One of the earliest examples of interactive fiction! I can still remember when I read The Cave Of Time back in the sixth grade. The thing I liked about these books is (at least in the earlier volumes) they did not spare the reader a gruesome death if they made the wrong choice.

Yeah, these were great. I remember one where I got to be a ninja - deeply cool.

I crashed in Alaska in my first CYOA.

There was a spin-off series of books called Time Machine that had the same format, but with the reader travelling through various historical periods and/or events. Also way cool.

Did CYOA predate the Dungeons and Dragons Endless Quest series? While those were enjoyable, I prefered CYOA because of the wider variety of subject matter to choose from.

So, how many books are CYOA up to? A few hundred?

By the way, "kerriem the ninja?" Just one more of kerriem's many powers/skills!

I remember a wide variety of these interactive gamebooks. Some were more complex than others.

The Choose Your Own Adventure books were common in the UK but never seemed to have quite the same popularity as other series.

There was the D&D Endless Quest novels which in my mind were rather easy.

The (in)famous Fighting Fantasy novels and their advanced spin offs, the Sorcery series.

The Lone Wolf novels written by Joe Dever and Gary Chalk set in the fantasy world of Magnamund.

There was a ninja series.

The Falcon novels involving a sort of 'time police'.

The ninja books were called Way of the Tiger. I believe a computer game is being written now.

My all time favorite Gamebooks were the Lone Wolf series. Lots and lots of fun, even though, being a kid, I cheated at every turn.

GrailQuest was also terrific--it was user-friendly without being asinine (the rules were told in an off-handed way through dialogue, big maps were included in the back), it had a sense of humor (sometimes nastily so), and it didn't make a whole lot of sense (think lots of ways to die).

But here are my reviews of the Lone Wolf books that I have read (just the first 12).

1. FLIGHT FROM THE DARK: More like a Choose Your Own Adventure than a Lone Wolf one in that there are plenty of things to do in such a short span. Lone Wolf can fight bandits, attack the enemy, meet an ancient demon, fall into a crypt, ride with a merchant in his caravan, etc. Pretty amateurish writing style with some kickbutt illustrations (the picture of the "Madman" is a gem, as is the Gourgaz).

2. FIRE ON THE WATER: Well, from variety to non-variety. Fire on the Water is a well-written book with a clearly defined goal and appropriate events. Unfortunately, what has always bothered me about this book is its unfair style: If you lose the Seal of Hammerdal (depending on your choices early on, relatively easy to do), you can keep playing the book for a long period of time without incident, but are ineligible to win. If you lose all your money in Ragadorn, you are dead (but the book doesn't tell you). If you choose not o take the coach, you are dead (unfair). If you don't find the Magic Spear, there is a good chance you will die. I also don't like that the whole "killer on the coach" plot is unresolved: the same thing happens no matter who you pick as the murderer. On the plus side, the beginning and the end are awfully easy.

3. CAVERNS OF KALTE: I dislike the whole Kalte setting, as offbeat as it may be--it's rather bland. The whole thing improves greatly when you get into Ikaya--the appearance of the Helghast is neato, and there are some interesting ways to die (such as merely failing and going into disgrace or dying because of a cursed Doomgem). Not being able to actually fight Vonotar is annoying, however.

4. CHASM OF DOOM: For some reason, I've always considered this a Lone Wolf-as-slumming book because it seems kind of pointless (until the end, of course). The Dagger of Vashna, one of those Lone Wolf superweapons, gets introduced. Barraka could be a neat villain but is undeveloped. Some interesting set pieces--I especially like Maakengorge (although the ways to pointlessly die in the caverns are annoying).

5. SHADOW ON THE SAND: Arguably my favorite book. The early scenes in Vassagonia are perfectly written--you can do all sorts of things and there IS a way (heh heh) to actually avoid capture. The artwork is particularly effective in this book. The second half isn't quite as compelling, but does feature some wonderful set pieces (the Ikitar flight and the ultimate battle with Darklord Haakon in the Tomb of the Majhan). Not being able to fight Maouk is annoying, but Zakhan Kimah is introduced.

6. THE KINGDOMS OF TERROR: The book becomes impossibly hard at the end because of the various random ways to die (at the siege of Tekaro and in the sewers). One of my favorite parts is when the book solemnly asks you if you have a torch, but the same thing happens no matter what! D'oh! That's unfortunate because the beginning is tons of fun (the road to Varetta and the town itself has all kinds of diversions, some fun [archery contest, the Acolytes of Vashna], some not so fun [the pointless ability to head to Amory]). Roark and Cyrilius are interesting characters.

7. CASTLE DEATH: While the setting is unique (with lots of one-of-a-kind characters), the whole thing seems like Dungeons and Dragons and not Lone Wolf. The B-movie-like "I'll make you run my maze" is particularly annoying. And the ending is frustrating (oops, you lost your Backpack). The lack of characters to interact with is a tad bothersome, although the loony Zahda is a good Bond-style villain.

8. THE JUNGLES OF HORROR: No "big boss" this time (although the ending is no picnic with a ship about to explode), but a solid adventure with lots of diversions and deadly traps. I always prefer to travel by ferry to meet Count Conundrum and Kezoor the Necromancer, but you can see a lot of other things too. Good introduction to the nasty Darkord Gnaag.

9. THE CAULDRON OF FEAR: The actual Cauldron sequences are sort of flat (I'm drawing a blank), but the Tahou scenes are well done with some interesting plot points (I especially like the political plotting and the Guild of Thieves). The ending is a tad frantic, but it's great to see Zakhan Kimah (with the Orb of Death, uh-oh!), even if he is really really difficult to beat.

10. THE DUNGEONS OF TORGAR: I could never find this book until I read it at Project Aon.com. I like how it has two, possibly three ways to get to Torgar--with the partisan Sebb Jarel (the easiest), through the Isle of Ghosts (quite entertaining but hard), and battling Baron Shinzar (ditto). Seeing Roark AND Paido make a return appearance is classic (especially finally getting to kill the punk), and Demonlord Tagazin is certainly fascinating. The ending is a letdown (why is Paido even in the book then?), but some wonderfully fruity illustrations (the Big Ugly Drakkar) and a good twist ending (despite no big boss) make it work. The book may or may not be difficult, if you have the misfortune of fighting Shinzar AND Tagazin, you may find it quite hard indeed.

11. THE PRISONERS OF TIME: A weird, weird book set in another dimension. The Chaos Master never really interested me; he is one hard bugger though. The book does roar to live at the ending, with an appearance by the Villains of Sommerlund (should have had more returning bad guys) AND a classic surprise villain. The ending is quite difficult though.

12. THE MASTERS OF DARKNESS: A pretty linear story (there's no way around it--you have to go to Argazad) with a lack of choices at times. If you play it right (and are experienced), it can be very very easy indeed. The toughest part arguably is on the ship where you have to fight a sea monster AND the Drakkarim navy. Once on shore, if you play it safe, you should make it to Argazad where Kraagenskul isn't too difficult. In Helgedad, both Taktaal and Gnaag can be AUTOMATICALLY killed if you have the right weaponry (if you don't though, heh heh, it's tough). The writing style and illustrations are quite good, and I love Lone Wolf in disguise (as a Drakkar first than as a Liganim).

I remember the Grailquest books as well.

It should be noted that the Final Fantasy series is being rereleased, however, the original Book number 4 (or was it 5), Starship Traveller is not one of the ones being rereleased.

I've still got a couple Interplanetry Spy Series of CYOA books from Bantam, Space Olympics & Ultraheros. Fairly easy to complete but I still can't work out one or two of the puzzles fully.

Well, as my friend Demian Katz said on his website, it's been a good few years for gamebooks. One of the original authors of the CYOA series, R.A. Montgomery and his wife Shannon Gilligan have reissued many of the titles from the original series of 184 books.

They have new artwork and in some cases, revised text. I had quite a few of the reissues at one point, and then I sold them to Demian, whose website, "Demian's Gamebook Web Page" features reviews of thousands of gamebooks, most written by Katz, and I even wrote a few, too!

The link for his site for all the information you might want to know about any kind of gamebook is www.gamebooks.org .

Check it out!