49) Danger at Anchor Mine

[stevendoig]

The last book that I have

I definitely had more, well at least 'The Forest Of Fear' as that was the very first gamebook I ever encountered.

Anyway, this one is written by Louise Munro Foley, and illustrated by Leslie Morrill. 

I'm a lassie in this one!

The cover has a wee lassie (me) holding up a lantern, theres an entrance to a mine behind me and there are pictures of three people and a scary dog.

Theres lots of gold in the background.  Okay, quite an intriguing cover I suppose.

Lets hae a look!


Okay, a very lengthy (and well written) introduction casts me as a wee lassie living with my Granny in Canada. granny has money trouble and I've just discovered my late Grandad had shares in the gold mines and Ive found a clue to try and get the gold which everyone thinks doesn't exist.

I had a lot of references to turn to , but only one actual choice (I hate it when they do that!) Anyway, the gist is, a lot of men died in a suspicious explosion, and there 'might' be gold in a particular part of the mine.

Its all very intriguing!

[stevendoig]

I go tae the library and find a key. I use the key in the mine property, I see a scary wifie called Annie, I fall down a trapdoor into the mine. I bump into Annie again. Its a very guid story, but there are hardly any actual choices!!

[stevendoig]

Okay, Ive had a few wee farts about with this book, it doesn't know what it wants to be, theres stuff about ghosts, strange wee birdies, illegal immigrants and nasty Policeman. Not especially my cup of tea really. I get the feeling the author had a good idea for a story , but was convinced by someone to turn it into a gamebook instead!

Right, that's that series wrapped up for me alas. (though I'd be VERY interested in hearing about a few of the others if anyone would care to oblige? My meagre collection of these means I cant make to many judgements, but it appears that the writing and plotting improved as the series progressed? - feel free to correct me here! Anyway, I'm away to the attic to rake out a few more non FF books!

[a moderator]

Apr 2, 2014 20:23:12 GMT stevendoig said:

I cant make to many judgements, but it appears that the writing and plotting improved as the series progressed? - feel free to correct me here!  

While I wouldn't say there was no improvement in quality as the series progressed, I think a lot more depends on who wrote the book. Based on the CYOA books I own (a quick check reveals me to have 35 of the things!), I'd say that later books are more likely to have the annoying 'a lot of references to turn to , but only one actual choice' thing. There are intelligent books from early in the range, and mad nonsense from later on... Sometimes the mad stuff is fun, but not always.

Now you've got the ball rolling, I might replay some particularly noteworthy titles (good and bad) and waffle about them in this subforum.