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Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure
Shakespeare’s plays weren’t meant to be read. They were meant…to be played.
What if Romeo never met Juliet? What if Juliet got really buff instead of moping around all day? What if they teamed up to take over Verona with robot suits? This choose-your-own-path version of Romeo and Juliet—packed with fun puzzles, secrets, and quadrillions of possible storylines—lets you decide where the plot goes every time you read. You might play as Romeo, or as Juliet, or as both of them at the same time. You might even unlock additional playable characters!
That’s right. We figured out how to have unlockable characters in books.
What if Romeo never met Juliet? What if Juliet got really buff instead of moping around all day? What if they teamed up to take over Verona with robot suits? This choose-your-own-path version of Romeo and Juliet—packed with fun puzzles, secrets, and quadrillions of possible storylines—lets you decide where the plot goes every time you read. You might play as Romeo, or as Juliet, or as both of them at the same time. You might even unlock additional playable characters!
That’s right. We figured out how to have unlockable characters in books.
400 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2016
About the author
Ryan North
533 books1,341 followersHi, I'm Ryan! I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1980 and since then have written several books. You can read my Wikipedia page for more, or check out my author site at RyanNorth.ca!
I'm the author of the webcomic Dinosaur Comics (that's the comic where the pictures don't change but the words do, it's better than it sounds and I've also done crazy things like turn Shakespeare into a choose-your-own-path adventure, write a comic for Marvel about a girl with all the powers of a squirrel, or mess up walking my dog so badly it made the news.
I'm working on more stuff as we speak, hopefully it's good
I'm the author of the webcomic Dinosaur Comics (that's the comic where the pictures don't change but the words do, it's better than it sounds and I've also done crazy things like turn Shakespeare into a choose-your-own-path adventure, write a comic for Marvel about a girl with all the powers of a squirrel, or mess up walking my dog so badly it made the news.
I'm working on more stuff as we speak, hopefully it's good
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,017 reviews
November 4, 2022
i owned this book for...i want to say about 99.74 years, but it was probably more like 7. which is still insane.
for that entire time, i wanted to read this just enough to not actively get rid of it, without ever wanting to read it enough to, you know. actually read it.
and then after somewhere between a handful and an incalculable amount of time later, i did read it. and i felt entirely meh about it even still.
to be expected, i guess.
bottom line: life is full of surprises! except for sometimes it's not.
for that entire time, i wanted to read this just enough to not actively get rid of it, without ever wanting to read it enough to, you know. actually read it.
and then after somewhere between a handful and an incalculable amount of time later, i did read it. and i felt entirely meh about it even still.
to be expected, i guess.
bottom line: life is full of surprises! except for sometimes it's not.
June 8, 2016
this is super fun! on my first readthrough as juliet i ended as a spinster pirate, so A++ adventuring really.
February 20, 2023
He llegado a 15 finales y solo puedo decir que es ALUCINANTE.
Una risa de libro, tronchante y con momentos buenísimos.
Romeo es super chistoso y julieta una badass de cuidado.
Esta "reinterpretación" moderna e interactiva me ha fascinado completamente.
Es un humor absurdo, no esperéis humor inteligente porque no lo hay. Es al más puro estilo hora de aventuras o rick y morty, idioteces, referencias sexuales y muchas tonterías.
MUY RECOMENDADO.
Una risa de libro, tronchante y con momentos buenísimos.
Romeo es super chistoso y julieta una badass de cuidado.
Esta "reinterpretación" moderna e interactiva me ha fascinado completamente.
Es un humor absurdo, no esperéis humor inteligente porque no lo hay. Es al más puro estilo hora de aventuras o rick y morty, idioteces, referencias sexuales y muchas tonterías.
MUY RECOMENDADO.
November 23, 2016
New York Times bestselling Romeo and/or Juliet is a choose your own adventure type of deal, a ridiculously entertaining take (or takes, since there are plenty of them) on a classic that’s pretty ridiculous in and of itself. A classic it may be, but the word timeless doesn’t apply to this particular work, and the older I get, the more annoyed I am by Romeo and Juliet both.
Ryan North took the famous tale and explored its weaknesses, but he also added pretty much everything that crossed his mind, from ghosts and robots to naked, sword-wielding fathers. The best thing by far is that you make your own choices as you go, from the character you want to play to the path you want to take. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of work that was required to put this book together, but the effort paid off. From the very first page Romeo and/or Juliet is an exercise in hilarity.
If you choose to play as Romeo, prepare to be a lovesick teen obsessed with ridiculous poetry. As Juliet, you will be a ripped, self-obsessed girl interested in muscles and boys. Juliet is a bit of a pushover, always ready to do everything her mother tells her to, but you’re there to make things better and push her in more dangerous directions. It’s your game after all!
Some of the paths end quickly, always with painful and ridiculous deaths. On some of them Juliet and Romeo don’t even meet, and on some they meet but things go in strange directions. Sometimes the book pushes you to change characters, usually when one becomes boring or the other’s life seems more eventful. In any case, North addresses his players the entire time, not hiding the fact that he’s the one actually running the narrative.
Regardless of where you end up, you’ll jump right back to the beginning eagerly. I tried retracing my steps several times, but it didn’t always work. I got tangled up more times than I can count. The easiest thing to do is laugh until you cry at Romeo’s and/or Juliet’s misfortune and go right back to kill them again. Not all paths have tragic endings – there are a few possibilities for a happily ever after as well. After a time, though, you begin hoping for the other kind, mostly because they’re far more entertaining.
Romeo and/or Juliet is the weirdest, funniest book I’ve held in my hands in ages. Sometimes it gives the impression of trying too hard, but overall you’ll want to take this journey again and again until you discover them all.
Ryan North took the famous tale and explored its weaknesses, but he also added pretty much everything that crossed his mind, from ghosts and robots to naked, sword-wielding fathers. The best thing by far is that you make your own choices as you go, from the character you want to play to the path you want to take. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of work that was required to put this book together, but the effort paid off. From the very first page Romeo and/or Juliet is an exercise in hilarity.
If you choose to play as Romeo, prepare to be a lovesick teen obsessed with ridiculous poetry. As Juliet, you will be a ripped, self-obsessed girl interested in muscles and boys. Juliet is a bit of a pushover, always ready to do everything her mother tells her to, but you’re there to make things better and push her in more dangerous directions. It’s your game after all!
Some of the paths end quickly, always with painful and ridiculous deaths. On some of them Juliet and Romeo don’t even meet, and on some they meet but things go in strange directions. Sometimes the book pushes you to change characters, usually when one becomes boring or the other’s life seems more eventful. In any case, North addresses his players the entire time, not hiding the fact that he’s the one actually running the narrative.
Regardless of where you end up, you’ll jump right back to the beginning eagerly. I tried retracing my steps several times, but it didn’t always work. I got tangled up more times than I can count. The easiest thing to do is laugh until you cry at Romeo’s and/or Juliet’s misfortune and go right back to kill them again. Not all paths have tragic endings – there are a few possibilities for a happily ever after as well. After a time, though, you begin hoping for the other kind, mostly because they’re far more entertaining.
Romeo and/or Juliet is the weirdest, funniest book I’ve held in my hands in ages. Sometimes it gives the impression of trying too hard, but overall you’ll want to take this journey again and again until you discover them all.
January 3, 2018
I think that I'm just really bad at Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type books. My decisions almost always lead me to an early death or a premature resolution. I played this several times and never got beyond more than a chapter's worth of pages. I finally ended up just going through the book out of order, looking for the promised plot twists and hilarious illustrations but honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I just didn't find the book to be that funny. It was over-the-top and forced. Not my kind of humour maybe.
I loved the concept, but didn't like the execution. I think that what it comes down to is that this really just isn't my kind of book.
I loved the concept, but didn't like the execution. I think that what it comes down to is that this really just isn't my kind of book.
June 18, 2020
I don’t know if I’ve truly “finished” this book as the choose your own adventures have a LOT of different outcomes, but I went through the story over 15 times with different pathways so I’m calling it a win!
This was fun, odd, kind of over the top, kind of an homage to Shakespeare, kind of its own thing...the whole nine yards. At the beginning of my trials, I thought the author unfairly gave Romeo/the men all the fun parts and side quests and left Juliet to either one-off “endings” or the boring traditional stuff, but I eventually found the Juliet’s Nurse’s old-school video game side quest and that was worth the entire adventure, so that was great and at least something for the women of the story. I still think Juliet got the short end of the stick....but in a way that is true to the source, so...
Overall, a really fun way to spend a reading experience and not at ALL dependent on you loving the source material at all to enjoy this one. Recommended for those who like the concept!
This was fun, odd, kind of over the top, kind of an homage to Shakespeare, kind of its own thing...the whole nine yards. At the beginning of my trials, I thought the author unfairly gave Romeo/the men all the fun parts and side quests and left Juliet to either one-off “endings” or the boring traditional stuff, but I eventually found the Juliet’s Nurse’s old-school video game side quest and that was worth the entire adventure, so that was great and at least something for the women of the story. I still think Juliet got the short end of the stick....but in a way that is true to the source, so...
Overall, a really fun way to spend a reading experience and not at ALL dependent on you loving the source material at all to enjoy this one. Recommended for those who like the concept!
December 11, 2017
Ideja mi se svidja, i voleo sam ovakve knjige kada sam bio mali. E sada problem u ovoj izvedbi moze biti da nisam vise mali ali jednostavno na duze staze ova knjiga je dosta naporna za citanje. Humor je ok ali nivo razbijanja cetvrtog zida ala Dedpul je stvarno previse i covek uopste nemoze da se upusti u pricu. Nekako je suvise sve okrenuto na zez. Ima par fora, i vise nego par, ali kao sto rekoh na duze staze smara.
Ima potencijala al meni nije leglo previse.
Ima potencijala al meni nije leglo previse.
July 6, 2016
I haven't gone through every path yet, but I've gone through quite a few. Mostly as Juliet (except when, as Juliet, I pretended to be Romeo trying to seduce Juliet, that is me, but then somehow became Romeo, now me, trying to seduce Juliet, now no longer me.) so I feel safe reviewing this a bit.
This is basically the best kind of fun to have with your friends--especially book lovers, English majors or Shakespeare lovers. North has an irreverent tone that, while it doesn't always work completely well with the actual jargon/lines from Shakespeare, does make it fun to read and run through multiple times in one sitting.
As a Choose Your Own Adventure book sometimes the paths seem utterly contrived...but North admits this will happen bc come on he can't account for EVERY variable as genuine experience.
