Only You Can Save Mankind

Only You Can Save Mankind – book review and giveaway #PickAPratchett

This Thursday, 22nd February sees the re-release of Only You Can Save Mankind which is written by Terry Pratchett, of Discworld fame. Originally published in 1992, this is the first in the Johnny Maxwell series, written for children.

Only You Can Save Mankind

Only You Can Save Mankind is our first encounter with Johnny Maxwell, as is part of a trilogy being re-issued, this time around including illustrations from Mark Beech.

Can you imagine playing a computer game where all is not as it seems.  Imagine playing a game of space invaders or the like and suddenly realising that it’s not a game, the aliens are, in fact real and wanting to surrender.  This is exactly what happens to our young, unassuming Johnny.  Not the most likely hero that you might come across, but a boy, very much like my own eight year old son.

Only You Can Save Mankind

I’ve been reading Only You Can Save Mankind with my son recently and we’ve both been thoroughly entertained, as we’ve followed Johnny on his mission to save the ScreeWee aliens.  He discovers that when children are playing the game Only You Can Save Mankind, whilst the players can lose the game and start again, each time one of the ScreeWee aliens is hit, they actually die and disappear.  It’s a revelation and certainly got my son talking about what might happen in games.

We follow the story as Johnny has a chance to be a real hero.  He can escape from reality, and a home life that is seeing his parents set at odds with each other.  Can he save the aliens, and make a difference?  Can an ordinary boy achieve something extraordinary?

The book is aimed at children aged 9-11 years, but I’ve enjoyed reading it with my son, as much as he’s enjoyed listening.  It’s certainly made us both want to read more of the series and we’re looking forward to the second installment being re-issued in June this year.  We can thoroughly recommend adding a copy to your bookcase and I’ve included my Amazon Affiliate link below for your reference.

disclosure:  we were sent the item mentioned in exchange for an honest review


I’m thrilled to be able to offer three lucky readers the chance to win a copy of Only You Can Save Mankind for themselves.  Complete the Gleam form below for your chance to win.  Good luck!

Terms and conditions:

(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.

This giveaway is for UK residents only.

Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.

The giveaway will close on 11th March 2018 at midnight.

Don’t forget to visit my Giveaways page for more great prizes on offer!

Only You Can Save Mankind book

66 thoughts on “Only You Can Save Mankind – book review and giveaway #PickAPratchett

  1. Subway surfers, I would love to run through collecting coins and gifts, my 5 year old daughter also loves it xxx

  2. I am not do keen on computers game but I enjoy playing the game of Professor Layton. Will be a detective for the day.

  3. i used to play a caveman game and it was so hard to do it would be nice toknow if it would be easier in real life to complete

  4. Minecraft! My little boy says he would like it to be real as he can be as creative as he wants in minecraft and it only takes 10 mins to build a fancy house! In real life you would need loads of money and it would take 10 years to build the house that he creates in Minecraft. Good answer from a 9 year old 🙂

  5. i asked my five and 8 year old and they both said minecraft lol i dont think they realise you can build in real life too x

  6. ‘The Movies’ game because I could start my own film production studio wherever I want, hire whoever I wanted and live an awesome Hollywood lifestyle anywhere in the world 😛

  7. Either Spyro or Pokemon, would love to play about in those worlds. I suppose Pokemon Go is pretty close. My older son would want Minecraft to be real!x

  8. Mario – I like the idea of their being question mark blocks you can jump at to get gifts!

  9. minecraft, so I could build my own home with lots of space, then the kids would have their own large room

  10. Oblivion because I would love to be able to go round completing quests and finding treasure!

  11. I’d love for world of Warcraft to be real, so many different characters and things to do, I always get lost in another world when I play ❤️

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