1. Tenopia Island
Author: Edward Packard
Illustrators: Catherine Huerta (cover), David Perry (interior)
First Published: June, 1986
ISBN: 0-553-25472-3
Length: 133 pages
Number of Endings: 1
Plot Summary: You are the only survivor of an unfortunate encounter
between a spaceship and a meteor. Your lifepod lands on the dangerous planet
of Tenopia, and you must find a way home.
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: I found note-taking to be rather essential for this
book. During your travels on Tenopia Island, you're often asked if you've
been to certain specific locations before. Since the place names are all
rather unmemorable, it's hard to keep track of where you've been without
writing some things down. Perhaps I took the note-taking too far, however;
I also wrote down some clues, and by following them, I managed to finish the
book so quickly that I didn't have much chance to be entertained by it. I
certainly wasn't as thrilled as when I first played it about a decade ago and
fell in love with the series. Still, this isn't a bad design -- it's much
more game-like than Edward Packard's better-known
Choose Your Own Adventure books, with map-reading and puzzle-solving
playing important parts on the way to victory. The fact that there's no way
to lose may disappoint gamebook fans looking for a challenge, however;
Fighting Fantasy this is not...
2. Trapped in the Sea Kingdom
Author: Richard Brightfield
Illustrators: Catherine Huerta (cover), David Perry (interior)
First Published: June, 1986
ISBN: 0-553-25473-1
Length: 134 pages
Number of Endings: 1
Plot Summary: On your way to Kabran, you fall from a balloon, get
implanted with gills and find yourself in need of a way out of the dangerous
Sea Kingdom.
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: 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 too 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...
3. Terror on Kabran
Author: Richard Brightfield
Illustrators: Catherine Huerta (cover), David Perry (interior)
First Published: August, 1986
ISBN: 0-553-25636-X
Length: 129 pages
Number of Endings: 1
Plot Summary: At last you've reached Kabran... but now you need to
figure out where the Galactic Patrol Station that holds the key to your
freedom is actually located!
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: This adventure has the best sense of exploration so far
in the series. Rather than giving you a general direction to travel in and
forcing you to plod along while avoiding setbacks, this book instead gives
you no initial clues as to where your destination lies; you've got to do all
of the detective work from scratch. Unfortunately, I didn't find the
ultimate solution to be very satisfying; in fact, I don't know what
happened -- after wandering in circles I eventually randomly came across a
signpost displaying some familiar symbols, and I was out. Trying to act on
clues didn't seem to help much. Perhaps I missed some important detail
somewhere, but I don't think so... I also think the book might have been a
little more fun if it required the reader to keep track of Pango seed
expenditure; the seeds are used as currency in the book, but the reader's
supply dwindles and is replenished for the convenience of the plot rather
than in any realistic way. It might have been more fun to have required
seeds to be spent at certain times and earned by playing minigames at others.
Of course, this probably would have made the book more complex than the
authors would have liked... but perhaps a little more complexity is just
what the series needed. In any case, this is the most fun I've had up to
this point in my exploration of Tenopia, but it's definitely far from
perfect.
4. Star System Tenopia
Author: Richard Brightfield
Illustrators: Catherine Huerta (cover), David Perry (interior)
First Published: September, 1986
ISBN: 0-553-25637-8
Length: 131 pages
Number of Endings: 1
Plot Summary: Life is never easy. Just as you think you're on your
way home, space pirates attack your ship and force you to track down an
alternate means of transport: the well-hidden emergency Galactic Patrol
starship.
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: Time to get out the notebook again... Like the first
book in the series, there are a lot of weird place names to remember (some of
which differ by only a single letter), and you'll almost certainly have to
write them down if you wish to correctly answer the "have you been to
this place before?" questions. Despite this annoyance, the book is
entertaining; much of the challenge lies in collecting five words which make
up a code needed to activate the starship you seek. "Collect the
parts" is certainly a classic gamebook objective, and it's done well
(though without much innovation) here. Unfortunately, though, the book
suffers from excessive linearity at times. The first section of the story is
seven pages long (not including illustrations), and there are several points
where the reader isn't given a choice when he or she really should be able to
make one (why, for example, would you want to fly directly into a pirate
base?). Perhaps the original manuscript was longer than the publisher wanted
and some choices had to be edited out. Despite its problems, though, the
book is fun, and it definitely ends the series on a high note.
