At the Mountains of Madness

by Jacopo della Quercia

Genres: Gamebooks

208 pages, Paperback

Published September 16, 2025

About the author

JACOPO DELLA QUERCIA is an award-winning educator, essayist, and novelist. His work has been featured on BBC America, Business Insider, CNN Money, ​Folger Magazine, The Huffington Post, Reader's Digest, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Slate, and Princeton University's Electronic Bulletin of the Dante Society of America, among others.

As a writer, Jacopo strives to present otherwise obscure scholarly subjects in a manner more easily accessible and enjoyable for all audiences: a practice he honed in the classroom. His novels are The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy and its sequel, License to Quill , with many more to follow!

Reviews

[Ingrid Gough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this! I was at a bookstore and got the book signed because the author is local :)

I used to love choose your adventures as a kid, I like how this one is more for older audiences

[Jacek · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging Lovecraftian gamebook, which leavens the horror with humor. I appreciated the strong internal consistency and how reading more of the book reveals more of what is going on. There were some fittingly bleak endings, including some endings that were depressing on a large scale.

[Taylor Calabria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read aloud for the whole family! I actually enjoyed this so much that I plan to bring it in as a fun treat for my high schoolers. Great for upper elementary and middle, but enjoyable for the older crowd. And, like other “choose your own adventure” books, you can get multiple reads out of it. I have already read it twice, but I foresee a lot more rereads!

I particularly liked the cast of characters and educational guide in the back. As a teacher, I’m always trying to bring in that love of learning.

[Todd Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’ll feel the Antarctic chill deep within your bones when you set off with At the Mountains of Madness, a Choose Your Own Adventure title and the latest from acclaimed author Jacopo Della Quercia. You’ll match wits with horrors both technological and Lovecraftian as you navigate this intriguing labyrinth of a mystery. Older readers will be reminded of “The Thing,” younger ones “Stranger Things” and “It.” The young characters are plucky and resourceful; you’ll feel the visceral claustrophobia of the indoor settings. Make smart choices and you might get out alive. Della Quercia must surely be one of the cleverest, most versatile authors working today.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun and fast paced homage and sequel (of sorts) to At the Mountains of Madness. While it lacks the sheer unsettling discomfort of the original, it makes up for that in the frustrating way the narrative labyrinth unfolds. Each decision you choose seems to only end in an oubliette and a horrific disaster. Or maybe I just chose poorly. I went through several variations, different paths than I’d originally selected, but there just didn’t seem to a way through the myriad choices to find a safe ending. But then it’s inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, so there really is road to a happy ending.

[Hershey Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the Mountains of Madness by Jacopo della Quercia is a clever and modern take on Lovecraft’s horror, turned into a choose-your-own-adventure that actually feels alive. You play as a counselor at an Antarctic camp, where the mix of AI gone wrong, eerie myths, and teenage chaos slowly builds into real tension. The writing balances humor and unease without losing focus, and the choices pull you deeper into the story instead of feeling like gimmicks. Some paths end abruptly and a few jokes land awkwardly, but overall the book stays sharp and engaging. It earns a solid 4 out of 5 for being ambitious, atmospheric, and genuinely fun—a rare mix of horror and interactivity that mostly gets it right.

[Z Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book but found it difficult to read to my kids under 10. There was a lot more profanity than I had expected and I needed to adjust as I read the book aloud to them. For kids 12 and up, this is a fun and action-packed book that changes each time you read it. Great for a camping adventure when you want to read a spooky story as this novel packs in a lot of suspense!