---
Your name is Juliet (or Romeo). You live in Old-Timey Verona, where we've set our scene, and are either too milquetoast to tell your parents no or in love with the idea of being in love, thus setting into motion a tale of star-crossed lovers. Or not. I mean Juliet, if you just say 'yes' to your mother you can go and marry boring old Paul Rudd...I mean Paris and Romeo you have a chance to go and get that Rosalind girl you spend most of your opening pining after for some reason.
Or Juliet you can run off and be a pirate! Romeo you can...I have no idea what you can do otherwise, I refused to follow his path because omg he is so annoying. Juliet gets choices like "run far far away from everything for adventures" while Romeo gets "do you go chat up the girl?".
Of course you could be that person who follows the story as Shakespeare wrote it (North helpfully has little hearts next to the choices that will lead you down that tragic angsty path). Personally I vote you say "no" as soon as you to your Mother, run away, chat up some guy at a bar, and somehow make your fortune on the high seas instead. (can you tell I love the pirate ending for Juliet?).
North plays fast and loose with the time period, the play, the characters, the character motivations, Shakespeare's intentions and pretty much everything else you can think of for him to play fast and loose with. Even if you follow the "canon" path for R&J, North is at pains to be like "are you really sure that's a great idea? Here's a better one!" to tempt you towards a more satisfying ending. Its actually more of a chore to ignore his glib asides, irreverent commentary and anachronistic observations to complete the "canon" version then it is to go with the flow towards a different ending.
Each segment is short enough that if you want to play this as a party game (which I heartily recommend) you can, passing the book around to each person as choices are made. Each ending's illustration is alternately absurd (a muscle-bound, fiercely grinning Juliet swinging a sword while in a dress!) or sweet (Juliet and a beau living in martial bliss far away from the idiots in Verona), breaking up the text. I did flounder at first with the page set-up however; this isn't traditionally numbered. As some snippets are barely a line or more then a page, you have to be careful when moving from choice to choice to make sure you are at the BEGINNING of that choice (sometimes on the previous page).
Overall this was a fun, inventive way to spend my time. Like the OMG Shakespeare books I think they may also be a good way to get reluctant readers into the classics. Look, even though I love Twelfth Night and Midsummer's Night Dream and Macbeth - they are NOT easy to get through. Especially if you go for the really old text and not the slightly updated so at least they don't have weird punctuation and apostrophes everywhere text. For reluctant readers, or readers who struggle with reading due to attention span or not reading English fluently (for whatever reason), books like this can help bridge that gap.
North does a fine job of presenting the actual text (especially if you follow the canon path), while making it accessible to everyone and giving context. Paired with a unit on Shakespeare in Modern Times or some such thing, I think this could be a fine teaching tool.
Or do like me, break out the vodka (or rum) and have a ridiculously fun time with your friends. Either way, this is a winner of a book.
This is basically the best kind of fun to have with your friends--especially book lovers, English majors or Shakespeare lovers. North has an irreverent tone that, while it doesn't always work completely well with the actual jargon/lines from Shakespeare, does make it fun to read and run through multiple times in one sitting.
As a Choose Your Own Adventure book sometimes the paths seem utterly contrived...but North admits this will happen bc come on he can't account for EVERY variable as genuine experience.
---
Your name is Juliet (or Romeo). You live in Old-Timey Verona, where we've set our scene, and are either too milquetoast to tell your parents no or in love with the idea of being in love, thus setting into motion a tale of star-crossed lovers. Or not. I mean Juliet, if you just say 'yes' to your mother you can go and marry boring old Paul Rudd...I mean Paris and Romeo you have a chance to go and get that Rosalind girl you spend most of your opening pining after for some reason.
Or Juliet you can run off and be a pirate! Romeo you can...I have no idea what you can do otherwise, I refused to follow his path because omg he is so annoying. Juliet gets choices like "run far far away from everything for adventures" while Romeo gets "do you go chat up the girl?".
Of course you could be that person who follows the story as Shakespeare wrote it (North helpfully has little hearts next to the choices that will lead you down that tragic angsty path). Personally I vote you say "no" as soon as you to your Mother, run away, chat up some guy at a bar, and somehow make your fortune on the high seas instead. (can you tell I love the pirate ending for Juliet?).
North plays fast and loose with the time period, the play, the characters, the character motivations, Shakespeare's intentions and pretty much everything else you can think of for him to play fast and loose with. Even if you follow the "canon" path for R&J, North is at pains to be like "are you really sure that's a great idea? Here's a better one!" to tempt you towards a more satisfying ending. Its actually more of a chore to ignore his glib asides, irreverent commentary and anachronistic observations to complete the "canon" version then it is to go with the flow towards a different ending.
Each segment is short enough that if you want to play this as a party game (which I heartily recommend) you can, passing the book around to each person as choices are made. Each ending's illustration is alternately absurd (a muscle-bound, fiercely grinning Juliet swinging a sword while in a dress!) or sweet (Juliet and a beau living in martial bliss far away from the idiots in Verona), breaking up the text. I did flounder at first with the page set-up however; this isn't traditionally numbered. As some snippets are barely a line or more then a page, you have to be careful when moving from choice to choice to make sure you are at the BEGINNING of that choice (sometimes on the previous page).
Overall this was a fun, inventive way to spend my time. Like the OMG Shakespeare books I think they may also be a good way to get reluctant readers into the classics. Look, even though I love Twelfth Night and Midsummer's Night Dream and Macbeth - they are NOT easy to get through. Especially if you go for the really old text and not the slightly updated so at least they don't have weird punctuation and apostrophes everywhere text. For reluctant readers, or readers who struggle with reading due to attention span or not reading English fluently (for whatever reason), books like this can help bridge that gap.
