Item - Inca Gold

I had somewhat high hopes for this adventure -- archaeological themes tend to appeal to me, and this is a bit faster-paced than many of the later entries in the series, with a higher number of endings and generally briefer text sections between choices. Unfortunately, it is the book's brevity that prevents it from being especially satisfying -- while there are a number of dead-ends and tangents to prevent the reader from finding the Lost City, once the path to it is discovered, it isn't especially satisfying. In arguably the most successful ending, you completely elude the villains and thus reach a conclusion rather lacking in excitement. Down another path, the bad guys can reach a sufficiently gruesome fate, but the success of your mission is less clearly defined. Either way, the opportunity to experience the thrill of archaeological adventure by making choices within the ruins is sadly missing. In the end, whether your choices lead you to success or failure, you're likely to close the book feeling that something is missing.

More reviews by Demian

Little information is available about Jim Becket. He seems to have written only one gamebook besides this one, but he graduated from Williams College, same as Choose Your Own Adventure franchise architect R. A. Montgomery. Is that how Becket came to author this book? You and your friend Sally love antiquity's mysteries, and one day NASA photographs you have special access to appear to show an area in the jungles of Soledad, Peru that could be the fabled Incan Lost City of Gold. You and Sally travel to Peru to check out the site, but at the airport you spot Paul Leduc—a reclusive billionaire—and a Professor Maloder, who was previously convicted on smuggling charges. These two may be spying on your research and want the Lost City of Gold for themselves. Should you head to Soledad without delay, or behave as tourists wandering Machu Picchu to throw these men off the scent?

Before you can leave for Soledad, you notice a pair of flunkies monitoring your hotel. You and Sally split up to confuse them, but they turn aggressive, trying to run your taxi off the road. If you elude them and make it back to Sally, you learn her friend Mario is a licensed pilot willing to parachute you into Soledad, but maybe it's safer by land. It's a multi-day bus ride to the river-town of Tres Cruces. Do you want to interrogate the twin brothers who live there about the Lost City of Gold? One of them always tells the truth and the other only lies, but discern the truth teller and you'll find the lost Incan city. If you accepted Mario's offer to parachute you in, you and Sally get separated midair. Kalotaxidi, a totally silent Incan man, tries to divert you away from a crew of bulldozer workers. He may lead you not only to Sally, but something else valuable. You have the option to continue your search, but Peruvian jungles are hazardous. There's a reason no one has found the Lost City of Gold. Go to the men with bulldozers instead of Kalotaxidi, and you're soon ensnared in a bloodsport that proves Paul Leduc is more sadistic than you thought. Step lightly and there remains a chance to fulfill your quest.

Did you try to shake Leduc and Professor Maloder by going first to Machu Picchu? You marvel at the soaring heights of the ancient site, but crisis arrives in the form of Maloder and two thugs. You and Sally could swipe a couple hang gliders, soar down the mountainside, and escape on a train, but luck isn't with you: a pack of guerrilla freedom fighters storms the train and capture its passengers. The men negotiate with authorities for their own release and demand a passenger as hostage; will you volunteer? Going with the men could see you put on show trial for crimes you never committed, but if you don't go, the terrorists accelerate the train directly toward a concrete wall. Will you make it out alive, and can you save the terrified passengers? Maybe you stayed on the mountain rather than take the hang gliders, in which case you hide among a group of spiritualist hikers from California. Maloder may not think to look for you here, but unless your choices eventually lead to Soledad, you'll never enter the Lost City of Gold.

Foremost among this book's problems? It's dull. There's no zip to the narrative, no feeling of high stakes or larger-than-life adventure. Over the course of one hundred fifteen pages, that becomes a joyless slog. The scenario where one brother always lies and the other tells the truth can work when used as an abstract logic puzzle, but just made this book feel unserious and contrived. A single storyline leads to full discovery of the Lost City of Gold, and while that level of difficulty can be done in appealing ways, here it makes the reading experience feel tedious. One neutral point worth making is that this is the rare Choose Your Own Adventure which explicitly defines your gender; in this case, you're male. All told, I won't reach for Inca Gold again soon when revisiting the series.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74

We read this together with a first grader (in lieu of Mystery of the Maya, which seemed a little blood-thirsty). We enjoyed reading it but felt that the introduction was rather long before you got to a place where you can make a choice. After all, making choices is what it's all about!

Personally, I liked the archaeology theme and South America is always a good choice for me, so I enjoyed it.

More reviews by LibraryLady