Stranger Things: Heroes and Monsters

by Rana Tahir

A thrilling Choose Your Own Adventure® book based on Netflix’s Stranger Things!Are YOU ready to journey to the dark side of Hawkins, Indiana? Join Eleven, Dustin, Max, Lucas, and their friends as they explore Pennhurst Asylum, the creepy old Creel house, and possibly even the Upside Down. The decisions YOU make will decide the fates of the characters and lead to unexpected, thrilling, and even deadly outcomes. Fans of Netflix’s hit show Stranger Things will love this exciting addition to the Choose Your Own Adventure® series.In Netflix’s Stranger Things, a group of young friends explore supernatural forces and secret government exploits in Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s. As they search for answers, the children embark on incredible adventures and unravel extraordinary mysteries.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure, Fiction, Gamebooks, Young Adult

Kindle Edition

Expected publication January 2, 2079

About the author

Born in Pakistan and raised in Kuwait, Rana Tahir earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Writing from Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR. While finishing her MFA thesis, she wrote her first book published by Cavendish Square Publishing. Her second book is forthcoming from ChooseCo LLC. She is a current Kundiman Fellow. She currently resides in Oregon, still teaching and writing.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a young reader, I devoured the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series. As an adult, I feel a similar draw to "Stranger Things." However, I'm not sure this union was quite the success for which I was hoping. The plot lines all intertwine with Season 5 of the show, whereas I was expecting a non-linear trip to the Upside Down. The result is somewhat uninspired, and after two (unsatisfying) endings, I decided that the remaining 23 could remain a mystery.

[rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers, but I'm not going to mark this review to be hidden, simply because I feel this needs to be shared to possible readers.

Do not waste your money on this book. I approached the book by reading it from cover to cover, not by jumping around the way you would usually with a book of this kind, so I read each ending as they came, and I stopped around the 75% mark. There are a lot of things that I didn't like about it from the get-go, including but not limited to: the writing is like that of a wattpad fanfiction, many of the scenarios and dialogue are word for word from the show, and many of the storylines get abruptly cut off with no proper conclusion.

However, the most damning thing to me, and what made me decide to actually throw this book in the trash, is this: in one scenario, the reader is given the option to tell the character Jason Carver the truth and that Lucas Sinclair is lying about Eddie Munson's whereabouts. If you choose this, Jason and the other basketball players forcibly tie Lucas to a chair and take turns beating him incoherent, and it is spun as being the reader's fault for choosing this path.

There are other scenarios that include torture and violence, as is in keeping with the show, but they are not as racially charged and are meant to be construed as the reader's fault. (For example: the reader gets tied up and tortured by government officials at one point. Or, Steve Harrington also fights and is beaten by Jason Carver, the difference being that it is only Jason, and he's given a fighting chance.)

I do not know why this book was given the go-ahead by Stranger Things execs to be marketed as a companion piece for the show, especially when the target audience are obviously young adults who presumably love and have deep attachments to these characters. 0/5 stars. I couldn't write a review without giving it a star rating on the app, but know that I steadfastly do not think it deserves a star at all.

[Daniela González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta es una reseña para nada objetiva. Este libro es justo lo que necesitaba en este momento, el formato me gustó mucho y fue un soplo de aire fresco, llevaba muchos libros que me parecían muy meh y estaba sintiendo que podría entrar en bloqueo. Reencontrarme con los personajes me hizo muy feliz, stranger things es una de mis series favoritas. Este libro lo recomiendo solamente para fans súper acérrimos de la serie y que hayan amado la última temporada ya que realmente no aporta información nueva (yo lo amé igual)

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is such an essential book for fans of Stranger Things, especially those with a great knowledge of S4.

The whole book is split into different scenarios which you can pick from, which was such a fun adventure. Though confusing at times, which I put down to this being my first choose your own adventure, it was well adapted to find in new stories and yourself. Having an official self-insert fanfic is a dream come true!

The writing was the only thing that let me down, it was extremely simple and not overly descriptive at times, I get that there's a lot of ground to cover numerous times with the options and all, but it could have definitely been more detailed for those who need a refresher on the gritty details of S4.

Plot wise, it was fairly accurate when it needed to be, and had those iconic lines that we all loved. Speaking of, IT HAS EDDIE MUNSON CONTENT!
Hanging out with Eddie for some of the adventure was honestly so great, I'm so glad this was an option and it definitely was my favourite part.

