Forest of Fear

Choose Your Own Adventure #54

by Louise Munro Foley, Ron Wing (Illustrator)

Readers find themselves transported to the frightening Forest of Fear, a strange place where time is turned upside down and Indian myths come to life.

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

116 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1986

Reviews

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rescued this from a box of books my Grandma was getting rid of (the cover vaguely rang a bell, which it should have—when I later opened up the cover, my name was written inside), and just spent a half hour or so haphazardly choosing my own adventures. Which means I, among many things, met a pair of sibling ghosts, contracted cholera, helped an old lady outsmart two dangerous convicts, searched for shelter in a covered bridge that promptly collapsed and plunged me to my death, and encountered a Native American ghost who sends an arrow straight through my right eye socket (I knew I should have fought that mysterious boy instead of escaping back into the forest!). Probably my favorite conclusion was being vaporized into a spirit to chill at the top of a tree for eternity.

I have to say, as cheesy as these are, I find them intriguing in the Borgesian "forking paths" sense, as they really do make clear the sense that any choice at any given moment contains the potential to spin into countless directions, each with their own unique chain of events, reactions, and endings.

When I was a kid, this series would stress me out (yes, I was one of those kids). Now their implications give me give me amused, speculative pause (a glass of cheap white wine certainly aids the process!).

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Louise Munro Foley had nine entries in the classic Choose Your Own Adventure series, and their quality was hit or miss. I heard mixed reviews for years about Forest of Fear, and wondered how I would like it. Your mother's brother, Jason, has invited you to summer with him at the old ranger lookout station he calls home in the woods of northeastern Maine. As soon as you arrive at the lookout tower, you sense something wrong. An author by profession, Jason gets irritable when he catches you reading a partial manuscript of his, but what you read captures your attention. The story seems to be about the real people and places local to these woods, and suggests a "Spirit Tree" of great power actually exists nearby. Should you risk Jason's further anger by reading more of the story, or go see a friend of his, Henry Madokawando, to ask what he knows?

After you read more of Uncle Jason's manuscript without his knowledge, the next day he suggests two safe woodland paths you could explore while he stays at the lookout and writes. Would you rather see Wolf Ridge, or a meadow with the remains of a cabin that burned down a century ago? Jason warns you to steer clear of the covered bridge at Wolf Ridge, but a storm that hits while you're there forces you to shelter under it. Maybe Jason was exaggerating...or maybe your doom is already sealed. A visit to the meadow instead spirits you back a hundred years, where you meet Ben and Sarah, people you recognize from Jason's novel. They ask you to stay the night at their log cabin to preserve you from wolves; declining the offer puts you in danger, but not from carnivores. If you stay overnight, your questions about the Spirit Tree are met with suspicion. Ben might take you to the tree anyway, but can you withstand the encounter with this supernatural entity? If the Spirit Tree becomes your only refuge from a pack of wolves, will you locate it in time to save yourself?

"All life is a risk...One must respect the gift of life and accept what comes with it, good and bad."

—Henry, Forest of Fear, P. 29

Avoiding Uncle Jason and inquiring with Henry about the Spirit Tree may be your best bet. Inside Henry's abandoned cabin, you hide when voices approach. It's two men named Stan and Fred who plan to rob Ellison's Store. They leave without noticing you. Returning to the lookout for help from Jason results in a speedy ending, but you could run down to the store and alert Agnes Ellison herself. Her phone service is down; you could run back to the lookout and get Jason, but it's easy to get lost in the woods. If you do, you run into Henry, who offers to show you the Spirit Tree. Accompanying Henry gets you into deep spiritual waters. You might wind up competing to the death against a young Penobscot Indian, or confronted by a gang of braves ready to kill you for a crime you never committed. Maybe your better option was to wait with Agnes Ellison for Stan and Fred. If you do precisely as she directs, you discover she can be as dangerous as the robbers. Resisting her commands complicates the process of apprehending Stan and Fred, and could send you and them on a night journey to the Spirit Tree. Don't underestimate the tree's power within these woods.

Forest of Fear has too many story threads, none of which are explored well. We discover no deeper meaning to the Spirit Tree, nothing to surprise or amaze, and the characters feel flat. Internal continuity ends up in a shambles from one story branch to the next; the Spirit Tree can be in completely different places and look totally different, and some of the endings in which Agnes Ellison defeats Stan and Fred feel contrived. The overall story energy is spread so thin that no part feels compelling, and that may be the book's biggest weakness. Ron Wing adds a few superb, atmospheric illustrations, but it isn't enough. I rate Forest of Fear one and a half stars; it's a spiritual predecessor to the author's Ghost Train, but isn't as good. It more closely resembles Ms. Foley's The Lost Tribe, and that isn't a compliment.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tu madre debe irse de viaje a Francia por trabajo en verano, por lo cual tu tío escritor, residente en un boscoso paraje de Maine, te invita a pasar el estío con él, en una vieja caseta de guardabosques. Se te presenta una oportunidad única, pues podrás hacer muchas excursiones. Pero lo que no sabes es que, ya a la llegada a la zona, tu estancia se convertirá en una auténtica aventura. Allí mismo en el autocar un hombre, vecino de tu tío, te habla acerca de una misteriosa leyenda de un árbol que habita en la población, dónde residen los Espíritus, y nunca debes pararte, además de la desaparición de un amigo suyo Indio, y su capacidad para visionar el futuro; en parte gracias al árbol de los espíritus. Para rematar, cuando te encuentras con tu tío, y al mirar la novela que él está escribiendo, ¡te das cuenta que ha predicho lo mismo que el misterioso hombre del autocar!. ¿guardan todos relación con el famoso Árbol?, ¿a qué deseas encontrarlo por todos los medios?

