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Item - The Abominable Snowman

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(Original edition)
(Original edition, later printing)
(Original edition, later printing)
(Original version, Grey Castle hardcover)
(Original version, Grey Castle hardcover)
(ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing)
(ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing)
(ChooseCo reissue edition, third printing)
(ChooseCo reissue, Sundance edition)
(ChooseCo reissue edition, twelfth printing)
(ChooseCo reissue edition, twentieth printing)
(Australian edition, first printing)
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Combined Summary

Series: Choose Your Own Adventure (1979-1998) — no. 13
Choose Your Own Adventure (2005-) — no. 1
Choose Your Own Adventure Reissues (Australian Versions) — no. 1
Contained In: Choose Your Own Adventure Box Set 1 (1-4) (Collection)
Choose Your Own Adventure Box Set 3 (11-15) (Collection)
Choose Your Own Adventure Epic Collection (Collection)
Choose Your Own Adventure Reissues Box Set (1-5) (Collection)
Translated Into: El abominable hombre de las nieves (Spanish)
El abominable hombre de las nieves (Spanish)
El abominable hombre de las nieves (Spanish)
El abominable hombre de las nieves (Spanish)
L'abominable home de les neus (Catalan)
O abominável homem da neve (Portuguese)
O abominável homem das neves (Portuguese)
L'abominevole uomo delle nevi (Italian)
Dem Yeti auf der Spur (German)
Elurretako gizon nardagarría (Basque)
Grozni snežni čovek (Serbo-Croatian)
Memburu manusia salju (Indonesian)
Tajemniczy Człowiek Śniegu (Polish)
Adapted Into: The Abominable Snowman [board book] (Gamebook)
The Abominable Snowman (Interactive Video)
The Abominable Snowman (Audio Book)
Search for the Yeti (Graded Reader) (Gamebook)
Author: Montgomery, R. A.
Illustrators: Cannella, Marco (ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing - cover; ChooseCo reissue edition, twelfth printing - cover; ChooseCo reissue edition, third printing - cover; ChooseCo reissue edition, twentieth printing - cover)
Granger, Paul (pseudonym used by Hedin, Don) (Original edition; Original version, Grey Castle hardcover; Original edition, later printing)
Marron, Jose Luis (ChooseCo reissue, Sundance edition - cover)
McBride, Marc (Australian edition, first printing - cover)
Peguy, Laurence (ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing - interior; Australian edition, first printing - interior; ChooseCo reissue, Sundance edition - interior; ChooseCo reissue edition, twelfth printing - interior; ChooseCo reissue edition, third printing - interior; ChooseCo reissue edition, twentieth printing - interior)
Dates: May, 1982 (Original edition)
June 1, 1988 (Original version, Grey Castle hardcover)
2005 (ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing)
2006 (Australian edition, first printing)
ISBNs: 0553205293 / 9780553205299 (Original edition)
0553233327 / 9780553233322 (Original edition, later printing)
0760896933 / 9780760896938 (ChooseCo reissue, Sundance edition)
0942545028 / 9780942545029 (Original version, Grey Castle hardcover)
1865049220 / 9781865049229 (Australian edition, first printing)
1933390018 / 9781933390017 (ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing, ChooseCo reissue edition, twelfth printing, ChooseCo reissue edition, third printing, ChooseCo reissue edition, twentieth printing)
Length: 116 pages (Original edition, Original edition, later printing, Original version, Grey Castle hardcover)
Number of Endings: 28
LC Cataloging in Publication Summary: You are an expert mountain climber and embark on an expedition in the Himalayas to find the Yeti and rescue a fellow climber. By choosing the specific pages, you determine the outcome.
User Summary: You are a mountain climber. With your friend Carlos you travel to Nepal in search of the Yeti.
auximenes's Thoughts:

The Abominable Snowman is an interesting mix of realistic and fantastic elements. On the realism side, we have a mountain climbing expedition with all of its attendant dangers and a cast of allies and villains to encounter. I really like the map of Central Asia included at the beginning as well as the elevation illustration of the Himalayan mountain peaks. In the realm of fantasy we have our title character and his buddies, religious mysticism, and a potential trip to Shangri-La. However, it is a bit boring, with abrupt, unsatisfying endings. 2 out 5 stars.

