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chuckroI realize this is a totally random thing to write about, but this was the Choose You Own Adventure book I most clearly remembered (my elementary school library had it, and I read it a lot), and then I found it on Amazon for a penny + shipping, and it seemed worth the $4 for the nostalgia.
The thing I found most interesting was that, unlike the Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf books, the paths don't ever seem to reconnect: Each branch takes you off toward a series of different endings. Making a wrong first or second choice not only locks you out of the best ending, it locks you into a separate story path entirely. I think it's also a faster book to read/solve because of that--you're not trying to track interlocking variables like your character inventory, there are no combats to slow you down, and once you figure out that one path is hopeless, you're done with it. The "finger on the page you last made a choice on" will do 90% of the solving for you.
There appear to be three main paths in this book: Taking the observer ship leads to one, in which you'll either get trapped in the black hole forever or get rescued. Letting Nick fix the ship is a second, and the best of those endings will slingshot you through the black hole into the future. The best (and by far the longest) path requires you be on the main ship and you fix the damage yourself; that allows you to actually make it through the black hole, and most of the choices from there are one-offs (the wrong one leads directly to an ending) that will let you meet the Mind of the alien planet and eventually get home.
Also, randomly, Edward Packard went to Princeton. I almost want to look him up on Tigernet.
Anyone else have a favorite CYOA book they remember?
The thing I found most interesting was that, unlike the Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf books, the paths don't ever seem to reconnect: Each branch takes you off toward a series of different endings. Making a wrong first or second choice not only locks you out of the best ending, it locks you into a separate story path entirely. I think it's also a faster book to read/solve because of that--you're not trying to track interlocking variables like your character inventory, there are no combats to slow you down, and once you figure out that one path is hopeless, you're done with it. The "finger on the page you last made a choice on" will do 90% of the solving for you.
There appear to be three main paths in this book: Taking the observer ship leads to one, in which you'll either get trapped in the black hole forever or get rescued. Letting Nick fix the ship is a second, and the best of those endings will slingshot you through the black hole into the future. The best (and by far the longest) path requires you be on the main ship and you fix the damage yourself; that allows you to actually make it through the black hole, and most of the choices from there are one-offs (the wrong one leads directly to an ending) that will let you meet the Mind of the alien planet and eventually get home.
Also, randomly, Edward Packard went to Princeton. I almost want to look him up on Tigernet.
Anyone else have a favorite CYOA book they remember?
