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Temple Run: Run for Your Life! #1
Jungle Trek
Temple Run, the fastest-growing mobile game app, is taking its biggest leap yet, jumping into children's books with a series of adventure books just right for middle-graders. Watch out, Indiana Jones, a new hero is in town: you the reader!
Synopsis: Temple Run #1: Jungle Trek is a wilderness survival story. You're a lucky kid--you've had advantages all your life. For your birthday, you're having a destination party: a campout and scavenger hunt in an exotic locale with just a young party planner, the beautiful Scarlett Fox, and a handsome outdoorsman, Guy Dangerous, who will act as your guide. The two of them will chaperone--no parents!
But on the way there, your plane crash-lands in the mountains. Scarlett Fox and Guy Dangerous may or may not be on your side, depending on how you navigate the story. Or they may be there for their own purposes, having engineered the crash to take place in a remote location to steal a valuable artifact that they plan to sell. Depending on the choices you make, you will reach safety in time to enjoy your party, or you will be kidnapped and held for ransom, buying Guy and Scarlett time to make off with the treasure. You decide!
Synopsis: Temple Run #1: Jungle Trek is a wilderness survival story. You're a lucky kid--you've had advantages all your life. For your birthday, you're having a destination party: a campout and scavenger hunt in an exotic locale with just a young party planner, the beautiful Scarlett Fox, and a handsome outdoorsman, Guy Dangerous, who will act as your guide. The two of them will chaperone--no parents!
But on the way there, your plane crash-lands in the mountains. Scarlett Fox and Guy Dangerous may or may not be on your side, depending on how you navigate the story. Or they may be there for their own purposes, having engineered the crash to take place in a remote location to steal a valuable artifact that they plan to sell. Depending on the choices you make, you will reach safety in time to enjoy your party, or you will be kidnapped and held for ransom, buying Guy and Scarlett time to make off with the treasure. You decide!
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 5, 2019
I died the first time. The second time I made it back alive.
February 23, 2021
The plot: a CYOA where you won a prize to have two celebrities--Guy Dangerous and Scarlett Fox--to take you on a jungle trip then attend your birthday. However, the plane goes down over the jungle, and the three of you are stranded. You (and maybe them, depending on choices) must find your way out of the jungle--and maybe get an idol while you're at it?
I'm basically considering this book on three levels. First, as someone just reading a CYOA, it's a little slight; it's somewhat smaller than a 80s era CYOA book, and those weren't exactly lengthy. Second, though, I really need to acknowledge that I am not the audience here. The book is for kids who were playing Temple Run in 2014, and on that basis, it's not bad. It has a reasonable plot (Scarlett faked the crash, and indeed the whole prize, to give her and her organization a chance to loot the ruins), it ties into the game (borrowing characters, settings, and monkey demon antagonists, and the whole running theme), and, well, I'm out of positive things to say.
Third, it's interesting in view of the history of the CYOA genre. The plane crash and jungle theme fits right in with the classic CYOA books, and the kind of blank slate child protagonist fits with them as well. However, its plot is much more consistent--in the old CYOA, at least in the beginning of the run, the world you were in could go in any direction. Take a right, and you're not in the jungle at all but a movie set. Take a left, and you're in an alien zoo. There was no cohesive storyworld behind the choices. Here, despite being slightly fantastic with the demon monkeys, it's pretty consistent. That's to the book's advantage, in that it makes the world feel more realistic, but also disadvantage; there's only so many choices you can make in such a set-up, and a lot of the options flow into each other. Its politics are also strange. It evades the racism of exoticizing the native people of the area by removing them. There are many ancient ruins, but no people to be found, just demon monkeys. The closest it comes to a designer statement is that teaming up with either of the main two (or a third hidden option) grants you an item, and at a certain moment of the story, not having one of the three items will lead to your death. It's a far cry from the alliances and betrayals of a gamebook like Heart of Ice, but it's something.
The book's brevity is a point against it, and the plot isn't really all that interesting, but I've read worse, and I imagine fans of the series would enjoy it.
I'm basically considering this book on three levels. First, as someone just reading a CYOA, it's a little slight; it's somewhat smaller than a 80s era CYOA book, and those weren't exactly lengthy. Second, though, I really need to acknowledge that I am not the audience here. The book is for kids who were playing Temple Run in 2014, and on that basis, it's not bad. It has a reasonable plot (Scarlett faked the crash, and indeed the whole prize, to give her and her organization a chance to loot the ruins), it ties into the game (borrowing characters, settings, and monkey demon antagonists, and the whole running theme), and, well, I'm out of positive things to say.
Third, it's interesting in view of the history of the CYOA genre. The plane crash and jungle theme fits right in with the classic CYOA books, and the kind of blank slate child protagonist fits with them as well. However, its plot is much more consistent--in the old CYOA, at least in the beginning of the run, the world you were in could go in any direction. Take a right, and you're not in the jungle at all but a movie set. Take a left, and you're in an alien zoo. There was no cohesive storyworld behind the choices. Here, despite being slightly fantastic with the demon monkeys, it's pretty consistent. That's to the book's advantage, in that it makes the world feel more realistic, but also disadvantage; there's only so many choices you can make in such a set-up, and a lot of the options flow into each other. Its politics are also strange. It evades the racism of exoticizing the native people of the area by removing them. There are many ancient ruins, but no people to be found, just demon monkeys. The closest it comes to a designer statement is that teaming up with either of the main two (or a third hidden option) grants you an item, and at a certain moment of the story, not having one of the three items will lead to your death. It's a far cry from the alliances and betrayals of a gamebook like Heart of Ice, but it's something.
The book's brevity is a point against it, and the plot isn't really all that interesting, but I've read worse, and I imagine fans of the series would enjoy it.
June 8, 2020
This book wasn’t bad. It was sure fun flipping to and fro pages to unravel the mystery. I feel like Karma didn’t get enough character development though. Unless I missed something, who is she? What was she doing there?
February 13, 2015
Readers familiar with the game Temple Run will enjoy these select your own adventure books based upon the game. Each story is told with the reader as the protagonist, choosing from two or three scenarios each with their own perils.
In the first book, Jungle Trek, you are on a plane with survivalist, Guy Dangerous and Scarlett Fox who is a gadget queen when it crashes into the jungle. Everyone survives the crash, so you must decide your next steps to survive. Sometimes your choices take you to your doom; others lead you closer to safety.
Middle grade readers will enjoy choosing what their character does next. I would recommend this book for purchase to any school or public library.
This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by SWON Libraries.
In the first book, Jungle Trek, you are on a plane with survivalist, Guy Dangerous and Scarlett Fox who is a gadget queen when it crashes into the jungle. Everyone survives the crash, so you must decide your next steps to survive. Sometimes your choices take you to your doom; others lead you closer to safety.
Middle grade readers will enjoy choosing what their character does next. I would recommend this book for purchase to any school or public library.
This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by SWON Libraries.
December 8, 2015
spinoff of a mobile phone game app, a choose your own adventure style book written in the second person. can see the kid appeal, can't believe a main character is named Guy Dangerous - cheesy.
goodreads-win
February 20, 2015Goodreads win. Will read and review once received.
Read
May 29, 2018We purchased for the kids years ago, I decided to read through it before giving away.
Fun, silly, funny. Great for ages 8-12. I'll probably read the other one too.
Fun, silly, funny. Great for ages 8-12. I'll probably read the other one too.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews