Isle of Illusion

HeartQuest #4

by Madeleine Simon, Elmore (Artist), Jim Holloway (Illustrator)

As a young female warrier in search of her missing brother, the reader makes decisions that control her mission to defeat the evil magician Treg.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure, Gamebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

210 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the last time (though I hope not because I’d still like to read books #5 and #6) I’d like to explain that I read the book in its entirety one choice at a time until I either died/stalled out and had to go back, got a happy ending and had to go back, or got to a place that made me say “this part’s familiar because I’ve tried all of the options from here on out.” This book has at least 12 possible choices to be made before it can be finished with a positive outcome, though that doesn’t mean the desired outcome can’t be reached with more or fewer, and many are three choice options, while others can bring you to a page you arrived at with a previous series of choices. This time you’re a beautiful 16-year-old blonde warrior girl. How’s that for Dungeons and Dragons/literature escapism? Cool! I get to be a babe! You’re on a quest to the eponymous (or “titular” if you’d prefer) island and meet a “scholar” who could be a magic-user or sage, and a thief who have a mission there too. They don’t tell you how old they are, but I’m guessing they’re supposed to be older than you because that’s so often the case with leading men. Anyway, you’re given several items at the beginning to assist you, but you’re not sure if you should trust them, and as the story goes on you have to decide if and when to trust your comrades (who both have the hots for you, because of course) with your secrets as well. Sure it’s campy but in such a gloriously campy way that I’ll definitely have to pick this series up again in a few years to breeze through for ideas for a 1EAD&D game if I need any. These books are so enjoyable that I didn’t want to have to rush through them. My favorite parts of this book were the passages that describe how your body has muscled up and filled out as you approached 16. A romance written in second-person narration is such a daring concept that it blows my mind every time.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited to find an interactive fiction fantasy romance mini-series via Twitter! Finally a “pick a path” with a woman main character who can best a thief in a sword fight and decide whether or not to kiss him later. There are many dead ends, just like in a typical choose-your-own-adventure book, but none of them were very long, so it wasn’t as painful.

The story was okay, with most of the choices either being random or deciding whether or not to trust the two men in your love triangle. The writing was bland but effective and the tame romance was tween-appropriate. I very much enjoyed reading this early example of an interactive fiction romance with a woman as the main character.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, at least the protagonist was a fighter class this time. Still lots of weird simpering and possessiveness and thoughts about long-term romantic relationships (even marriage!?) WITH A 16-YEAR-OLD. I also felt like the mechanics of this Choose Your Own book were not as fun for me - there were lots of choices that ended up in the same place, and lots fewer unique endings.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

These Heartquest books are quite bad but they are a hold-over from my childhood when I sought to collect them all.