North does a fine job of presenting the actual text (especially if you follow the canon path), while making it accessible to everyone and giving context. Paired with a unit on Shakespeare in Modern Times or some such thing, I think this could be a fine teaching tool.
Or do like me, break out the vodka (or rum) and have a ridiculously fun time with your friends. Either way, this is a winner of a book.
September 16, 2017
Monthly buddyread with Melissa :)
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Melissa's review here
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2.5 stars (extra rating for the artwork/pictures)
Not bad overall, parts of it were fun. I tried a few different paths to see what would happen and took turns as Juliet and one as Romeo.
There were some funny moments but most of the writing felt awkward to me... maybe aiming at a younger audience? (Speaking only for the paths I took)
Story got old quick though *shrugs* Not sure how to judge my progress but I (and Melissa) got through a fair bit methinks.
Wouldn't recommend the Nurse storyline... it was neat that it proceeded like an old-style video game but nothing special overall.
I'll have to try another "choose your adventure" type novel again one day... this was my first since I was a kid.
---
Melissa's review here
--
2.5 stars (extra rating for the artwork/pictures)
Not bad overall, parts of it were fun. I tried a few different paths to see what would happen and took turns as Juliet and one as Romeo.
There were some funny moments but most of the writing felt awkward to me... maybe aiming at a younger audience? (Speaking only for the paths I took)
Story got old quick though *shrugs* Not sure how to judge my progress but I (and Melissa) got through a fair bit methinks.
Wouldn't recommend the Nurse storyline... it was neat that it proceeded like an old-style video game but nothing special overall.
I'll have to try another "choose your adventure" type novel again one day... this was my first since I was a kid.
Read
February 10, 2017I’ve been wanting to read the Hamlet version of this, so when I saw this, I grabbed it out of curiosity and because I love the artists involved in these books. It was way more wacky and hilarious than I expected. I found myself flipping back and forth to read every path.
— Jessica Yang
from The Best Books We Read In December 2016: http://bookriot.com/2017/01/03/riot-r...
— Jessica Yang
from The Best Books We Read In December 2016: http://bookriot.com/2017/01/03/riot-r...
February 5, 2018
I am not big on Romeo and Juliet but this was hilarious (mostly because it just made fun of them the entire time).
January 22, 2019
I must confess I expected a bit more. The reading playthrough is too short for a book with 400 pages. It makes for lots and lots of different possible universes with dozens of endings, from the most vulgar to the most craziest. However when each branch is starting to really pick your attention it ends, leaving a sentiment of frustration.
Also, Ryan North writing style is not my cup of tea, tries to much to be funny, making jokes with every little detail, even if some of the jokes are very well constructed from an intertextual point of view.
Also, Ryan North writing style is not my cup of tea, tries to much to be funny, making jokes with every little detail, even if some of the jokes are very well constructed from an intertextual point of view.
October 23, 2017
This was such a fun book! I was eyeballing it for a few weeks before I picked it up as I wasn’t sure whether I’d be into the whole “choose as you go” thing. Turns out, I am! “Romeo And/Or Juliet” was a hilarious, smart, and entertaining book I will definitely be re-reading. I read the book in about 30 different ways, some ending after only ten pages, some making it much farther through the book. This novel was completely unpredictable, and because of that I was never bored.
One of my favourite things about “Romeo And/Or Juliet was the humour. While reading, I literally laughed out loud – more than once I might add – which is pretty rare for me. Sure, I might smile and blow out of my nose really hard if I read something funny, but this book had me full on ugly laughing. Not only were the characters hilarious, but the interpretation of the original play, the crazy endings, and the overall stories. The plot twists were plentiful, and incredibly silly- the good kind of silly.
At the start of the book you decide whether to play as Romeo or Juliet (I chose Juliet). I should mention that it did take me a couple of early deaths to get the hang of the “pick as you go” thing, but after a bit I figured it out.
My one piece of advice is to USE A BOOKMARK. I’m one of those readers that usually doesn’t use a bookmark. I generally try to remember the page, but I usually end up rereading a few pages before finding my spot- it’s never bothered me. The problem is, things rarely go in chronological order while reading “Romeo And/Or Juliet”, so you often find yourself jumping from the 40th part to the 18th then up to the 67th… this wouldn’t be a problem if you use a bookmark. If you’re like me, though, you’ll waste a lot of time restarting much farther behind then you should be. I figured that a bookmark was necessary pretty quick, but just save yourself the trouble and use a bookmark when you read this one.
If you’re looking for a light, endlessly entertaining read, I very much recommend “Romeo And/Or Juliet”. The familiarity with the original play puts the novel inside your comfort zone, but still manages to challenge it.
-R
One of my favourite things about “Romeo And/Or Juliet was the humour. While reading, I literally laughed out loud – more than once I might add – which is pretty rare for me. Sure, I might smile and blow out of my nose really hard if I read something funny, but this book had me full on ugly laughing. Not only were the characters hilarious, but the interpretation of the original play, the crazy endings, and the overall stories. The plot twists were plentiful, and incredibly silly- the good kind of silly.
At the start of the book you decide whether to play as Romeo or Juliet (I chose Juliet). I should mention that it did take me a couple of early deaths to get the hang of the “pick as you go” thing, but after a bit I figured it out.
