This book took me back to when my children were little. I used to love reading these books when my children would check them out from the library and this one, was no exception. I choose my first path through the book, based on what I’d want to do and then, I went back and reread the book a few times, choosing paths that were totally different. I was Harry Houdini, a magician with big dreams!

All paths in the book begin in America, in the year 1899. Working as a traveling sideshow, you like to call yourself the “The King of the Cuffs,” as you’re able to outwit any handcuff that anyone tries to attach to you. This of course, angers the police but you’re starting to make a name for yourself, as people are beginning to notice you. Now in Chicago, as a crowd gathers around, you’re getting the attention that you don’t want. The police have arrested you, placed you in chains, and put you in a cell. Can their charges be legitimate? You’ve never attempted a cell break before, yet it could be possible. You receive a sign just before the lieutenant rushes into your cell to offer you a deal.

It’s time now for the first decision in this book: does Harry take the deal that was offered to him or does Harry decide to use the omen that he received and not take the lieutenant’s deal? What the reader chooses will direct their path to the next section to read and set their course for this book.

This book is based on a true story and there’s an article about Harry at the back of the book. I enjoyed my adventures as I traveled through the book; some were short-lived and I did have one very long journey. I did learn a few things about this man as I read and having the opportunity to choose the storyline is a very fun way to read a story. 4.5 stars

I've had this for a while but only just started playing it. And yes, you can find some of Kate Beaton's artwork  in it, but also artwork by a bunch of other people. It's a "choose your own adventure" version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which you can either play as Hamlet, Hamlet's father, or Ophelia. Nearly every ending presents you with a unique piece of artwork, and there are lots of endings.

At the moment, I've mostly just played as Ophelia, who is utterly awesome. She can solve Hamlet's problems logically and boringly, or she can go full-on murder queen. It took me three tries to manage it, but it's quite possible for her to go on a killing spree that results in the death of literally every character in Hamlet. Sometimes things get a little surreal too. In my longest playthrough, Ophelia and Hamlet teamed up to kill Claudius. After they gifted Claudius with a "choose your own adventure" book with a plot eerily similar to Claudius's own life, Ophelia briefly became Claudius, who became Ophelia just at things were starting to look bad for him, who decided to skip out on this whole "Hamlet's acting weird" thing and take a vacation. The game briefly (very briefly) became a dating sim, but then Ophelia sprang into action again to take on some terrorists and live happily ever after all on her own.

My main complaint at the moment is that although the game has "checkpoints" (decision points you can go back to and replay, so you can try other options), you can't create your own, so you end up having to replay certain chunks of the game a lot. The "skip" button helps, but it's still annoying.

This also available in actual book form (I'm not sure which came first), for those who'd prefer that.

If my bookshelves weren't already overflowing with impulse buys, this would probably be in my shopping cart, if only to see how many of the endings involve your own death or the deaths of all or most of your friends and comrades. Even a "good" ending in the Attack on Titan world would still suck to some degree.

Just finished reading this book and all the endings and I love love love this book. Wish we still had more gamebooks like this in print. The level of detail and description, and the sense of adventure is really great. Even though I never read it as a kid (I had other CYOA books that I borrowed from the library though) it still feels pretty nostalgic.

I also love that there isn't just one "good" ending (good implying that you get back to your own time). There's quite a few where you make it back to your own time, some with a dinosaur egg, some with an open-ended kind of ending.

Also, there are some where you don't get back to your own time but you nevertheless become successful in a different time. It still counts as a win in my book. I'm giving this 5/5.

This was my first “choose your own adventure” book since I read Cinderella: Ninja Warrior almost a year ago. While that one featured better writing, I'd argue that this one was a better “choose your own adventure” - it included both more choices and more endings. Ring of the Ruby Dragon managed to occupy me for an entire day.

In Ring of the Ruby Dragon, you are Chandelle (yes, this is a traditional “choose your own adventure,” so it's written in the second person). Your father is a jeweler, and you've been his apprentice for five years. While on a journey to acquire emeralds for special jewelry for Lord Darkell, you and your father are attacked by a centaur and some winged lions. When you regain consciousness, your father is gone, and all you have are the ioun stones he told you about when you were a child. Each one has magical abilities, but you don't know exactly what they can all do. A young knight named Coren crosses your path, and you have to decide whether to trust in his abilities or head to town and find someone more experienced who can help you rescue your father.

If I counted correctly, the book includes a total of 18 endings. Of those endings, 12 are what I would call “bad,” five are “good,” and one is best described as “neutral.” “Good” and “bad” are somewhat debatable. For example, although Coren was almost always Chandelle's love interest, some routes led to Sir Torbeck being her love interest instead. I thought Torbeck's routes were some of the worst in the book. It was a little disappointing, because I initially found Torbeck to be more appealing.

One of his “good” endings involved Chandelle realizing that she would have to learn not to be jealous of his roving eye. Another involved Chandelle being okay with the idea that Torbeck was a wanderer and might not stick around. Even when things were going well with Torbeck, the ending could still suddenly turn sour – a couple routes resulted in both the loss of Chandelle's father and bitterness between her and her companions. Torbeck's routes were also the only ones that occasionally led to Chandelle accidentally killing everyone.

The first choice in the book turned out to be very important. Depending on which path you chose, you might end up skipping out on most of the book's creatures, characters, and events. As it turned out, I chose the wrong path. Although a good ending was still possible, the story was fairly boring, and Coren kind of annoyed me. Unfortunately, trying to abandon him led to me being enslaved. Several times.

The other choice was much more fun and led to routes with a lot more variety: mermaids, a halfling character named Jancy, Torbeck, a naga (who reminded me of Eeyore), a golden dragon, a couple different kinds of giants, dolphins, a talking door (capable of vaporizing anyone who wasn't truly in love), and more.

As a romance, this book left something to be desired. Torbeck's endings were kind of depressing, even when they were “good.” Coren was boring, and his desire to prove himself as a knight meant he occasionally required a little too much ego stroking (but don't go overboard, or he'll die and you'll end up enslaved). This was published in 1983, and it showed. Chandelle struggled with knowing when to take the initiative. Should she confess her feelings to Coren before he'd made his clear to her? Should she allow Torbeck to make all her decisions for her, or should she trust her own judgment? I was usually pleased with the way some of these decisions worked out, although the stuff with Torbeck...ugh.

While the romance didn't really grab me, I still enjoyed working my way through all the paths and endings. There was surprisingly little overlap among the various routes, so almost every choice led to some new event or character. I doubt I'd ever reread this, but I'm considering putting in an ILL request for another one of the books in the series.

Rating Note:

I honestly have no clue how to rate something like this, but I needed to pick a rating for my records. My final choice of 2.5 stars seemed like a good compromise between the story (meh), the writing (mediocre, unless you consider the complex issues involved in creating a coherent "choose your own adventure" with this many possible endings and paths), and the overall entertainment value (pretty good).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)