Overall, with so many different routes you can take, it's a fun book that ST fans will want to read, it's unlike anything I've ever read before and I can honestly say that it was a blast!

[Caroline Grabow · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun reading this but the writing was like a bad Wattpad story

I also went into this thinking it followed the plot of season 4 but noooooo

Would still recommend this to fans of the show since it’s really pretty and has some cute illustrations

[Ines]

Characters are unnecessarily rude to the reader.

[Lucca Ángel · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5*

This read like an Eddie Munson x Reader wattpad fic. It makes absolutely no sense if you haven’t watched s4 of the show (which I never finished). Nice art though!

[McDougReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well if you know how these things work then you’ll understand why a “read” doesn’t take so long. The path I chose was pretty short, but it was fun I guess. I’m glad I listened to the theme tune before starting though. Will probably try this again another time with different choices and see where I end up.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really cool book since you get to pick what the main character does and how they react. What makes this even cooler is the “re-readability” of it, since you can make different decisions each time. I won’t say there’s endless possible outcomes, but there’s definitely a good amount haha

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was fun! they should make more of these for past seasons or even just imaginary scenarios.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you liked Stranger Things season 5 you’ll love this book. It would be good if you just can’t get enough and want more.. but it’s a crappy choose your own adventure if you’re reading it just for that. I think the story is too complex to fit into this format.

[Morgan Souchek · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I did every choice imaginable and I never got a satisfying ending. If anyone has any tips on reading this book lmk.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided last weekend to buy this book and do a little time traveling back to 1995, when I was a super not nerdy grade schooler putting little scraps of paper on each "choice" page I hit in my newest Choose Your Own Adventure book.

In this Stranger Things version, you are a young journalist that ultimately stays in your own town out in Cali or heads to Hawkins, Indiana for a young journalist conference. If you haven't seen Stranger Things Season 4, you'll be pretty lost. And you will experience spoilers. If you haven't seen Stranger Things period, you'll be 100% lost. I'm talking in the wildest, most dense woods with no compass or water source. Don't do it. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend for anyone who hasn't seen the 4th season (unless you enjoy being lost and spoiling the show for yourself).

For anyone who is up to speed, this is a fun little jaunt with some of your favorite characters. You'll spend more time with the Hawkins crew, but you get to dabble a tiny bit with El, Mike, Jonathan, Argyle, and Will, too.

And, yes, you'll get to spend time with Eddie, too. I don't care who you are, you love him.



This was similar to how I remembered Choose Your Own Adventure books to be except that in my somewhat distant memories the books seemed shorter and had more choices (or maybe it was just a higher choice to page ratio). Still, there was a fair enough amount of flipping involved, enough that I didn't take it with me to my daughter's orthodontist appointment because I didn't want to be flipping pages back and forth and sticking multi-colored strips of paper in the pages like a crazy person. I'm an embarrassing mom, but I'm not that embarrassing.

I will note that I went through until I had gotten every ending. This actually caused me more stress than it should have. I'm not sure I could handle another one of these books, and this one held my interest mainly because I love the show and its characters so much.

Have I just gotten old?
Don't answer that.

3 Stars

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved CYOA books when I was a kid! I have memories of sitting between shelves in the library, turning the pages back and forth in those books to see all the different outcomes. This book did not bring me as much joy. I also consider myself to be a fan of Stranger Things and knowledgeable about the characters and events of season 4, which this book was heavily based on. Despite this, I found the characters and events to be written in such a rushed way, with lots of pertinent details left out. Often in one of my choices, a character would just be there without any explanation as to what they were doing before, as if I had to use my own background knowledge from the show to fill in the details. Every ending I came to was abrupt and even nonsensical. The writing just felt basic... every story I embarked on (and I quit this book after about 6 restarts) felt like the author was trying to cram as many events from the show into the shortest word count possible. It all just felt too rushed and too vague. All this to say, fans of CYOA or Stranger Things or both may appreciate that this book exists. But I was very unimpressed with the writing.

[nokomis · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty cool, i died a lot and got stuck in MANY sticky situations. i don’t like how it jumps seasons though, when eddie munson came into the picture so soon i was shooketh😱

i also didn’t like how some of the endings remained such a mystery but life’s a mystery so whateves🤷‍♀️

[Elle Mill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is everything it promised to be: entertaining and nostalgic (for some of us). The black and white illustrations are well done. Though the cover makes Eddie look like Bonnie Raitt. Pick it up before bedtime or in the waiting room with at least 3 bookmarks ready if you're not a purist.

[Sissy BP · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fun! The Choose Your Own Adventure books originally came out when I was a kid and I loved this Stranger Things themed version.

I went through and read all the scenarios to see how they ended even if there were choices I would not have made otherwise. As the reader you are given the role of a journalism student at Lenora Hills High School with plans to attend a journalism conference in Hawkins over Spring Break. You are part of the events that take place in Stranger Things 4. Some of your choices lead you to staying in Lenora and some lead you to Hawkins.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read; it’s been a long time since I read a CYOA novel, and it was neat to see how the reader insert interacted with the prominent cast of the series Stranger Things. Plenty of plot lines and endings to keep you guessing. If you like ST and want more to hold you over until season 5 comes out this is the way to go!

[Levy Mclaurin · Rating 3 out of 5]

*All over the Place*

I know … I know…


I should finish every ending before I review it or mark it as read and I will but technically I finished one ending.

That one ending though left me disappointed. I felt like they just wanted to shove every reference onto the last page that they hadn’t mentioned yet.

For example I had even met all the characters but they were all mentioned on my ending and speaking as if I should know them already.

I will read every ending eventually but want to space it out and if I am overalled impressed afterwards I’ll probably bump it up to three stars

But for now this book is gonna be floating around in the upside down for awhile and maybe if Vecna isn’t reading it I’ll pick it back up.

2nd Review

Better than the first read through as the ending that I ended up at was a quite a few pages longer than my previous journey.

This time I spent most of it trying to work with Jason lol

I will say it had some graphic writing I mean nothing as far as a blood fest but still some good writing and I get it that this is a choose your own adventure book, but yeah second read through was better and i raised it a star.

[Michela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. It was fun to see how your choices affected the story. I haven't ever done a choose your own adventure book before but have always wanted to. This book was a great introduction into those types of books. The story for the book hits all the plot points that where in Season 4 of Stranger Things but it does take it's own twist and turns depending on what path you take. I like how there is a replay ability to it. I would defiantly recommend this book for a fun read when you feel burnt out from long stories.

[Laura -- Laudraak · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

This book was a major let down. It's very bland and basically a super fast-paced and simplified retelling of season 4.

Your self insert character is one dimensional as heck and barely has any interaction with the characters, the endings are all very abrupt.

I've read fanfictions that are way better than this
😅

Cant believe I had to wait 2.5 months for this book to finally arrive at my doormat.

[Lonnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

that was horrible—cliché-ridden prose, cheap endings, 2 repeated endings, no source of descriptions of people and place, shallow characters... 0.5/5. would never read Rana's work again.

[Crystal Puchol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not an English major, no hate, just throwing out opinions. I genuinely had fun reading this, it just isn’t my favorite.


After reading this, I am confident in my conclusion. I love stranger things, couldn’t care less about CYOA books. In reading I need a lil more connection and our POV I just felt irrelevant and misplaced. At one point we are just on the boat on lovers lake and the numbers are wrong and it’s acknowledged but left at that (200). Like I would rather be just an audience member than be in this predicament.

-It does a nice job at highlighting how in ST there is so many storylines going on and if your in one you miss the context of the others. As a part of my 2024 reading goals this was on my TBR shelf and in order for me to mark it “complete” I read and charted each ending.

-Spoiler: (for the ends)most of them were you died, you went back to Lenora, max died, or just like stupid cliffhangers.

-In some of the chapters robin and Nancy are just incredibly rude to you and there is no resolution. Page 181, “weren’t you supposed to shut up” robin would never At one point they downright accuse you of messing things up, which I guess is the point in you making the “wrong choice”, but for some reason I was thinking to myself “why do we have beef!” (231) oh and we just narc on them. (237 we sneak through Nancy’s stuff) no wonder why she’s against us.

-At one point “we” start talking about serial killers, and it seems like we might be “helpful” in some way and it isn’t really followed through.

