“We are officials. We are right.”

One thing you can give the CYOA series: there’s something for everybody. Fantasy, horror, science fiction, mystery, jungle adventure…you name it, there’s at least one book about it. This time around R A Montgomery turns in a nice four-wheeled adventure in the form of The Race Forever, where you get to participate in not one, but two different races across the African continent.

Your plane touches down in Africa, and you have butterflies in your stomach. Your dad has taught you everything there is to know about operating cars, and you’ve done him proud by being chosen as a finalist in the first African Road Rallies: the speed race, and the off-road race. Each race is time-based, so you won’t be racing head-to-head against the competition…although that won’t stop your rivals from resorting to dirty tricks a la Dick Dastardly.

This isn’t the Indie 500, either, nor a boring yarn about a 3 lap race: you’ll be driving across treacherous African biomes, hoping to God that your car doesn’t break down and leave you stranded in lion or guerrilla country. In fact, everything is out to get you from start to finish, such as bad weather, revolutionaries, bandits, wild animals, and, as I mentioned above, even the other racers. A quick pit stop on the side of the road could result in your car erupting in flames!

You get to choose between two cars in each race, and each car has its own navigator who accompanies you on your mission. Most of them are forgettable, although I quickly grew fond of the cute Russian mechanic Zokil. She made me feel just a bit like I was in a James Bond movie.

As is typical with the narrative of a CYOA book, things move along at a brisk pace, so brisk that at times it feels like you’re reading a treatment for a book rather than the book itself. But the fact that there’s always something happening keeps it interesting, forgiving the fact that many of the race conclusions feel extremely rushed. Just when you think you’re in trouble, the race is wrapped up in a sentence or two, and oh cool, you won and stuff. The End, I guess. It’s like Montgomery was under harsh page count restrictions or something.

I have to wonder about the title for this one. The Race Forever must be referring to the two-race gimmick on offer, since you could in theory keep going back and forth even if you already finished both races. It’s an interesting mechanic, and I like that you can start with either one for the sake of variety. Both races have their hazards, too, since the speed race takes place mainly on the roads, while the off-road race has you dragging your poor car through the bush.

Most of the choices you make are logical, too. Not always, but for the most part, it pays off to make sensible choices during either race, like waiting for the moon to come out so you can actually avoid crashing into things late at night when your headlights give out.

The artwork in CYOA is usually a mixed bag, but here Ralph Reese delivers amazing illustrations worthy of a newspaper serial or wildlife textbook. Every page that features his work is a treat to behold. Get an eyeful of this menacing Tsavo maneater stalking my British station wagon.

Get an eyeful of our hero’s girly run, like he’s late for cheer practice.

Choose Your Own Adventure isn’t my favorite gamebook series because its bare-bones narrative is clearly meant for young readers. They don’t have a lot of lasting power and bank more on the format than the story itself. You could do worse than this one, though. It never gets boring, and you never know what kind of perils you’re going to run into. And most of the time, if you screw up and lose the race, you still have another race to try!

Time for bed. Uncle Mac out.