My one piece of advice is to USE A BOOKMARK. I’m one of those readers that usually doesn’t use a bookmark. I generally try to remember the page, but I usually end up rereading a few pages before finding my spot- it’s never bothered me. The problem is, things rarely go in chronological order while reading “Romeo And/Or Juliet”, so you often find yourself jumping from the 40th part to the 18th then up to the 67th… this wouldn’t be a problem if you use a bookmark. If you’re like me, though, you’ll waste a lot of time restarting much farther behind then you should be. I figured that a bookmark was necessary pretty quick, but just save yourself the trouble and use a bookmark when you read this one.
If you’re looking for a light, endlessly entertaining read, I very much recommend “Romeo And/Or Juliet”. The familiarity with the original play puts the novel inside your comfort zone, but still manages to challenge it.
-R
June 26, 2021
I did not enjoy this. This is my second chooseable path adventure from the author. I really enjoyed the first one but this one was not for me. All the different situations either seemed too similar or ended to hastily. There was a lack of variety and in the name of humor all we got is a lot of sexual innuendos and teenagers trying too hard to be funny. I cringed a lot throughout.Unlike the previous one where we had situations close to the original plus those completely outrageous and different this one was mostly meh. What I like about such novels is that there is no limit to imagination. Sadly this was not upto mark. The concept as usual is very creative and unique but it lacked in execution.
October 1, 2017
Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKKp7...
Star-rating systems are inherently ridiculous (said the guy who ranks books on YouTube), but here in particular those three stars are really a 5 and a 1 at the same time. This book is as much fun as sitting on your hand till it loses all sensibility, yet it's somehow hilarious and exciting too. Is it good interactive fiction? NO! Is it worth a spin? Absolutely.
Star-rating systems are inherently ridiculous (said the guy who ranks books on YouTube), but here in particular those three stars are really a 5 and a 1 at the same time. This book is as much fun as sitting on your hand till it loses all sensibility, yet it's somehow hilarious and exciting too. Is it good interactive fiction? NO! Is it worth a spin? Absolutely.
May 11, 2018
Hilarious choose-your-own-adventure book! Just as I used to do with the ones I'd take from the library as a child, I read every single possible option. Nowadays it's easy using screenshots to do this. When I was a kid, I had to use a confusing mass of color-coded post-it notes. Isn't technology wonderful?
This book is particularly hilarious if you remember Romeo and Juliet very well. I wouldn't think that I'd remember it all that well because I haven't read it since high school. But that time I read in in high school, I was playing the nurse in an elaborate school production of it, and it turns out that I remember a great deal of it (despite close to two decades of that dream where you have to perform the play again for some reason and you don't know the lines).
An example of a hilarious joke in this book is:
His smooching was pretty good! Certainly competent, with no small amount of passion, though also strictly according to the beats and patterns laid out in Kiss Me, Kate: Kate “Kissable” Minola Reveals Her Ten Steps to Perfect Kissing Every Time. “You kiss by the book,” you say.
It's just way funnier if you remembered that she says "You kiss by the book" after they kiss the first time.
That's by no means the funniest part. I loled so very much reading this. It makes fun of the ridiculousness of the original story hardcore. Let me give you a clue: any time you decide to choose to, you know, CHILL THE FUCK OUT AND WAIT A MINUTE, or TELL THE TRUTH your fate improves. Decide not to get hitched right away? Good idea. Decide to stop and pick some flowers on the way to Juliet's grave? The day is saved! Decide to just tell the parents that you two are in love? Yay! Bliss for all!
Whether you like the original R&J or not, this book is an immense pleasure to read. So consider reading it! It costs like $5 on Kindle. If you know me IRL and want to borrow this book from me, Kindle lets you lend your books out to people, so don't hesitate to ask!
This book is particularly hilarious if you remember Romeo and Juliet very well. I wouldn't think that I'd remember it all that well because I haven't read it since high school. But that time I read in in high school, I was playing the nurse in an elaborate school production of it, and it turns out that I remember a great deal of it (despite close to two decades of that dream where you have to perform the play again for some reason and you don't know the lines).
An example of a hilarious joke in this book is:
His smooching was pretty good! Certainly competent, with no small amount of passion, though also strictly according to the beats and patterns laid out in Kiss Me, Kate: Kate “Kissable” Minola Reveals Her Ten Steps to Perfect Kissing Every Time. “You kiss by the book,” you say.
It's just way funnier if you remembered that she says "You kiss by the book" after they kiss the first time.
That's by no means the funniest part. I loled so very much reading this. It makes fun of the ridiculousness of the original story hardcore. Let me give you a clue: any time you decide to choose to, you know, CHILL THE FUCK OUT AND WAIT A MINUTE, or TELL THE TRUTH your fate improves. Decide not to get hitched right away? Good idea. Decide to stop and pick some flowers on the way to Juliet's grave? The day is saved! Decide to just tell the parents that you two are in love? Yay! Bliss for all!
Whether you like the original R&J or not, this book is an immense pleasure to read. So consider reading it! It costs like $5 on Kindle. If you know me IRL and want to borrow this book from me, Kindle lets you lend your books out to people, so don't hesitate to ask!
May 7, 2017
If you like Choose Your Own Adventure books, you will probably enjoy this gamified version of Romeo and/or Juliet. North provides a great many paths to take with a variety of endings from the original tragic one to completely-laughable-and-almost-unrelated-to-the-actual-story ones (I lost it laughing at Romeo's stint as a maid! I still don't know why that's so funny!). In that sense, it's either a lot of fun or a great deal of stress, depending on what you were looking for in your adventure.
I personally was looking for a middle ground, where the author takes a lot of time to craft a variety of endings, but doesn't lean overly heavily on the humor and gimmick of the choose-your-path nature of the book. In some places, I got that, but not across the board. This might be a result of my stress at these types of books anyway (I HAVE to know as many of the endings as possible!), but also the fact that I was reading it on a deadline for book club and podcast recording. This is probably a book left best in small doses that one reads for a brain palate cleanser from time-to-time.
There is some really fun art in a few places though, so even if you don't read it, you might want to flip through and see a few pictures. Some of my favorite parts include Romeo the maid, Juliet the pirate, a film noir detective version of Rosaline, drop-ins from other Shakespeare plays, and mini versions of Twelfth Night, A Midsummer's Night Dream, and MacBeth.
I personally was looking for a middle ground, where the author takes a lot of time to craft a variety of endings, but doesn't lean overly heavily on the humor and gimmick of the choose-your-path nature of the book. In some places, I got that, but not across the board. This might be a result of my stress at these types of books anyway (I HAVE to know as many of the endings as possible!), but also the fact that I was reading it on a deadline for book club and podcast recording. This is probably a book left best in small doses that one reads for a brain palate cleanser from time-to-time.
There is some really fun art in a few places though, so even if you don't read it, you might want to flip through and see a few pictures. Some of my favorite parts include Romeo the maid, Juliet the pirate, a film noir detective version of Rosaline, drop-ins from other Shakespeare plays, and mini versions of Twelfth Night, A Midsummer's Night Dream, and MacBeth.
May 15, 2016
Move over, No Fear Shakespeare. Ryan North's mashup of "Choose Your Own Adventure" novels and the Bard's most famous play is approximately 271 times more compelling, humorous, and enlightening than any Coles Notes rip-off. The genius of this book is in laying out very clearly which choices to pick to follow Shakespeare's play - if you want, you can essentially just read an updated version of the tale, replete with sassy modern commentary, or you can play out how some seemingly small changes to the story could have much different outcomes (if only Romeo had stopped to pick up some flowers for Juliet's tomb...) I was on board pretty much from the jump, where a choice to have brunch results in much better lives for all concerned, but it just keeps building (and branching) in delightfully unpredictable ways. North clearly knows the play, and his winking asides inform as much as they gently mock. This was a perfectly serviceable 4 star review, and then I "unlocked" a "secret character" path that is so genius, I have to elevate this to a 4.5. Well played, Mr. North.
August 13, 2016
A+ for concept, but I didn't much like the execution. Tries way too hard to be funny, which makes it all fall flat for me, and the writing isn't particularly good.
October 2, 2016
Actual rating 3.5
April 30, 2022
4 stars
This is gonna be a short review because I just put my effort into writing Romeo and Juliet the actual book review. This book was ok, I definitley think if you didn't like Romeo and Juliet then you will love this because, just hearing how the book ended when you actually read it and then reading this version is so much better. The only reason I didn't like this book was because I just keep getting dead ends, like I know that is not the books fault BUT STILL.
Overall, I think all people need to read this book.
Hope you all have a happy and healthy day!
BYE!!!
This is gonna be a short review because I just put my effort into writing Romeo and Juliet the actual book review. This book was ok, I definitley think if you didn't like Romeo and Juliet then you will love this because, just hearing how the book ended when you actually read it and then reading this version is so much better. The only reason I didn't like this book was because I just keep getting dead ends, like I know that is not the books fault BUT STILL.
Overall, I think all people need to read this book.
Hope you all have a happy and healthy day!
BYE!!!
March 9, 2023
Ya os comenté por stories que me llamó mucho la atención este libro por su forma de estar escrito: tú decides la historia. Lees un fragmento y de ahí te salen opciones "si decites tal ve a 237", "si prefieres x ve a 12"... Es algo que me recuerda mucho a los modernistas, sobre todo a Faulkner y su The Sound and The Fury dónde escribió la historia y la rompió después para poner los fragmentos en su libro como quisiera (y se dice que si lees sólo lo que está en cursiva tienes la versión completa de Caddy).
Pero bueno, que me voy del tema, sigamos: aunque me gustó esto de "decide tú la historia" sí que me esperaba que la narración fuera más fiel al estilo de Shakespeare. Sin embargo, se nota la prosa contemporánea y los brotes de humor en sus páginas. Los protagonistas tampoco son los típicos (de hecho Julieta hace pesas).
Es un libro donde la finalidad en sí es el entretenimiento y el jugar: es algo diferente a lo habituado de "contar una historia" o "enseñar". Y me parece una maravilla (y un trabajazo) buscar nuevas finalidades al objeto típico que es el libro.
Hay muchos finales y se pueden hacer muchas versiones. Puedes volver al libro una y otra vez y en cada ocasión verte inmerso en una historia completamente diferente.
Como punto negativo, diré que me pasó que me fui al (ejemplo) 251 por equivocación (me había mandado a otro número) pero como no sabía de donde venía me perdí en la historia 😢 y tuve que empezar de cero, por así decirlo. Sé que será un sinsentido y muy complicado (porque varios números te pueden mandar al 251) pero saber la ruta de la que procedía me hubiera servido de mucho.
¡Y eso es todo lo que os puedo contar! Si queréis un libro, sin duda, diferente y sorprendente, os recomiendo mucho este (y, por supuesto, no esperéis leer la historia de Romeo y Julieta como os la han contado hasta el momento).
