El tesoro secreto del Tíbet

Choose Your Own Adventure #36

by Richard Brightfield

A pesar de que acabas de concluir un curso por correspondencia para ser investigador privado (sic), un anciano contacta contigo para que le ayudes a ganar una apuesta.

Genres: Gamebooks, Choose Your Own Adventure, Fiction, Thriller, Childrens, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Jeffrey Caston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one really pleasantly surprised me. I got this one, along with a few others recently, secondhand. Published in 1984.

It will have a good home in my household, protected from further aging, respected and adored.

(Okay, that might be going a bit overboard, but you get the idea.)

Anyway, this one had a pretty cool story. It starts out with you graduating with a PI degree through a correspondence school (as one would!). A mysterious first client comes. Tells you about a bet he foolishly made when he tried to convince a fellow geriatric millionaire his entire fortune that while Nazi hunting, he went into a secret valley in Tibet and learned of monks that could levitate. He hires you to go to Tibet and find proof so he can win the bet against the jerk he made the bet with.

Sounds simple, right? Hmmm... maybe not so fast. This one intrigued me because at first I read it just trying to enjoy a new book. But then I found it had nuances in the text that gave you clues that I don't remember being so prevalent or subtle in others. Cool, I think, more intriguing and challenging than I expected.

I had a lot of fun reading this for maybe 30 minutes or so. I got through I believe 4 of the 22 endings so I am looking forward to delving into it again soon.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Richard Brightfield's fifth entry in classic Choose Your Own Adventure, The Secret Treasure of Tibet is his first that can be called anything better than below average. You have only recently been certified as a private investigator, when a wealthy man named Bertram Buckingham hires you. Decades ago Buckingham discovered a hidden area in the Himalayas called Siling-La, and the monks who lived there could levitate themselves off the ground. An acquaintance of Buckingham's, Hubert Crossley, has recently wagered a substantial amount of money that Buckingham can't prove the levitation story is true. Buckingham wants you to find Siling-La and return with evidence, but where should you begin?

Consult an expert named Everett Snide, and you sense his apprehension as soon as you mention Siling-La. He telephones you later and requests a secret meeting, but is it a trap? Perhaps you should head for the Himalayas before an "accident" befalls you. On the flight there you meet a Tibetan monk named Lobsang, but is it wise to inquire about Siling-La? Lobsang claims that Genghis Khan's treasure is at Siling-La, wealth beyond anyone's craziest fantasy. You could remain with Lobsang and have him teach you to levitate, or pursue a lead on how to get to Siling-La. If you took another route before ever leaving the U.S., you are abducted, and awaken tied up in an unfamiliar place. Wriggling free of your bonds, you may find a statue to crawl inside as a hiding spot, but it is loaded onto a truck and delivered to the mansion of a wealthy criminal, your presence undetected. Will patience reward you with an escape opportunity?

Sneaking out of the mansion, you meet Jimmy Crossley, whose father's big-money bet is why Buckingham hired you. Is Jimmy actually on your side as he says? If Crossley catches you on the premises, he'll suggest you accompany his son Jimmy on a vacation to India, an offer you'd best not refuse. You can slip away from Crossley's men at the airport, or play it safe and fly to India. A servant of Crossley's named Narak Singh interrogates you, though he claims to be an undercover lawman. You could end up with Otto von Kamp, a German well-acquainted with Siling-La whose life is in jeopardy from those who would silence him. You may wind up captured and marched toward Siling-La; a woman named Kando has the means to free you, but once you're in the treacherous mountains, death is ever-present. An alternative route sends you, Jimmy, and von Kamp traveling to Siling-La, where Genghis Khan's treasure and the secret of levitation are both within your grasp. If you made other decisions very early in the book, you meet Sylvia Morrison, who has studied levitation and the Himalayas. Gunmen are after her, and won't feel badly about putting a bullet in either of you. Buckingham's case is more dangerous than he let on.

The Secret Treasure of Tibet is Richard Brightfield's best to this point in original Choose Your Own Adventure, but I only rate it one and a half stars, though rounded to two. The action is convoluted; I had difficulty keeping things straight. Some of the cloak-and-dagger intrigue is fun, but the stakes of Buckingham's bet are too low to make the reader feel invested. The Secret Treasure of Tibet isn't a book you’ll think or talk about when you aren't in the immediate process of reading it.

[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.

[Weathervane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a couple good moments, but quite a few senseless choice outcomes, which annoys me.

Average.

[Edith Campo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entramos en la época noventera de "Elige tu propia aventura", en la que los libros son más largos y los finales... digamos que menos amables. Partimos de que te pones en la piel de un adolescente que se acaba de sacar por correspondencia el título de investigador privado, al que un millonario contrata para descubrir algo importante... (claaaro, no había una opción mejor) A partir de ahí... la historia no mejora y además (spoiler) sueles terminar muerto violentamente.

[Ангѣлъ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Книгите от тази поредица не си спомням как бях издирил, но със сигурност беше няколко години след като са били издадени. Всъщност знам как – с постоянно обикаляне по сергиите и дзверене по кориците. Тази поредица беше зле, но книгите са писани все пак декада преди да бъдат издадени у нас и явно за доста по-малки читатели, а когато аз ги открих, вече бях с високи очаквания предвид родните силни заглавия.

[Enrique · Rating 3 out of 5]

No está mal para pasar un buen rato, pero las opciones que uno escoge tienen consecuencias aleatorias, por lo que no hay que pensar a la hora de elegir. Eso le quita gracia.

[Ahmet A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çocukluğumda okumama rağmen hala aklımda olan kitap serisi. Sonunu sizin belirleyeme fikri şahane bir detay.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are always a fun read.

[Little Lulu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Zzz.Leoonn · Rating 5 out of 5]

No hay nada peor que llegar al "fin" de estos libros

[Katharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

During a visit to the school library in middle school, 5th I think, I answered the librarian's question correctly. As a prize I got to pick a book to keep from a box I now recognize as discarded library books. I chose this book, even though the cover was sort of falling off and I had never read a choose your own adventure book. I originally kept it for so long because I could never get the "right" ending, where you don't die or get captured by bad guys, back in 1995 when I first took it home. I re-read it in 2013 and finally got to the good ending. I still have it.

[Chris J]

Just read the obituary of the author of this series, R.A. Montgomery. This book has stayed in my conscious because the novelty of the series is that each book has multiple endings that the reader gets to choose from. But, also because it was one of the two or three books I actually read as a kid. And when I say "read" I mean I read some of it.
RIP, Mr. Montgomery.

[Erica]

muito bom!!!!!!!!!!!