Island of Doom

Choose Your Own Nightmare #3

by Richard Brightfield, Bill Schmidt (Illustrator)

The reader's decisions control the course of an adventure on a mysterious Caribbean island thought to be haunted by spirits of cannibals.

Genres: Gamebooks

86 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are you ready for a Caribbean vacation? You, your little sister Betsy, and parents can hardly believe when you're able to book a stay on the isle of Alura at the height of tourism season, and at low cost. Strangely, the Hotel Alura has only a handful of guests, and you soon learn why. Legend says the Locomas, an indigenous people, haunt the island as ghosts. They died out seven hundred years ago but are believed to have been cannibals. Dismissing these dark thoughts, you and Betsy head to the beach, but get dragged by the tide a great distance down shore. You are lost, but while hiking back up the beach, Betsy spots a multicolor lizard the size of a cat. Should you take a minute to follow it into the jungle, or remain on the beach?

The lizard skitters out of sight, but ahead in the jungle is a building shaped like a skull, with carvings that depict graphic cannibalism. Knocking on the front door is bold, but you can skirt to the back. Enter here and you find an office, but when the people who own it return, you overhear details of a fraudster plot to prey on public fear of the Locomas. If the perpetrators catch you hiding, it's death to you and Betsy. Maybe you left the building without going in; down a paved path are poles in the ground with skulls jammed on top. Trespassing here was a grave mistake. You could get trapped in a ring of fire, or escape to the beach pursued by a wild jaguar. If you went in the front door of the skull building, you find a temple decorated by frightening statues. Fun exploration turns sinister when the door slams shut and locks. You can exit through a trapdoor in the floor, a winding journey that terminates in an underwater sprint past a sea monster. If you try to climb out a temple window instead of the trapdoor, you are high above ground when Locomas approach with torches. Fail to avoid the high priest's attention, and your Alura vacation has a stomach-turning end.

Had you never left the beach to follow that lizard, you and Betsy walk toward the hotel until armed men in loincloths surround you. Are these the Locomas? They place you in a cage, but you escape before nightfall. Far down the beach, torches illuminate the darkness; hide in the jungle and the Locomas may not notice you. The hotel is visible as you splash through the water near shore, but will you make it without getting attacked by an aquatic beast? Take heart; it may be less of a threat than you perceive. If you go deep into the jungle after seeing the torches, you and Betsy bed down until morning among the chirping, growling fauna, but the next day Betsy discovers an uprooted wooden sign that reads HOTEL ALURA THIS WAY. Which direction did it point? Go with your instinct and you circle back to the beach, right where a horde of Locomas is. Wait...are they fraudsters, not real Locomas? Flee for your life and you get away, but you and Betsy are weak from hunger. There are fruit trees ahead; eat the right kind and you'll complete your escape to civilization. If you followed Betsy's instinct about the wooden sign, you find yourself among exotic plants, headed for the fate hinted at on the book's cover.

Island of Doom may be the best book at this early stage in Choose Your Own Nightmare. The storyline variety is good, and I appreciate the main theme: don't play around with forces older and more powerful than you understand. It's tempting to believe the modern world has answers to everything, but take that attitude too far and you will suffer. Humility is key, and the more you demonstrate it in these pages, the better your odds of living to reunite with your parents. I might rate Island of Doom two and a half stars; it's one of the better offerings from both Choose your Own Nightmare and Richard Brightfield in his career spanning multiple gamebook series.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally venturing into the game books of kids horror beyond just Give Yourself Goosebumps, I had been gifted this one by my mother and immediately knew I had to check it out before the Summer season came to a close. It’s short, too, so why not? The book has some great moments and scenes, like the one alluded to on the quite good cover art (great job, Bill and Beverly). This one was a lot more story focused compared to Give Yourself Goosebumps (which this blatantly rips off since it says “Give Yourself Goosebumps…Choose Your Own Nightmare…” on the back), and I really liked how much slower and less chaotic it was compared to what I’m used to. The book is fun, there’s some decent endings, and it warrants it’s shorter page count, which most GYGs don’t (sorry for comparing but they’re all I’ve read for game books). As for some issues, there’s some interior art that—whilst passible—comes off as sexist. OKAY, I’M JOKING… however, it’s stupid to assume that the person playing is a boy. Not sexist—not at all—but just stupid. Just depict the monsters, or maybe a player POV shot, or anything but a gender specific character. It’s a dumb choice that took me out of the story, as I don’t ever imagine myself and I just make up a face, this time a female. No matter what, it’s just… dumb. Don’t depict a varyingly dependent idea, that of gender, when the writer—Richard Brightfield—never even specified our reader’s gender, which alone would be stupid. Anywho. There’s a few ending that I didn’t jive with, especially the shitty “it was all a dream!” ending that no one ever likes. And all-in-all, the smaller page count is warranted, but the story should’ve had more to it. There was a potential treasure thing built up that never got tapped, and there’s just not a lot going on in this one. It feels underwhelming, and doesn’t warrant the title “Jungle of Doom.” Still good but not exactly a creative and packed plot. Overall, 7/10. It’s good enough, though I might come back and change the rating if the bar for this series’ quality reveals itself. Hoorah.

[Colton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one just didn't do too much for me. It's your standard-themed jungle island adventure in which you encounter a tribe of cannibal ghosts. Stuff happens, but the writing is just quite dull and the book as a whole failed to leave any kind of impression. I read it about a week ago, and I've already forgotten most everything about it. Unless you really want to read every book in the series, you can skip this one.