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Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest
Into The Jungle
Welcome to the Forgotten Realms Endless Quest books, where you don’t just read a fantastic tale. You become the hero — and choose your own fate.
The Harpers have lost one of their own, a legendary adventurer named Artus Cimber, keeper of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter. They’ve hired you to travel to the jungle-clad land of Chult to find him. If only you can manage to find Cimber before the frost giants do — or the zombies that infest the land get you first. You’re in the jungle now, cleric.
The Harpers have lost one of their own, a legendary adventurer named Artus Cimber, keeper of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter. They’ve hired you to travel to the jungle-clad land of Chult to find him. If only you can manage to find Cimber before the frost giants do — or the zombies that infest the land get you first. You’re in the jungle now, cleric.
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2018
About the author
Matt Forbeck
216 books314 followersI'm an award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author and game designer and happily married father of five, including a set of quadruplets. For more on my work, see Forbeck.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
November 5, 2023
Another solid volume in these revamped cyoa adaptations of Dungeons and Dragons. It was enjoyable, but not quite as much about escaping the Underdark. This one, it was sort of like the hero was kind of a whiner? Not sure, but that's how it seemed to me.
May 21, 2022
A choose-your-own-adventure style book for D&D (reviving the venerable "Endless Quest" imprint from when I was a kid - you play a Dwarven Cleric on a mission in the undead-infested jungles of Chult. My kids had fun trying to find a way to survive . . .
January 31, 2020
One of my favorite characters was a 2nd Ed. dwarf fighter/cleric of Clangeddin Silverbeard. A mighty warrior priest who slew the forces of evil and faced great dangers with Dwarven stoicism.
In this book you play no such champion. You play a Dwarven cleric of Clangeddin Silverbeard who is an agent of the Harpers, sent to Chult to find the mighty magical artifact, the Ring of Winter. Too bad this was the best they could send for such a mission of import. For a Dwarven cleric dedicated to a god of battle, this character has little to no martial prowess. The best choice (Spoiler) you can make (if you want to succeed in your mission) is to run away. Very heroic and battle-worthy indeed. I understand this character is a low-level cleric but his ability to anything (other than running), such as fighting or healing, is disappointing.
After reading through most of the adventure paths in this book, I found myself disappointed in the very limited paths available to complete your mission. The art was pretty good though.
In this book you play no such champion. You play a Dwarven cleric of Clangeddin Silverbeard who is an agent of the Harpers, sent to Chult to find the mighty magical artifact, the Ring of Winter. Too bad this was the best they could send for such a mission of import. For a Dwarven cleric dedicated to a god of battle, this character has little to no martial prowess. The best choice (Spoiler) you can make (if you want to succeed in your mission) is to run away. Very heroic and battle-worthy indeed. I understand this character is a low-level cleric but his ability to anything (other than running), such as fighting or healing, is disappointing.
After reading through most of the adventure paths in this book, I found myself disappointed in the very limited paths available to complete your mission. The art was pretty good though.
July 11, 2018
In this choose-your-own-adventure style Dungeons and Dragons story, you're a dwarf cleric who was just traveling by sea (haha, seasick dwarf!) Suddenly, dinosaurs! The endings include debt, death, AN ACTUAL GOOD ENDING!, death, more death, death, death, dying and being turned into a zombie... There are certainly a lot more bad endings than good ones. This would be great for that 11-13 year old age range where they're just getting into dark things and some light gore. This series actually reminds me kind of the Goosebumps book series - it's about that level of horror/gore and that same reading level. So if you're a fan of Goosebumps and want to take a choose-your-own-adventure D&D style spin with that type of book, this is the series for you.
September 29, 2018
Yep...I died about 5 or 6 times while trying to get through this choose your own adventure book. And this is the campaign we just finished running. I only lost one of my characters in the campaign, but with this book, I just made what I thought was a safe choice, but I ended up being wrong. This was a fun read though, and I can't wait to get the other books in the series. I sincerely hope they end up doing books like this for each of the classes, because that would be awesome.
January 25, 2024
Not sure why you would remove the main quest of the module and replace it with a side-quest, despite its significance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2022
I was reading this for work to make sure it was age appropriate for our students. It was fun and had good storylines and choices to make. I'm not really sure how to rate it but it was a decent book for what it is. Easy and fun.
September 27, 2024
I died 4 times. It was fun.
