Item - You Are a Monster

This adventure has a fun premise, and it follows it to a broad variety of conclusions, but it's not entirely satisfying. Text often runs a bit too long between choices, made doubly irritating by unnecessary "turn to page X" instructions after nearly every individual page. In these long stretches of linear story, perfectly good opportunities for reader choice are overlooked, and some of the plot twists and characterizations that present themselves stretch credibility even for a story about being turned into a gorilla-bear. Along the way, there are some nice touches (the description of the transformation into a monster is sufficiently horrific, and when choices actually do show up, some of them are interesting), but it's a largely forgettable book that could have been stronger.

More reviews by Demian

This is one of the many books in the You Are... series that I tend to like. Basically, you get kidnapped one day by a mad scientist who injects you with mutant DNA of a gorilla/bear. You then realize that you will have to try to live your life as best as you can as a freak. There is one ending where you get to become human again, but there are a lot of other interesting story lines and situations, and I found the book to be an entertaining read all throughout. As usual, Edward Packard writes a well-laid out book even with bizarre subject matter. Judith Mitchell's illustrations show the monster and the situations to be a little scary but somehow keep the mood light-hearted as the books are usually intended to be.

I give it a 7/10 overall.

More reviews by Game Master