Item - Secret of the Ninja

This was the first of several books in the series featuring a martial arts theme. As a result, it's one of the most popular and frequently-reprinted entries. Since I've never been especially interested in martial arts, I actually didn't read this book as a child; this is too bad, as I actually might have liked it. It's more about legends and spirits than about beating people up, and the pace is quite fast. Although the writing isn't nearly as good as what was displayed in Jay Leibold's previous book and credibility is far too frequently stretched, it's a decent adventure, featuring numerous references to Japanese folklore and good plot consistency in the tradition of Louise Munro Foley's better work. Unlike Foley's successes, though, the tale doesn't reveal new facets with each read, instead tending to repeat the same small handful of revelations again and again. This is too bad, as it seriously inhibits replayability. The reader's motivation to stick around is further diminished by rather mediocre illustrations and a number of frustratingly abrupt endings (a Leibold trademark?). Still, for all its flaws, this is a fairly respectable entry in the series, and worth at least a handful of read-throughs.

More reviews by Demian

An interesting adventure for the young martial arts and time travel enthusiast. One interesting thing to note is that the main character is in fact a female. This could possibly make the story much more meaningful to the young female reader.

More reviews by Dtar

(Review based on the Chooseco edition.)

Count me in as another fan of this book (perhaps even more so than the reviewers before me). If you avoid CYOA books because you think they don't allow you to play heroes like the ones in martial arts films, you should definitely give this one a shot. This book has quite a bit of martial acts action coupled with excellent gameplay. Unlike its sequel Return of the Ninja, the content here is less based on historical fact and more on Japanese mythology, making this a great fantasy adventure (not unlike Kung Fu Masters in the Twisted Journeys series). Oddly, while the Bantam edition apparently has you playing a female character, in this one you play a male (the reissued Return of the Ninja, on the other hand, is ambiguous about the protagonist's gender). This means that the strong female role now rests on your companion character Nada. I didn't find this to be off-putting, but some people might disagree.

As Demian mentions, the fact that there is a single underlying plot may make replay feel a bit repetitive (though I found enough variety in the different paths to hold my interest to the end). Unfortunately, both the cover and interior illustrations of the reissued edition are abysmal. If you can overlook these flaws, you'll find both this book and its sequel to be among the best CYOA books out there.

More reviews by Guillermo

[Rating: 1/10]
[Recommended? NO]

Every so often in the generally awful Choose Your Own Adventure series one will come across a title which, though as mediocre and limited as the rest of the series, manages to showcase a few of the potentials of the interactive fiction genre - even when the format itself is what causes the book to end up falling flat on its face. Such a description rather aptly depicts "Secret of the Ninja", one of the series' many martial arts titles (and retrospectively one of the more-distinguished-in-the-subject-matter gamebooks in the CYOA catalogue). It's no surprise that the many shortcomings of said series, which commercially peaked during what I refer to as the golden age of fantasy literature (1970s and 1980s, save in Japan where it has remained consistently successful), were high-in-concept, poor-in-delivery. The mass market mess-up of fairly trashy quality (ex. anything ever written by the arrogant and pretentious R. A. Montgomery) concealed a few semi-redeeming-in-quality titles. I'm rather divided as to whether Jay Leibold accomplished what he set out to do, since the fantastical and supernatural elements are somewhat fleshed out, there's an overall moderately decent flow to the writing, and the research is consistently showcased throughout the narrative.

The setbacks are more plentiful, though: the overtly commercial intentions of the book are a glaring flaw, and this comes up a few times (ex. the book is afraid to think outside the box from what the series otherwise demands, and would thus have likely been a better book had it been given a more straightforward and linear treatment). Furthermore, the endings are typically extremely weak, rushed and poorly concluded; I didn't get any sense of accomplishment on any of the routes, just as I found there to be quite a lot of "educational research" fact-repetition, logical inconsistency/errors (mostly the choices/reactions themselves, to be precise), and, honestly, a bit of a sense of disinterest in the tone - as though the book is more complacently following guidelines than being allowed by the editors to take on a life of its own. It's a shame, since - despite the flaws - there were times I almost found the book effectively involving... until the self-disinterest rendered me numb and unaffected. One never gets the sense that the book has a sure sense of why it's experimenting, or if there's a real destination in mind, either - just consider the dipping quality comparing the ominous-set opening scenes to the abrupt finishes, and then look at how frequently the same few themes and phrasings are reworded.

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 ceaselessly similar collection of unfinished and incomplete endings, and for how it manages to outstay its welcome as a consequence of its shortcomings. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

I picked this book up at a local used bookstore for a whopping $1 and got hours of quality entertainment (and education) out of it. Jay Leibold's writing style seems superior compared to a lot of the other CYOA book authors. Though the essence of the storytelling is teenage-ish, I found the writing itself to have a higher level of sophistication and a surprisingly good flow. Several of the storylines are quite suspenseful. I have a penchant for fantasy so I very much enjoyed the fantastical elements (e.g., time travel, spirits, demons, magic etc.) in this book though I know full well that those sorts of things don't universally appeal to everyone. The book also provided me enough information about Japanese history and mythology to whet my appetite to learn more.

Score: 8.5/10.0

More reviews by tonylachief