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Series - Star Challenge

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Language:English
Publishers: Dell -- United States
Knight Books -- United Kingdom
Categories: Complexity Level : Intermediate (Some Game Elements)
Format : Paperback
Game System : Scores
Genre : Science Fiction
Target Age Group : Older Children
Writing Style : Present Tense
Writing Style : Second Person
Translated Into: Avventure stellari (Italian)
Le Challenge des étoiles (French)
Csillagpróba (Hungarian)
El Reto de las galaxias (Spanish)
Star Challenge Series [スター チャレンジ シリーズ] (Japanese)

In this series, the reader takes on the role of a space adventurer living in the year 2525. The books are fairly straightforward, having only one gimmick: each ending has a score associated with it, and only a few allow the reader to rank as a "Space Ace." The first six books were reprinted in England with new cover art.

Gamebooks

1. Planets in Peril
2. The Android Invasion
3. The Cosmic Funhouse
4. The Exploding Suns
5. Galactic Raiders
6. The Weird Zone
7. Dimension of Doom
8. The Lost Planet
9. Moons of Mystery
10. The Haunted Planet

User Comments

There are a few obvious reasons these books were a critical and commercial flop on release. Rather than hearken to the grandiose adventurous type of otherworldly "exploration-of-the-universe" concept it uses, these are books which plunge into the very worst of the tropes and come out worse for wear. Reading like a so-bad-even-Elvira-and-Svengoolie-wouldn't-spoof-it old sci-fi franchise, the "Star Challenge" books are very easy to write off for good reason. Bland, generic, unimaginative, restrictively written and uninnovatively committed to playing it safe, these books don't even work as a throwback - and have absolutely no clue who their target audience is (reading like overly haughty, mature older adult novels from many decades before their release, despite their cheap, elementary packaging and execution). Written without an ounce of enjoyability or creativity, this should be passed on without regret - and trust me, you'll be missing nothing if you stay far away from this series. Avoid at all costs, no matter the cost.

--Shadeheart

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