More reviews by auximenes

barryattles's Thoughts:

Ratings: 2

The abominable-or-whatever-snowman leads you to a Nepalese adventure (albeit a boring one).

R. A. Montgomery's eccentricity works best in wild, head-scratching fantasy and mystery titles. Having an objective is clearly not his cup of tea. While the number of endings has been cut down slightly, the book's structure still remains rather loose and dull at best.

More reviews by barryattles

charlesdaniels's Thoughts:

Far more consistent and coherent than other R. A. Montgomery titles I have read, but not only has Montgomery left out a lot of the usual weird wackiness, he's also forgotten to bring the fun.

A few endings are surprising. One is good thought provoking fodder for your curious 11 year old reader. But most of the endings are flat and unsatisfying.

I much preferred reading through Mystery of the Maya which was far more off the hook than this plodding along offering.

More reviews by charlesdaniels

Demian's Thoughts:

This isn't a bad R. A. Montgomery book -- it features some of his trademark metaphysical ponderings, but it devotes enough time to the core story of searching for the Yeti and offers enough glimpses of the beast to entertain for several readings. As with many of the early books in the series, there's not a whole lot of story consistency, many endings are abrupt and unsatisfying, and several paths feel like padding, but it's fun if you take it on its own terms.

The 2005 reissue retains the structure of the original edition -- all of the choices and endings are essentially the same. However, nearly every page has been edited to some degree. One character name is changed, drug and religious references are removed, a death ending is reduced to a bad dream, several other endings are extended without much change in meaning, some technology is updated, and a bit more dialogue is introduced. The expanded dialogue definitely makes the text feel less dry, and some other edits improve the pace, but the mild censorship seems somehow inappropriate, and most of the other changes have no real impact. All of the art is new and makes good use of the greyscale palette, generally seeming like an improvement over Paul Granger's work... however, the original edition has a couple of striking pieces that it's sad to lose. Like the original, the reissue has good points and bad points; I'm mainly just happy to see the book back in print!

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Good's Thoughts:

If you expect THIS to be action packed, you're wrong. Minor, MINOR action, and lots of bad ends make it junk.

More reviews by Good

Guillermo's Thoughts:

My review is based on the Spanish translation by Timun Mas, which in turn is based on the Bantam original edition.

The Abominable Snowman by R. A. Montgomery is a classic, even if it hasn't aged all that well. To its credit, it is less random and disjointed than The Lost Jewels of Nabooti (though it is not without its moments of fortuitousness, either). The book also earns points for managing to convey a message or two without feeling overly preachy. Like much of R. A.'s early work, it is more concerned with getting its points across than with actual adventuring, and for this reason it felt incredibly dull when I read it as a child (a sentiment echoed by other reviewers on this site and elsewhere). Nonetheless, over time I've grown to appreciate the author's intent.

My adult self still has criticisms to make, though. For starters, there is not much to speak of in terms of gameplay. While there are a few failure endings, achieving a successful outcome is way too easy. For the most part, the choices and their outcomes do not seem to be linked in particularly creative ways, which detracts from the interactive experience. In terms of design, it definitely does not hold a candle to Edward Packard's books from the same era. Still, there's enough variety of endings here to provide significant replay value.

Overall, I found the book to be an enjoyable read in spite of its flaws. This is undoubtedly one of the best R. A. Montgomery gamebooks you'll find.

