Item - Journey Under the Sea

You are an underwater explorer seeking the lost civilization of Atlantis. There are lots of interesting events and places to explore, but the plot is not very focused, and it's all a bit silly.

2 out 5 stars

More reviews by auximenes

Rating: 2

The erratic R. A. Montgomery's very first entry in the series takes you deep underwater, where you discover some lost city. The story itself's pretty odd, with true random events as random as those generated by an fx-50 Casio Calculator. What's more, you easily get annihilated for no reason, and this is definitely not the best of R. A.'s works.

More reviews by barryattles

Although the writing is a little weak, this is a good gamebook. The mission to find Atlantis gives the reader a goal and sense of purpose, which generally makes these things a lot more fun.

More reviews by Demian

Wow! I love travelling undersea!

That's what I thought till I read it. If Montgomery didn't limit the pages, and put more undersea travel in instead, it'd be true to its name, "Journey Under the Sea!"

I thought you'd explore under water, meet sea creatures--the great stuff! But... it don't work that way!

But I still LOVE the randomness as you hope to find Atlantis. This is classic, original, and everything a Choose Your Own Adventure® should be. The title should be "Search for Atlantis," instead. 10/10

More reviews by Good

Journey Under the Sea isn't book one of the original Choose Your Own Adventure series, but it was R. A. Montgomery's first contribution, and in its own way is as much a pioneer as The Cave of Time. You are a deep-sea diver with the Maray, a research ship searching for the lost continent Atlantis. As our story begins, you ease into the lightless ocean depths on the Seeker, a one-man vessel engineered to withstand extreme pressures. The aquatic darkness is full of danger, but as you settle onto the ocean floor you must exit the Seeker to explore the terrain in your oxygenated suit. Will you stick with the ledge you landed on, or cut loose from the ship and dive deeper?

Stay close to the ship and you'll observe a giant squid in the area. You can signal the Maray to pull you back to the surface without delay, but you might end up battling the giant squid armed only with a spear gun. Once you return to exploring, without the giant squid to worry about, you may discover a manmade cavern that leads to Atlantis. Meeting the Atlanteans comes at a cost: to preserve their separatist culture they are likely to forbid you from ever returning to the human world. Are you okay not seeing your family or friends again if it means learning the secrets of this lost civilization? You could explore a sunken Greek ship instead, which conceals its own potential route to Atlantis. Sonar shows the hole is so deep it may go to earth's center; are you ready to risk such a journey? Another path to Atlantis reveals the lost continent has seen better days. The Atlanteans you meet claim the king is a despot, but do you want any part in a political revolution you don't fully grasp? You could form a plan to overthrow the king, or propose to assist him instead, but either way you wield a lot of leverage in this undersea drama.

Avenues to adventure splinter off in many directions. The early stages of your underwater excursion might see you stalked by a shark, or discover a fissure in the rock that emits bubbles, hinting at a humanoid presence. The Seeker shows signs of malfunction this deep down; should you harness the bubbles to buoy you back to the Maray? Saltwater dynamics can change in a heartbeat, and on the way up you'll likely be trapped inside a violent whirlpool. Don't be discouraged; obstacles like these may mean you're on the cusp of Atlantis. Get to the right spot and you'll meet the bizarre-looking Atlanteans, aliens who landed on earth thousands of years ago. They have no need of physical bodies, and near total control of space-time travel. Are they about to disclose the secret of the universe? Are you willing to relinquish the existence you know to become like them? Your original aspiration to locate Atlantis may have bigger implications that you could have conceived.

The writing is often dry and many endings are underdeveloped, but Journey Under the Sea is a gamebook classic. It opens up the throttle on exploration in a scary setting, but with a clear goal: to confirm the survival of Atlantis. You'll fight sea monsters and eerie hydro-phenomena to reach that goal, but the Atlanteans have lessons to teach, and you have the capacity to reciprocate. Despite extensive story branching, internal continuity is adequate. R. A. Montgomery on occasion wanders too deep into metaphysical crevasses, but this is a memorable book helped by Paul Granger's indelible illustrations. I like the innovation of a couple endings that offer an alternative finish if you "don't like" the first one. All things considered, Journey Under the Sea is a good first Choose Your Own Adventure for Mr. Montgomery.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

This book annoys me, since who or what the Atlanteans are changes depending on what plot you follow.

More reviews by kleme

This is very patchy. At first I thought it was quite decent - the choices and outcomes made sense for the first bunch of options I chose. But as I further explored every possible path it became apparent that a lot of it is totally inconsistent.

In a book like this you expect there to be an underlying setting and your choices are about your approach to that setting. In this book, the people you encounter often seem to be totally different - in one path a kingdom, in another the same people are a space-faring race, in another it's a secret lab. Maybe that's a valid approach but it takes away from the player's agency - it's just random stuff happening.

More reviews by nev

This book has lots of R. A's trademark metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, but at least it isn't too off-the-wall bizarre like some of his other books. Journey is a weak book to be sure, but thankfully it's not a spectacularly bad one. It has enough redeeming features to make it readable as some of the adventures are actually interesting, but I still can't really recommend it.

More reviews by Stockton

This book was pretty good. The writing could be better in some places, however, the adventures are usually pretty interesting. Something about this book, I liked, although I can't place my finger on it.

More reviews by Waluigi Freak 99