Cinder’s Adventure: Get Me to the Wedding! by Marissa Meyer

Information

Goodreads: Cinder’s Adventure: Get Me to the Wedding!
Series: None
Age Category: Young Adult
Source: Purchased
Published: March 15, 2022

Official Summary

Cinder, the star of the Lunar Chronicles, is getting married! She and Emperor Kai have made it to their big day – now all Cinder has to do is show up and say “I do.” But it’s not so easy when there are twists and turns and obstacles along the way, and you, the reader, are in control of her fate, along with the many friends and strangers she meets on this adventure. Can you and Cinder make it to happily ever after?

For fans of the #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer, this is the ultimate interactive celebration of all things Lunar Chronicles. And, bonus: you’ll also discover characters and settings from Heartless, Renegades, Instant Karma, and Gilded, along with so many possible endings! This inventive and fun adventure is a must-have for fans, only available as an e-book exclusive.

Review

I love choose your own adventure books (I know that specific term is trademarked, but it’s what everyone calls this type of book; sorry!), so I was thrilled to see one from one of my favorite YA fantasy authors! I admit I do think it seems a bit gimmicky?, but I can get behind gimmicky sometimes. And did I say I love choose your own adventure books?

It was my fault, however, that I did not read the summary of Get Me to the Wedding carefully. I had assumed this book was purely set in the world of the Lunar Chronicles and that the different paths would be semi-realistic (in terms of the world building of the Lunar Chronicle series). Instead, Get Me to the Wedding is a mash-up of literally every book Marissa Meyer has ever written, so there are scenarios of Cinder running into the Jabberwock from Heartless, the Erlking from Gilded, etc. (There are supposed to be references to the Renegades series and Instant Karma, as well, though I don’t think I found those paths yet.)

The effect is extremely bizarre. Everything is kind of just thrown together and it doesn’t really make sense, and it certainly relies on the reader having read basically all of Meyer’s back catalogue. And then a lot of time on each path is spent on Cinder’s being very confused about where she is and how there’s different magic from in her world, etc., every single time you pick a different path. I know a lot of readers are going to think this is incredibly fun seeing everything mixed together, but I honestly mostly found it trippy and weird. I just wanted a book with Cinder doing relatively normal things in her own world. Again, my fault for not paying attention to the book description,

In terms of formatting, I really liked that instead of being sent to a specific page when I made a choice in the adventure, I was sent to a specific chapter. This made it a lot easier to navigate as an ebook, as I could just go to the table of contents if I wanted to find something specific and click the chapter link there. I am officially nominating this as an idea that more choose your own adventure books follow.

So, this was okay for me. I was entertained for about 15 minutes. I’m glad I bought it with promotional credits from Amazon, though, because it wouldn’t have been worth the list price for me. I love Marissa Meyer in general and I am extremely looking forward to Cursed being released soon, but meh. I’ve just read a lot of other choose your own adventure books I thought were more interesting. Check this out if you’re a Meyer super fan, I guess.

Knights Club: The Comic Book You Can Play by Shuky, Waltch (Illustrations), Novy (Illustrations)

Information

Goodreads: Knights Club: The Message of Destiny
Series: Knights Club
Source: Quirk Books (books #2 and #3 for review)
Published: 2019, 2020

Official Series Summary

This middle-grade graphic novel series makes YOU the valiant hero of a fantasy quest–pick your panel, find items, gain abilities, solve puzzles, and play through new storylines again and again!

The Message of Destiny (Book #2) Summary

In the School of Knighthood, Captain Karinka trains her students to make them worthy of the elite royal guard, and you do pretty well! So the king entrusts you to carry a message of utmost importance to the leader of the neighboring country. But traps and enemies await! Forge your weapons, win points, be victorious in battle, and advance through the levels to become strong enough to see your mission to a successful end. 

Review

Quirk Books sent me books #2 and #3 in the Knights Club series for review, which can easily be read/played without reading book #1 (which I have not, in fact, read).

I gave Iron Magicians: The Search for the Magic Crystal, another interactive comic book from Quirk Books, five stars, so Knights Club should have been easy to love for me. However, I found the game play more complicated and overwhelming than in the other book, and I didn’t have the patient to finish.

I love the premise of training for knighthood and being able to pick different skills and abilities, but this series is really involved in terms of keeping track of your different types of points, items, magic cards, etc. I wasn’t sure I was doing it correctly even after referencing the directions several times and had no idea whether I was giving myself too many points in certain areas or cheating myself out of having more. I eventually sort of gave up and decided I would just decree I had enough points to do whatever I wanted to do, so I could keep moving through the book.

I also think the series is very based on battles and determining whether you have the right schools and point numbers to defeat your enemies, and I’d rather have more choose-your-own path choices than fights. Rolling a dice or spinning a wheel to see how much “damage” I’ve given an enemy and how much “damage” they’ve given me has never particularly interested me in any type of game, so having to do that a lot in this book was not overly interesting to me.

I do think this is a good idea, but you need to be right audience for it, someone who wants a fairly complicated book/game that has more battles than riddles or random choices, and I just wasn’t that audience.

Case Closed #2: Stolen from the Studio by Lauren Magaziner

Information

Goodreads: Stolen from the Studio
Series: Case Closed #1
Source: Library
Published: August 13, 2019

Official Summary

Carlos Serrano needs your help—again! His mother has received an urgent assignment to find the missing star of a wildly popular TV show, but she won’t let Carlos investigate!

With his genius friend, Eliza, and her little brother, Frank, along for the case, Carlos is excited to examine the studio for clues and interrogate suspects on the set of Teen Witch, but he has to keep his detective work hidden from his mother’s laser-sharp gaze. And just like before, he can’t do it without you!

Can you help Carlos and his friends solve the puzzles and stay out of trouble long enough to save Layla Jay? Or will it be case closed?

Review

Case Closed #2: Stolen from the Studio is an even stronger installment than the first in this fun choose-your-path series about a boy and his friends attempting to help his private eye mother solve cases.  While the mystery still seemed straightforward to me and the varying choices are not quite as complex as in some other interactive books, I recognize this is because this series is aimed at middle grade readers, and I’m simply not the target audience.  I was still entertained, however, and enjoyed going along with Carlos and company as we put our sleuthing skills to the test.

Case Closed #1: Mystery in the Mansion had more of Magaziner’s signature quirkiness, but I actually appreciated that Stolen from the Studio built excitement naturally from its setting and premise—a young star is missing from the set of popular television series Teen Witch—and less on the random insertion of things like ball bits and alligators  (at least in the paths I chose; I admit I didn’t explore every one).  This made the story more cohesive and realistic to me, even as the characters (and the reader!) are exploring a Hollywood TV set, something most of us will undoubtedly not get to do in our lifetimes. 

A bit of quirkiness is added by the young character Frank, who likes to scream random things at random moments.  The annoying, illogical child who unexpectedly ends up being helpful with their random suggestions is not my favorite character, but it is something of a staple in middle grade novels (along with potty humor and whatnot), so I’m sure this will also appeal more to the target audience than to me.    And I could appreciate being given wild options like, “Do an impromptu musical number” as part of my quest to solve the mystery.

Carlos’s mother is also a larger character here, since she was indisposed in book one, and watching the interactions between her and Carlos was lovely.  Carlos wants to go all out sleuthing, while of course his mother has protective instincts, and the give-and-take as they figure out how to be safe while stretching boundaries is great to see.

On a side note, I read this (like book one) as an e-book, and while clicking a link to get to the next part of the story is a convenience compared to flipping through paper pages, I still found it impossible to navigate backwards if I lost the case, just didn’t like my choice, or even accidentally hit the wrong link.  The book implied I should be able to “hit the back button” to get to my previous location, but doing so only made me exit the book entirely, and I had to start at the beginning and redo all my choices to get to my place.  Adding bookmarks at random intervals was my only solution.

So, yes, read this book and have tons of fun, but I’d recommend the paper format.

The Oregon Trail: The Race to Chimney Rock by Jesse Wiley

Information

Goodreads: The Race to Chimney Rock
Series: Oregon Trail #1
Source: Borrowed
Published: September 2018

Summary

It’s 1850 and you and your family are setting off to start a new life in Oregon.  Do you head out in May or April?  Do you bring more food or more wagon parts?  Should you ford the river?  Your choices determine your fate in this choose-your-own-adventure book.  The first in a four-book series.

Review

This upbeat choose-your-own-adventure book manages to make education fun as it takes readers partway down the Oregon Trail.  From the very first pages, readers decide their destiny as they select when to set out, what to pack, and what routes to take.  The choices are abundant throughout, giving readers plenty of different pathways to explore.  Best of all, even though there’s only one path to Oregon, not all of the other endings are gruesome deaths.

The book does a nice job of balancing narrative with choices, so readers are never waiting too long to take another pathway, but are also not rushed through the story.  A guide at the back helps readers make the “correct” choices as it explains how to treat snake bites, avoid water-borne illnesses, and ford rivers.  Other decisions, however, are left to the discretion of the readers.  It can often be interesting to see how one small choice can completely change the character’s fate.

This book has much to recommend it, and not just to history teachers.  Fans of historical fiction, interactive books, and the classic Oregon Trail computer game will have find a lot to love here.  And the best part of all?  There are three more books to explore.  Onto Oregon!

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris

Information

Goodreads: My Lady’s Choosing
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: April 3, 2018

Official Summary

The romance novel that lets you pick your path, follow your heart, and find happily ever after

You are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of eighteenth-century society, courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand. Will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet Sir Benedict Granville? Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving highlander Captain Angus McTaggart? Or perhaps race through the chapters chasing a good (and arousing) man gone mad, bad, and scandalous to know, Lord Garraway Craven? Or read on recklessly and take to the Continent as the “traveling companion” of the spirited and adventuresome Lady Evangeline? Or yet some other intriguing fate? Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining!) storylines. And in every path you pick, beguiling illustrations bring all the lust and love to life.

Review

I don’t normally read romance novels, but I’m a big fan of choose your own adventure books, so picking up this one was an easy decision for me.   I read the e-book, which conveniently allows you to just click the link to your next adventure but does not really allow you to decide you actually wanted to make the other decision and backtrack.  😉 Overall, however, it was a fun experience.

The general idea is that you are a twenty-eight year old woman of the nineteenth century; it’s now or never for you to find a husband before you’re doomed to spinsterhood.  The book presents three main options: a rich lord with a biting tongue, a kindly Scotsman, and a brooding Romantic hero who makes Byron look tame.  The nod to different romance genres is pretty fun. You have a Pride & Prejudice-esque story, a Scottish romance, and a Gothic romance.  Even better, there are actually other choices for romance along the way, including one romance with a woman.

The number of paths was really quite impressive. Oftentimes these types of books give you kind of an illusion of choice, but the paths ultimately converge, but I got consistently different results with each choice I made as I read and reread the book.  I also appreciated that it really is a fluffy romance, and I didn’t end up dead or horrifically maimed or anything I associate with a lot of the choose your own adventure books from my childhood.  It’s just romance around every corner!

I admit, however, to being slightly stressed by some of the options, as if there were actually a “right” answer.  I mean, it’s a romance book, so do I choose “throw caution to the wind and throw my body at the dashing Scot?”  Or do I remember that I am a proper young lady of the nineteenth century and try to reign in my passion?  Somehow it seems like a trick. 😉

Finally, I enjoyed that the book is a bit tongue-in-cheek about romance novel plots and language.  There’s a whole scenario where you hook up with a postal worker, and everything is describe with postal puns.  If you want to see ridiculous romance euphemisms for male and female body parts, My Lady’s Choosing has you covered.

Overall, this book is basically what you would expect it to be, and it’s good at it.  If you like romance and what to feature as the protagonist in your own nineteenth century novel, pick this one up.

Content Note: This is probably self-evident, but we review a lot of middle grade and young adult books here, so I just want to be clear.  This is an adult romance novel and includes many explicit sex scenes.

 

To Be or Not To Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure by Ryan North

Information

Goodreads: To Be or Not To Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure
Series: None
Source: Purchased
Published: July 16, 2013

Summary

A choose-your-own-adventure story based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Choose to be either Hamlet, Ophelia, or the ghost and then see how the play ends!

Review

To Be or Not To Be is—well, it’s the question—but it is also a supremely clever book, a success both in the choose-your-own-adventure genre and in the Shakespeare adaptation genre. Author Ryan North first gives readers (interactors? Actors?) three character choices, and they’re the good ones: Hamlet, Ophelia, and the ghost. North covers the main character, the female character, and the supernatural character, all tempting options. Sure, someone will always have wanted to be Horatio or Claudius, but the book can’t be 1000 pages long. As things stand, the choices are pretty awesome, and from there things only get better.

To Be or Not To Be is not one of those sad choose-your-own-adventures where you frustratingly die no matter what you do, or where your story ends after two minutes. Dying is still a possibility, but so are awesome things like becoming the monarch, having a happy life, or having a mediocre life. Some storylines offer sweet surprises, like momentarily getting to be a different character, and most of the storylines are a satisfying length. The options are also good ones. There is no making simple decisions about whether you are going to walk left or right when you go to take a stroll about the palace; instead, most of the options make you feel as if you can actually put some thought into what you’re going to do and have some real agency over where your story goes.

There is some “leading.” The author has a particular brand of humor (and it imbues enough of the book that I can imagine readers who dislike this brand of humor will quickly become frustrated with the book), and he occasionally offers commentary on whether he thinks you are going to make a silly decision or whether he thinks Shakespeare’s characters made silly decisions. This is an author who has a lot to say if you play Ophelia as a meek young woman submitting to her father and brother’s commands. However, the commentary does not feel overly pushy. I can’t imagine someone not picking an option just because the author poked fun at it a bit. In fact, it might inspire some people to pick that option anyway.

In addition to providing pervasive commentary on whether North thinks Shakespeare’s characters are logical or progressive or whatever, North also throws some attention to the original Hamlet by marking with a little skull the actions that Shakespeare’s characters would have taken. So readers can interact with the play how it generally unfolds in Shakespeare’s world, or they can “rewrite” the play by taking new actions. North also gives a clever nod to the play-within-the-play by including a book-within-his-book. This is a mini choose-your-own-adventure, though as far as I can tell there aren’t too many paths to take in order to get to it.

Overall, To Be or Not To Be is both entertaining and education. I imagine someone would have to already be familiar with Hamlet to really “get” it—to enjoy the allusions, in-jokes, etc., but it functions well enough as a choose-your-own-adventure and gives enough clues as to what happens in Shakespeare’s Hamlet that familiarity doesn’t seem strictly necessary. Recommended for both Shakespeare fans and people who are sick of dying in choose-your-own-adventures.