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
BOOK REVIEW
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short.
In the dystopian, totalitarian world of 2099, 14-year-old Tessa and her family are desperate to solve the mystery of her twin brother Theo’s disappearance.
Tessa is growing up in a time when playgrounds are historical relics, surveillance cameras are everywhere, music is outlawed, and owning books is illegal. Under the absolute rule of Zokiris, the decadeslong leader of her territory, people are heavily controlled. When Theo vanishes under mysterious circumstances and his name is erased from the Territory Statistics list, Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam, gives the family contraband books that become central to figuring out Theo’s whereabouts. Most books have long since been seized and stored away in Building 903; Tessa is intrigued by their presence in her home, while her mother is terrified. Lowry, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Giver (1993), shines in her creation of uncomfortably believable dystopian societies. Tessa’s painfully limited world is fully imagined, with its own history, laws, and norms. Her relationship with her brother reads as realistic and tender and is crucial to the mystery. Miriam is the most strongly developed character: wise and independent, unafraid and hopeful. While the climb to the book’s climax is captivating, the hurried resolution is disappointing. The powerful messaging around the importance of literature and imagination certainly resonates, however. The main characters present white.
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short. (Dystopian. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063515109
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
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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