September 25, 2019
This book serves as a reminder of the immense difficulty of creating compelling choose your own adventure stories. After all, such stories depend on a variety of matters, including the compelling nature of the hero as well as the variety of results that can be found within the book. Unfortunately, this book fails on many of the levels where one would hope to find compelling reads. By and large, the results of the reader's choices in behavior are nearly all disastrously bad, and the hero himself is in many cases nearly entirely useless (which does not help matters). After all, given the promise of the cover that "you are the cleric," it is rather distressing to know that the dwarven cleric one happens to be is not apparently skilled enough in healing to be a compelling cleric, nor is he good enough at fighting to be a good battle cleric. Whether fighting against jungle creatures or hordes of undead, the hero is pretty much useless and lacks any kind of knowledge about where he is or who he is supposed to be looking for or how he is going to get back home, all of which are important in ensuring a positive outcome to his quixotic quest.
Like many choose your own adventure books, this one has a particular storyline in mind and allows the reader to make various choices about how to respond to dilemmas, in most cases with both solutions being fatal. In this story the reader serves as a novice dwarven cleric who is sent to a jungle land he does not know in search of a legendary explorer and fellow Harper who has a powerful ring. The dwarf quickly finds himself over his head, involved in a town where he is faced with the choice of who to lead his expedition into the jungle, deadly jungle creatures and zombie armies, people who are friendly but whom the hero lacks the skill to heal, and the lure of gambling. In the vast majority of circumstances the character will meet some sort of inglorious end through impoverishment (or wealth) or having met some sort of enemy horde of creatures or beings who is simply too strong. Even the happy endings of finding work that has a purpose lead the character to be stranded in this forsaken wilderness area and unable to return home. Overall, this book is a major disappointment.
Let us hope at least that this book was merely a negative first impression to a series that is much better in its other volumes, because there are books that have heroes who are rogues, wizards, and fighters as well that are a part of this series and this may simply be the worst of the lot. After all, it would be a terrible thing if one had a hero who was a rogue who lacked abilities in stealth or thievery, or a wizard who did not know how to read spells, or a fighter who lacked fighting ability to the extent that this hopeless cleric cannot heal. Far from being a compelling hero, this cleric is like a Leroy Jenkins who is simultaneously a clueless tourist and a squishy incompetent. Even if one, by chance, can find a relatively positive ending to this quest one winds up stuck on this jungle planet and unable to return home, or a failure in one's original quest, all of which leads one to believe that just like one should never fight a land war in Asia, one should never send an incompetent dwarven cleric to a jungle-filled land in search of someone he does not know.
Like many choose your own adventure books, this one has a particular storyline in mind and allows the reader to make various choices about how to respond to dilemmas, in most cases with both solutions being fatal. In this story the reader serves as a novice dwarven cleric who is sent to a jungle land he does not know in search of a legendary explorer and fellow Harper who has a powerful ring. The dwarf quickly finds himself over his head, involved in a town where he is faced with the choice of who to lead his expedition into the jungle, deadly jungle creatures and zombie armies, people who are friendly but whom the hero lacks the skill to heal, and the lure of gambling. In the vast majority of circumstances the character will meet some sort of inglorious end through impoverishment (or wealth) or having met some sort of enemy horde of creatures or beings who is simply too strong. Even the happy endings of finding work that has a purpose lead the character to be stranded in this forsaken wilderness area and unable to return home. Overall, this book is a major disappointment.
Let us hope at least that this book was merely a negative first impression to a series that is much better in its other volumes, because there are books that have heroes who are rogues, wizards, and fighters as well that are a part of this series and this may simply be the worst of the lot. After all, it would be a terrible thing if one had a hero who was a rogue who lacked abilities in stealth or thievery, or a wizard who did not know how to read spells, or a fighter who lacked fighting ability to the extent that this hopeless cleric cannot heal. Far from being a compelling hero, this cleric is like a Leroy Jenkins who is simultaneously a clueless tourist and a squishy incompetent. Even if one, by chance, can find a relatively positive ending to this quest one winds up stuck on this jungle planet and unable to return home, or a failure in one's original quest, all of which leads one to believe that just like one should never fight a land war in Asia, one should never send an incompetent dwarven cleric to a jungle-filled land in search of someone he does not know.
December 10, 2018
Originally Reviewed for YA Books Central: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yaficti...
3.5 Stars
Consider this a sort of D&D primer for intro-level youth.
Told in second-person present-tense, this fantasy is styled after the beloved choose-your-own-adventure books of yore. It also features a vast array of renowned D&D art, with works ranging from sepia to full color.
As the story opens, readers know two things: that you are a Dwarf Cleric, and you’re on a mission to find a certain man with a, particularly worrisome ring. To accomplish your search-and-procure mission, you will need to navigate an unfamiliar jungle fraught with dinosaurs… and the undead. The one bit of clear background you get is that your character is deeply religious—consistently seeking the signs, guidance, and favor of his Dwarven god. And this extra bit of depth actually rounds out the character distinction better than other books in the series (Escape the Underdark & To Catch a Thief) without going as far as sentimentally Big Trouble.
