While I will be reviewing a book or two from the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, and a couple of books from the spin-offs, that's not all I'll be looking at. There was a whole ton of other series published to compete with the CYOA, and I'll be reviewing a bunch of them.
As this blog started out as a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew focused blog, I figured that I should start with the "Be a Detective Mystery Stories". The "Be a Detective Mystery Stories" series lasted six books, with two more books* planned but never published.
The "Be a Detective" series is a bit unusual in that there are no bad endings at all. (Except for one in "Danger on Ice", but we'll get to that) No matter what choices you make, Frank, Joe, and Nancy always solve the mystery. Instead, your choices change who the villain is, and how the villain is caught.
This is a bit disappointing, as part of the fun of Gamebooks for me is bad stuff happening when you make the wrong choice. It forces you to think about your choices, and it makes getting a good ending more satisfying. (Plus a lot of the time, the bad endings are more entertaining than the good ones)In "Danger on Ice", Nancy and the Hardys have to rescue a kidnapped figure skater during a trip to Austria.
"Danger on Ice" is surprisingly Hardy-centric. There's only one ending where Nancy catches a criminal on her own and multiple paths where Nancy does almost nothing. The book is also more focused on action scenes then detective work, with plenty of fights and chases.
The focus on action isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the action scenes were well written. It's fun to read about Joe chasing someone in a hang glider, or Frank taking out a bad guy with a snowball, but it would be nice if Nancy was allowed to join in the fun.
That's not to say that Nancy does nothing in the book. She finds an important clue, and in the paths where she goes with Frank and Joe to places, she plays a major part in rescuing Kristy. It's just that she rarely got to do anything on her own.
There are 17 different endings in "Danger on Ice", which is a good amount. There's a whole ton of different choices to make, and the paths are all a decent length. This gives the book plenty of re-readability.
The book takes the reader through a verity of settings, including trains and a castle. Snowmobiles and skis are frequently used due to the book taking place during winter. The book is (mostly) well written and well paced, and never gets boring.
Once again, that's not necessarily bad, after all, there's only so much space in the book and a whole ton of different choices to make. There's just wasn't the room to give the villains more depth.
The most interesting villain that the detectives ran into was a delusional man who thought that Kristy was his dead daughter, which is surprisingly dark for a Digest continuity book. In another ending, the villains turn out to be terrorists sent to assassinate a diplomat. Said assassins don't have weapons for some reason, but still.
Speaking of dark endings, remember the bad ending I mentioned? Well, it's not only a bad ending, but it's also a badly written ending.
If you call the police as Frank and Joe instead of following some tracks, Nancy reveals had Kristy had randomly decided to run with a never before mentioned boyfriend. She also decided that instead of telling Nancy and the Hardys about this, she would leave a letter at the bottom of Nancy's suitcase. Of course, by the time Nancy finds this letter, the police have been called. So Kristy just wasted police manpower and got everyone panicked for no reason. Good job Kristy.
Yeah, I'm deducting a point for that nonsense.
If it seems I'm being a bit harsh on the book, maybe I am. However, when I read a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew crossover, I expect at least a decent balance between the characters. The book is supposedly written by both Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon, so why do the Hardys get way more focus? Had Nancy been given more to do, this book would have a higher rating.
"Danger on Ice" was one of the first Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books I ever read, back when I was in Grade 6. I recall liking the book back then, but that was also when I used to do more skimming through books than actually reading them. Even then, I recall liking the other two "Be a Detective" books I had read around that time (#1 and 3) better.
That being said, if you like Gamebooks, you'll likely get enjoyment out of this one. The series is also quite hard to find so this might be the only book in the series you'll get to read.
A five isn't a bad rating, that just means that the book is average with nothing much to recommend about it. I don't use the four-point scale**. Despite my issues with "Danger on Ice", when compared to other Gamebooks that I've read, it is indeed average.
I will be reviewing two more books in the "Be a Detective" series. One of the two books has Frank and Joe visiting Nancy in River Heights, so I'm looking forward to that.
Rating
5 out of 10
* The two unpublished books were "Jungle of Evil" (which would have taken place in the South American jungle) and "Ticket to Intrigue".
**An explanation of the "four-point scale" is here. I'll have a short post explaining my rating scale very soon.
