Item - Smoke Jumper

This book is one extreme of the types of stories you can have in CYOA, in terms of character motive and story possibilities. I'd call this too deep and too narrow. This is almost the exact opposite of Space and Beyond. In this case, the introduction to the character and what they are doing is so long and their goal in the story is so narrow, that I as an adult find it hard to get interested in the story and wonder just how many young readers would maintain interest.

It takes forever for you to start making decisions, (page 11 out of 116) and then if you successfully make the obvious decision there, your next choice (what I'd call your first real choice) is on page 21. Slight spoiler: before reaching that first real choice you hear rumours of something that happened previously where "mysterious Indians came out of nowhere to help fight a fire." Seriously.

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I always expect Montgomery to put some craziness into his stories. In this case... there really isn't much too wild. There's some pretty standard adventure stuff, but there doesn't seem to be a mystical or alien angle to any of it.

This would normally be something I'd praise, but in this case, the rest of the story is too dry. It would have been nice to see something a little stranger take place.

Montgomery decides to do some character development on "you." There's a lot of material talking about how your father is dead, how you miss your relationship with your family. I looked around, and I can't find any reference to how your father died. It doesn't serve much of a story purpose, except to allow you to have introspective moments.

More reviews by Jordashebasics

Given this book's premise—your profession is fighting wildfires in the Pacific northwest—you might assume Smoke Jumper would be one of R. A. Montgomery's less weird offerings. However, it turns out to be, in its own way, one of the stranger Choose Your Own Adventures. You and your friend Bill are new recruits to fight the biggest forest fires in America. While training with others in the summer program, Henry Brouillard, the man in charge, offers two recruits immediate experience on a nearby fire. Should you grab the opportunity, or remain in jump school for now?

"Don't be afraid, and don't do things just because you think that's what other people want. Do what you think is right."

—Smoke Jumper, P. 38

Volunteering for Brouillard's job hands you a quick chance to prove your firefighting mettle. If you choose to patrol the perimeter of the burn zone for campers stranded by the flames, you run into a fellow named Milt Lombard from Los Angeles. He gives you creepy vibes, but claims his friend, Tim Martinez, is injured near the fires. Refusing to help Milt will put you in mortal jeopardy if he loses his temper, but agreeing to search for Tim might be just as dangerous. Milt isn't a guy you want to hang around long if you value your life and new career. Instead of riding the perimeter, you could go with Bill and a ranger named Haven toward the heart of the fire. If you spot a man on a faraway ledge signaling for help, be cautious about engaging. He may not be the victim he appears.

Who could blame you for staying with your jump class and forgoing a real fire right away? Finishing certification will expedite your process of becoming a full-fledged smoke jumper. The first night out in a tent with members of your class, Bill spies a pair of shadowy figures by the airplane you'll be jumping from in the morning. You're dealing with intruders who won't go easy because you're young; confronting them immediately has negative consequences, but even if you first notify Porky, your jump school leader, the problem is worse than you thought. Porky has already been assaulted, and you'll have to scramble to survive the terror these invaders plan on inflicting. Maybe you can prevent them from killing you or starting a conflagration in the woods, but you never expected this sort of problem when you dreamed as a kid of fighting fires.

There are a few reasons to compliment Smoke Jumper. Unlike most Choose Your Own Adventures, it has a backstory: your father loved the wilderness but died a while back, and you became a smoke jumper partly in his honor. You occasionally recall his wise observations as the story progresses. There's also genuine interplay between you and Bill, who sometimes resents you for making all the decisions. Your preeminence as choice-maker in the Choose Your Own Adventure series generally goes unchallenged, so it's intriguing to see Bill take umbrage. This book's problems, however, drag it down. No story path really takes you into a fire fight; instead, you end up combating either a solo eco terrorist or a group of them. It's as though R. A. Montgomery grew bored with the concept after thinking up the title, then elected to write a spy drama instead without bothering to change what it was called. Kevin Johnson's original cover art is pretty, though. All told, despite its mild inventiveness, Smoke Jumper is one of the least enjoyable Choose Your Own Adventures.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

[Rating: 0/10]
[Recommended? NO]

It's no surprise that the many hallmarks of the Choose Your Own Adventure - that is to say, atrocious writing, illogically contrived narrative sequences, the familiarly painful amount of pretentiousness, and so on - are in full force yet again here. Released amid the commercial decline from what I refer to as the golden age of fantasy literature (1970s/1980s, save in Japan where fantasy continued to flourish), "Smoke Jumpers" raises a lot of red flags before the story even gets going. The much-hated-by-me-and-many-others R. A. Montgomery brings out his usual bag of "tricks" (as in, an empty world of dimensionless caricatures deterministically doing whatever he arbitrarily commands, with done-to-death tropes, senseless narrative features, obvious split-path decisions and recycled elements shamelessly stolen from other works). The extra-linear structure of the book is more blatantly obvious than usual due to the long sections between choices and the highly unsuccessfully attempts at providing some "educational content" for readers, and from one scene to the next the story remains boring, belittling and just plain bad. Montgomery really is a pretentious, snarky piece of work, I tell you - not only is he as condescending as possible with his "authors' voice", the story lacks any sense of direction, accomplishment, understanding of the passing of time, concern for the interests of readers or overall interest in providing an interactive experience. And there are so few choices that, across the dozen endings, you, the reader, will in no time flat get the sense that this book is a life-draining exercise in futility.

At the end of the day I cannot recommend the book for any of its accomplishments or failings, nor do I generally recommend the CYOA series in general. It is DEFINITELY worth remembering, however, for its passionless array of highly contrived contents, literary incompetence and shameless intentions to pretend to offer educational instruction amid an utterly soulless excuse for a narrative. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

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