Sophie and her eight-year-old son took a look at two LEGO ideas books together. Beasts from Bricks by Ekow Nimako and How to Build Brick Cars by Peter Blackert provide step-by-step instructions to build a wide variety of cars and creatures without needing to buy an official boxed kit. Both books provide a full parts list for each build, lots of full-color photographs of each step, and plenty of interesting background information on all the different animals and vehicles you can build.

The difficulty level for each model is about the same all the way through Beasts from Bricks, but increases as you move through the How to Build Brick Cars with simpler creations such as the V-8 Coupe and Roadster (155 pieces) at the beginning, progressing to the Bugatti Veyron (593 pieces) at the end. Even the easiest builds in both books are more complex than a lot of simple LEGO kits, so younger children are likely to need adult help to complete the models.

Of course, unlike buying a premade boxed kit, you will need to go out and purchase the bricks you need to build any of the models in the book unless you are very lucky and happen to have all the pieces required. Despite having a toy chest brimming with many decades worth of accumulated LEGO blocks, Sophie wasn’t even close to having everything she needed to complete even the simplest of models from these books. Purchasing them would easily set her back the cost of simply buying an existing kit, and that’s before the cost of the book itself is factored in. Parents who consider these books need to bear this in mind as they may end up spending a lot of money on new blocks in order for their children to be able to use them.

Sophie and her son enjoyed looking through these books and seeing how the models were put together. It also inspired her son to try out some new ideas on his own with his LEGO building. However, when it came to actually building anything, Sophie’s son opted to spend his money on other LEGO rather than the pieces he would need to complete any of the designs in the books, and Sophie imagines most kids would do the same. These are great books for serious adult LEGO fans looking to work on new projects, but are probably best avoided for kids.

This book is excellent for any LEGO fans out there - it has some great idea, brilliant images and it is easy to follow - great book!!

While cars aren't really my thing, I can appreciate the attention to detail that went into these models. The instructions are clear and each model had options for changing the end result, not to mention offering various colors that you can built it in.

How to Build Brick Cars by Peter Blackert a book to build lego models without having to buy the whole lego set. The book has instructions to build a BMW I8, Porsche 911, the Bugatti Veyron, and many other cars. The pictures are clear, the instructions are also clear, concise and easy to understand. There is a good selection of cars to try. Each set of instructions has a list of which pieces are needed. The instructions are not necessarily color specific, so if you don't have blue, then it can be done in red.

I received this ARC from Quarto Publishing Group and Motorbooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My son really enjoyed looking through the book at the directions and he was excited to try building some of the cars. He wasn't thrilled about working with the digital edition of the book so for us, this is a book best used in physical form. I'm thinking this would be a great Christmas present for him this year.

Detailed LEGO designs to build the brick cars.........

This book gives a detailed list of pieces and how to put them together. Awesome for die hard car fans. If you don't have the lego piece, you could order it as it also gives part numbers. Great for kids and adults alike!!

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

While the idea of this book is great, the fact that the reader/builder needs to own expensive speciality Lego sets prior to attempting the cars shown defeats the purpose of the book since it seems to be aimed at young adults and/or children.

This is another great title for the Lego lovers in your life! I enjoyed the blurb about each vehicle chosen. Facts like that will appeal to the car fanatics. The pages covering the necessary Lego pieces and the schematics for building are clear and easy to follow. The 2017 Ford Raptor is a must make now in our house!

This is an excellent book for those who love Legos. It provides detailed instructions for a wide range of cars. It's organized into beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections, which will be attractive to readers with a wide range of skills.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy.

Finally, a book to build lego models without having to buy the whole lego set. My 10 year old loves lego, and I've looked at loads of lego books in the past to get ideas for the huge box of lego pieces that we have. But, the majority, if not all, of these books only have 'ideas', they don't have good clear instructions as to what pieces to use and how to build it. You can only get this calibre of instructions in the proper lego boxes, which we don't really need as we've got most of them!

My 10 year old, at the minute, is a bit of a 'petrolhead', he loves his cars, and to see a book on how to build lego cars is a dream come true. We've both looked through the book, and he loves the idea of being able to build a BMW I8, Porsche 911 and of course the Bugatti Veyron. The pictures are clear, the instructions are also clear, concise and easy to understand. There is a good selection of cars to try. Each set of instructions has a list of which pieces are needed also. They aren't necessarily colour specific, so if you don't have blue, then it can be done in red!!

Very good, will definitely be purchasing a hard copy when it is released! Five stars!