Customer Reviews

The Forbidden Castle (Choose Your Own Adventure, 14)

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This was not one of Packard's better books. Upon returning to the cave of time (read Choose your Own Adventure #1 for more details) you find yourself in medieval England. The king has heard of a forbidden castle that will enable anyone who conquers it to rule over all of Europe. Of course, you're a wierd person in a strange time so you're not exactly welcome here. Depending on how you go, the king may end up finding you or you won't ever see him. If you like fantasy books this one may be one to avoid. Except for the moving through time and one possible ending there's no real magic in the book.

Most of the best of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series (in which readers are asked to make periodic choices that help determine the outcome of the story)were written by its originator, Edward Packard, and "Forbidden Castle" is definitely one of Packard's better efforts. (I think his best may have "Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?") It begins with the protagonist - you - returning to the Cave of Time (book #1 in the series) and ending up in medieval England, where the ruthless King has offered a fortune to anyone who can solve the riddle that will lead to a Forbidden Castle of great power. The riddle is a clever one with a logical explanation, and the quest for the castle proves a dangerous and ultimately rewarding one, though not in the way one might expect. Young readers (say, 3rd-5th grade) will want to read the book many times to discover all of the endings, and enjoy the historical fiction in which sensible decisions really do take you somewhere. The book features appealing illustrations by Paul Granger.

For those of you who liked "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," this Choose Your Own Adventure book is for you. A sequel of sorts to CYOA #1, "The Cave of Time," this story written in the series trademark second-person interactive, transports the reader back to medeval England. The reader may end up before this king, and the reader's life may be spared if s/he is able to provide a meaningful interpretation of the poem that provides the clue to discovering the Forbidden Castle.

Correct decisions may lead to discovering the castle and ultimately returning to one's own time. Wrong turns may have the reader die centuries in the past.

This was one of my favorite CYOA books, along with "Escape" and "Hyperspace."