Éste tardío número dentro de la serie, se podría definir como una obra 100% Edward Packard (bajo seudónimo), pero que, desgraciadamente y como viene siendo el caso de otras dentro de su misma fecha, no acaba de estar todo lo explotada que debería, o el adictivo autor hubiera realizado en otros tiempos.
La premisa argumental es interesante, y explora el lado del misticismo y las leyendas, con una atmósfera lograda, pero el problema radica en que una vez has encontrado el famoso árbol, o logras a través de tus elecciones dilucidar su sendero, tu aventura será muy corta (y no me refiero a que mueras, que, y rara avis en Packard, sales casi siempre bien parado de la aventura. Recordemos, que es muy especialista en finales fatales e inesperados); conseguirás ‘descubrir’ su secreto o fallecerás en el intento..poco más. Por otro lado, además de ésta finalidad tan sugerente, hay otras sub tramas cómo verte envuelto en un atraco, sospechar de la actitud de tu tío (que para mí es de lo mejorcito de la historia, y lástima de estar poco desarrollado), encuentros con fantasmas, retos y pruebas místicas y hasta hospitales psiquiátricos de por medio; por desgracia, otras quedan con cabos sueltos.
El libro en sí guarda bastante armonía, y hasta sobriedad acusada en su desarrollo, sus aventuras son semi largas, pero debido a la escasez de soluciones (17), y de pocos personajes protagonistas dentro del marco ficticio, hace que las historias no sean muy diversas ni sus ambientes tampoco.
En resumen, un historia sugerente pero que no está del todo desarrollada, o más bien, no guarda la ambición de otros títulos del autor. Ideal para incondicionales de Packard, o los lectores que no sean muy puntillosos.

[Petercsm730 · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The threats in our lives are often what save us.' ...Um, what?

Forest of Fear by Louise Munro Foley (Choose Your Own Adventure #54), like a lot of CYOA books, finds you visiting a relative for the summer. Your uncle is a writer who lives in an abandoned ranger station in the forests of northeastern Maine. When you arrive you learn his most recent book is going to be about the Spirit Tree ("an old Indian legend-the story of a sacred pine tree whose branches were said to be inhabited by spirits"). So it's well-named. You also learn that your uncle's in a bad mood most of the time and really doesn't want you looking for the Spirit Tree. So of course you do. Along the way you'll find an orphaned brother and sister, bravery trials over gorges, wolves, bears, forest fires, cholera, escaped convicts, an Indian named Henry who says things like "All of us are lost" and "Each one has his own trail to find", and of course angry spirits.

Like most other CYOAs by this author I found this entry in the series to be pretty middle of the road. It never really takes off and at times is pretty slow (a bad sign for a 116 page book). In fact, it's eight pages before you even reach your first choice. And the mystery of the Spirit Tree is never cleared up leaving me to suspect the author hadn't put much thought into it. It's all left very vague, including why your uncle is in such an uncharacteristically bad mood all the time as well as how his manuscript sometimes predicts the future. Rarely the narrator will do silly things you have no control over and there are a couple continuity mistakes (like referencing a path you didn't take or a character apparently teleporting places between pages) but for the most part these problems that often plague other CYOA books are absent here. I did really like the inclusion of one truly surprising ending that seemed very optimistic only to instantly end in the narrator's death with a sort of tongue-in-cheek humor to it.

The art by Ron Wing is a little stiff but I thought it went well with this kind of pioneerish story. He packs a fair amount of detail into his drawings. I also thought his facial expressions were quite good (most of the narrator's are of fear) and helped give each character their own unique look.

[Elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I survived but not sure how to describe the strange adventure except it wasn’t a “forest of fear.”

On the second read, survival equates to a trip to France? I guess it’s better than one of the other possible endings - a mental care facility repeatedly drawing pictures of a tree.

——————————
2024 third read, is it possible to not survive in this book? After time travel, the reader contracts cholera but survives?

[Damian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites out of the 125 or so that I’ve read. Echo Lodge also highly rated.
Forest of Fear was well written with some actual suspense and interesting story lines.