More reviews by Guillermo

Errata:The Australian edition claims to have 27 endings, but this is incorrect -- it has 28 endings just like every other edition.
Special Thanks:Thanks to Ken G. for the balloon logo, Sundance and Australian front/back cover scans and to Brant Snell for the hardcover scans.
Users Who Own This Item: AgathaRaisin79 (Have original), aline, Andys80s, angriestmonster, Ardennes, auximenes, barryattles, bigcobra, bobthefunny, bookwormjeff, breity (20529-3 Bantam), BuraddoRun, charlesdaniels, Crazyscotsman, crispybacon, CSquared, Cyan, Darth Rabbitt, datastorm, dave2002a, dblizzard72, Demian (twelfth reissue printing), Eamonn McCusker, Ed, Erikwinslow (First printing), exaquint (3rd book fair) (2005, 2005 (secret ending)), Ffghtermedic, Filipino Paul (our 2nd year book report, only one with a copy in class), firefoxpdm, fraze, Gamebook, Garrick Muttley, Gartax, gergsnickle, Gibraltar, Grifter, Gurvo, hadlee73, Himynameistony, horrorbusiness, jdreller, jeff3333, jeremydouglass, jharvey79, Jordashebasics, JoshW, katatonius, katzcollection, KenJenningsJeopardy74, killagarilla, kinderstef, KJB, kleme (Original (Print & PDF) & Chooseco reissue (Print)) (2005 reissue), knginatl (orig. w/balloon, orig. w/o balloon, "book fair", HB '87 Grey Castle, '05 reissue 1 "online ending", '05 reissue 2/signed, '05 reissue 3/signed new cover, Aus. reissue, Sundance edition, Spanish reissue/signed, Troll) (orig. w/balloon, orig. w/o balloon, "book fair", HB '87 Grey Castle, '05 reissue 1 "online ending", '05 reissue 2/signed, '05 reissue 3/signed new cover, Aus. reissue, Sundance edition, Spanish reissue/signed, Troll ) (orig. w/balloon, orig. w/o balloon, "book fair", HB '87 Grey Castle, '05 reissue 1 "online ending", '05 reissue 2/signed, '05 reissue 3/signed new cover, Aus. reissue, Sundance edition, Spanish reissue/signed, Troll ), Lambchop, Lullyph, MacbthPSW, Madeye, Malthus Dire, marcfonline, marnaudo, mattender, mcd, mdcowboy (Special Book Fair Edition), mgp22, mlvoss, Mr ? (Original Edition, Australian Edition) (Australian edition), nelsondesign, NEMO ( One reg.copy, one ex library copy,and one large print hard cover) (2005 reissue(x2 pink) and 1 reissue with the orange sticker to the top right of the Abom.), newt3425, Nomad, ntar (original & reissue), Nym90, Oberonbombadil (Original US 4th), outspaced, Pessimeister (4th printing), plowboy, Pseudo_Intellectual, Radical347, resurgens, RetroReef, rolipo26, RonaldFrobnitz, Ronie1976, rtaylor352, Ryuran333, Seizure, SeventhSon, SherlockHolmes, skeleton, spragmatic, stonemason, strawberry_brite, SuperAM2, ThaRid, ThisIslandEarth, toadhjo, twar (reissue), UncleMac, Vince, Virtua Sinner, Von Scotty, waktool (US 4th; US 5th; US 7th) (Chooseco, large edition, AU 1st printing) (Australian, 1st printing; Australian, 2nd printing), Yalius, yunakitty
Users Who Want This Item: benji2, drereichdude (original) (2005 reissue), exaquint (w/ & w/o balloon), MasterChief, NEMO (2005 reissue), newt3425 (Sundance reissue), odo_ital, SherlockHolmes, stock, Waluigi Freak 99, ZacharyParker
Users with Extra Copies: Cyan
Demian - 12th reissue printing (2 copies), 20th reissue printing (1 copy)
Grifter
Jennifer
jeremydouglass
kinderstef
Mr ? - Australian Edition
ntar - original
rolipo26
strawberry_brite
ThisIslandEarth
Yalius

Known Editions

Original edition
Original edition, later printing
Original version, Grey Castle hardcover
ChooseCo reissue edition, first printing
ChooseCo reissue edition, third printing
ChooseCo reissue, Sundance edition
ChooseCo reissue edition, twelfth printing
ChooseCo reissue edition, twentieth printing
Australian edition, first printing

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