Bugged Out!

Choose Your Own Nightmare #8

by Laban Carrick Hill

When your uncle sends you an ancient mask from the Amazon rain forest, you can't wait to try it on, but it makes you turn into a fly.

Genres: Gamebooks

88 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Already below the page count of the main Choose Your Own Adventure series, CYONightmare up to this point has also had little text on each page, making for short and unfulfilling reads. This entry is the first where the author uses most pages to the fullest, which is technically a plus; unfortunately, it's in service of becoming a fly. Nobody wants to be a fly. Of all the things you could've been transformed into in a horror-themed book, a fly is the worst possible choice. All you in Bugged Out! is buzz around trying to not get squashed, indulging in the book's central conceit that you can write notes as a fly to communicate with your friend, and sometimes eating garbage. Of all the experiences that didn't need to use each page to the fullest, it's that one.

[Javiernes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gustan muchisimo estos libros de armar la propia historia según las elecciones, sobretodo las de terror/horror/suspenso, mas si tienen ese toque de cine los 80, donde lo grotesco y viscoso es primordial y detallado.
Lei todos los finales y eran todos divertidos, absurdos o un poco inquietantes, ojala tener libros de esta colección

[Colton · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started this book, I expected a weak take on the "you turn into animal xyz and hijinks ensue" storyline. Hill does a pretty okay job of making the story flow and writes with a good bit of description, making you really feel as helpless as a fly would, constantly antagonized by humans, spiders, and the general danger of the world at large. Some of the endings are kind of weird, but most of them are at least semi-believeable. There did seem to be a lot more text in this book, with fewer illustrations and less white space, which was nice. The story, however, is pretty basic, and just doesn't really measure up to the better entries in this series. I would recommend it though, especially if you like strange science fiction stuff.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again, a Choose Your Own Nightmare book comes out that is intelligently done, and with well developed characters and stories. The idea behind "Bugged Out!" might be something of a takeoff on an idea that other gamebooks have previously explored (that is, the idea of "you" shrinking due to some mysterious outside force), but the author employs this idea skillfully, creating a story that I really liked to read, and will continue to read for a long time. As with all good gamebooks, this one has excellent re-readability potential.