The larger print, abundant imagery, and vagueness in regard to violence all culminate to make this material ideally suited to the lower range of Middle Grade. Readers are given no background on the main character in question outside of their class, so it’s easy enough to insert oneself into the storytelling. Fortunately, not all roads lead to a gruesome death! But… a few of them might.
If you, dear reader, are anything like me… you can count on needing at least a half-dozen bookmarks to note the pages you may want to return to if your storyline’s ending strikes you as less than ideal. >.> (Why yes, I did go back and try every single fork in the non-linear option tree. You live your life and I’ll live mine. ;P)
As I have mentioned in related reviews, my primary suggestion for future installments would be the inclusion of a character sheet at the beginning. I think this would help readers with their decision-making, as well as introduce a foundational concept that could later transfer to the tabletop game. (It would also be neat to have a playable character ready-made. Just saying.)
A solid option for reluctant readers, budding D&D fans, and kids who generally appreciate having more engagement and agency in their reading material.
3.5 Stars
Consider this a sort of D&D primer for intro-level youth.
Told in second-person present-tense, this fantasy is styled after the beloved choose-your-own-adventure books of yore. It also features a vast array of renowned D&D art, with works ranging from sepia to full color.
As the story opens, readers know two things: that you are a Dwarf Cleric, and you’re on a mission to find a certain man with a, particularly worrisome ring. To accomplish your search-and-procure mission, you will need to navigate an unfamiliar jungle fraught with dinosaurs… and the undead. The one bit of clear background you get is that your character is deeply religious—consistently seeking the signs, guidance, and favor of his Dwarven god. And this extra bit of depth actually rounds out the character distinction better than other books in the series (Escape the Underdark & To Catch a Thief) without going as far as sentimentally Big Trouble.
The larger print, abundant imagery, and vagueness in regard to violence all culminate to make this material ideally suited to the lower range of Middle Grade. Readers are given no background on the main character in question outside of their class, so it’s easy enough to insert oneself into the storytelling. Fortunately, not all roads lead to a gruesome death! But… a few of them might.
If you, dear reader, are anything like me… you can count on needing at least a half-dozen bookmarks to note the pages you may want to return to if your storyline’s ending strikes you as less than ideal. >.> (Why yes, I did go back and try every single fork in the non-linear option tree. You live your life and I’ll live mine. ;P)
As I have mentioned in related reviews, my primary suggestion for future installments would be the inclusion of a character sheet at the beginning. I think this would help readers with their decision-making, as well as introduce a foundational concept that could later transfer to the tabletop game. (It would also be neat to have a playable character ready-made. Just saying.)
A solid option for reluctant readers, budding D&D fans, and kids who generally appreciate having more engagement and agency in their reading material.
May 14, 2019
*Cue Jumanji drums*
In this story you are a dwarven cleric of Clangeddin coming from Baldur's Gate at the request of your Harper brethren who noticed one of their own, a man named Artus Cimber, has left unexpectedly for the jungles of Chult with a powerful artifact and you are to perform the daunting task of finding him amid the wilds of Chult.
As an Endless Quest story you will be given many choices throughout the book that will lead to both good and bad endings but as a warning to those that are presently playing the "Tomb of Annihilation" campaign will discover some similarities and possibly spoil some of the random encounters you might face while traveling through Chult but thankfully it stops long before the final destination of the campaign. Just don't be surprised by some spoiling and try not to meta game if you read through all of this book's paths. :)
My favorite part made me want to play a dwarf temporarily as he faces off against a stone opponent (no specifics again due to it might be in the campaign) and although his weapon is lost and he is injured his pride as a dwarf and guided by his war deity he strives to fighting against impossible odds with his bare hands as he faces his stony opponent.
In this story you are a dwarven cleric of Clangeddin coming from Baldur's Gate at the request of your Harper brethren who noticed one of their own, a man named Artus Cimber, has left unexpectedly for the jungles of Chult with a powerful artifact and you are to perform the daunting task of finding him amid the wilds of Chult.
As an Endless Quest story you will be given many choices throughout the book that will lead to both good and bad endings but as a warning to those that are presently playing the "Tomb of Annihilation" campaign will discover some similarities and possibly spoil some of the random encounters you might face while traveling through Chult but thankfully it stops long before the final destination of the campaign. Just don't be surprised by some spoiling and try not to meta game if you read through all of this book's paths. :)
My favorite part made me want to play a dwarf temporarily as he faces off against a stone opponent (no specifics again due to it might be in the campaign) and although his weapon is lost and he is injured his pride as a dwarf and guided by his war deity he strives to fighting against impossible odds with his bare hands as he faces his stony opponent.
