Vampire Express (Choose Your Own Adventure) by Tony Koltz

Choose Your Own Adventure #31

by Tony Koltz

You're on a vampire hunt in deepest Romania with your uncle Andrew and your friend Nina. You're riding horseback toward an eerie castle when a thick fog rolls in. Suddenly you're surrounded by wolves! Your uncle races ahead- but Nina is thrown off her horse and disappears into the fog. What should you do?If you decide to stay and look for Nina, turn to page 54. If you decide to go on ahead with your uncle, turn to page 69. Beware! You might be attacked by deadly vampires, or you might find the magic jewel that will destroy their evil forever!

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

Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Tony Koltz was born and grew up in Dallas, Texas, and was educated by the Jesuits and at Columbia University. He was for many years associate editor of the literary magazine The American Review and a senior editor at Bantam Books.

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love me some good ole fashioned vampire, I do! Put him in a three piece suit, a cape and now we're talking!



Though the title sounds like a place at the mall where you could pick up blood sausage or Filipino "chocolate sauce," the cover of Vampire Express delivers the goods, along with a medieval castle, a midnight train, a wolf, a bat (I hate bats. Fuck bats,) a vampy vampire companion in heels, and a couple intrepid kids with feathered hair because it was the '80s and everyone wanted to be Farrah Fawcett.

I'm not sure my anticipation could be much higher for this one, so let's dive in!

As per usual in Choose Your Own Adventure books, you are a kid. This time around you're on a train in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania (Fun Fact: Sesame Street's "The Count" spent his youth there!) You and your Uncle Andrew are out to scientifically prove that vampires exist. You are joined by two other companions: Nina, a girl "about your age," whatever that may be, and her aunt. The aunt goes missing straight away and a mysterious box is discovered in the baggage car. Thus begins our adventure!

Here are my attempts made while reviewing this book:

1) Nina and I consult the gypsies on the train about the mysterious box and missing aunt. After a bit of mysticism, she and I go to the vampire's castle, kill the vampires, obtain proof of their existence and save auntie. Wow…I knocked that one out of the park on the first try!

Note: The choices led to positive conclusions waaay too obviously. Let's try another…

2) We question the other passengers about the missing aunt. We enter the car of the mysterious Count Zoltan and Countess Carmilla, who offer us supposedly tasty delights. But they are NOT tasty! Naturally, we spit them out and make a run for it, because how dare they foist shitty candy on us?! Low and behold, the count is a vampire and so is the countess! He blocks the door (she apparently does nothing). We escape by climbing on top of the train and jumping into a snowbank. A lucky escape!

Note: Although I intentionally took a wrong step or two this time, still the correct choices were telegraphed. Hmmm…

3) This time we ask two men to help us find auntie. One's a flamboyant magician, the other a curmudgeonly professor. When we're left alone with the magician he tries to hypnotize us, but I know a predator when I see one and I'll have none of this touchy-uncle nonsense! The magician does however have an interesting vampire-catching device, so we stick around. Suddenly auntie is running away from vampires, who catch her and demand "The Bloodstone" from us. The magician performs an entrancing illusion that attracts the vampires, who do a little dance (but do not make a little love or get down tonight). The trap fails and we are all turned into vampires.

4) Nina and I open the mysterious box. It contains a painting. A gypsy and my Uncle Andrew (who has been very nonexistent up until this point) help us with the painting, trying to figure out its power. We make for the vampire's castle. Nina gets left behind to fend off a pack of wolves. I find an ugly little dwarf gnawing bones near the castle wall. The dwarf scurries away. Oookaaay. We slip into the castle and use the painting to destroy the vampires. Miracle of miracles, auntie and Nina are both okay!

Note: Uncle Andrew doesn't seem interested in getting lasting proof that vampires exist, but is very anxious to kill them. That doesn't sound like science to me.

End Note: There are too many obvious choice-to-consequence resolutions for this one to be rated 5 stars. However, there are lots of choices that lead to many differing story-lines. That and all the wonderfully odd characters make Vampire Express a winner!

[Jeffrey Caston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happened upon this Choose Your Own Adventure the other day. I loved these, and I mean LOVED these books as a kid. I would stack them up and just read a version of the adventure, move on to the next. I'll always have a sentimental place in my heart for them.

Some of the titles of these CYOA books I recognize. This one I did not. I've read it a few time now and found it entertaining. On this one, you are on a train, becoming a sort of vampire hunter of sorts (without weapons of any kind, so maybe you wanna rethink that strategy??) Anyway, you go on this and meeting up with people on the train, including Nina and her aunt on our way to get to your uncle Andrew to help him prove the existence of vampires.

This was a fun, admittedly juvenile and light story. Didn't detract from it for me. It was still quite entertaining and I'm sure I'll give it another read again soon.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently Tony Koltz only wrote two gamebooks, but Vampire Express is one of the most memorable Choose Your Own Adventures of all, a moody, atmospheric romp through the Carpathian Mountains that may be the most immersive experience of the entire series. You are on a train in snowy Romania to help your uncle Andrew prove vampires exist, but he isn't with you on this leg of the trip. You are accompanied by a girl named Nina and her aunt, Mrs. West. They possess two talismans—a jewel called the Bloodstone, and a painting—said to protect against vampires, but if the talismans fall into evil hands, it will be disastrous. Your train ride is uneventful until Mrs. West excuses herself to check on the painting in the baggage hold. When she doesn't return, Nina is frantic. Should you escort her to the baggage car, or ask other passengers if they've seen Mrs. West?

The painting remains where Nina left it, in its hypnotic ornate box in the baggage hold. It depicts a pale, gothic man and woman, and seeing it fills you with unreasoning panic. A Gypsy named Nanosh approaches and says your uncle Andrew has done great things for the Gypsies, so Nanosh pledges his support to your cause. Mrs. West is still missing, but contact Andrew and you'll disembark the train in a village to meet him with the painting. On horseback to the castle of Count Zoltan and Countess Carmilla, suspected vampires, you are pursued by wolves. Nina falls from her horse in the dense fog; is there any point in stopping to search for her? Continue on and you reach the castle at night. In the morning, you come face to face with Zoltan and Carmilla, who conspicuously wears Mrs. West's Bloodstone. Andrew clutches the painting, but can it overpower the Bloodstone and wither the vampires to ash? If you stayed behind in the fog to save Nina from the wolves, you discover she survived. Upon sneaking into the castle you find Zoltan and Carmilla in their coffins; can you kill them? If you opted earlier to contact Nanosh's Gypsy friends, one named Lyuba informs you she can throw one of two stones into her mystic fire. The crimson stone guarantees an acceptable outcome to your quest, while the green one allows either a horrifying fate or triumph beyond your wildest imagination. Slaying the vampires won't be easy if they possess the Bloodstone.

Had you avoided the baggage car at first to interrogate other train passengers, you might meet a magician named Phaino, who has invented a laser system he claims can capture vampires in a mirror. After cornering Zoltan and Carmilla on the train, Phaino's device doesn't seem to work, but maybe you can retrieve the painting as a weapon. You may have to infiltrate Zoltan and Carmilla's private train car, but will their malformed assistant, Bela, use his magic to spirit you to safety? Investigate elsewhere in the private car and you locate Mrs. West, but Zoltan and Carmilla take you captive. Is there any hope of stealing the Bloodstone from Carmilla so the painting can destroy the vampires? An alternative route sees Zoltan steal the painting, and you chase him across the snowy top of the speeding train. Can you ever get it back if he retreats to the safety of his private car? Don't delay in destroying the vampires should opportunity come. Zoltan and Carmilla have the power to kill you now or preserve you as an unwilling soldier in the army of the undead.

What's the main appeal of Choose Your Own Adventure? It's taking risks for high stakes that will never be in play for most people. Your pursuit may be fame and fortune, justice for the oppressed, exploration of life's great mysteries, or eliminating threats to mankind, but the best books in the series let you feel the weight of that pursuit and the potential reward if you grab your brass ring. Vampire Express sets you on the trail of undead monsters who drain the life out of innocent people to satisfy their own hubris. Zoltan and Carmilla have lived hundreds of years drinking blood, and you can end their menace. Do you have the courage, luck, and intelligence to make this their day of reckoning? You may be the only one with the resources to ever try.

Vampire Express has its flaws. When Zoltan and Carmilla are on the train they should feel scarier than they do, and be harder to kill in their castle than they end up being. Many story paths are enticingly creepy, though, and Doug Jamieson's drawings create an atmosphere of dread. This is arguably the finest illustration work in any Choose Your Own Adventure, and it's a shame that Jamieson contributed nothing more to the series. What he adds in these pages is on par with children's horror literature icons Arnold Lobel, Stephen Gammell, Chris Van Allsburg, Tim Jacobus, and Choose Your Own Adventure's own Paul Granger. Because of its weaknesses I probably only rate Vampire Express two and a half stars, but definitely round to three. At this point in the original series it was the best book since The Forbidden Castle, and is one of the top Choose Your Own Adventures overall.

[Qt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gets between 3 and 4 stars for me, depending on which ending I chose :-) Seriously, though, I thought this was really a fun one and great for Halloween. It frequently reminded me of old horror movies (which I love watching) and it was fun to (safely) take part in a vampire adventure. This is one I would get out on future Halloweens to revisit!

[*¨·٠•●♥✿LINLAN✿♥●•٠·¨* · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book to play like a choose-your-own-adventure game, then maybe this is the book for you!

I stumbled upon "Vampire Express" in my dad's collection. I have to admit, I was intrigued by the concept. The idea of being able to choose your own path in a story sounded like a fun way to spend an afternoon. Little did I know that I was in for a wild ride on the Vampire Express.

The story itself was, well, meh. I can't say I was particularly invested in the characters or the plot, but maybe that's just because of the decisions I made. Who knows, maybe if I had chosen differently, I would have been on the edge of my seat.

The real star of the show here is the format. It's like a game before games were really a thing. I can only imagine the fun my dad and his buddies had playing this back in the day. It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but for reading!

All in all, I have to give "Vampire Express" a solid 2 out of 5 stars. It's not the greatest book I've ever read, but it's definitely a unique experience.

Just be prepared for some cheesy dialogue and questionable plot twists. And remember, the power is in your hands!

Choose wisely, my friends.

[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.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently Tony Koltz only wrote two gamebooks, but Vampire Express is one of the most memorable Choose Your Own Adventures of all, a moody, atmospheric romp through the Carpathian Mountains that may be the most immersive experience of the entire series. You are on a train in snowy Romania to help your uncle Andrew prove vampires exist, but he isn't with you on this leg of the trip. You are accompanied by a girl named Nina and her aunt, Mrs. West. They possess two talismans—a jewel called the Bloodstone, and a painting—said to protect against vampires, but if the talismans fall into evil hands, it will be disastrous. Your train ride is uneventful until Mrs. West excuses herself to check on the painting in the baggage hold. When she doesn't return, Nina is frantic. Should you escort her to the baggage car, or ask other passengers if they've seen Mrs. West?

The painting remains where Nina left it, in its hypnotic ornate box in the baggage hold. It depicts a pale, gothic man and woman, and seeing it fills you with unreasoning panic. A Gypsy named Nanosh approaches and says your uncle Andrew has done great things for the Gypsies, so Nanosh pledges his support to your cause. Mrs. West is still missing, but contact Andrew and you'll disembark the train in a village to meet him with the painting. On horseback to the castle of Count Zoltan and Countess Carmilla, suspected vampires, you are pursued by wolves. Nina falls from her horse in the dense fog; is there any point in stopping to search for her? Continue on and you reach the castle at night. In the morning, you come face to face with Zoltan and Carmilla, who conspicuously wears Mrs. West's Bloodstone. Andrew clutches the painting, but can it overpower the Bloodstone and wither the vampires to ash? If you stayed behind in the fog to save Nina from the wolves, you discover she survived. Upon sneaking into the castle you find Zoltan and Carmilla in their coffins; can you kill them? If you opted earlier to contact Nanosh's Gypsy friends, one named Lyuba informs you she can throw one of two stones into her mystic fire. The crimson stone guarantees an acceptable outcome to your quest, while the green one allows either a horrifying fate or triumph beyond your wildest imagination. Slaying the vampires won't be easy if they possess the Bloodstone.

Had you avoided the baggage car at first to interrogate other train passengers, you might meet a magician named Phaino, who has invented a laser system he claims can capture vampires in a mirror. After cornering Zoltan and Carmilla on the train, Phaino's device doesn't seem to work, but maybe you can retrieve the painting as a weapon. You may have to infiltrate Zoltan and Carmilla's private train car, but will their malformed assistant, Bela, use his magic to spirit you to safety? Investigate elsewhere in the private car and you locate Mrs. West, but Zoltan and Carmilla take you captive. Is there any hope of stealing the Bloodstone from Carmilla so the painting can destroy the vampires? An alternative route sees Zoltan steal the painting, and you chase him across the snowy top of the speeding train. Can you ever get it back if he retreats to the safety of his private car? Don't delay in destroying the vampires should opportunity come. Zoltan and Carmilla have the power to kill you now or preserve you as an unwilling soldier in the army of the undead.

What's the main appeal of Choose Your Own Adventure? It's taking risks for high stakes that will never be in play for most people. Your pursuit may be fame and fortune, justice for the oppressed, exploration of life's great mysteries, or eliminating threats to mankind, but the best books in the series let you feel the weight of that pursuit and the potential reward if you grab your brass ring. Vampire Express sets you on the trail of undead monsters who drain the life out of innocent people to satisfy their own hubris. Zoltan and Carmilla have lived hundreds of years drinking blood, and you can end their menace. Do you have the courage, luck, and intelligence to make this their day of reckoning? You may be the only one with the resources to ever try.

Vampire Express has its flaws. When Zoltan and Carmilla are on the train they should feel scarier than they do, and be harder to kill in their castle than they end up being. Many story paths are enticingly creepy, though, and Doug Jamieson's drawings create an atmosphere of dread. This is arguably the finest illustration work in any Choose Your Own Adventure, and it's a shame that Jamieson contributed nothing more to the series. What he adds in these pages is on par with children's horror literature icons Arnold Lobel, Stephen Gammell, Chris Van Allsburg, Tim Jacobus, and Choose Your Own Adventure's own Paul Granger, who did the cover collage for this edition of Vampire Express. Because of its weaknesses I probably only rate the book two and a half stars, but definitely round to three. At this point in the original series it was the best entry since The Forbidden Castle, and is one of the top Choose Your Own Adventures overall.

[Mercedes McLean-Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read with a great theme- mystery on a train plus vampires. Plenty of mixed up page numbers though.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few examples of a dated language and a few 'Go to page' endings that don't make sense, but if you are playing properly it is a ton of fun.

Great artwork and some really bizarre sequences.

[Jessie Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it with my mom, we both enjoyed it. Lots of adventure!

[Snort · Rating 3 out of 5]

You come across a stash of childhood favourites. Do you: grit your teeth and walk away (turn to the last page), select one for old times' sake (turn to the next page) or buy them all (turn to page 4)?

Remember these childhood gems? This was a most unexpected find at a used bookstore, the appropriately named "Deja Vu" at Battery Point, Hobart. I put this out on Path - here is Bloodthirsty Bestie JY's response (and you see why I love her and her writing):

"You grit your teeth and walk away. Your thoughts keep returning to those books and you finally decide to buy them, luggage weight limits be damned. You turn back eagerly and break into a run, but in your excitement, you fail to notice the open manhole you narrowly avoided earlier. Suddenly, you feel yourself falling through thin air and darkness. You hear the air whistling past you and menacing reptilian snapping sounds. Your body lands with a sickening crunch. Before you lost consciousness entirely, you are dimly aware of a pair of glinting eyes and two rows od stiletto teeth slithering towards you. They are the last thing you see before everything goes dark. You are dead."

Of course, this has nothing to do with Vampire Express, apart from reproducing the wild delight of choosing my own adventure. I'm thrilled to report that age has done nothing to improve my prudence or longevity!

Three stars, but really only for old times' sake!

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My friend took this out of the library, since she had had experience with choose your own adventure, she expected there to be more "unfortunate" endings in this one. I think, she said that the endings didn't make sense and you can' loose in any of them...which assumed was good.
SO....she gave me the book and dared me to die in one of the endings :) And, reading one of these with the single goal of loosing was actually quite fun. I think, in the end, I got crushed by the ceiling and floor. Then I read it again, and ....the creepy vampire village people got me. :D Fantastic read, I havn't read these types of books in awhile, they are quite fun.

[Swankivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Choose Your Own Adventure book was another mystery, which I usually didn't like, but for some reason this one held my interest decently. Maybe because there was an element of magic in it; I was on a train trying to find and I guess destroy vampires, and they were among us, but I had to use a magical painting to beat them. And I guess being trapped on a train when the mystery is happening is a good way to increase tension, though of course some endings lead to not being on the train anymore. I liked that the vampires in the story had their own motivation rather than just to be evil to you.

[Yael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This used to be one of my favorite books when I was younger.
They only had a couple of "Choose your own adventure" books in my school's library and everyone always wanted to grab one. This was, by all means, my favorite from the couple few my library had.

[ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ability to choose my own adventure is the most fun and a great reprieve from my other books. I remember a few of these books as a kid and now as an adult, I have returned to them, grabbing any of them that I find that I never got to read when younger. The story is fun and gives a little spooky feel to it with the uncertainty of not knowing what your choice will bring, especially when dealing with vampires! But, that is the fun of it. I just spend an hour or so going back and picking the other option to get the full choices after completing my initial adventure. Succinctly written, it gets to the point, but also provides great detail about the setting and characters. A great book for adults and kids.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

He querido rememorar la infancia, adentrándome en mi propia aventura. Me han gustado mucho las diferentes tramas a las que he llegado, y en general la historia me ha recordado graciosamente a “A la caza del príncipe Drácula” de Kerri Maniscalco y “Furia” de Tracey Wolf. Seguro que ambas autoras leyeron este libro también de jovencitas. Es una pena que ya no se hagan libros así para divertirse leyendo y engancharse a la lectura en cada aventura. Tiene un vocabulario muy rico, y las ilustraciones son sorprendentes. Recomendadísimo

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it last night because after reading fifty pages of insurgent I got bored. It was a realy good book I won on my first attempt and my sixth attempt. Loved the read was quick and easy and so much fun.

[Guillermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book :)

[Dan Heflin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly like the theming. A vampire story set on a train.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty average. Not nearly enough gruesome deaths, considering the subject matter.

[Ce · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great return to childhood memories.

[Lizzie the Book Hoarder]

Fun times. I loved reading Choose your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. This was a fun trip back to my childhood.

[Vicente Díaz Blázquez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entrañable a más no poder, pero muy mal hecho. La historia que he seguido no tenía coherencia ni sentido alguno.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Viajas en un tren que va a Rumania, la cuna del mito vampírico. Tú tío Andrew te ha propuesto que le ayudes con su investigación para concluir y dar fe que los chupa sangre existen. Junto a ti está tu amiga Nina y su tía; ambas clave para vuestros propósitos ya que poseen una piedra con poderes y un cuadro que pueden ayudar tanto a la búsqueda como a la destrucción de los temibles señores de la noche. Todo va bien en el viaje, hasta que la tía desaparece, y junto con ella la piedra ¿y ahora que haréis?
En ésta entrega de la serie, nos encontramos, y para variar, con una aventura de terror al más puro estilo de mito clásico: los vampiros, en la que encontraremos todos los elementos de folclore que lo rodean: el sirviente de los jefes vampíricos, los gitanos con sus conjuros, investigación, seguimiento y aquelarres particulares hacía los endemoniados seres nocturnos, una piedra con poderes que codician los chupa sangre, un cuadro con la clave de la derrota de éstos, los típicos espejos, la transformación en murciélagos, la presencia del castillo y peligrosos alrededores, el método de hipnosis, etc...
Cómo se comprueba , y a tenor de mis palabras, es un volumen muy atmosférico y recreado para que pases una aventura ensimismado en sus páginas, pero el fallo viene por su hierre en desarrollo, tanto a nivel lógico cómo de evolución. Hay cosas ilógicas de partida, cómo saberte conocedor que están los amos vampiros en el tren ( y no tú solo, sino casi todo el mundo), y eso que se supone que tienes que ir en búsqueda de los mismos. Asimismo, casi todo el desarrollo aventurero va en torno a la captura o destrucción de Carmilla y Zoltan, los únicos malhechores que salen en la narración. Con ello, queda empobrecida la evolución de historias al centrarse en algo concreto y no dar voz ni escena a otros vampiros o derroteros alternativos. Por si fuera poco, ciertos giros resultan bruscos y demasiado resumidos, dando poco aliento a aventuras más tensas, que doten más suspense en su nudo.
En resumidas cuentas, un libro no al uso dentro de la serie, con una trama y elementos que la rodean muy sugerentes. Ideal para los amantes del género de terror, pero algo fallida en desarrollo. Fuera de eso, disfrutable, pero no para el más exigente de la antología de narraciones de tu propia elección.

DATO IMPORTANTE (PARA FUTUROS LECTORES):
Mi entrega (y consecuentemente las que se hicieron en su día:1984) tiene graves erratas de tanto, faltan de elecciones en ciertas páginas, cómo de fallo en el número de página al que debes ir.
A continuación os pongo los que debéis enmendar ( yo lo hice en su día al darme cuenta y buqué todos los fallos):
-Página 61: Pasa a la página 87
-Página 63:pasa a la página 80
-Página 91: ‘si vuelves al campamento, pasa a la página 6’
‘si sigues al hombrecillo, pasa a la página 50’
-Página 103: ‘si no aceptas, pasa a la página 81’ ( ésta opción no está escrita pero existe en la historia)

[Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy interesante. Siempre había leído mucho acerca de estos libros, y creo que en algún momento de la secundaria llegué a hojear uno por ahí, pero nunca le había dedicado suficiente tiempo a uno. Es fácil llegar a uno de los ¡21! finales que anuncia la portada, pero la cosa es llegar a varios de ellos y en el proceso, ir deslumbrando detalles que oculta el solo ir por una o dos rutas.

Me agradó poder haberlo leído, y aunque dudo hacer cada una de las ramificaciones, me sirve mucho poder tener en físico lo que es, en esencia, la plantilla para muchos videojuegos modernos donde tus decisiones te llevan por uno u otro camino. Hay puntos que están estructurados para que puedas llegar a ellos desde varios lugares, otros que convergen, otros que te llevan a otra "serie de nodos", o bien, hay caminos que son muy diferentes. En esencia aquí hay dos sets principales: el tren y el castillo, aunque para llegar al castillo pasas por un campamento en el cual se pueden ramificar ciertos caminos principales.

La historia no deja de ser muy genérica, y honestamente, muy básica, pero es genial al menos una vez tomar uno de estos libros e ir viendo por dónde te llevan sus laberintos argumentales. Sin duda es una experiencia muy didáctica que se puede prestar para discusión en clase, aunque ello puede ser difícil de planificar para un maestro, y más porque este formato de libro no es común y es sorprendente la cantidad de gente que se dedica a la literatura que creen que solo se han escrito dos novelas en la historia en segunda persona, en fin.

[Julie Decker · Rating 3 out of 5]

You're on a train. And vampires are coming after you. Your only hope of avoiding them or beating them is a painting. Sound weird? Welcome to Choose Your Own Adventure.

This is the usual solve-it puzzle-piece train mystery, with the supernatural twist of the vampires. I wasn't particularly into it because this series usually had shallow, almost arbitrary endings, but I thought it was kind of nice that the mystery happened on a train and that made everything very self-contained, so it held together a little better. Plus the villains--the vampires--weren't after you just because they were monsters and wished you ill. They had a reason and their own story arc too. Among books in this series it's one of the better ones.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventure #31, Vampire Express, of the 'Choose your own adventure' series... in these books the reader gets to be the central character by choosing what path the tale follows through a variety of endings...

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually enjoy these little books. This one had some "go to page" errors, many of the endings left things hanging, and many of the stories were VERY repetitive. Overall was disappointed in this book.

[Nick Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

While fairly well written compared to some other Choose Your Own Adventure volumes, Vampire Express (or perhaps just the edition I have of it) contains at least two page-switching errors that make the narrative impossible to follow on certain paths.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is how much of a hipster I am: I was reading vampire YA fiction before it was cool - all the way back in 1985!

Take that, Twilighters!