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Choose Your Own Adventure #78
Return to Atlantis
CAN YOU FIND THE LOST KINGDOM OF ATLANTIS AGAIN? OR IS IT A WORLD YOU NO LONGER RECOGNIZE?
On your first solo journey to find the Lost Continent of Atlantis, you failed to bring back proof of your success. Many people think that you imagined the whole thing?or worse. Now you and your colleague Horton James III are returning to document this amazing other world. But back below the surface of the sea dangers abound. A treacherous king lures you to riches; rebel slaves lure you to help lead a revolt; and the evil Nodoors aim to capture you and keep you below...for good. The silver capsule hovers in front of your submersible. You could try to escape by making an emergency dive. Suddenly you remember that the Seeker II is equipped with a blaster. If you choose to attempt escape by making an emergency dive, turn to page 4. If you want to use the blaster to repel or destroy the silver capsule, turn to page 62. YOU choose what happens next!
On your first solo journey to find the Lost Continent of Atlantis, you failed to bring back proof of your success. Many people think that you imagined the whole thing?or worse. Now you and your colleague Horton James III are returning to document this amazing other world. But back below the surface of the sea dangers abound. A treacherous king lures you to riches; rebel slaves lure you to help lead a revolt; and the evil Nodoors aim to capture you and keep you below...for good. The silver capsule hovers in front of your submersible. You could try to escape by making an emergency dive. Suddenly you remember that the Seeker II is equipped with a blaster. If you choose to attempt escape by making an emergency dive, turn to page 4. If you want to use the blaster to repel or destroy the silver capsule, turn to page 62. YOU choose what happens next!
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
7 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Montgomery
151 books119 followersRaymond A. Montgomery (born 1936 in Connecticut) was an author and progenitor of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure interactive children's book series, which ran from 1979 to 2003. Montgomery graduated from Williams College and went to graduate school at Yale University and New York University (NYU). He devoted his life to teaching and education.
In 2004, he co-founded the Chooseco publishing company alongside his wife, fellow author/publisher Shannon Gilligan, with the goal of reviving the CYOA series with new novels and reissued editions of the classics.
He continued to write and publish until his death in 2014.
In 2004, he co-founded the Chooseco publishing company alongside his wife, fellow author/publisher Shannon Gilligan, with the goal of reviving the CYOA series with new novels and reissued editions of the classics.
He continued to write and publish until his death in 2014.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 30, 2022
The first CYOA that I see as a sequel to a prior CYOA book. It was cool. I wish it had you choose more and more often (I found it directed me back and forth a lot over the text without giving me the chance to choose paths). But that's okay. I still enjoyed it. (And still like the classic artwork from the early 80s better, but these are growing on me.
February 13, 2022
RA Montgomery just loves writing anti-human propaganda and Return to Atlantis is unusually heavy-handed in this respect. Friendly aliens tell you that humans are awful and warlike, hostile aliens show up bearing weapons and you're told that those weapons must've been sold to them by humans because humans are bad, peaceful aliens gathering food are attacked by a human submarine for absolutely no reason, whales won't talk to the aliens without taking a hostage because those awful humans hurt whales, etcetera. Not only does RA Montgomery not like humans, he doesn't like our music - at one point you turn into a musical signal that shuts down a rock concert, solely because Montgomery only likes soothing music. He certainly does like to bombard you with feeling peaceful, soothing, relaxing emotions (any time his fellow dirty humans aren't mucking things up with their war, hatred, and pollution, of course), which just reinforces the notion that Montgomery was a burned-out hippie who used a lot of drugs. This is also one of those annoying CYOA books that give "you eventually accomplish your goal" endings without elaboration.
I want to read an objectivist CYOA that explores human greatness, where every ending is a success because of our unlimited potential, if only because I know that such a book would make Montgomery roll over in his grave.
...
PS: The city of Atlantis sucks and is boring.
I want to read an objectivist CYOA that explores human greatness, where every ending is a success because of our unlimited potential, if only because I know that such a book would make Montgomery roll over in his grave.
...
PS: The city of Atlantis sucks and is boring.
February 26, 2025
Stylistically there's a big difference between Return to Atlantis and its predecessor Journey Under the Sea, which came out seventy-six books earlier in the Choose Your Own Adventure series. With twenty-four fewer endings, the sequel had opportunity to create a deeper, smoother story, but did that happen? Three years have passed since you took the Seeker submersible into the ocean and discovered Atlantis. Media and academics dismiss your account as a hallucination, but you're determined to go back and prove your claims. Your assistant at the National Undersea Lab, Horton James III, goes along as you take the Seeker II to where you found Atlantis, but will you be as lucky this time? Back then the Atlanteans, natives of the planet Agyr, were in an existential war against aliens called the Nodoors. You hope the Atlanteans haven't been wiped out.
