Item - The Forbidden Castle

I actually enjoyed this one more than The Cave of Time, mainly because of the fairly strong internal consistency. Also, the 'right' decisions were generally the logical and sensible ones, with reasonable foreseeable outcomes. The medieval setting didn't hurt either.

More reviews by Aussiesmurf

Having read this book for the first time, I had not realized that it is a sequel of sorts to The Cave of Time. On this adventure through the Cave, you find yourself sent to medieval times where a riddle sends you on a quest to find the Forbidden Castle. I really enjoyed the riddle aspect of this story, and there are at least 2 optimal endings that reveal a satisfying solution. Packard's writing nicely depicts the romantic, chivalrous, humorous, and sometimes violent aspects of life in medieval times. The Choose Your Own Adventure series, like classic fairy tales, doesn't shy away from horrible endings. You may be tortured to death or eaten by wolves in this volume. There are plenty of well-written characters to encounter: mad kings, evil kings, peasant girls, a band of foolish philosophers, and many more. I give this adventure 3 out of 5 stars.

More reviews by auximenes

I have the U-Ventures print of this title and I did have a lot of fun reading and re-reading through all the choices.

It is insanely tricky to make it through to the ideal ending, as you have to make the correct choice at every turn and it's not at all obvious which choice is better.

I found this very satisfying. It's good to have choices you have to reason through a bit and go with your gut instinct on, over "Here's the responsible choice and here is the reckless choice" which you can bump into in many titles.

The gimmick of finding two parts of a secret name is nowhere near as complicated or sophisticated as I was expecting.

All the U-Ventures titles have a "quantum divergence" choice, which is essentially just a coin toss. While philosophically I'm against having that sort of thing in a Choose Your Own Adventure book, and think it would always be better if the situation was framed as a choice, in practical terms it doesn't make the book itself less satisfying. What I mean is, in the U-Ventures books you have a page which says "Turn to page x or page y," which feels very random and unsatisfying. It would feel more consistent if it was presented like "There's a control panel here with a green button and a blue button. You can't resist, which one do you press?" It has the same overall effect, but at least it would be masked as a choice. Anyway, that aside, The Forbidden Castle is awesome! Get it!

More reviews by charlesdaniels

This sequel to The Cave of Time is quite good. Once again, a clear quest makes the gameplay more fun, and it's actually something of a challenge to reach the ideal ending.

More reviews by Demian

I read the U-Ventures edition and found this book much less satisfying than the same edition of Return to the Cave of Time. For me it's because of the same reason Demian liked it better. The specific quest of finding the castle was something I found to be frustrating, because I found many other endings (some of which were kind of amusing), but it always felt like failure. With Return to the Cave of Time there was no agenda, and I could enjoy the story wherever it went. This is the version wherein you find half of the 8 letter code word. It is a bit odd reaching a page that says "turn to page 8 or 42," and then if you manage to choose a certain half of the word you can easily guess the other.

More reviews by Dtar

This is a great book. Edward Packard is an exceptional author, and this book is no different in terms of his ability to produce a great, coherent story. This book has a clear objective that can be reached successfully. I also enjoy the addition of the cryptic poem that accompanies the story which the reader's character attempts to solve--this makes the quest to find the Forbidden Castle that much more intriguing and rewarding. Kudos to this title and to Edward Packard for being such a great author.

More reviews by Enigmatic Synergy

I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than its predecessor. The medieval setting is well fleshed-out, there's a nice variety of interesting characters, and the book is more challenging than most in the series.

More reviews by Gartax

A bad entry to the series.

Too many die or go on ends, instead of normal Choose Your Own Adventure: Both choices lead on, instead of ending.

Garth makes the read more exciting. Worth a few reads.

I never plan to read the NEW version, where you find one half of a code. Better? How am I to know?

Rating: 3.5/10

More reviews by Good

Glancing at the cover you wouldn't guess it, but The Forbidden Castle is the first sequel to Choose Your Own Adventure book one, The Cave of Time. After surviving the time travel labyrinth of caves some time ago, you rediscover the main entrance on a hike in Red Creek Canyon. Peeking inside, you slip and fall, hit your head, and awaken in an empty field. Two men in knight's armor ride up nearby on horseback. Not seeing you, they converse about a riddle regarding the "Forbidden Castle." The knights mention that King Henry of Cotwin Castle has been suspicious of foreigners lately, and you realize that in your modern garb you resemble the strangest of foreigners. Should you risk explaining your time travel story to the knights, or wait for an opportunity less likely to land you in the dungeon?

