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/skyla...
I have to say that the gameplay itself is fairly addictive and the idea is genius. Instead of bitiching about the general state of the game industry and the piracy of product, Toys for Bob, the creators of the Skylanders series basically invented an entire new genre of video games, and in the process made the experience even more engrossing by introducing the idea of collectable figures that you have to purchase to then unlock and use in the game.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/skyla...
June 15, 2014
William like this book a lot because he likes Skylanders. There were a lot of big words that he looked up on the Nook dictionary. As his mom, I thought there was a lot of hectic action and characters being mean.
May 31, 2013
It was a trick for Kaos to lead the skylanders in a temple that is about to fall down.
July 17, 2013
My six year old loved the book but he says I hate it. I don't really hate it, I just see the point in getting books about a video game storyline.
December 24, 2013
Terrible!
January 6, 2014
It's a great continuation of the games. I wished more tie-ins of these games happened more often.
March 18, 2014
Sky landers
make a sky landers swap force one
it was a good book and very interesting
spyro was my favorite character and two other erupter and gill grunt
make a sky landers swap force one
it was a good book and very interesting
spyro was my favorite character and two other erupter and gill grunt
January 31, 2016
Typical crap written for fans of the Skylanders. Thank goodness it was short.
December 26, 2016
Loved reading about the Skylanders' adventures, especially Gil's singing!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews