Escape (Choose Your Own Adventure, #20) by R.A. Montgomery

Escape (Choose Your Own Adventure, #20) Reviews

• 
  Jeffrey Caston

  Other than Deadwood City, which I keep looking for and pining after, this has got to be one of the best CYOA books I've run across. It was apparently first published in 1983, but I do not remember this one as a kid and I recall most of the ones I had. I came across the republished version put out by Chooseco.
  
  Anyway, I'm often interested in dystopian stories. For a kids book, this had some pretty heady stuff. Dang. So the set up is the US has broken up into three different nations: (1) Turtalia (the last surviving democracy; (2) Rebellium, which is in a constant state of falling apart again and a loose conglomerate of city states; and (3) Dorado, a "repressive police state." You are a secret agent for Turtalia. You and a small group are trying to escape Dorado, having obtained some secret plans that Dorado has for invading Turtalia.
  
  Lots of good choices and intrigue. It kept me interested enough that I kept reading and going back to try different paths.
  
  This one has catapulted itself into one of my favorites.
• 
  Bill Doughty

  This was my very favorite Choose Your Own Adventure book, hands-down. Which is weird, since I was totally terrified of most other mid-80s very-obviously-after-nuclear-war-American-dystopia stories, but I read and re-read this until it just about fell apart. Anyway, you're some sort of underage secret agent from one of the three smaller nations that the USA was divided up into post-war, and you lead a mission into one of the other new countries, which is a totalitarian regime (you know this because they have the word "totalitarian" right there in their national motto; subtlety was never a staple of the CYOA series). Anyway, espionagey antics ensue, and you die in about every other ending. It was all kinds of rad.
• 
  Monica

  
  En el argumento de la obra maestra de Montgomery, y quizá la mejor obra de la serie, nos topamos con que los E.E.U.U han quedado divididos en tres estados fronterizos rivales: Dorado, Rebellium y Turtalia. A ti te tocará, como protagonista y cabecilla de la Rebelión de Turtalia que recién se ha fugado de la cárcel del estado de Dorado, la misión de llegar sano y a salvo junto al resto de tu grupo a vuestro estado.
  
  Uno de mis libros favoritos de ésta clásica serie, Con un argumento acerca de rebeliones y estados en combate.La introducción es más larga de lo normal en lo que es el general dentro de la serie, Montgomery te esboza perfectamente el conflicto existente y el marco de fondo peligroso y tenso de un mundo futuro lleno de guerra entre supuestos hermanos, además, los personajes son carismáticos pero realistas, y todo el conjunto hace que te adentres inmediatamente en el aura realista y absolutamente cabal del conflicto. Pasarás por una aventura trepidante pero austera al mismo tiempo, al límite del peligro pero que igualmente te dejará disfrutar, y mucho , tanto de su calidad narrativa como de su desarrollo ágil, entretenido, a la vez que muy plausible.
  Siempre pensé que hubiese sido una gran narración para un libro al uso. Una de las obras de la serie más serias y bien ejecutadas. Otros de los pesares que tengo es que no hizo un spin off de éste título, y eso que daba para mucho...ya lo creo.
  En resumen, y lo ratifico, Uno de mis libros favoritos de ésta clásica serie, Con un argumento acerca de rebeliones y estados en combate. Siempre pensé que hubiese sido una gran narración en un libro. Uno de los libros de la serie más serios y bien ejecutados. Una lectura imprescindible.
  
• 
  Peter Derk

  Curses! Foiled again.
  
  I thought I was doing well this time. See, I have to give it to Escape. In Escape, you start off with a clear objective. You're an escaped POW(?) with a small group of others trying to, well, Escape. Your destination is Denver. This is WAY better than that stupid space one I read, where it's like, "Which planet do you want to go to, which time period, what pants should you wear?"
  
  Nobody cares about that crap. Plus, when the decisions are totally arbitrary, can I be responsible for the consequences? When it's push a yellow button or a blue button, and when I pick wrong, is that my fault?
  
  Anyway, Escape was one of the better titles so far. At least there was a point A and a point B, even if the stuff in between was pretty hard to figure.
  
  It also had a great ending that really sums up all of these books: "Your last thought is, 'Why can't the world be peaceful?'"
• 
  Vivi Julio

  Meu Deus! Que livro maravilhoso! Eu não estava esperando um livro assim. Eu nunca tinha visto um livro onde literalmente eu escolho o que vai rolar nele. O mais legal é que eu posso criar vários finais para a mesma história. Foi muito divertido todos as decisões que tomei (algumas muito difíceis rsrsrs). Eu literalmente me senti dentro do livro, como se tudo realmente existisse e Eu era o capitão. Amei esse tipo de livro. quero ver se acho mais. É um bom passa tempo. A leitura é rápida e bastante prazerosa.
• 
  Remo

  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.
• 
  Selwa

  I'd forgotten how much I loved these little books when I was a kid! I've already informed my husband that should we have kids, they're allowed to get these books as rewards for when they earn A's ;)
  
  Oh, I should probably say something about this particular book. So, Escape takes place in a dystopian future America that is now split up into three parts: one is totalitarian, one loves freedom, and one is not helpful either way. You're from the freedom-loving one and you've busted out of prison in the totalitarian one! What will you do? How will you get home? WILL YOU DIE? Yes. And also no.
• 
  Brenna

  A vaguely interesting, if cliched, concept about a futuristic world ruled by violent anarchist factions. The reader propels the ultimate story through a series of plot arcs provided throughout.
  
  Although more elaborate than many books of this nature, there are numerous "endings" which are arrived at suddenly with no real resolution (in comparison to the build-up leading to the final scene). Too, upon re-reading the story and opting for a variant story arc, it is revealed that the baseline story is inconsistent. That is, a plot device revealed during one reading (thus validating or negating the benefits of said option) has changed substantially through the alternate choice. Or, the "background story" remains completely arbitrary.
  
  (*SPOILER: In one critical junction, the reader must decide whether or not to wait for an impending rescue flight. Choosing to wait, of course, brings the reader aboard said plane, whereas opting to stay on ground and hide out in a "safe house" reveals that the plane had been shot down some time prior to the decision to retreat.)
  
  Such flaws in the basic story make the reader feel some sense of having been "cheated" out of a cohesive story, although this is only made apparent upon making a different choice. Still, this does lead into wholly different stories within one book.
• 
  Daniel

  Fantastic for two reasons:
  
  1. "Totalitarian Freedom Forever."
  2. Teaches children that the United States of America is not necessarily a permanent arrangement.
• 
  Dane Barrett

  Escape is, in my opinion, one of the better RA Montgomery-written CYOA adventure books that were released. He avoids going on any flights of fancy and instead focuses on an intense cold-warish storyline about a small group of resistance members who are attempting to escape from imprisonment from a corrupt system.
  
  There are a few paths to follow, some which involve flying a glider, others involving going by ground via vehicle or on foot, and there's even a tense path in which you retreat back into the main city and attempt to hide out in a house while planning your next move.
  
  This is one of those books which, while highly entertaining, leaves you wishing the book was just a little bit longer, or that the author had written a little more on those pages that were mostly illustration with only a small amount of text on them.
  
  If you collect CYOA books you should get this one. Exciting.
• 
  Seth

  You are part of a rebel group that is hiding from Doradan troops. The Year is 2045 and the United States is divided into 3 districts. This is a choose your own adventure book so There are many possible results that you can end up in. I love choose your adventure books because the author puts the reader as the main character. This is great because you make a whole entire new story every time you make a different choice. This is why you could read this book for a long time, you could just read the book when you finish it once and then read it again and just make sure you make a different choice. I honestly would recommend any choose your own adventure book to anyone that likes to read unique books. Any book in this series by R.A Montgomery is a good start or you could start with reading the 20th in the series like me.
  
• 
  Cricket Muse

  Choose Your Own Adventure books vary widely in plot and quality of story. This title involves a combination of spy and science fiction story, and for the most part is fairly engaging in the variable story endings. As usual, there are more endings that end badly due to bad choices. I came out with only one satisfactory ending.
  Readers have to work when reading these. They aren’t exactly leisure reads. It made for a boredom breaker on a long car trip.
• 
  Sarah Julio

  So captivating! It was my first time reading a book in which I had to decide what will happen next. You can feel the building tension and then you decided to go for something or somewhere…. you don’t know what you will happen to your characters… maybe you survived , maybe you didn’t. The storyline is so unique and challenging.
• 
  Ashley

  Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books are always fun. This one, you can read 27 different stories. I did manage to die the first time in a hail of bullets, but the second time I made it to friendly skies. It's pretty cool. I think I'm going to try to find other endings before I stop reading the book.
• 
  Nate

  Far too much flight jargon in this one. Still, it was cool hearing about how the United States split up into three separate countries. Can’t wait for A.D. 2035! (Also, the word “aft” was in this book at least twice!)
• 
  Tessa

  I just read this while my honors math class was taking a quiz 😅 I haven’t read one of these in forever and it felt a little bit exhilarating to feel in control but being unaware of what consequences would follow. I want my students to read it now and find out what ending they got!
• 
  Jai

  Reading these books as an adult is definitely different than reading them as a kid. After about 5 different endings I decided to quit. It was fun while it lasted but it feels very different now.
• 
  Lynn K.

  An abundance of choices and lots of action.
• 
  Patrick Book

  It’s okay! Too many of the branches are a bit similar, made it harder to track the story.
• 
  BigRyan

  As a young boy back in the early 80's I enjoyed reading this series of choose your own adventure books!
  
  I would love to purchase a set of these books if they are still available!
• 
  Kathryn Lee

  I didn't die!
• 
  KatieCatlyn

  one of the best ones of choose your own adventure.
  i lasted really long and I got far in this book I got super intended in this.
• 
  Chris

  Seemed realistic.
• 
  Jennifer

  Lots of action, one of the better CYOA I've read for my tween book club.
• 
  Brian Umholtz

  (Note: I read a paperback edition published by Chooseco 2005-Escape was volume #8 in the series-Goodreads already has the ISBN for the edition used by this one.)
  
  I really liked this one. Out of all the few CYOA books I've reread so far, this is my favorite. It is more suspenseful, but less action-oriented than
  The Lost Jewels of Nabooti. I liked the simple B-story in the plot and I looked forward to how it played out in other branches. I would say Escape is certainly one to pick up for any young reader that is showing interest in more than simple boilerplate action stories.
  
  The artwork isn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it isn't as bad as I've seen in some of the other newer editions I've read. The little details that have certainly been revised-such as makes and models of vehicles and technology-definitely help engage the reader today. I recommend this book wholeheartedly; I just hope our country never comes to this!
• 
  Dolly

  Our oldest has been bringing home various
  You Choose books from her elementary school library. And now at our local library we've discovered some of the books from the original
  Choose Your Own Adventure series that I read when I was a child. I remember loving books like this in my childhood and I am excited that our girls are discovering them as well.
  
  This book places the reader in the middle of a spy mission to retrieve Doradan invasion plans and protect your homeland of Turtalia. The story takes place in the not-so-distant future and the United States has been broken up into three hostile political areas. The various paths are quite dangerous and violent, and the endings are a fairly even mixture of disaster and success.
  
  Overall, these are entertaining, though sometimes graphically violent stories. I tend to prefer the "You Choose" series because they have an educational and historical context, but the books in this series are interesting, too. We enjoyed reading this book together.
  
• 
  'Nathan Burgoine

  Choose Your Own Adventure were my favourite books when I was nine and ten years old. I loved being "the hero" of the story, and I loved reading and re-reading the book, trying to find my way to every page. The copies I actually owned I would put little pencil marks on the pages I'd made it to, and little checks on the choices so I could go a different way next time through. I adored them, and checked out the ones I didn't have from the library over and over again (and kept track of which pages I'd found on a piece of paper).
• 
  Adriana

  This book was so good! Although I absolutely love the entire series, this book stood out. It had lots of action and (like the other books in the series) you can of course choose your own adventure! If you are looking for some action this is a great choice.