Item - Deadwood City

This western adventure is a fast and entertaining read.

More reviews by Demian

I really like this book, as it's one that I read many years ago. Not as a kid in school, but as an 18-year-old on my first job. I had been paid, and I went to my local used bookstore and bought a whole bag of used CYOAs, and this is the one that I enjoyed the best.

I have to disagree with Stockton's opinion that the character in the book that you are portraying is female. I mean, there are never any actual and definite indications as to the gender of your character, but as the illustrations show, even young males can have long hair. I mean, I have never really looked closer to see if there are any "female attributes" of the character that you, the reader, play in this book. But even is Stockton is correct, that Edward Packard originally meant to have the character in this book be a girl, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. I just think that the long-haired youth that the reader plays is maybe around 18 or 19 years old, and definitely male!

Other than that, this book is really quite enjoyable, as you can do many things in a town in the Old West. You can play poker, you can write and publish a newspaper, you can ride shotgun for a gold or mail shipment, and you have the option of working at numerous cattle or sheep ranches. Along one story path you can make friends with various Indian tribes. There is also the storyline of going into gold mining. And then there is the "king of the outlaws" to watch out for, Kurt Malloy. You can join his band and get arrested, or join a townspeople's posse and bring him and his gang to justice!

So, this being one of the first books in the original CYOA series, it is one of Packard's greats. I recommend it!

More reviews by drereichdude

As with the majority of Edward Packard's books, this title does not disappoint. From what I understand, this is technically the first Choose Your Own Adventure book, having been originally published in 1978 by a different publisher and released as the 8th title under Bantam Books a couple of years later. This alone makes this an intriguing book, as it is always great to read the books that serve as the foundation to a series, whether it be with gamebooks or that of another series.

The stories in this one are, for the most part, enjoyable. As we see in many of Packard's books and in this book, certain sections and threads cleverly loop into one another, making the experience(s) longer or shorter depending on the path taken. The consistency is great and the text is well-written -- another trademark of Packard. Though the overall experience may not be as memorable as some of his later works would be, this book is a fine example of what gamebooks can do and what kind of experiences they can provide in terms of decision making and choices.

More reviews by Enigmatic Synergy

What a unique little entry in the series.

While I'm not much of a fan of westerns, which kept me from checking this out for a lot longer than it should've, I found this to be a pretty interesting interactive book. It's more about exploring the things to be done in a wild west town meaning you have a lot of different options instead of one singular goal that all the space is developed to pursuing.

There's definitely a villain to defeat should that be what strikes your fancy, the demonic-looking gent with the unfortunate dental problems on the cover, but you can also look for work on a ranch, join a poker game at the saloon, make friends with the indigenous peoples, start a newspaper, become a guard on a stagecoach route, etc. It's fun seeing what all there is to do in the book, and it's kind of a shame that as the series went on it slipped farther and farther away from this approach and having a single centralized goal all the time. Part of the fun of rereading interactive books is to see all the possibilities, after all, and there's more incentive to do that when you aren't forced to accomplish the same thing every time.

More reviews by Fireguard

Best Wild West book in the series! Whether you're looking for work, or just love Wild West books, it's one to read. The hundreds of choices really build it.

Even though there's lots of Wild West flavor and random events, Packard ties them together beautifully, like he always does. I love all you can do: Play cards or battle Kurt Malloy! Or you can work at a ranch, or even work on a newspaper!

Other than Paul choosing to draw a girl, I wonder also why on the back, the book reads, "You might end up looking down the barrel of Malloy's gun!" since he NEVER kills you.

Great book! I highly suggest this! 10/10!

More reviews by Good

Nearly every page has a decision, and I really like that (as long as not every entry in the series follows suit)! The reader involvement level is very high, and the great variety in storyline possibilities truly gives you the freedom to craft your own completely unique story. This book is always one of the first that comes to mind when I'm going to read a CYOA book.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

This book is one of my least favourites mainly because there isn't a story about the character. It starts when you enter the town. There is no information about the character. Outlaw Gulch was a way better Western book than this one.

More reviews by Mr ?

Although the Wild West isn't really one of my favourite subjects, this isn't a bad book. Just about everything that can happen in the Wild West does. Two points going against it are the lack of a precise goal, and that it's a little more childish than other CYOA books (no one, for example, seems to notice that your character is a girl – something that would have been very out of place in the real Wild West). Apart from that, it's decidedly above average and covers a lot of ground without being weird or excessively random.

More reviews by Stockton