Cup of Death

Choose Your Own Adventure #44

by Shannon Gilligan

Cup of Death by Shannon Gilligan takes YOU on an adventure to Kyoto, Japan in search of a rare tea bowl that has recently gone missing. 9-12 year old readers will explore the mountainous Asian countryside, hone their detective skills, and help solve the case! Choose Your Own Adventure Cup of Death is an interactive adventure book in which YOU decide what happens next. A magical, ancient relic is reported stolen from a famous tea ceremony school. If you take the case, will you get in over your head? Should you brave the international criminals you are certain are behind the theft? If you sneak into the gang leader's car, will you ever get home? For readers who enjoyed other titles from the Choose Your Own Adventure series, The Lost Jewels of Nabooti by R. A. Montgomery, The Case of the Silk King by Shannon Gilligan, and Mystery of the Maya by R. A. Montgomery.

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

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Shannon Gilligan began writing fiction for a living after graduating from Williams College in 1981. She has written over fifteen books for children, including eleven in the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She spent a decade working on story-based computer games in the 1990s. Gilligan's day job is publisher of Chooseco, a company she co-founded alongside her late husband, R.A. Montgomery. She lives in Warren, Vermont, but travels widely.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wife of Choose Your Own Adventure cofounder R.A. Montgomery, Shannon Gilligan's series debut was The Mystery of Ura Senke, but is it a good book? You are an American studying in Kyoto, Japan. Two of your local friends, Kenichi and Takashi Doi, come to you with an urgent matter: Takashi, a student specializing in Japanese tea ceremonies at the Ura Senke School, is distraught that an antique tea bowl called the Yukisoo, which was left in his care, is missing. You have a reputation as a detective, so Takashi has brought the case to you and requested the police not be involved. Can you solve the mystery with the few facts at hand, or do you insist the police be notified?

Respect Takashi's plea for discretion, and he informs you he had been setting up a tea ceremony for four distinguished guests, one of whom likely stole the Yukisoo. Question Taro Sakamoto first, a candidate for Prime Minister, and you learn that he spotted a suspicious housekeeper on the scene. Her name is Akiko, and you track her to her home. Could she have a legitimate reason for taking the tea bowl, one that will change your mind about the crime? Maybe you first questioned a different guest at the tea ceremony, Shoji Hata from the Ministry of Arts. He is scheduled to to depart Japan in a big hurry, but can you catch him at Kobe Seaport? If you do, Hata runs away from you onto the ship he booked to leave the country. Sneak aboard and you can stake out his cabin to waylay him, but Hata is lethal when cornered. Perhaps instead of Hata, you first interviewed a different guest from the tea ceremony, a gem dealer named Noriko Oda. She is sly and evasive; if you secretly follow Oda, you can climb into the trunk of her car and go for a ride, but may end up in the clutches of the Yakuza, the Japanese mob. If you're lucky enough to nab the Yukisoo from the thieves, you’ll be pursued by gunmen. Is it worth dying to return the tea bowl to the Ura Senke School?

Assert from the beginning that you must inform the police of the robbery, and on the way to the station a strange car shadows you. Escape unharmed, and Kenichi and Takashi have an idea: you should ask Mrs. Hamaguchi, a fortune-teller, how to proceed. When she advises you to do nothing and the Yukisoo will make its own way home, are you willing to take Kenichi and Takashi's lead and call off the search? If you failed to get away from the car following you, Yakuza henchmen abduct and keep you prisoner at their safehouse. Tied to a chair, can you wriggle free when you're left alone? Discovering a secret passageway in the house, you might get caught in a police raid, or make it outside to the shore of massive Lake Biwa. Do you dare take a boat onto the foggy lake to flee the Yakuza? If you never found the secret passageway, you can attempt to steal a gun from the sleeping Yakuza guard, but death awaits your slightest misstep. You hadn't bargained for so much violence when you agreed to help Kenichi and Takashi locate the Yukisoo.

If The Mystery of Ura Senke has one thing going for it, that would be a fastidious commitment to internal consistency. Lack of consistency is easy to spot in a gamebook when it's blatant, but good consistency is less noticeable; in this book, however, the attention paid to maintaining plot continuity from one story path to the next is almost stunning, down to the smallest of details. That takes serious effort, and I commend Shannon Gilligan for it, but I can't rate The Mystery of Ura Senke much better than average. The premise lacks luster: I see why Takashi cares about Japanese tea culture because it's his passion, but most readers won't feel dread over the theft of a tea bowl. The Yakuza action is exciting at times, but you're putting your life on the line for a piece of tableware, and that’s a hard sell. Impressive as this book is in certain ways, it's no classic of the genre.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring. Didn't get very far.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've read a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I really enjoyed this! I ofc read through the entire thing trying to see what all the endings are. I like how the characters'/your decisions were relatively separate from the mystery itself; it's more like you stumbling on a mystery than being directly involved in it.

[R.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popsugar 2019 a choose your own adventure book

I failed twice...

[Remo · Rating 4 out of 5]

La serie de Elige tu propia aventura es, literalmente, un clásico de nuestra infancia. He releído algunos, años después, y me parecen un poco cortos de miras, limitados en las posibilidades, pero cuando tenía 10 años cada uno de ellos era una maravilla lista para ser explorada hasta que hubiera dado todo lo que tenía dentro.
Al final siempre sabías que ibas a recorrer todos y cada uno de los caminos posibles. La emoción estaba, por tanto, en ganar y pasarte la historia al primer intento. Si no podías, pues nada, seguro que en el intento 18 acababas encontrando el camino. A veces los autores iban "a pillar", poniéndote los resultados buenos detrás de decisiones que eran claramente anómalas.
Recuerdo haber aprendido tanto palabras como hechos y datos en estos libros. No nadar contra la corriente cuando quieres llegar a tierra, dónde colocarse cuando un avión va a despegar, un montón de cosas interesantes y un montón de historias vividas, decenas por cada libro, que convirtieron a las serie en una colección fractal, donde cada vez podías elegir un libro nuevo entre los que ya tenías.
Llegué hasta el tomo 54 y dejé de tener interés por la serie, pero la serie siguió hasta superar los 180 títulos. Tal vez mis hijos quieran seguir el camino que yo empecé. Si quieres que lo sigan, pasa a la página 7.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this is the first Choose Your Own Adventure book that really left me frustrated. It was like I was only making partial decisions for my person. Because of the partial decisions, my character was caught before they had even had the chance to do anything.

I would recommend many other Choose Your Own Adventure books before this one.

Author: Shannon Gilligan
Publisher: Chooseco
Publication Date: 1985

[KatieCatlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

this wasn't the best book of choose your own adventure. not very adventurous, its about a treasure that your off to find.
the beginning got me exited but later on further in the book it wasn't very fun.
overall i would not recommend
i only got to choose my adventure a few times.

[Riccardo Bartoletti · Rating 4 out of 5]

SCEGLI LA TUA AVVENTURA raccoglie alcune semplici avventure a bivi, giocabili anche da neofiti e senza dadi o schede personaggio.

Di questa avventura ho apprezzato l'ambientazione orientale presentata senza troppo sforzo, anche se l'indagine si è rivelata più semplice del previsto...

[LautiHans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro cuenta una gran historia en la que el/la lector/a se sentirá atrapado/a.

[Mote · Rating 5 out of 5]

And another wonderful book! This collection of books melts the heart of every reader! Who does not want to read this book? Really thank you

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy bueno, recomendado para reírse un rato.

[Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, this book was amazing. I loved it. I can't wait to read another

[Emma Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This CYOA book was a new one for me and in the style where you're a detective. I had high hopes but the story seemed overly simplistic and was very short.

[Elle · Rating 1 out of 5]

FYI - CUP OF DEATH and THE MYSTERY OF URA SENKE are the same Choose Your Own Adventure story just published with a new title.

The mystery is more like a cup of boredom… my adventure was a van following me briefly and a psychic foretelling the bowl reappearing. Hope the other paths were less lackluster.

[Mina Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought this book was so interesting. i love how i got to be in charge of the story. its like i can make it into my own adventure. there were times i was a little confused about how to go about the book but in the end i kind of got the hang of it. i think these kind of books are very interesting and would get more people who don't like to read to start reading. its like you make up the story along the way and get to choose what you want to happen.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was interesting, however I do not think it flowed nicely. It was also the first novel I read in the, "create your own adventure" category- so my dislike towards the novel could have been to this. It was interesting and I think some kids would like it but it is defiantly in a category on its own. I may have one or two in my future classroom but it would depend on my student's preferences.

[Selena Beckman-Harned · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Choose Your Own Adventure...middle school flashbacks! And one about Japanese tea ceremonies? Be still my heart. I'd just like to point out also that I picked the BEST timeline first in my opinion.

[t4truffles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really good because it is a Choose your own Adventure book and you can spend ages reading it over and over again.

[Emery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the best books (that I've read) in the series