by Matt Forbeck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018
A diversion that’s neither a critical hit nor a fumble.
Dungeons & Dragons meets Choose Your Own Adventure in this resurrection of the Endless Quest series.
In this second-person point-of-view narrative, readers are positioned as a Fighter who wakes up in the Underdark, bound and unarmed, having been enslaved by a drow. In standard CYOA format, at critical moments readers must choose what they will do and then turn to the page number assigned to said choice. Based on choices, there are over 20 separate endings that readers might experience. This wide range of conclusions includes gruesome ends, permanent captivity, and escape to adventure another day. A drawback of having so many endings in the slim volume is that many of the decision trees are quite short, forcing readers to go back and try another path. Readers restarting from a poor choice who are unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons races and naming conventions may struggle to keep track among the represented fantasy races (drow, gnome, dwarf, orc, goblin, kuo-toa, etc.) and locations (such as Menzoberranzan, Gracklstugh, and Velkynvelve); experienced players will get a kick out of the familiar full-color Wizards of the Coast art. Choices include fight or flight, whom to ally with, and courage versus cowardice. The two longest decision trees lead to an adventure involving a stolen dragon egg or a Demogorgon showdown. Publishing simultaneously are CYOAs for other D&D classes: Cleric, Rogue, and Wizard.
A diversion that’s neither a critical hit nor a fumble. (Novelty fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0242-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick Entertainment
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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by Matt Forbeck ; illustrated by Matt Forbeck
by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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