Item - Island of Doom

Although a few of the settings in this book have a good atmosphere to them, this is a fairly weak gamebook. The pacing is bad, the story is inconsistent and the fact that in this book you are a leaf collector is just kind of strange.

More reviews by Demian

I don't have high expectations for Montgomery's work, but he improved over time, so I thought there was a chance of this being decent.

You and your family go on a vacation to an island. You and your sister wander off, and get lost, resulting in some minor adventures.

This book doesn't do very well. I suppose it might be mildly frightening to kids that were scared of being lost. Most of the time, you and your sister are worried that people you see are ghosts, despite having no good reason to believe so.

Montgomery's problem with consistency drags the book further down. In one path, they're ghosts. In another path, they aren't. He also incorporates some really hammy exposition where some guys discuss their evil plan with each other. This happens on two separate paths.

There are a few other endings that are unrelated to the primary plot, but they aren't especially compelling.

Not worth your time.

More reviews by Jordashebasics

Are you ready for a Caribbean vacation? You, your little sister Betsy, and parents can hardly believe when you're able to book a stay on the isle of Alura at the height of tourism season, and at low cost. Strangely, the Hotel Alura has only a handful of guests, and you soon learn why. Legend says the Locomas, an indigenous people, haunt the island as ghosts. They died out seven hundred years ago but are believed to have been cannibals. Dismissing these dark thoughts, you and Betsy head to the beach, but get dragged by the tide a great distance down shore. You are lost, but while hiking back up the beach, Betsy spots a multicolor lizard the size of a cat. Should you take a minute to follow it into the jungle, or remain on the beach?

The lizard skitters out of sight, but ahead in the jungle is a building shaped like a skull, with carvings that depict graphic cannibalism. Knocking on the front door is bold, but you can skirt to the back. Enter here and you find an office, but when the people who own it return, you overhear details of a fraudster plot to prey on public fear of the Locomas. If the perpetrators catch you hiding, it's death to you and Betsy. Maybe you left the building without going in; down a paved path are poles in the ground with skulls jammed on top. Trespassing here was a grave mistake. You could get trapped in a ring of fire, or escape to the beach pursued by a wild jaguar. If you went in the front door of the skull building, you find a temple decorated by frightening statues. Fun exploration turns sinister when the door slams shut and locks. You can exit through a trapdoor in the floor, a winding journey that terminates in an underwater sprint past a sea monster. If you try to climb out a temple window instead of the trapdoor, you are high above ground when Locomas approach with torches. Fail to avoid the high priest's attention, and your Alura vacation has a stomach-turning end.

Had you never left the beach to follow that lizard, you and Betsy walk toward the hotel until armed men in loincloths surround you. Are these the Locomas? They place you in a cage, but you escape before nightfall. Far down the beach, torches illuminate the darkness; hide in the jungle and the Locomas may not notice you. The hotel is visible as you splash through the water near shore, but will you make it without getting attacked by an aquatic beast? Take heart; it may be less of a threat than you perceive. If you go deep into the jungle after seeing the torches, you and Betsy bed down until morning among the chirping, growling fauna, but the next day Betsy discovers an uprooted wooden sign that reads HOTEL ALURA THIS WAY. Which direction did it point? Go with your instinct and you circle back to the beach, right where a horde of Locomas is. Wait...are they fraudsters, not real Locomas? Flee for your life and you get away, but you and Betsy are weak from hunger. There are fruit trees ahead; eat the right kind and you'll complete your escape to civilization. If you followed Betsy's instinct about the wooden sign, you find yourself among exotic plants, headed for the fate hinted at on the book's cover.

Island of Doom may be the best book at this early stage in Choose Your Own Nightmare. The storyline variety is good, and I appreciate the main theme: don't play around with forces older and more powerful than you understand. It's tempting to believe the modern world has answers to everything, but take that attitude too far and you will suffer. Humility is key, and the more you demonstrate it in these pages, the better your odds of living to reunite with your parents. Island of Doom is one of the better offerings from both Choose Your Own Nightmare and Richard Brightfield in his career spanning multiple gamebook series.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74