Pero bueno, que me voy del tema, sigamos: aunque me gustó esto de "decide tú la historia" sí que me esperaba que la narración fuera más fiel al estilo de Shakespeare. Sin embargo, se nota la prosa contemporánea y los brotes de humor en sus páginas. Los protagonistas tampoco son los típicos (de hecho Julieta hace pesas).
Es un libro donde la finalidad en sí es el entretenimiento y el jugar: es algo diferente a lo habituado de "contar una historia" o "enseñar". Y me parece una maravilla (y un trabajazo) buscar nuevas finalidades al objeto típico que es el libro.
Hay muchos finales y se pueden hacer muchas versiones. Puedes volver al libro una y otra vez y en cada ocasión verte inmerso en una historia completamente diferente.
Como punto negativo, diré que me pasó que me fui al (ejemplo) 251 por equivocación (me había mandado a otro número) pero como no sabía de donde venía me perdí en la historia 😢 y tuve que empezar de cero, por así decirlo. Sé que será un sinsentido y muy complicado (porque varios números te pueden mandar al 251) pero saber la ruta de la que procedía me hubiera servido de mucho.
¡Y eso es todo lo que os puedo contar! Si queréis un libro, sin duda, diferente y sorprendente, os recomiendo mucho este (y, por supuesto, no esperéis leer la historia de Romeo y Julieta como os la han contado hasta el momento).
June 10, 2016
I think I'm done with this one for now. I just can't seem to get past the beginning of the story, and I never really liked Romeo and Juliet anyway, and I just don't find this book as funny or surprising as To Be or Not To Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure, and now I'm just bored. I think it's a case of, okay, I get it, but the joke's been done before and let's move on. You know?
But other people on here seem to be loving it, so what do I know?
But other people on here seem to be loving it, so what do I know?
December 1, 2019
A really inventive take on Romeo and Juliet, it works well in Kindle where you can follow the links easily. I found some of the teenage angst a bit irritating and the idea of Juliet as a body-builder just didn't work for me.
November 19, 2017
Another send-up in the spirit of To Be or Not To Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure (though Juliet is much less rad than Ophelia). Captures a few subtle logical deficiencies in the original. Like:
(One of a many, of course.)
It's also educational in the extreme:
And full of freedom:
Subtle HINT: pick the FIRST option. Then you get:
Finally, it finally settles the question of why God would let bad things happen to good peepz:
What follows below is a reaaaally spoiling spoiler. You have been warned.
“What?” Romeo says.
“I just met you, dude!” you say. “Yesterday. At, like, midnight. I’ve known you for less than twenty-four hours.”
“But I love you! This is romance! I love you and I love romance!” Romeo says, a little frantically.
“I like you too, Romeo, but I can’t marry you today. So, um . . . sorry?” you say.
“You were going to marry me a second ago,” he says.
“Changed my mind,” you say, and kiss him on the cheek. “If you love me this won’t be a huge deal, okay? Come on man, it’s not like I’m running out on a wedding we’ve been planning for months. I’m running out on a wedding you got my nurse to invite me to a few hours ago.”
“IT IS A HUGE DEAL!” Romeo shouts. He jumps down into the audience area and kicks over a chair. “I was gonna get married!!”
“Romeo, buddy, calm down,” you say.
“YOU calm down!” he says. “You—you can’t say you’ll marry someone and then not marry them!”
“So we should get married out of—what, inertia? OBLIGATION?” you say.
“YES!” Romeo shouts.
“Look, you’re obviously not yourself, and I didn’t think you’d get this upset,” you say. “I’m sorry, but I’m going home. We can talk about this later.”
You leave Romeo there. When you get home you explain what happened to Angelica, who honestly kinda seems more upset about it than you are.
The next morning, the word “HARLOT” is mysteriously painted on your castle’s exterior walls. The day after that, “JULIET IS A” is added above it. The day after that “LET ME BE CLEAR, WHEN I SAID” is added before it, and “I ACTUALLY MEANT THAT SHE NEEDS TO BE MORE OF ONE. SHE’S NOT ENOUGH OF A HARLOT RIGHT NOW AND I WOULD PREFER IF SHE WERE HARLOT-ER. SIGNED, ROMEO.”
The day after that your dad gets the walls cleaned. He also pays a bunch of people to go over to Romeo’s house and beat him up.
“OKAY GEEZ SORRY” is painted on your walls the next day. And you never hear from Romeo again.
Later on, in college, you’re at a party and the conversation gets to old relationships. For the first time you decide to break out the story of Juliet and Her Romeo: AKA, That One Time I Was Engaged for Almost a Whole Day.
Your friends start giggling as you tell the story, and before long you’re giggling too. Everything that happened felt so important when it was going on, but now that you’ve got some distance, it really does sound like a joke. Romeo left your party to hide in the bushes outside your house? He proposed to you through your NURSE? He tried to get his friends to bring over a SEX LADDER?
Your friends are laughing, and you’re laughing too, and before long you’re laughing so hard you’re struggling to breathe. You’re laughing the way people who were drowning but somehow made it back to shore laugh as they lie faceup on the beach, the blinding sun in their eyes, their muscles exhausted and screaming.
That is to say, thankfully.
THE END
(One of a many, of course.)
It's also educational in the extreme:
We talk about sex and you learn a heck of a lot! You can’t believe not only what you didn’t know, but what you didn’t know you didn’t know. You’re really glad we had this talk. You know what? I am too!
