Demian's Gamebook Web Page

Item - American Revolutionary

Please log in to manage your collection or post a review.

(First printing)
(First printing)
(First printing)
(First printing)

Combined Summary

Series: Time Machine — no. 10
Platforms: Kindle (Kindle edition)
Microsoft Reader (Microsoft Reader edition)
Translated Into: La revoluciĆ³n americana (Spanish)
Author: Cover, Arthur Byron
Illustrators: Martishius, Walter P.
Nino, Alex
Dates: December, 1985 (First printing)
2001 (Microsoft Reader edition)
January 6, 2010 (Kindle edition)
ISBN: 055325300X / 9780553253009 (First printing)
Publishers: First printing: Bantam -- United States
Kindle edition: iPicturebooks -- United States (eBook)
Length: 125 pages (plus data bank and data file)
Number of Endings: 1
Cover Price: US$2.25 (First printing)
User Summary: You must find out who fired the first shot of the Revolutionary War and retrieve his musket.
Demian's Thoughts:

This book bears a certain resemblance to Sword of the Samurai both in its mission (to retrieve a weapon of historical significance) and in the way it forces the reader to choose an item to take along before beginning the adventure. The portion of history covered by the book is perhaps a bit familiar (at least to survivors of the American public school system), and the facts presented don't cover much new ground, but this is made up for by good writing and a few effective moments of humor.

More reviews by Demian

Shadeheart's Thoughts:

[Rating: 0/10]
[Recommended? NO]

While the promising potential of the premise in the Time Machine adventure "American Revolutionary" is at least partially well-handled, there were particularly few redeeming components to save the quest from its prominent, pitiful weaknesses. It's unfortunate how the dangers are kept at arm's length even though the era's appealing visual-oriented choice-based design system fares well as far as reader immersiveness goes. The writing drifts from uninspired and clunky to very much aware of the narrative's potential, but - as with the majority of the books in the series - I think the adventure would've been more enjoyable had it avoided limiting itself to a single correct path; the inventory selection at the start is a bit arbitrary, I might add, and less seamlessly woven into the story compared to the databank, use of setting and handling of "characters". While the year it take place in may be 1774 AD, you won't find too many pointers suggesting a whole lot of imagination was put into the writing of this quest apart from what had commonly been covered in existing documents/research books or documentaries at the time this was written; though the research isn't exactly dated, per se, retrospectively there are parts scattered about here and there which feel VERY incomplete.

These books, which in all truth are merely self-indulgent and hard-to-find excursions into a different point in time, appear hyper-focused on their short-lived novelty value - a real shame, since the design and the execution of the linear quest itself isn't all that great to begin with. With the exception of collectors of the series or the most ardent of pseudo-history buffs, I'm afraid I can't recommend this title or any of its time-traveling trepidations. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart

Special Thanks:Thanks to Ryan Lynch for the cover images.
Users Who Own This Item: Andys80s, Ardennes, Arkadia, auximenes, bigcobra, bookwormjeff, Cyan, dave2002a, domj29, Eamonn McCusker, egokun, Erikwinslow, exaquint, Ffghtermedic, firefoxpdm, Greeneuva, Himynameistony, horrorbusiness, Hrk, jdreller, JoshW, Jubal, katzcollection, kinderstef, mattender, mdcowboy, mlvoss, Nomad, Pseudo_Intellectual, Radical347, Ryuran333, Sheridan77, SherlockHolmes, spragmatic, stock, stonemason, strawberry_brite, ThaRid, theyodaman, toadhjo, twar, Von Scotty, waktool (US 1st printing ($2.25, AU $2.75)), YourSoundtrack, Zolika
Users Who Want This Item: Alatar001, bonhomme, CSquared, dblizzard72, Dronak, Faberwest, HAMBORSKI (I would like to purchase this book.), Mr ?, nelsondesign, NEMO, Oberonbombadil, SherlockHolmes, ThisIslandEarth, Waluigi Freak 99
Users with Extra Copies: twar

Known Editions

First printing
Microsoft Reader edition
Kindle edition

Please log in to manage your collection or post a review.

Related Documents

Structure Diagram

Time Machine #10 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.