Return of the Ninja

Choose Your Own Adventure #92

by Jay Leibold

Left in charge of a Japanese martial arts school, readers must decide whether to become involved in an ancient family feud involving Ninja warriors

Genres: Choose Your Own Adventure, Gamebooks, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

About the author

Pseudonym used by Jay Montavon. Author of fifteen books in the original Choose Your Own Adventure series, including the five-book "Secret of the Ninja" saga.

Reviews

[Brian Umholtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. I've been trying to read as many of these Choose Your Own Adventure books as I can since I really liked them when I was a kid. I didn't get a chance to read as many as I'd like when I was younger because my family had a bad habit of missing due dates; and we didn't have a lot of money to keep up with the little fines. Now, my library has a few -but not very many- stories. There's about 80 or so entries between the last one I read and this one, so I definitely have a lot to catch up with.

The artwork was great. Frank Bolle did a fantastic job of creating detailed work that is composed well while conveying suspense and emotion. I really enjoyed studying the art pages as I continued on through the story. The female protagonist was drawn in a way that made me feel like she was capable, but still young enough to be flirting with dangerously adult situations. I feel she and the other characters were illustrated perfectly.


The story was fantastic and I never felt cheated. There weren't as many endings as in other books I've read, but each one was linked to the story in a way that informed you about the plot piece by piece. There were some important touchstones to overcome and it was nice to see my foreknowledge reward my choices rather than spoil them. My only criticism was that there was a time travel element to some branches that was a little difficult to digest- as far as the plot was concerned. The glossary featuring important terminology about ninja culture and Japanese history was extensive enough. Further explanation (i.e.: x happened so you did y; you know to do that because you learned z in your training) becomes part of the narrators description and provides welcome context. I definitely would've loved this book as a youngster and it probably would've made me "totally into ninjas and stuff".

I recommend this one pretty highly. It's one of the best CYOAs I've read, and I think it stands up to some other fond reading memories I have; the greatest feature getting the bends while looking for treasure or dodging space vampires. Give it a read!

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow that sure was something. Maybe a little stressful. Game over:restart. Game over:restart 😅
Maybe a little dark, pretty sure I died twice and broke both of my legs!!!!
You try to find the best story with the best ending and info revealed, but you gotta see what your other options are!
Somehow I missed a path and maybe more! Bah!!!
I didn’t find out about these books till adulthood and I’ve been very interested. I’ve picked up a few, but finally decided to try one. I wonder how I would’ve felt as a kid reading these 👀

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting of this book is at a dojo school up in the mountains. Nada who is the owner of the school is your best friend and teacher. She fins out that her grandmother is ill and asks you to take over teaching the classes while she is gone. As the reader you agree to do so and the next day while teaching a class you see something out of the corner of your eye and you decided to go and find out what it is. You can either decide to take the class and make it part of the training for that day or go by your self.
THis book is interesting because of the fact that is a choose your own adventure book. I followed this book to about 5 different endings. The only thing that is different is how much you learn about the mystery of what is going on and what happens to the characters in the book. I also enjoyed how the reader themselves was a character because they have to choose what happens and how they will react. I find that this could be a great book fro reluctant readers who are curious about things and what happens to people though. Because this book can be as long or as short as you would want it to be.

[Lucky MBor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los caminos eran muy diferentes unos de otros.