Member Reviews

I have been a fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure books since they first appeared on the scene when I was kid growing up, so I was intrigued to see how a graphic novel would work with a choose your own adventure. It's not easy with a format that is light on text and heavy on illustration to lead folks down a path that is engaging and doesn't give too much away. Although, with these books, it was always clear which road you probably shouldn't take because things could end badly in about 70% of the choice situations.

I found that, overall, this worked well and balanced the need for story with the format of the book. Some of the choices did land you in a spot where the story didn't flow as well. In fact, a few spots made me go to an earlier page to try and figure it out. And then I realized that it was because the pagination was not aligned and that's likely because it was an ARC. Oops. Once I figured that out, though, it was much better. Again, a few spots did not quite cover the gap in the story between choice and outcome, but it was definitely not as jarring as being on the wrong page.

I did go through most of the options and choices, and while some felt repetitive, that was true to the original format for these where you would often end up with the same page if you chose wrong or went down a particular path.

The mixing of fantasy and reality was neat. And the story was kind of fun. A definite adventure. All in all, if you like the format, you'll enjoy this rendering of it.

Was this review helpful?

A fun imagining of a classic choose your own adventure novel, I think having it as a graphic novel is a very fun way to explore the world

Was this review helpful?

I have always loved choose your own adventure books. I love the graphic novel format. Easy to follow. Immersive and entertaining

Was this review helpful?

I loved these myself as a child and I am delighted to be able to introduce this style of books to a new audience of children. I loved the graphic novel feel of the story. The familiar choice options appear after a short section of narrative enabling you to 'choose your own' direction through the story. I loved being able to re-read the story and choose the alternative path.
I do hope there will be more.

Was this review helpful?

I love how the illustration makes the reader feel like they are actually there, talking and venturing together with the characters. The illustration is absolutely stunning too.

Was this review helpful?

This was a nostalgic throwback for me, to the days of Choose Your Own Adventures when I was a kid. This time, the series finds fresh life and a modernized look in the graphic novel format. While I sometimes struggle with the choppy dialogue of graphic novels (which had the potential to be exacerbated with choose-your-own-adventure page navigation), I found the narrative very smooth and easy to understand.

You, the main character, are called to Stonehenge to meet a robed man, at the request of a friend. When he's not there to meet you, a series of events is kicked off, taking you through interactions with elves, druids, and more — often in grave danger. The illustrations were well done and added to the plot, and the main character was intentionally shown from the back or stylistically faceless to be more gender neutral and fit any reader.

I read this alongside my 10- and 12-year old sons, and both were engaged throughout and wanting to explore all the different angles. We guessed wrong on many occasions, which showed there are some effective red herrings to get caught up on. Though we were able to arrive at a decent ending relatively quickly, each of my boys went back and dove deeper into the text to see if they could find better choices and more favorable endings, too.

Was this review helpful?

I am so excited to see this series being given fresh life as it was such a defining experience for me as a kid. And the graphic novel format is really cool. I hope there will be a ton of these!

I don’t really remember if this is the same story as the original Stonehenge one or a new version. It’s been like 35 years or more! But either way great start to hopefully a new run.

Was this review helpful?