April 30, 2019
Into the Jungle by Matt Forbeck, 122 pages. Candlewick Entertainment, 2018. $8.99
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: EL – ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
You are the main character of this story, and you have a lot of difficult decisions to make as you try to accomplish the task you left the comfort of your home for -- find Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter he has. While you are in an unfamiliar land surrounded by unfamiliar creatures, your adventure will never be boring as you stick to your task, willing to risk death for the chance of your success!
Choose your own adventure books are the video games of literature. Having the opportunity to insert myself as a character of the book is a unique experience, and I enjoy the feeling I have of being more invested in the story. I deliberate over decisions as I attempt a two-fold mission: stay true to what I would do in real life and make decisions that will allow me to live in the end. Good luck, adventurer!
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: EL – ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
You are the main character of this story, and you have a lot of difficult decisions to make as you try to accomplish the task you left the comfort of your home for -- find Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter he has. While you are in an unfamiliar land surrounded by unfamiliar creatures, your adventure will never be boring as you stick to your task, willing to risk death for the chance of your success!
Choose your own adventure books are the video games of literature. Having the opportunity to insert myself as a character of the book is a unique experience, and I enjoy the feeling I have of being more invested in the story. I deliberate over decisions as I attempt a two-fold mission: stay true to what I would do in real life and make decisions that will allow me to live in the end. Good luck, adventurer!
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
January 13, 2019
This book is a bit of a mixed bag. The writing is good, and overall the quest is interesting. The production values of the book itself are also amazingly good, with thick quality pages and colour artwork.
The general premise is you play a Cleric (a battle-cleric to be specific, not so much a healing cleric) who travels across the ocean to a jungle land to find a member of his society who has gone missing with a magic ring of paramount importance. Your job is to find him and bring the ring back.
In the meantime you encounter such things as flying creatures, goblins and even frost giants (their existence in this climate is explained) while you make your way through the jungle.
The problem is that this book seems to be over just as it gets going. While this is a known issue with many gamebooks that don't have a combat system, this one seems even shorter than many Choose Your Own Adventure books, which are well known for only providing a short experience.
That aside though, its a good read and a really nice-looking book to have in a collection.
The general premise is you play a Cleric (a battle-cleric to be specific, not so much a healing cleric) who travels across the ocean to a jungle land to find a member of his society who has gone missing with a magic ring of paramount importance. Your job is to find him and bring the ring back.
In the meantime you encounter such things as flying creatures, goblins and even frost giants (their existence in this climate is explained) while you make your way through the jungle.
The problem is that this book seems to be over just as it gets going. While this is a known issue with many gamebooks that don't have a combat system, this one seems even shorter than many Choose Your Own Adventure books, which are well known for only providing a short experience.
That aside though, its a good read and a really nice-looking book to have in a collection.
February 22, 2019
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG
You are the main character of this story, and you have a lot of difficult decisions to make as you try to accomplish the task you left the comfort of your home for: find Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter he has. While you are in an unfamiliar land surrounded by unfamiliar creatures, your adventure will never be boring as you stick to your task, willing to risk death for the chance of your success!
Choose your own adventure books are the video games of literature. Having the opportunity to insert myself as a character of the book is a unique experience, and I enjoy the feeling I have of being more invested in the story. I deliberate over decisions as I attempt a two-fold mission: stay true to what I would do in real life and make decisions that will allow me to live in the end. Good luck, adventurer!
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
You are the main character of this story, and you have a lot of difficult decisions to make as you try to accomplish the task you left the comfort of your home for: find Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter he has. While you are in an unfamiliar land surrounded by unfamiliar creatures, your adventure will never be boring as you stick to your task, willing to risk death for the chance of your success!
Choose your own adventure books are the video games of literature. Having the opportunity to insert myself as a character of the book is a unique experience, and I enjoy the feeling I have of being more invested in the story. I deliberate over decisions as I attempt a two-fold mission: stay true to what I would do in real life and make decisions that will allow me to live in the end. Good luck, adventurer!
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
February 19, 2019
I’m not really a fan of dwarves and I’ve never been too sure of clerics but Into the Jungle totally won me over and is my favourite of the bunch. In one of the games of D&D, I play with friends we’ve had our fair share of run-ins with undead creatures and necromancy which I think added another level to this story for me. I only had to go back on one choice to accomplish the task my character had set out to complete but the journey there was heartbreaking and done so very well,. Into the Jungle definitely fit my style of storytelling more and not only had a brilliant and evocative storyline (in my playthrough at least) but also felt the most right and fitting for it’s chosen class.
