This is a very atypical Choose Your Own Adventure, with comparitively low-key realism the order of the day here. Although Jim Wallace has written this fairly well after a shaky start, and since he's searched for gorrillas himself (his little profile tells us that much, but not whether he actually found any), his knowledge cannot be faulted- a book concerning nothing but mountain gorillas surely has limited appeal, and my eyes were never glued to the page. You're definatly not written as a kiddie in this story, which is interesting, and you're portrayed as an adult in the illustrations also.
If you love mountain gorillas, you're sure to get a kick out of this, but if you're not, it's not a hugely rewarding read.
My copy also includes the stories of the Australian winners of the 'Write Your Own Adventure Competition,' which are mildly amusing, particularly the one of the girl who's very keen on obscure objectives.
I was hoping this would be more mysterious fun in the veign of other early 'mystery' titles in the series, but alas, there's no mystery here. You'll either encounter a bunch of typical bad dudes stirring up trouble for your Auntie whats-her-name, or a load of spiritual mumbo jumbo about eagles and stuff. None of it's much of a thrill, really.
Written by: Jay Leibold. Illustrated by Don Hedin
At it's best, Ura Senke is a fascinating insight into Japanese culture. At it's worst, it's just an unremarkable run-around with bad guys that could be from any country. The illustrations are also a little on the bland side. Overall Ura Senke very solid though, the tea ceremony is a particularly interesting part of the story.
Written by: Edward Packard. Illustrated by: Ron Wing
007 stuff again, but this time it's writen by Richard Brighton. This story has lots of different deaths in it!
Written by: Ellen Kushner. Illustrated by Judith Morrill
Enjoyable historical romp, with a very welcome "about the facts in the book" page at the end.
Written by: Louise Munro Foley. Illustrated by: Leslie Morrill
Written by: Edward Packard. Illustrated by: Don Hedin
Written by: Deborah Lerme Goodman. Illustrated by: Ron Wing
Written by: Edward Packard. Illustrated by: Ted Enik
Written by: Shannon Gilligan. Illustrated by: Frank Bolle
Not as good as her last one, but still a suitably mysterious and enjoyable adventure with well-written characters (particularly the uncle). There are however too many pages are dedicated to rescuing the "wise" old lady at the corner store from a couple of obligatory nasty bad guys for my liking.
While we're complaining, the title's a bit dodgey too - why not just call it The Sprit Tree? (not PC enough?)
Deboroah's back with some more mythology, and since I love mythology, I loved this book. While the trumpet itself isn't particularly interesting, the background of Norse mythology is, and this is good fun throughout.
Enik's illustrations suit the story well too.
Ellen Kushner is one of the better CYOA writers; she's good at choosing interesting things to write about. But then going by the titles I've read thus far, in general the women churn out more consistantly good ones then the blokes. This is no exception, bring a fun romp into the land of sprites and magic.
Mitchell's illustrations compliment the text perfectly.
Written by: Jay Leibold. Illustrated by: Frank Bolle
Written by: Ellen Kushner. Illustrated by: Ted Enik
Lots of fun to be had in Terror Island, with exciting stuff happening left,right and centre.
Heaps of silly International characters to chat to, and the addition of having an injured friend to save as well as yourself adds an interesting extra challenge and dimension to the story.
However, being well-known for my fondness for beautiful girls of Asian origin, I have to say I felt somewhat let-down by Ron Wing's depiction of 'Ling.'
Oh, and look out for a cameo from 'Count Zoltan,' the lead vampire from Ton Koltz's previous (and unfortunatly only other) CYOA title "Vampire Express!"
This is about the infamous Bermuda Triangle. What might we encounter in it? Crooks, aliens and Atlantis!
I bet you didn't guess it would any of those?
This is mild fun, but it's all very forgettable, and while the aim of the story is apparently to find some girl who got lost (hence the title) it has very little to do with her, with only one ending involving you actually finding her; And when you do, it's all very low-key stuff, and the word I used before... Forgettable.