Hiding while the knights gallop away, a man named Garth sneaks up from behind. An outlaw declared by King Henry, he welcomes you to live with him in the woods. Garth sheds a few rays of light on the riddle the knights spoke of. A monk first told the riddle to King Henry, promising that whoever found the Forbidden Castle would rule all of Europe. To date, no one has solved it. Stay on with Garth, and he teaches you wilderness survival. If you never make it back to your own time you can have a good life here building a network of supporters and earning the king's trust, but perhaps you'd rather move on to the court of Mad King Rufus of Hereford. His castle is grand but his society crazy; are you clever enough to supply the correct nonsense responses to his questions?

Part ways with Garth and go to King Henry at Cotwin Castle, and you're accused of allying with the devil and sentenced to burn at the stake. Coax the king's men into telling you the complete Forbidden Castle riddle before your execution is carried out, and you may be able to convince them you have the solution. Face still hot from the flames, you'll be taxied into King Henry's chambers to share your interpretation of the riddle, but beware: you walk a knife's edge with the king, whose patience is thin. Perhaps you can persuade him to send you and a team on a search for the Forbidden Castle in the French mountains. The journey is tense; the knights will slay you in a heartbeat if they suspect you're conning them. You can attempt escape and hide out at a tavern, where you meet a serving girl named Michelle who's willing to leave with you and hunt for the Forbidden Castle. Go west, and you stumble upon a farm used by a group called the Philosopher Knights. Can they get you past the notorious Dragon of the Ledges to the Forbidden Castle? The Philosopher Knights are amusing yet offer dubious advice. They may be more trouble than they're worth.

Traipsing through No Man's Forest is likely to get you and Michelle killed, but the dragon trail pits you directly against the fire-breathing behemoth. Are you willing to bet your life on the modern certainty that dragons never existed? Surmounting that last stressful obstacle may finally lead to the Forbidden Castle. If you went east and never saw the farm, you and Michelle are chased by wolves; you can scamper up a tree or ford a stream on foot so the wolves lose your scent, but if Count Gaston finds you on his lands, you'll have to decide whether to continue pursuing the Forbidden Castle despite his dire warning. Persistence could earn you passage back into the Cave of Time, but is making it back to your own time worth the gamble of ending up somewhere deadly?

There are earlier paths to success in the book. In one you meet Madame Leeta, who claims prophetic powers. She assumes you have them too because of your electronic wristwatch; she and Baron von Sal plan to search for the Forbidden Castle. You could decline to join them and redouble your efforts to locate the Cave of Time, but throw in with Madame Leeta and you're soon traversing the precarious mountains of southern France. Baron von Sal and Madame Leeta are losing patience with your lack of magical insight, but keep going and you'll wind up at the Forbidden Castle and meet its extraordinary residents. The castle isn't the Shangri-la that grifters and greedy royals dreamed of, but it is a miracle nonetheless, tucked into the mountains of Europe in an era before modern living. Whether or not you return to your own time, a life of discovery centuries before your birth can be the most satisfying future imaginable.

Wherever and whenever a person considers to be their home, life is challenging. Advice that people give you ranges from ludicrous to deceptive to wise, much of it divvied up between the first two categories. An individual or group's claim to enlightenment doesn't make it so, as we see from the Philosopher Knights’ theories of how to outsmart the dragon. Wisdom is crafted via experience and calm, rational thought, not self-congratulation among elitists. Common sense, lateral thinking, and courage are a rare trio, but as necessary to surviving your quest for the Forbidden Castle as they are to flourishing in real life. This book is excellent training to combat foes of circumstance and person; survive the journey to claim sanctuary at the Forbidden Castle, and you'll have proven more perceptive than most.

Subversive, surprising, and brimming with fresh thought, The Forbidden Castle is one of the best Choose Your Own Adventures to this early point in the series, on par with The Cave of Time. There's more than one route to the Forbidden Castle, but pitfalls are many; you'll find yourself speeding along making choice after smart choice, only to grind to a grisly halt with a single decision that's slightly suboptimal. Big prizes aren't handed out blithely; to meet your ultimate goal you have to earn it. This is one of the more immersive, intelligent gamebooks Edward Packard wrote, a highlight of the original series. I come back to The Forbidden Castle when I start forgetting how good Choose Your Own Adventure was at its peak.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74