Winding Paths: A Playable Reading Experience

by Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito (Editor), Ken Hueler (Editor), Angela Yuriko Smith

Winding Paths is a unique, pick-your-next-story anthology of speculative game stories and poems written by award-winning writers and new voices. Weave your way through stories, poems, puzzles, clues, and unexpected surprises. Or take a break from reading and play the boardgame on the cover. Use the game pieces and instructions provided in the book to play the Royal Game of UR on the front of the book.

The table of contents for Winding Paths contains:
"Autonomous Playthings" by Angela Yuriko Smith
"The Peri’s Gate" by Marianne Xenos 
"Changing the Rules" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman 
"Boring Stupid Demons" by Eric Shanower 
"Dicing with Destiny" by Ben Monroe 
"Be Prepared" by Lara Messersmith-Glavin 
"Juego de Prenda" by Armin Tolentino 
"Jamie Dice" by Dan B. Fierce 
"Clara" by Clementine Radosevich 
"Bones" by Cody T Luff 
"Beat the Devil" by Moaner T. Lawrence 
"Dead Man’s Hand" by Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq 
"Lucky Seven" by Steve Graziani 
"Vile Games for the Future" by Maxwell I. Gold 
"The Fool’s Gambit" by Mark Teppo 
"The Gamers’ Consequences" by Eric Witchey 
"Ordinary Wars" by Katie Bennett 
"Funeral Games" by Sarah Walker 
"New Orientations" by Roni Stinger 
"Ullamaliztli" by Tania Chen 
"Ava" by Andrew W. McCollough 
"Hurts, Don’t It?" by J. Rocky Colavito 
"King Yunan and Hakim Royan" translated by Munes Tomeh 
"Start" by Kate Ristau 
"Rad Babies" by Erik Grove

Ready to play?
Ready to read?
Let the games begin!

298 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2023

Reviews

[MarryAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be a lot of fun. First of all, I like games and puzzles a lot, so this type of book fits perfectly into my preferences. Second of all, the short stories were really intriguing and they made me wanna read them as fast as possible
I have to say, at first I got stuck really fast, but then I got to actually win the game and while it may be silly, it felt like an achievement

[Jeanita Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child, I used to love the goosebumps books where you could choose your own path, so when I came across this I had to read it. The book is made up of short stories about different games and gaming habits, in addition to choices that affect your gameplay. I quickly got hooked and couldn’t put it down until I reached the end of my gameplay, and can now proudly (or nervously) call myself the game master. Are you ready to play?

[M. Juliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came into my reading sphere just around the time when I was interested in a Choose-Your-Own, it was kind of like fate! Really cool collaborate book that features POC and LGBTQ+ friendly short stories in between the You-Choose sections that delve into modern magical worlds where both dragons and mobile phones exist.

The introduction explains that the cover page and icons for medallions in the book are used for the board game aspect, however I read this as an ebook so I was not able to play as intended.

Aside from that, just reading these D&D short stories was exciting enough. You follow various characters with wings and magic, witches in covens, and travelers conversing with Papa Legba. Some sections' advancement depend on the players tokens and keys at hand, or solving a puzzle from a QR code with your group.

I hope I'll have the chance to gather some friends and play the game properly, but I'm glad to have this book on hand for game night!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-book to review!

[Venneh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat premise for an anthology - a more gamified take on choose your own adventure novels with a short story associated with a token. The quality of the interstitials are solid as well. Unfortunately, the book was uploaded as a .pdf, which stripped away a key experience as the editors intended.

[Lisa Grønsund]

I received an advanced digital copy of this book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review consideration.

RTC