Perhaps the highlight of the book is the ending on page 78; the text is rather dull, but the illustration that accompanies it completely changes its tone and adds a wonderful twist. I can't help wondering if this illustration was "scripted" by the author or if it was simply added as a joke by the illustrator I wonder what convinced him to start using his real name You must find a way to purify it, perhaps with the help of a unicorn, before it is too late!
Translations: Catalan , Danish , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: The fantasy adventures in this series always tend to feel a bit flat when compared to the more interesting competition like the Endless Quest or Forgotten Forest books. This book is no exception, though it certainly isn't the worst of its kind. It's just a bit bland, and its unremarkable story isn't helped much by its disappointing gameplay -- victory is far too easy it's amazing just how many different ways you can find to purify the water , and when death comes, it tends to come at random, without warning.
As a result, the decision-making doesn't feel particularly meaningful, and the whole book is rather unsatisfying. It's time for something new: ghost hunting! The writing is decent, the story is adequate though unexceptional , and most paths through the book manage to be quite lengthy without being slow-moving. First of all, it is based on a true story; unless you count historical gamebooks, this sort of thing is unusual in the genre. Secondly, the book was adapted into a thirty minute television special which aired in ; as far as I can tell, this is the first and only time that an interactive book has been translated to a non-interactive visual medium.
Sadly, I've not yet had the good fortune of seeing the special. In any case, the book is nearly but not quite as strong as its predecessor, and it is similar in its exploration of an Asian culture and in its internally-consistent development of a mystery plot.
The writing is adequate, the choices are interesting, and solving the mystery is a challenge, but many of the story's conclusions aren't quite as satisfying as one might like them to be, and the clues are often found a bit too easily to be believed. He's behaving rather oddly, however, and his latest book seems a little too close to reality for comfort Translations: Catalan , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: This book has an intriguing story with some effective plot elements, but it isn't as strong as Louise Munro Foley's last entry in the series Danger at Anchor Mine for one critical reason: lack of consistency.
Some very important parts of the plot change depending on which choices are made, and a number of the questions posed by the book are never satisfactorily answered. As a result, the book has some wonderful paths through it, but as a whole, it isn't quite as enjoyable as it could have been. Also, a minor complaint -- the introduction to the story is quite long, and there is lots of page-turning during it.
Why do these books have so much pointless page-turning? It's fine if it's because of a choice or converging plot paths or even for suspense You are about to set off on your first sea voyage when you see a man who you believe might be Odin, the Norse god who once gave your great-grandfather a magical trumpet This time, however, Norse mythology is used instead of the Greek equivalent.
This is fairly interesting, as these stories aren't quite as well-known as their Greek counterparts. As in The Throne of Zeus , most of the mythological elements are featured only briefly in the interest of cramming as many strange events as possible into the story, but the book is definitely a decent introduction to Norse mythology -- once you've read about six-legged horses and boats made from the fingernail clippings of the dead, there's at least a fair chance that you'll be inspired to go out and look for more information.
Readers who already know about this stuff may be disappointed, however, as the book isn't all that interesting in itself; the consequences of most choices seem more or less random, so there's little satisfaction in the gameplay. Also worth noting are the illustrations -- I've always thought Ted Enik's thick-lined, cartoony drawing style seemed more at home in the Skylark books for younger readers than in this series, but a couple of the illustrations here would definitely not be appropriate for younger readers.
The picture on page is the most notable example, being surprisingly bloody! Some people can't seem to get enough of them! Actually, this is a fairly interesting entry in the series, delving into British folklore in a light but entertaining manner.
Of course, it's not as interesting as actual British books that cover the same material the Knightmare series, for example , but it's not bad. I was also once again pleased by the little details in Judith Mitchell's illustrations; as a Doctor Who fan, I was particularly happy to see jelly babies represented in the candy shop illustration on page There is one slight goof, however -- the startled girl on page 55 should be wearing blue jeans according to the text, not shorts.
Oh well. One morning, you wake up, and all is quiet. Too quiet. The introductory section is particularly well-written, conveying the world's silence effectively and eerily and seeming almost poetic coming from a Choose Your Own Adventure book.
While the story uses some of the most tired cliches of the series eccentric scientists and KGB spies, among other things , it does so with enough skill to rise well above the material. Things are helped further by its sense of humor; it's hard not to chuckle at the choice on page , for example. Also worth noting is the fact that the boy in the illustrations sometimes looks sort of like I did when I was younger and had less hair. If I'd read this at the time, I imagine this would have increased the immersion factor a bit!
Like its companion book, it handles its educational aspects pretty well, throwing interesting facts into the story periodically. The book really divides into two distinct stories. One of them, involving rather unsurprisingly time travel, doesn't always make a whole lot of sense, but its randomness is largely compensated for by its characters, all of whom are well-drawn if not particularly believable. I particularly enjoyed falling in with an early 20th-century anarchist!
The other story is more game-oriented, and it does a respectable job of allowing the reader to puzzle out a riddle, being designed in such a way that making a wrong choice initially still won't make the ultimate solution too obvious. On a whole, the book certainly isn't my favorite, but it is entertaining and has a good bit of variety in it, so it's worth a read. Translations: Catalan , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: Not satisfied with making tons of references to vampire literature in his last book, Tony Koltz has decided here to bombard the reader with nods to Mutiny on the Bounty.
A bit odd, but it provides something to watch for while reading. As in the other espionage stories of this series, the plot is both dated and ridiculous, but it's so over-the-top and campy that it's fairly enjoyable.
The colorful though sometimes stereotyped characters help to make the adventure readable, and I'm sure that many readers will also appreciate the presence of the occasional prehistoric monster.
This isn't really one of my favorite books, but at least it's not as bland as it could easily have been, and it does have a satisfying variety of outcomes, in terms of both story possibilities and degrees of success.
Translations: Catalan , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: This book is a definite change of pace for its author, who had only written fantasy up until this point. It actually feels like it belongs earlier on in the series, as its fast pace and many random and unexpected plot twists are rather reminiscent of the first dozen-or-so entries.
Really, I find it surprising that the series didn't capitalize on the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon sooner and also that they didn't mention the dreaded area in the book's title -- I imagine doing so would have increased sales. Anyway, the book has its ups and downs. It's nice to have only minimal time between choices and lots of things to try, and there's also a strong gameplay element, since finding Jill is definitely not easy.
The problem, though, is that victory isn't particularly exciting once you manage it. Actually, there's not a whole lot of satisfaction to most of the paths through the book, successful or otherwise -- it all goes by so fast that it rarely feels like anything has actually happened though there are some exceptions; I found the portion of the book where you encounter aliens to be at least a bit more intriguing than the rest of the story. There are also a couple of weird attempts at being educational -- in one section, for example, you increase your vocabulary by learning the word "seiche" just in time to get killed by one!
This book is great if your attention span is feeling short, but if you're looking for a fully developed story, you'd most likely do better looking elsewhere. Beyond Escape! Author: R. As the Chief of Operations for Turtalia, you face two immediate problems: the disappearance of two valuable agents and the escape of a dangerous Doradan spy.
Translations: Catalan , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: This sequel to the twentieth book in the series is probably an improvement. I say "probably" because, although I've read it several times, my memories of the original Escape are very dim. This book seems a little more likely to stick with me, and it's also written with more skill than earlier R. Montgomery works, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. My biggest complaint is actually with the artwork. It really doesn't match the text too well; it portray's the reader's character as a fairly young child.
This makes sense considering the book's audience, but it doesn't fit with the text of the book, which takes place quite a few years after the original book and which gives the reader some very authoritative dialogue that I can't envision coming from the figure in the book's drawings.
Actually, the entire book, not just the main character, is surprisingly mature, not in terms of potentially offensive content, but rather in tone.
The descriptions of the post-apocalyptic landscape and the frequent examinations of the Turtalian-Doradan political situation seem more likely to resonate with an adult than with a child -- I think I would have found this book unspeakably dull when I was ten years old, though I can't recall if I actually read it at that age. Having read it now, I can't say that I found the book thrillingly creative, but despite being about as ridiculous as any book in this series, it does have a number of effective moments that balance the usual handful of meaningless choices and frustratingly abrupt endings.
This was better than I expected it to be, and it's probably worth a read. Translations: Catalan , German , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: Having already read and reviewed the earlier edition of this book, I examined this one with a primary intent of finding out exactly what was revised.
As it turns out, there were enough changes to justify an entire article on the subject. Specifics aside, this book really does show that Edward Packard grew as an author between when the book was first written and when the revisions were made. He's ironed out all of the vague points, made the dangers to the protagonist more immediate and defined the characters better by adding a fair amount of dialogue.
As with the unrevised original, there's nothing amazing about this book if it's taken out of context, but as an important piece of gamebook history, it's worth at least a brief look. The adventures in this series tend to feel fairly bland to me, and I was expecting this to be yet another overly restrained story. The introductory segment certainly suggested that this was going to be the case, since great-aunt Celia's eccentricity wasn't portrayed in as outlandish a fashion as one might hope.
However, once things got going, this turned out to be quite possibly my favorite entry in the series thus far. The humor that the author displayed occasionally in her previous works is brought further into the foreground here, and the comedy is quite violent at times; thus, the book never feels overly sanitized, and it is certainly one of the few entries in the series that I think an adult audience could really enjoy without embarassment.
Because of this potential crossover appeal, and despite the fact that some of its material is a little dated, I feel that this book deserves a reprint -- I have a feeling it could be well-appreciated by the post- Harry Potter generation. Translations: Catalan , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: After enjoying the last book so much, I expected to find this one disappointing by comparison.
Unfortunately, my expectations were correct; in fact, this book is fairly disappointing by any standards. It's very much the prototypical Choose Your Own Adventure , featuring the expected smugglers and volcanic eruptions. It does have some good moments most notable is an atmospheric bamboo forest and a few interesting but clumsily inserted facts about Hawaii, but its good points are outweighed by its failings.
The book suffers from two of my biggest pet peeves. First of all, its plot has little consistency, since the silver sword moves around, and the seemingly inevitable volcanic eruption might or might not occur, depending on which choices the player makes. Even worse, many of the endings have little or no closure, either ending on a cliffhanger or failing to give the proper sense of victory and accomplishment.
The book isn't an absolute failure, but it's nothing special either. Unfortunately, I was a little bit disappointed. The book does have the benefit of a detailed and largely consistent plot, but it's just not all that compelling. The mystery aspect of the book never really intrigued me, and the horror elements failed to be particularly horrific. The book's awkward introduction of information about voodoo and Mardi Gras was also a problem, as were a couple of less-than-satisfying endings.
Others might like this more than I did, but for me, it just felt like it was missing something, and it never really held my attention. Freymann First Published: April, ISBN: early printings , later printings Length: pages plus glossary and special note Number of Endings: 29 Plot Summary: Something mysterious and disturbing is happening in your friend Nada's dojo, and you have to help her figure out exactly what is wrong.
Translations: Catalan , Spanish Argentina , Spanish Spain My Thoughts: This was the first of several books in the series featuring a martial arts theme. As a result, it's one of the most popular and frequently-reprinted entries.
Since I've never been especially interested in martial arts, I actually didn't read this book as a child; this is too bad, as I actually might have liked it. It's more about legends and spirits than about beating people up, and the pace is quite fast.
Although the writing isn't nearly as good as what was displayed in Jay Leibold's previous book and credibility is far too frequently stretched, it's a decent adventure, featuring numerous references to Japanese folklore and good plot consistency in the tradition of Louise Munro Foley's better work. Unlike Foley's successes, though, the tale doesn't reveal new facets with each read, instead tending to repeat the same small handful of revelations again and again.
This is too bad, as it seriously inhibits replayability. I quickly started collecting them, and I have a fairly large personal collection of them now. I read this one to my boys for bedtime over several nights. They went through many of the endings and were happy when they finally got the big win. What I really like about this book is the use of actual scuba diving terminology, with particular emphasis on the effects I love the Choose Your Own Adventure series - I started reading them in sixth grade, as my teacher had several in her classroom library.
What I really like about this book is the use of actual scuba diving terminology, with particular emphasis on the effects of decompression, nitrogen narcosis, and other realistic issues of diving.
The art is what I consider to be classical Choose Your Own Adventure art, with many of the pictures being evocative of the story being told. Feb 13, Savion Stfleur rated it really liked it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here. This book is great is very descriptive, action packed, and keeps you waiting for something good to come out of your choice from turning to the next page. The only reson why I rated the book 4 stars is because I died to fast and I felt the book should have latested longer.
I would recommend t This book is great is very descriptive, action packed, and keeps you waiting for something good to come out of your choice from turning to the next page. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes this series or any type of adventure books.
This was so much fun! I found it in a Little Free Library and absolutely loved reading through it. It's well organized, entertaining, and it has that lovely vintage charm. Also you can die in an exciting assortment of ways! I docked one point only because several included sharks, and though they tried to rationalize it "fishermen suddenly threw chum into the water!
Full disclosure: I gave it to my 9 This was so much fun! Full disclosure: I gave it to my 9-year-old sister, who classified it as "boring. Jan 23, Daniel Acosta rated it really liked it.
I think that this book was definitely my favorite book so far of the Choose Your Own Adventure series because this book is the longest so far. I lasted pretty long but them I died to a pirate ship. I would recommend to anyone who wants a short book that they can read in ten minutes or less. Feb 17, M. Little rated it really liked it. We spent a lot of time on this one.
The books cover an extremely broad array of subject matter, but there is some continuity between certain books in the series. Some stories follow straight on from each other, while others feature recurring characters like the adventurous Dr.
Nera Vivaldi or themes as in a long sequence of titles revolving around martial arts. There were several major spin-offs from the series. The first was Choose Your Own Adventure for Younger Readers , which simply takes the format and tailors it for a younger audience. An effort to ride the success of R. The books in the series have been released in a variety of forms. The most common are Bantam's editions, most of which are the standard size for small paperbacks, though the last nine titles in the series were released in a larger format more reminiscent of the Choose Your Own Adventure for Younger Readers books.
In addition to the previously mentioned Lippincott hardbacks, various titles can be found in large print hardback format thanks to the efforts of Grey Castle Press and Gareth Stevens Publishing.
The books are listed below in the order of their paperback publication, as this is the sequence by which they are numbered; however, in terms of chronological release, book eight came first, then book seven, then the rest. Thanks to Ed Jolley for the scan. Evolution of Sugarcane Island This article compares the original and revised editions of Sugarcane Island. I remember it well, circa our Primary School Librarian Ms. Whenever there was a decision to be made we'd have a show of hands, and democracy ruled.
We offer a collection of the best books from this series, as well as a Dragonlarks collection for younger readers. The Dragonlarks books are also Choose Your Own Adventure books, but the reading level is lower, and there is full-color art throughout each book. Shop Now for this series.
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