-Also, every time we were in a “trance” it happens and then everyone moves on. I wrote on page 158 “that was stupid”

-Oh and you are supposed to be staying with Freddie’s family but since they are in mourning you can just go stay with the Wheelers…even though your a teenager….and there is a ton of murders… yeah okay

-I was apart of the 2022 Eddie phase *sighs nostalgically* but like I’ve read watt pad fan fiction that I had more of a connection to. It’s like when the show came out and they had those car tours, or the ST Experience. As a fan you go, but it doesn’t capture the magic.

-Hopper/Joyce/Murray are not in it, but they somehow have Freddie/Patrick/Stinson/Owens/Vicky’s boyfriend (just a reference) and just a ton of super unimportant characters that I didn’t care about.

-Going through all the scenarios did feel redundant, like how many times did I have to hear about Nancy’s vision. (184)

-There was a solid amount of references to the show.

-Steve breaks through a vortex with a hammer, when his bat was literally in the trunk of the car and “we” grab the hammer. (140,155)
Like if it’s going to quote the show, I don’t think they were worried about the references or copyrights. Like they wrote vecnas whole monologue.

-You must be a ST fan to get this book.

-it sporadically changed setting or time and that had me flipping some pages.

-The nods to the original characters was pure nostalgia for me. (Steve/Robin, Argyle/purple palm tree delight, Dustin/his incorrect compass)

-The Dear Billy episode sequence was my favorite part personally.
-The Victor Creel stuff was solid.
-S3Scoops Ahoy stuff was okay, but oh by the way they just claim that the Russian spy hideout is still just there just to give us a setting to go to. (241)
-page 256 was one of the most memorable scenes in S4 and it felt dry.

-on page 255 they kept saying don’t touch the vines don’t touch the vines, and they don’t so it’s solid advice, but I remember about how Joe Keery destroyed a camera in that scene and was wondering if that was why they kept saying don’t touch the vines

-the illustrations were a solid meh, it would have been cooler if they included fan art or something with a bit more interesting dimension. Especially since this is essentially non canon fan work.

-NGL some developed friendships or a partner would have made things interesting, I know we technically don’t have pronouns, but does it matter either way?

-In some chapters you set things on fire, but then in others you trip Susie’s dad (bad plan, she gets grounded) or yell the stupidest distraction line and Max dies anyway (259)

-page 144 Steve always fights someone, that tracks

[DJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four SOLID ⭐️s for a very nostalgic book!

Remember back in the day when the whole series of books sat on a shelf and you could create any number of stories to your own liking? They weren't the largest books, but they were fun. This is exactly that.

The five different stories I have done (so far) would be from Season 4's cannon of storyline. The characters are apart but are working their way together until they are together. There is the El/Will/Jonathan path, the Nancy/Robin stories, the Lucas off-shoot, and even Steve, the babysitter, with his pal Dustin and new friend, Eddie. What's not to love making your favorite characters wander and meander different possibilities of Stranger Things stories.

You are you, a reporter for the high school paper in Lenora, CA. You have started here at page one and are dropped into decisions that need to be made. Go to Hawkins, follow a story here, befriend Jane, though that kid Will keeps calling her El for some reason. Some paths are long and winding, others are short and you may die or the story ends, anyway.

Events are different, but the same, so that crazy old man in Penhurst who claimed a demon killed his family is still there, and Vecna is that dude, and Robin and Steve are still just friends.

The only thing about this book is that sometimes the story feels broken. I can't remember, for the life of me, if the old books at that disconnected feel between parts or not. What I mean by this is, you are traveling along at your path and you have a decision to make... and with that decision made, you are dropped into a different page. All of a sudden the even changed or extra characters where suddenly there... not quite the smooth transition. Easy to ignore, though sometimes it was difficult. Where did Lucas come from? Because he hadn't been around this whole time or mentioned until now. And a few other quirks. Again, easy to ignore or gloss over because the characters and situations, at this point, are known rather intimately and not a whole lot of details are needed to be caught up.

The kid in me loves this. Brings back rainy Saturdays in Texas, reading away while the storms rolled past. The adventure and fun and pure nostalgia, plus one of my most favorite shows makes this a win in my opinion. I would love to own a few different versions of this book...maybe one for each season, because it is fun.

Definitely a HIGHLY RECOMMEND if you were a kid who loved the Choose Your Own Adventure tales. A win if you enjoy Stranger Things. Or just for something different to read and experience in a book for those who haven't done this type of book before.

4 ⭐️s and wishes for more and more of these.

[Andrew Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a really fun read for Stranger Things fans, as it gives someone a glimpse into what it would be like to be in that world. It follows various storylines in Season 4, and allows someone to see all different sides of the same story.

However, sometimes the story can be very rushed. There were a few “paths” that started off slow and detailed and then it seemed like all the action happened and next thing you know, within a page or less, the entire season went by and your path has ended.

I understand that because of Season 4’s several storylines it can be easy to stretch out a plot point that, without all the other sides of the story, would go by pretty quickly. That being said I still think the pacing of this book is very weird and awkward at times.

I also wish that we as the reader could have played a more minor role in the plot. I understand that to make the adventure interesting you’d have to experience some of the things that the characters do in the show, but this can start to feel like a “Harry Potter in the Pensive” kind of moment. It feels like you’re just sort of there and watching all of these big events happening that you’ve already seen from the series.

Lastly, and maybe this is just me, but I keep getting a little thrown off by the fact that I’m never actually in the story. Like there is no way that I could get through one of these endings in the book and think that somewhere in Season 4 I could have actually lived that out. I keep reading famous scenes from the series and thinking “but I’m not there and if I did exist I wouldn’t end up there” and things like that. Like I don’t think there could be any series of events that allows me to spend any time in the NINA project because I just wouldn’t be helpful there, for safety or security or anything else.

[Chomiczkowe.recenzje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Q: Lubicie paragrafówki?

Współpraca recenzencka z @wydawnictwo_feeria @feeria_young

Dziś recenzja ostatniego tytułu z książkowej paczki Stranger Things, czyli paragrafówki "Bohaterowie i potwory". Tę książkę zostawiłem sobie na koniec, ponieważ liczyłem, że będzie to świetna lektura, przy której będę się świetnie i długo bawił. Niestety, życie zweryfikowało plany i znów muszę napisać krytyczną recenzję.

Gdy po raz pierwszy otworzyłem tę paragrafówkę, zdziwiłem się, że każda strona to osobny paragraf, z czym zetknąłem się po raz pierwszy. Liczyłem, że dzięki temu czeka na mnie dużo wyborów i ciekawa, wielowątkowa historia, skoro dostępnych jest 25 zakończeń. Niestety, było to bardzo złudne, bo zdecydowana większość paragrafów kończyła się słowami: Przejdź do następnego paragrafu, a wybory pojawiały się rzadziej niż myślałem. Do tego miałem wrażenie, że te wybory mają niewielki wpływ na całą historię, ale żeby to wytłumaczyć muszę powiedzieć parę słów o fabule.

Całą historię obserwujemy z perspektywy dziewczyny z Lenory, czyli miasteczko, gdzie przeprowadzili się Byersowie z Nastką. Bardzo odrzucało mnie to, że ona dla bohaterów znanych z serialu, jak i oni dla niej byli momentami chamscy. A same wydarzenia z tej książki? W zasadzie to jesteśmy obserwatorami wydarzeń z 4 sezonu serialu. I właśnie tu wracam do tych wyborów. Miałem wrażenie, że mamy dosłownie podążać za wydarzeniami z serialu, bo inaczej trafimy na koniec historii. Z tych 25 zakończeń przeszedłem około 8, może 10 i większość z nich to było dosłownie: Hawkins zostało zniszczone, koniec, a te nieliczne: Hawkins zostało uratowane, super.

Liczyłem na fajną, nieznaną przygodę w świecie Stranger Things, a niestety dostałem wtórną historię i średnią paragrafówkę.
Więcej moich recenzji znajdziecie na Instagramie @chomiczkowe.recenzje oraz TikToku o tej samej nazwie, gdzie serdecznie zapraszam.

[Raising Downwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a lifelong fan of “Choose your own story” and Stranger Things this book kind of disappointed me.

It’s an ok book, but nothing special. You are a boy from Lenora that chooses whether to stay in Lenora with team Eleven or go to Hawkins and experience the story there. The first option is the shorter one. The latter gives you more of a story divergence based on your choices, which actually don’t mean much. You can choose to be more of a “bad guy” if you join “Jason” and his group or you can basically stand on the sidelines with Lucas, Max, Dustin and the others.

This is not a book for those who haven’t seen Stranger Things, given that it’s written for those who have seen up until season 4, mostly following the script of the show, and even with that you are given little context.

There’s little to no tension in the writing, as if you already had to know what the outcome would be. Additionally, there are time jumps that cut out most of the interesting parts, especially the different endings.

After a couple of different paths I ended up confused about which part of the timeline I was in, what had already happened or not and who I’ve met, the new path being so similar to the last one

Some of the endings end in a very undefined way, as if there was more that needed to be written or finished in a more detailed way.

I did like how Starcourt Mall and the army was incorporated in different branches of the story. There were also a pair of cool endings that were quite entertaining to read through.


To sum up: It’s not a bad book, I’m sure some of the Stranger Things fan base would like to read through this, but don’t expect anything out of this world.

[Taïna · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a few spoilers in this review if you haven’t watched stranger things, but i think it’s still relevant to mention if you have watched it and you want to read this book… because you need to spare yourself.

This was my first experience with a CYOA book and i am so, so disappointed.

I love reading but this honestly felt like a workout to read. You absolutely have to be a ST fan to read this because it’s a carbon copy of season 4… just with you in it and you add basically nothing new to the plot. Some scenes are the exact same with the exact same dialogues. Which is weird because sometimes, important details will be left out (because the author assumes you watched the series, so you need to go off of your memory of the series) and sometimes a lot of details you could skip through will be added.

The endings never make sense. My goal here was to get good endings and i got probably 1 good ending out of the 8 i went through. Sometimes the endings just stop at massive cliffhangers that do not make sense (in one of them, eddie lives and nothing is said about vecna’s fate?)

I didn’t even go beyond 100 pages and all the endings i got were disappointing. Your character is useless and it just feels like you’re reading the series over again, besides a FEW exceptions where your choices just simply lead you to get caught by the army anyway.

I’m sad that this book let me down, i absolutely love Stranger Things and there could have been some potential. Oh well, thankfully this didn’t 100% turn me off of CYOA books because i have another one in my TBR… by another author

[Justine Korson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love, love, LOVED choose your own adventure novels as a kid!!! I was super psyched when I heard about this story but… sort of thought it was based off of S1 and/or S2 but nope… it’s totally S3 WHICH ISNT A PROBLEM…. If you’ve watched S3… which I haven’t…. That being said, the show was spoiled for me AGES AGO and while the new character additions were hard to follow at first (besides Eddie and Chrissy) I was able to understand the overall plot!

Whenever I read these kinds of books, I would always try to get to the “quickest death” endings first and pick choices that seemed BLATANTLY wrong. So I did the same here. I was glad that even my bad choices didn’t end as abruptly as some of the older books used too. My bad decisions sometimes led to a very bad character arc for myself which I loved!

What I also loved was that I HAVENT REPEATED A SINGLE ENDING YET. Which, if you used to read choose your own adventure books, you know would happen in previous stories. In some older choose your own adventure books, I remember getting so frustrated when I’d reach the same ending DESPITE choosing two very different paths.

I’ve only read about 13 paths before and to be honest I think I’ve only read like 3 or 4 that ended happy. The rest… very sad.

If you love Stranger Things, you’ll love this!

[Yúri · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book left me so disappointed... I love CYOA books, as well as Stranger Things. However, this is not a good combo, for several reasons (spoilers ahead):

After exploring every single ending (28), I finished with the following conclusions:
- The show is basically a [poor] retelling of season 4 of the show;
- There are many scenarios where you find the characters from the show, named, and the book acts like you already know them (this is upsetting because there are scenarios where you get introduced to the characters of the show like you're meeting them for the first time, as it should happen since you're a part of this book);
- In most of the scenarios, you are pretty much invisible and add nothing to the plot;
- One of the scenarios gets you to join up with Jason and bully Lucas because why not?;
- The dialogue is stale, as people who saw the show will find lines from it, so nothing new is added;
- Almost every character hates you, and unlike the show, you hate almost every character because of how badly they treat you for being an outsider;
- When Max is in her trance, you say "maybe we can splash water on her face" or something along those lines, which is probably the worst dialogue I've ever read...

So yeah, I loved it.