You can check out my review of this whole series at my blog: https://wordpress.com/post/fantasticb...
You can check out my review of this whole series at my blog: https://wordpress.com/post/fantasticb...
July 25, 2018
Yay! I won! It took me a few tries but I accomplished my mission.
This one seemed like it had less to it than the Endless Quest Rogue book. But I liked that it put you in the guise of a dwarven cleric. That’s a little more off the beaten path than a halfling rogue.
Maybe I don’t remember the old Endless Quest books as well as I think, but these don’t seem to have as much of a story - or maybe for a younger group. Though - just like in many Choose Your Own Adventure Books - most of the failed endings find you dying.
Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for a copy in return for an honest review.
This one seemed like it had less to it than the Endless Quest Rogue book. But I liked that it put you in the guise of a dwarven cleric. That’s a little more off the beaten path than a halfling rogue.
Maybe I don’t remember the old Endless Quest books as well as I think, but these don’t seem to have as much of a story - or maybe for a younger group. Though - just like in many Choose Your Own Adventure Books - most of the failed endings find you dying.
Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for a copy in return for an honest review.
January 5, 2021
This was actually a lot of fun! I listened to this on audio, and was able to easily skip to the chapters to choose my adventure. Which helped, because I died. A LOT. I haven't read a book like this since I was in middle school and would voraciously read any and all Goosebumps books, so the nostalgia hit pretty hard.
Definitely a good intro for kids interested in D&D, and a cool way to geek out if you're already a diehard nerd. I went all out and used my D&D Volo's Guide to Monsters while I listened, to see what the monsters I encountered looked like, and what I was up against. Will probably check out more "quests" in the future.
Definitely a good intro for kids interested in D&D, and a cool way to geek out if you're already a diehard nerd. I went all out and used my D&D Volo's Guide to Monsters while I listened, to see what the monsters I encountered looked like, and what I was up against. Will probably check out more "quests" in the future.
July 10, 2018
I received a copy of this for a fair and honest review. I have never played D & D before but I do love choose your own adventure books and that is what this is. You get to be the hero of the story. You are hired to find and bring back a missing person. You must travel into the jungle and search putting your own life at risk. There is no promises that you will return. I tried this and I did not succeed. I died an epic death or two, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Grab a copy and try it for yourself.
January 23, 2019
This was an entertaining gamebook. For one of lower complexity, it still showed some interesting twists. It was on the 8th attempt that I finally reached one of the satisfying endings that didn't include me dying. And boy did I die a whole bunch of different ways. Mr. Forbeck has a good sense of humor (dry and dark at times) and that made all my dying less frustrating and more entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading more volumes in this gamebook series.
June 18, 2021
It was a cute little book, but I wasn't all that into it. I got a good ending my first try without ever needing to fight anything so either I just play real smart or it just isn't that hard to get a good ending. This is absolutely appropriate for any age, though, so all power to giving these to people as a gift.
September 7, 2021
⌨️ aquarius is reading...
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🔹 Wins : 1
🔹 Loses : 2
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🔹 Overall, this is a great book. I would really like to get more from the series. Choices were sometimes confusing. Definitely suggest reading this.
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🔹 Ratings : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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⌨️ aquarius has finished reading...
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🔹 Wins : 1
🔹 Loses : 2
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🔹 Overall, this is a great book. I would really like to get more from the series. Choices were sometimes confusing. Definitely suggest reading this.
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🔹 Ratings : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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⌨️ aquarius has finished reading...
August 12, 2020
I was surprised to see this as an audiobook, but it worked rather well. Just as the book might direct you to turn to page 18, the audio directs you to go to chapter 31. Story was okay, about what you’d expect — enjoyed it pretty well. (Was free on hoopla)
October 16, 2018
A modern day choose your own adventure! Love it!
October 17, 2018
A quick, fun read that didn’t require any processing. Now I just want to play DnD even more though....
February 4, 2019
Not as much fun as the rogue but still a good introduction. It felt much shorter than the first or maybe that was just the path I picked.
February 13, 2020
You'll find the review for this book and two others of this series in:
https://cupcakesandpopcorn.wordpress....
https://cupcakesandpopcorn.wordpress....
March 7, 2020
Yep. I died. Not surprising for Chult.
March 14, 2020
I felt like this one had too many bad results, and that the cleric wasn't all that cleric-y. The artwork was amazing, though.
July 6, 2022
Another great adventure.
November 28, 2024
Very plain and basic story. Barely any control given to the reader.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews