Item - Castle of Darkness

This is a fairly good book; the writing's pretty good and, though it really serves no purpose, the characters are fairly thoroughly developed.

More reviews by Demian

Castle of Darkness is… pretty bad. More time is given to characters and description, at the expense of having a plot that feels intelligible.

The story involves you and your friends, inexplicably enthusiastic about castles, going to visit a castle that has recently been opened to visitors. A creepy groundskeeper brings you around to the back of the castle, where you somehow end up participating in a once-every-hundred-years haunting event, which may or may not result in you being imprisoned in the dungeon for a hundred years.

There are a few nice bits, but they aren’t common. You can get crushed by a gate. "… your last thoughts are of your friends, and then of home and school and skateboarding." I finished this book feeling like I had missed something substantial about the plot.

More reviews by Jordashebasics

Author of two Choose Your Own Nightmares, R. A. Montgomery's series debut was Castle of Darkness. You and your friends Josh Mitchell and Megan Carullo love all things related to Arthurian legend, and you get to revel in that fantasy after winning an all-expenses paid trip to England for a week at Ravensford Castle. Megan's aunt Nestra is your chaperone. As you arrive at Ravensford an old man who identifies as the gardener offers you, Josh, and Megan a private tour, but should you go with him or hang back with Nestra?

Introducing himself as Ranny, the old man leads you around the castle. He explains that every one hundred years at Ravensford there's a new horrific incident the history books never forget. From out of nowhere, two armored knights with weapons close in on you; is it time to run from the castle? If you dash off and watch at a distance, the castle seems to be fading from existence. Rush back to save Josh and Megan, and Ranny reveals his plot to imprison you all. Are you willing to help him abduct others in exchange for your liberty? If you never fled Ravensford, Ranny offers a choice to either play a mystery game or joust against a knight. You escape before ever doing the latter, but Josh and Megan's lives are in peril. Search well and you’ll encounter Megan locked in the dungeon. A green-eyed child in old-fashioned clothes materializes and claims he's Prince Edmund, murdered at Ravensford centuries ago. Do you trust him to free you from Ranny? The prince be your only hope of exiting Ravensford alive.

Maybe you chose to play Ranny's game instead of joust. The old man has Josh and Megan in the dungeon and says he'll torture your friends until you locate them. Perhaps an unexpected ally will emerge with authority to break Ranny's power over you. If earlier in the story you rejected Ranny's initial invitation for a tour, you spend the evening in the castle library, filled with old books and paintings depicting knights. If you avoid a sinister ending in the library, that night you meet a boy your age named Tommy Findley, son of the woman who owns Ravensford. Since Josh and Megan already toured with Ranny, Tommy asks you to sneak to the dungeon with him and explore the nasty, spidery place. There's a certain creepy fun being here with Tommy, but your fate may be sealed the second you set foot in these underground torture chambers.

Castle of Darkness as a concept has potential, but at this stage of his career R. A. Montgomery seemed to lack the verve to draw it out. The story is dreary, the decisions poorly articulated. Internal continuity can't be counted on except for one surprising instance, but that isn't enough to make this a cohesive book. One point worth noting is that unlike in most gamebooks, Megan and Josh are assigned a specific age—eleven—and clues dictate you are probably the same age, but no older than twelve. Overall, Castle of Darkness comes across as joyless drudgery for the author, so it feels the same to us readers. This may be the worst Choose Your Own Nightmare through the first four.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74