Customer Reviews

Deadwood City

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The cowboy genre seemed a natural one for the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series to venture to, and luckily it did so in the early days, when ideas were fresh and master Edward Packer was in top form. Accordingly, we get the whole western panorama here, from gambling saloons to small town newspapers to desperadoes, gold prospecting, ranching, etc. Parts of this one do seem to bog down here and there, as you keep endlessly saddling up to go to Silver Springs, and not really getting anywhere. But overall it's good fun.

This is a relatively easy read and isn't as dark or sophisticated as 'Your Code Name is Jonah' or 'Space and Beyond'. Since the hero is a kid, it's hard to get killed unless you try to make the Indians angry. There are a number of quick happy endings. Some of the other endings are ho-hum. Malloy, the sharp teethed bandit, isn't all that hard to beat unless you try to do gun battle with him, and even then he doesn't kill you (you're just a kid, remember?). The book is not all that bad, but adults would want to find nostalgia with the other books and leave this one for the little kiddies.

I think Deadwood City was great, because you can choose your own way to go. I got a job in the ghost town. I left beforeI got killed. I also got stopped by Indians on the way, I snuck away, stopped at a water hole to drink and fill my canteen. Only a few more more miles and I was in Silver Springs. I got a job from an old friend and that was the end of my story. There are plenty of more mays to go. Another thing is they are fun because you don't know what is going to happen next.

Want to pan for gold? Protect the town's folk? Help the ranchers and the sheep herders get along? You can try to do all that and more. I love history and Westerns, so this book is a gold mine of fun for me. Also loved the artwork as a kid. I remember spending more time with this one than most of the other books. With 37 endings you can have a longer story than most but a lot of the endings do end up in death or vague, so-so endings.
Still, if you like Westerns and Choose your Own Adventure books I would suggest this one or By Balloon to the Sahara (Choose Your Own Adventure #3).

This was the no holds barred, thrill-ride of the '84 summer. This book encapsulated an era of youthful exuberance, at the end of the Cold War. Before these present-day spoiled kids came along, kids used to pick up a book and read. Not play computer games endlessly or surf the internet. We played outside and read. And "Deadwood City" is one pretty darned good example of what the literature was back in the good ol' days of the 80's.