To be or Not to be by Ryan North
To be or not to be, that is the question. Every day, we are faced with choices. Depending on our decisions, there are always consequences, either good or bad. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, after his father is killed and his mother married to his uncle, Claudius, Hamlet is confused about what to do next. In To be or Not to be Ryan North lets us become the characters of the story and make decisions for ourselves, letting us change the course of the story.
To be or Not to be takes readers into the land of Denmark, where we are the protagonist, choosing to be Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet, or Hamlet Sr., Hamlet’s father. As we - the readers - progress through the book, the plot will change as a result of the decisions we make. With us controlling how our tale will go, our story can be quick and boring or can end up being unique and interesting. For example, when I played as Hamlet Sr., the story ended in two moves. After my brother, Claudius, poured poison down my ear and die, the two options that I get afterward are to: “Become a ghost → pg 636 OR Do not become a ghost → pg 633” (203). I chose not to become a ghost, and as a result, my story ended as I can’t do anything if I’m dead and not a ghost. It wasn’t very enjoyable as there was no time to enjoy it with my tale ending so soon. Although this is probably the shortest story in the book, this exemplifies how in a choose your own adventure book, the book can end in an instant. On the other hand, my adventure with Ophelia turned out with me killing everyone in Denmark: “Let’s, as you say, kill everyone in Hamlet… Congratulations, Ophelia! You’ve killed everyone in this story” (218, 627). Unlike my adventure with Hamlet Sr., the choices that I made allowed for the plot to progress into deciding to kill everyone as Hamlet had been murdered. With each new event, I became more fascinated and more drawn in as the plot blossomed, and it turned out to be an awesome ending with me killing everyone. Although this book does not have a direct path to the ending, there are countless common, mediocre, and quirky endings.
By effectively using bits of comedy throughout the book, Ryan North helped make the book more enticing and gave me some good laughs: “Didn't you notice me use the past tense? He’s already dead! You and Hamlet were sleeping together (literally: you were literally sleeping together) (that still sounds weird: look, I mean to say you were both asleep and literally not having sex)” (556). By adding these portions of humor within the book, it not only compliments a chooseable-path adventure but makes the book fun to continue reading.
I recommend this book for people who like comedy and want to have a good time while reading.The strong descriptions of what is happening along with pictures give us readers an easy image of what is occurring at the time. As this was my first choose your own adventure book, it gave a nice twist to things and made the scenarios very interesting every time, making me not want to put down the book.
To be or Not to be takes readers into the land of Denmark, where we are the protagonist, choosing to be Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet, or Hamlet Sr., Hamlet’s father. As we - the readers - progress through the book, the plot will change as a result of the decisions we make. With us controlling how our tale will go, our story can be quick and boring or can end up being unique and interesting. For example, when I played as Hamlet Sr., the story ended in two moves. After my brother, Claudius, poured poison down my ear and die, the two options that I get afterward are to: “Become a ghost → pg 636 OR Do not become a ghost → pg 633” (203). I chose not to become a ghost, and as a result, my story ended as I can’t do anything if I’m dead and not a ghost. It wasn’t very enjoyable as there was no time to enjoy it with my tale ending so soon. Although this is probably the shortest story in the book, this exemplifies how in a choose your own adventure book, the book can end in an instant. On the other hand, my adventure with Ophelia turned out with me killing everyone in Denmark: “Let’s, as you say, kill everyone in Hamlet… Congratulations, Ophelia! You’ve killed everyone in this story” (218, 627). Unlike my adventure with Hamlet Sr., the choices that I made allowed for the plot to progress into deciding to kill everyone as Hamlet had been murdered. With each new event, I became more fascinated and more drawn in as the plot blossomed, and it turned out to be an awesome ending with me killing everyone. Although this book does not have a direct path to the ending, there are countless common, mediocre, and quirky endings.
By effectively using bits of comedy throughout the book, Ryan North helped make the book more enticing and gave me some good laughs: “Didn't you notice me use the past tense? He’s already dead! You and Hamlet were sleeping together (literally: you were literally sleeping together) (that still sounds weird: look, I mean to say you were both asleep and literally not having sex)” (556). By adding these portions of humor within the book, it not only compliments a chooseable-path adventure but makes the book fun to continue reading.
I recommend this book for people who like comedy and want to have a good time while reading.The strong descriptions of what is happening along with pictures give us readers an easy image of what is occurring at the time. As this was my first choose your own adventure book, it gave a nice twist to things and made the scenarios very interesting every time, making me not want to put down the book.
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