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Geoff Larsen is fast becoming one of the prime adventure writers for the Electron. With the release of this, his fifth adventure, he confirms his mastery of the genre. The Puppetman is one of the most original and engrossing adventures I have seen for a long while, and must be Geoff's finest offering yet.

At the end of the last century there lived a puppeteer whose puppet plays were the talk of the land. In fact his puppets were so lifelike it was rumoured they were little people, made up to look like puppets. At the midsummer fair in the village of Owlsmore the Puppet Man is due to perform but the day before, his star marionette was stolen or mislaid.

During a dream, you are visited by Mnemosyne, mother of the Greek muses. She tells you that if you can help three of her daughters; the muses of dance, comedy and poetry, they in turn will assist you in a search for the marionette.

The adventure becomes a trilogy of inter-related plots in which you first help a ballerina, then an auguste clown and finally Pierrot.

The backdrops incorporate nineteenth century theatre and circus giving the whole adventure the heady atmosphere of vaudeville. The puzzles are complex, but totally logical and require careful thinking and revisiting of different scenes.

The beginning reminds me of something of a cross between Level 9's Worm In Paradise and Robico's Myorem. To be compared even in part to those two masterpieces is sure testimony to the quality of this adventure.

Later on there is a beautiful scenario involving a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker, and a wooden tub. Another scene involves trapping a bear, while on the stage is a struggling Covent Garden escapologist. As suggested, the adventure involves dancing, comedy, poetry and sleight of hand, and like all of Larsoft's adventures is totally non-violent.

The multi-use of each location and the facility to talk to the characters you meet, means Geoff has used the Quill to its utmost. The mind boggles to think of what he might achieve given machine code programming and better text compression.

This adventure is superb and you will be hard pressed to find a better release for the price. Larsoft is going to be a name worth watching over the next few years. All I can say is buy it, you won't be disappointed.

Pendragon