Item - Trapped in the Sea Kingdom

As far as the need for extensive note-taking goes, this is an improvement over its predecessor; the locations are, for the most part, fairly distinctive, so it's much easier to remember where you've previously been. The overall challenge level is also higher than the previous book; while there are some clues about the path to safety, they're not nearly as explicit as before. I like the undersea setting quite a bit, though the story isn't as exciting as it might have been -- far too much time is wasted being captured again and again by countless similar evil races. Really, the most notable thing about the whole book is its "translate the ancient language" cryptogram puzzle, which works surprisingly well and doesn't feel as gratuitous as such puzzles often do. As with the previous book, I really loved this when I first read it years ago, but I wasn't as impressed when I returned to it more recently. I find this a little saddening, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my literary priorities have changed a bit over the years....

More reviews by Demian

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

Based on my preconceived understanding that the Escape From Tenopia series was an equivalent sort of spin-off to the popular yet awful Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, my expectations were accordingly kept to a minimum when delving into the series' follow-up title, "Trapped in the Sea Kingdom". As such was the case, I wasn't too horribly let down (though I definitely wasn't impressed) with the title's sparse details, overcompensating plot development characteristics and utterly threadbare narrative devices, such as nonexistent character traits and arbitrarily tailored plot points. What struck me most fervently about this little adventure is how, to my surprise, it wasn't technically possible to lose; sure, there are bad choices to be found, and both the puzzles and decision-making opportunities were underwhelming and in short supply of quality. The assault of information at every turn is definitely deceptive in a few senses; one would expect there to be a challenging (or luck-based) component or two where readers would definitely have to put all their knowledge to good use, but, alas, there's no real sense of accomplishment through this long "follow the roads until you end up on the right one" design scheme. I was equally disappointed by these shortcomings when compared to the story's rather short length as I was dissuaded by how unnecessarily difficult the book made it to keep track of (or care about) everything happening back-to-back on every page.

At the end of the day I found this book dissatisfactory and not worthy of recommending in the end; while the book (and series) held legitimate storytelling potential it was wasted due to the stylistic, structural and executive shortcoming of its design and featureless lack of intrinsic atmosphere. This is little more than a shallowly escapist enterprise to encounter - and you're not missing out if you pass on (or, shall I say, escape from) this largely forgettable escape sequence. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart