The Case of the Silk King

Elige tu propia aventura #53

by Shannon Gilligan

Beware and Warning! This book is different from other books. You and YOU ALONE are in charge of what happens in this story. There are dangers, choices, adventures and consequences. YOU must use all of your numerous talents and much of your enormous intelligence. The wrong decision could end in disaster - even death. But, don't despair. At any time, YOU can go back and make another choice, alter the path of your story, and change its result. The year is 1982 and an anonymous package arrives in the mail. It contains a clipping from the Bangkok Post, a plane ticket to Thailand and $2000 to help in your search for a man who disappeared without a trace. The only problem was that he was last seen 15 years ago. Could he still be alive? Should you travel to Thailand to find out?

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

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Freesiab BookishReview]

These are always 5 star books to me. Hours and hours of fun for any age group!

[Serena]

Hell yeah I only died ONCE!!!

[Ashley Jacobson]

This one was written much better than the others Kai and I have read. There is nothing high quality about these books, but Kai really likes to read the together for fun and we'll spend 2 or 3 days going through all the possibilities. It's fun activity.

[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.

[Christian]

I re-read this multiple times as a kid, and everything about it stuck with me because of all the awful things that could happen to you... *snicker* I always considered this as a Nancy Drew mystery gone horribly wrong, and it didn't help that the original print of this book had illustrations of the main character as a preteen girl with blond hair. There are no satisfying endings here, and most deaths range from frighteningly realistic to completely random, from being killed by a tiger, thrown into a pit of snakes, murdered by terrorists (ouch), and hilariously, from a loose brick falling on your head. The only "good" ending involves you actually finding the missing person you're looking for, but he refuses to come back with you because he's now a monk and is dedicated to his worship. So why did I like this? I guess I was fascinated by a mystery story in which the characters have no plot armor and are guided by Murphy's Law. It's different!

[Robin]

These choose your own adventure books blew my mind when I was a kid, but they really do not hold up even a little. I'm still a huge champion of experimental or clever narrative formats and will therefore allow a second star just for that, but the writing is worse than meh and I'm pretty disappointed that my childhood delight was sparked by something so unworthy. I'm pretty sure that I never read this particular one, and indeed I had no idea there were so many in the series -- this one is #53. Clearly they had a cash cow and knew how to milk it. Ugh.

[Vicky]

Una aventura envolvente que combina misterio internacional, espionaje y decisiones que marcan el destino. El caso del Rey de la Seda te sitúa en medio de una intriga comercial y política en Asia, donde cada elección puede llevarte al éxito… o al desastre. Gilligan logra un equilibrio entre tensión narrativa y exploración cultural, con escenarios exóticos y dilemas morales. Aunque algunas rutas pueden sentirse abruptas, el juego de posibilidades y el ritmo ágil hacen que la experiencia sea atrapante. Una lectura que invita a jugar, explorar y pensar.

[Herv]

I think this is a very good. I like this book because at the bottom of each page you can choose your own adventure. I would recommend this book for 2nd graders and older kids who enjoy reading mystery or adventure books.

[Jennifer]

I did it! For once I actually managed to do what my character set out to do. It didn't end the way I thought it would, of course it never does with these books, but I accomplished my goal.

Author: Shannon Gilligan
Publisher: Chooseco
Publication Date: 1986

[Benjamin Stahl]

This was a pretty good one.

[Mandyalam0de]

Read this with my son and was pretty impressed. Such a great bonding experience!

[Julia Martinez Favaloro]

si bien es un libro para chicos y me lo recomendo mi hermana (el libro es de su hijo de 8) no esta nada mal, lei dos finales (tiene 19) y no me disgusto para nada.

[Manan]

Imagine you are a secret agent and the FBI reports a lost warrior.What to do? You decide in a book that lets you choose your own path!

[t4truffles]

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.