Lost on the Amazon [Library Binding]

R. Montgomery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2006

Beware and Warning!

This book is different from other books.

You and YOU ALONE are in charge of what happens in this story.

There are dangers, choices, adventures and consequences. YOU must use all of your numerous talents and much of your enormous intelligence. The wrong decision could end in disaster - even death. But, don't despair. At any time, YOU can go back and make another choice, alter the path of your story, and change its result.

The Amazon River can be misleading. It appears slow and lazy, yet its depth and power have claimed many lives. Has the river taken your friends? Or are they wandering deep into the heart of the jungle darkness that rims its banks?

Beware the strange power of the Amazon River, its many strange residents, and its many myths. Who knows what evil or good lurks around the bend?

--This text refers to an alternate Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

After a generation out of print, the original Choose Your Own Adventure series is back. First published in 1979, the books let readers remix their own stories - and face the consequences...The action in Lost on the Amazon is set against the region's massive deforestation. Move over Jared Diamond, there's a new Cassandra in town. --Wired Magazine --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

R.A. MONTGOMERY is an avid outdoorsman. He has hiked in the Himalayas, climbed mountains in Europe, scuba-dived in Central America, and sailed in Franco-phone Africa. He has lived in France, travels frequently to Asia, and calls Vermont home. His interests include macroeconomics, geo-politics, mythology, history, mystery novels, and music. He has two grown sons, a daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. --This text refers to an alternate Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: San Val (August 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417764155
• ISBN-13: 978-1417764150
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,160,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

R.A. Montgomery is an avid adventurer, first and foremost. Whether in the mountains, or on the sea, or in explorations of the mind, he has found adventure in every aspect of his life. Teaching school, working in the administration of a top university, hiking in the Himalayas, or working in the Peace Corps in Africa, Montgomery has taken making choices seriously. Montgomery says, "There is never a day in which you are not confronted with choice. Some seemingly small choices can determine the path of the rest of your life. CYOA gave me a vehicle for examining all the impacts of choice."

He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1936. One of his first memories is sitting in his high chair and being frightened of Jell-O, which he thought was alive. He attended Hopkins Grammar School, the oldest private school in the country (founded in 1660), and Williston Academy. He got his college degree from Williams in 1958, and did graduate school at Yale and NYU.

Choose Your Own Adventure® books reflect his diverse interests and values. Montgomery states, "More than anything else, everyone should have the freedom to express themselves. Second to that, everyone should take risks and be willing to fail. Picking yourself up off the mat is the central business of life."

Today R.A. Montgomery lives in north central Vermont, where he is CEO of the small publishing house that has re-introduced the CYOA series. He travels frequently to Asia and Europe. Although his technical climbing days are kaput.

For games, activities and other fun stuff, or to contact R.A. Montgomery, visit us online at www.cyoa.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars reviewed by my kids, January 8, 2012

By 

Byron J. Druzgal "reign dancer" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lost on the Amazon (Choose Your Own Adventure #9) (Paperback)

My kids say: (8 year old) Sometimes I can not understand what they are saying. (another 8 year old) It is cool that you can choose what people in the Choose Your Own Adventure books do. (6 year old) says he likes the violence... (o...kkkkkay...)
What I say: I've read better Choose Your Own Adventure books. This one is packed with potential and the story line starts out interestingly but then the plot quickly thins out and limps off into various endings. A very short read - even when starting over several times.

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazonian flute music., October 7, 2011

By 

P. Macpherson (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost on the Amazon (Choose Your Own Adventure #9) (Paperback)

Lost on the Amazon by R.A. Montgomery is the 24th book in the Choose Your Own Adventure series (or the 9th if it's the reissue edition). This is one of the rare CYOA books that doesn't have a kid for a main character. Instead you are a doctor specializing in third world diseases visiting the Amazon to help treat the lost villages of the forest people. Unfortunately a previous case has held you up and the expedition's had to go on ahead of you. And then it turns out that they've disappeared after being lured deep into the jungle by the sounds of a mysterious flute. Now you must choice whether to go searching for your friends in the expedition in a small boat with a native, via a rented plane, or wait a few days and go with the River Patrol.

The books I've previously read by R.A. Montgomery have ranged from not very good to bloody awful and I hadn't heard a lot of positive things about this book. But I really enjoyed reading this! It was very imaginative and full of great atmosphere. One example of this is a headdress a tribe of Amazons gives you resembling a bird cage that contains a pair of small green snakes inside it. As you approach the location of your captured friends and hear the hypnotic flute music playing, the two small snakes slither down from the headdress and stick their heads in your ears to block out the music. You'll also encounter giant anacondas, feeding frenzied piranhas, ghosts, huts full of darkness, banditos, and lots more. I had hoped one path would lead you face to face with a giant alligator since the possibility is mentioned at the books beginning but alas it was not to be.

The downside to the writing is that there is absolutely no continuity at all. The source of the magic flute changes from being from one tribe to another or sometimes it's from the jungle itself. You choose one path and on the next page your friends are all dead but you choose another and on the next page your friends are alive and happy without any of your actions affecting their fates. There are two tribes of Amazons for some reason. And one seemingly friendly tribe of Amazons have your missing friends backpacks piled up by a temple yet in no other path are they connected to the kidnapping and it's never explained. The whole book is like this so if a lack of continuity throughout really bothers you you might want to skip this one. I found it a little irritating or confusing at times but the story's so imaginative that it outweighed my annoyance.

There are a few really obvious choices like to go or not go against the gods or whether or not to tell a friend about a seemingly innocuous knife wound. There are also a few non-endings where the story just ends even though your character's adventure has not (both witch doctor storylines end in non-endings the very next page after his introduction). The art in the original book is by Leslie Morrill and it's some of the best I've seen in these books. The only problem is that it apparently was decided to purposely obscured the main character's face and it leads to some awkward panels. I don't know the rational behind this since the character is a specialized doctor and I doubt that mirrors most of our real lives but it severely limits what the artist can portray and that's a shame. The art in the reissued version isn't nearly as good.

Overall this was a fun read that really had me excited to try all the different paths.

0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Choose your own adventure books, March 29, 2007

By 

J. Neese "ok bichon mom" (Enid, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lost on the Amazon (Choose Your Own Adventure #9) (Paperback)

I ordered this for my grandsons. They received it a week before I thought they would get it. Very fast shipping.