The Cave Of Time [Paperback]

Edward Packard (Author), Paul Granger (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1980

You're the hero of the story! Choose from 39 possible endings.

Product Details

• Paperback: 115 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (1980)
• ISBN-10: 0553140043
• ISBN-13: 978-0553140040
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,923,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take Me Back in Time--The One that Started it All..., June 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cave of Time (Choose Your Own Adventure #1) (Paperback)

In 1979, Edward Packard, who is easily the best author of the entire gargantuan Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series, wrote and published this book, and with that one stroke he not only gave us all a classic adventure story but founded an entire new genre of fiction as well! The whole idea of the "interactive novel" did not even exist before the first Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, as far as I know. The instant the series became popular, almost thousands of imitators started up, most of which died while the series that was started by "The Cave of Time" just kept going and going, like the Energizer Bunny. Today, it is considered just part of a whole category of books. "The Cave of Time" itself is an imaginative story that takes its reader all through time, from the end of the entire universe to the days of Camelot and everything in between. The mechanism for the time travel is NOT the typical machine, but rather a system of tunnels that can transport you in different directions through time depending on which way the tunnel is heading. An original and intriguing idea. Since the early '90s, the CYOA series has sadly gone downhill, with practically all the books being about martial arts and sports--as if they suddenly think that little GIRLS never read their books! and the number of endings has shrunk and shrunk, until now it is often less than TEN per book! As a female who has been reading, collecting, and loving this series since she was 8, this is a major disappointment for me, and I'm sure it would be to anyone else out there who may remember the "good old days" of this series. But THIS book, with its subject matter that would appeal to ANYONE, both boys AND girls, and its whopping 40 endings, is the classic that started it all. This is the standard that interactive fiction for kids has been trying--and failing--to reach ever since. ...Notorious

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book 1 in Choose Your Own Adventure Series, April 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cave of Time (Choose Your Own Adventure #1) (Paperback)

I remember this gamebook series from childhood, though I was never particularly good at them. "The Cave of Time" starts out with the reader finding a cave and deciding whether or not to enter it. From there, the reader travels back in time to the Ice Age, colonial America, the Dark Ages--even traveling ahead in time. There is no one ending or quest to this book, so you're not in a mad dash to win. In fact, there is no "winning" in here, just 40 possible endings to certain situations--some good, some fatal. Younger readers who like gamebooks will probably like this book/series, though there's not a lot of action.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book takes some time to read-good time!, August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cave of Time (Choose Your Own Adventure #1) (Paperback)

I've read this book many times and think it's one of the best Choose Your Own Adventure Books ever written.