“Wait,” you say as we’re wrapping up, “I have a question. What does it mean when a—”
You pause, embarrassed, but I figure out what you’re asking and then answer it to everyone’s satisfaction.
“And how do you—” you say. “I mean, if someone wanted to, how could they—” and again I figure out your question and answer it really, really well.
You’ve learned so much!!
And full of freedom:
You see Romeo’s hand grab the top of your balcony, and in a panic, you dive under your covers to hide. You peek out a few seconds later and see Romeo there, entering your room.
“Hey there, beautiful,” he says.
“Hey yourself, handsome,” you say. “You’re a little late, so I went to bed. It’s pretty cold under here.” You pull back the covers a little. “I could use some company.”
Juliet, Romeo has been INSTA-SEDUCED. Dang! You pulled it off!
And yes, this is it, gentle reader. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Here is the only reason you picked up this book in the first place, because you knew this scene had to be in here somewhere, if only you just somehow made the right choices to find it.
Welcome . . . to the CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN SEX SCENE.
>>> Choose-your-own sex scene!! I CAN’T WAIT.<<<Haha what? No that’s . . . that’s fine. Skip over to when the sex is done, please.
Subtle HINT: pick the FIRST option. Then you get:
Finally, it finally settles the question of why God would let bad things happen to good peepz:
You turn the combined mental effort of every being on the planet towards this task. Never in history have so many minds worked towards a single purpose, all striving with their entire being towards it. And thousands of years later, you do it. Objects in motion don’t tend to stay in motion unless you will them to. Apples don’t fall from trees unless you decide that, yes, gravity is also going to affect them in this picosecond too. An entire cosmos of choices flows through you: nothing happens without your explicit consent. You are the totality of being. You are better than a mere god. You have become The Chooser.
Naturally, this insane level of micromanagement takes up all your time, so you decide to let life go back to making its own decisions. You’re much too busy making sure each proton in everyone’s bodies doesn’t decide to decay into pions and positrons at the same time for absolutely no reason. The universe comes of age, and the life inside it begins to wonder what sort of god would rule over a universe where bad things happen to good people, and you’re all, “Wow oh geez sorry your THIRD DOG died at age SIXTEEN which is ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE IN FRIGGIN’ DOG YEARS, I guess I was too busy making sure EVERY SUN DIDN’T EXPLODE AT THE SAME TIME, THANKS FOR NOTICING HOW THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN BY THE WAY??”
What follows below is a reaaaally spoiling spoiler. You have been warned.
May 6, 2023
Reseña completa en el blog Letras libros y más próximamente
Una reinvención del clásico de Romeo y Julieta, con una historia interactiva donde tú puedes elegir ser Romeo o Julieta e ir eligiendo su camino, con más de 100 finales e ilustraciones.
Es un libro muy ameno y rápido de leer, y la verdad es que me apetecía algo así, más ligero, divertido y sin grandes pretensiones, algo perfecto para desconectar, además hacia años que no leía un libro de “elige tu propia aventura” así que ha sido el momento perfecto.
La edición es tremenda y llena de detalles, hay ilustraciones a color, mil opciones donde elegir, cuentos interactivos dentro de la propia historia… en fin una puñetera locura muy bien pensada y elaborada.
La pluma es desternillante y moderna, con referencias de todo tipo (hasta sexuales 😂), haciendo partícipe al lector de manera más envolvente y creando un ambiente distendido.
Una divertida y alocada historia interactiva.
Una reinvención del clásico de Romeo y Julieta, con una historia interactiva donde tú puedes elegir ser Romeo o Julieta e ir eligiendo su camino, con más de 100 finales e ilustraciones.
Es un libro muy ameno y rápido de leer, y la verdad es que me apetecía algo así, más ligero, divertido y sin grandes pretensiones, algo perfecto para desconectar, además hacia años que no leía un libro de “elige tu propia aventura” así que ha sido el momento perfecto.
La edición es tremenda y llena de detalles, hay ilustraciones a color, mil opciones donde elegir, cuentos interactivos dentro de la propia historia… en fin una puñetera locura muy bien pensada y elaborada.
La pluma es desternillante y moderna, con referencias de todo tipo (hasta sexuales 😂), haciendo partícipe al lector de manera más envolvente y creando un ambiente distendido.
Una divertida y alocada historia interactiva.
April 13, 2019
So I “finished” meaning i chose a path and got to The End multiple times.
I wanted longer paths but otherwise it was fun and weird and something you can definitely pick up again and again and chose new paths and get new results.
I wanted longer paths but otherwise it was fun and weird and something you can definitely pick up again and again and chose new paths and get new results.
December 21, 2019
It's kind of hard to say you have read this book because there are so many outcomes, but I'm doing it. Super funny and entertaining!
February 26, 2023
4,5⭐
Me encanta. He estado enganchada intentando leer todas las bifurcaciones y sacar todos los finales posibles y lo he conseguido. Me ha sorprendido la de escenas diferentes que hay y lo creativo que es, el humor es genial✨
Me encanta. He estado enganchada intentando leer todas las bifurcaciones y sacar todos los finales posibles y lo he conseguido. Me ha sorprendido la de escenas diferentes que hay y lo creativo que es, el humor es genial✨
December 23, 2019
This was a delight. Such an outrageous book. I read and reread it and ended up with 6 or 7 endings, and still there was so much I didn't read. I'll be reading this every time I need a good laugh.
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