A monster fish you encounter in the deep sets off alarm bells in your head. If you avoid it and plunge toward where you remember Atlantis being, a force pulls you down 10,000 feet and you are greeted by a voice that gives the option to either visit Atlantis or depart for the planet Agyr. En route to Agyr a passenger named Martullus invites you to go with him after you land on the planet. If you decline, your official guide, Grenella, takes you on a tour of Agyr. You can participate in the Universe Games or in a music experiment to calm aggression among humans on Earth. Go with Martullus, and you risk becoming slave labor in the valley of Zuldoona. If you stayed in Atlantis instead of shuttling to Agyr, you're shown around by a boy named Marpex. He offers to let you observe a peace conference with the Nodoors, but beware of terrorism. Maybe you'd rather see the whale and dolphin research facilities, where Atlanteans are in peace negotiations with Earth's humpback whales. The whales request a hostage as a good-faith gesture; are you up for it? Spending a few days under the whales' hospitality alters your perspective, but if Horton volunteers as hostage rather than you, there's still a major secret for you to learn about our planet's future. Atlantis is rarely dull.
If you followed the monster fish after the Seeker II first entered the ocean, a voice requests permission to board your vessel. Your guests are two Atlanteans, Moldoona and Yangton. The "monster fish" is a sea craft to harvest food. Horton wants to study their farming methods, but an invading vessel brings danger. You can avoid all that by heading to Atlantis without delay, but the colony is under siege by the Nodoors. You might be killed or captured, but you're only a visitor; surely the Nodoors will let you go if you refute any stake in the war. Perhaps you never agreed to Moldoona and Yangton boarding the Seeker II; firing a warning shot at the “monster fish” causes problems, but diving deep to escape has its own crisis. The Seeker II can't withstand the pressure for long at this depth, but the Atlanteans remember your visit last time, and won't allow your return to end in anything but a happy reunion.
Return to Atlantis is less herky-jerky than Journey Under the Sea, but inferior overall. The first book is a purer adventure; Return to Atlantis falls victim to weird tangents and anti-human preachiness, both common in R.A. Montgomery's work. The Atlanteans view themselves superior to humans but their own societal problems reveal this to be an empty conceit. Peace would be easier if they admitted their flaws run as deep as mankind's. The original cover by Catherine Huerta is pretty, but George Tsui's interior illustrations aren’t as memorable as Paul Granger's for Journey Under the Sea. Better plot focus could have made Return to Atlantis a fine gamebook, but I rate it only one and a half stars. It does little with an intriguing premise.
A monster fish you encounter in the deep sets off alarm bells in your head. If you avoid it and plunge toward where you remember Atlantis being, a force pulls you down 10,000 feet and you are greeted by a voice that gives the option to either visit Atlantis or depart for the planet Agyr. En route to Agyr a passenger named Martullus invites you to go with him after you land on the planet. If you decline, your official guide, Grenella, takes you on a tour of Agyr. You can participate in the Universe Games or in a music experiment to calm aggression among humans on Earth. Go with Martullus, and you risk becoming slave labor in the valley of Zuldoona. If you stayed in Atlantis instead of shuttling to Agyr, you're shown around by a boy named Marpex. He offers to let you observe a peace conference with the Nodoors, but beware of terrorism. Maybe you'd rather see the whale and dolphin research facilities, where Atlanteans are in peace negotiations with Earth's humpback whales. The whales request a hostage as a good-faith gesture; are you up for it? Spending a few days under the whales' hospitality alters your perspective, but if Horton volunteers as hostage rather than you, there's still a major secret for you to learn about our planet's future. Atlantis is rarely dull.
If you followed the monster fish after the Seeker II first entered the ocean, a voice requests permission to board your vessel. Your guests are two Atlanteans, Moldoona and Yangton. The "monster fish" is a sea craft to harvest food. Horton wants to study their farming methods, but an invading vessel brings danger. You can avoid all that by heading to Atlantis without delay, but the colony is under siege by the Nodoors. You might be killed or captured, but you're only a visitor; surely the Nodoors will let you go if you refute any stake in the war. Perhaps you never agreed to Moldoona and Yangton boarding the Seeker II; firing a warning shot at the “monster fish” causes problems, but diving deep to escape has its own crisis. The Seeker II can't withstand the pressure for long at this depth, but the Atlanteans remember your visit last time, and won't allow your return to end in anything but a happy reunion.
Return to Atlantis is less herky-jerky than Journey Under the Sea, but inferior overall. The first book is a purer adventure; Return to Atlantis falls victim to weird tangents and anti-human preachiness, both common in R.A. Montgomery's work. The Atlanteans view themselves superior to humans but their own societal problems reveal this to be an empty conceit. Peace would be easier if they admitted their flaws run as deep as mankind's. The original cover by Catherine Huerta is pretty, but George Tsui's interior illustrations aren’t as memorable as Paul Granger's for Journey Under the Sea. Better plot focus could have made Return to Atlantis a fine gamebook, but I rate it only one and a half stars. It does little with an intriguing premise.
July 31, 2018
In a Return to Atlantis, I also got to return to my childhood. As part of the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge, I *had* to pick up one of these titles from the library. I actually chose three to bring home so that I could let my kiddos Choose Their Own Adventure as well. We went to space, were abducted by ant people, and dove beneath the sea. Sometimes we died, sometimes we saved the world, and mostly we had a great time. The books themselves are not nearly as exciting as I remember them being. I kind of want someone to pick up this series/concept and make it into something new and great. But even so, the walk down memory lane was certainly fun.
February 7, 2019
This book was really hard and a lot of decisions had to be made. Almost all the time it led me into the trap and it was either getting called off of the mission or to be killed. I never got to go to Atlantis but i tried as much as I could’ve the good thing was, was that if you really get lucky you could go to Atlantis I couldn’t but I could’ve cheated and I didn’t but if your lucky enough you might get their
February 25, 2025
Tenía uno de estos libros cuando era chica y lo amaba. Este año en la costa vi que estaban y ni dudé en comprarme uno porque nunca antes habia visto que los vendieran.
Me sigue encantando el concepto de elegir tu propia aventura, pero ni en pedo es tan bueno como yo lo recordaba. Igual fue lindo volver a tener 10 años por un dia
Me sigue encantando el concepto de elegir tu propia aventura, pero ni en pedo es tan bueno como yo lo recordaba. Igual fue lindo volver a tener 10 años por un dia
July 7, 2018
OK number of choices. Wacky story, as usual.
August 8, 2020
I love Atlantis!
February 6, 2021
few choses in this book,
this wasn't very interesting but it got my attention.
i wish it had more adventure.
rating it 2 because of the script line doesn't really match up.
this wasn't very interesting but it got my attention.
i wish it had more adventure.
rating it 2 because of the script line doesn't really match up.
May 16, 2022
I survived in one attempt and made it to Atlantis. If you ever have read, "Choose Your Own Adventure" you know how hard this is.
July 2, 2022
It was fine.
September 15, 2022
Good book but some of the endings are really fast. There is a lot going on with all of the different story lines so it was back and fourth.
February 29, 2012
The story in this one was so so. Like most of R.A. Montgomery's books the techno-babel and heavy handed moral messages kind of drove me nuts as an adult, but my kid was into it.
What dropped this from a three to a two star rating for us was how bad the story/page lay out was. I've read a good mix of older and newer editions and never noticed one this bad but MAYBE it's just because of how old it. But the first choice isn't actually till seven pages in (the longest I've seen). That alone wouldn't have been too bad but instead of there just being seven consecutive pages the story has you jumping all over the physical books pages even though you haven't made a choice. And this was some thing that didn't just happen there, it occurred a few more times.
On top of that I would say a good majority of the pages text only goes half way to two thirds down the page. That mixed with how many multi page stretches there were without choices made the book feel very badly laid out. Simple things like slight font size changes and inclusions of half page pictures could have cleared this all up. Maybe that was beyond them technically in 1988, but I doubt it. I had a feeling the book was either published very quickly or perhaps the word count just wasn't high enough to make the book long enough on its own and they spread it out.
What dropped this from a three to a two star rating for us was how bad the story/page lay out was. I've read a good mix of older and newer editions and never noticed one this bad but MAYBE it's just because of how old it. But the first choice isn't actually till seven pages in (the longest I've seen). That alone wouldn't have been too bad but instead of there just being seven consecutive pages the story has you jumping all over the physical books pages even though you haven't made a choice. And this was some thing that didn't just happen there, it occurred a few more times.
On top of that I would say a good majority of the pages text only goes half way to two thirds down the page. That mixed with how many multi page stretches there were without choices made the book feel very badly laid out. Simple things like slight font size changes and inclusions of half page pictures could have cleared this all up. Maybe that was beyond them technically in 1988, but I doubt it. I had a feeling the book was either published very quickly or perhaps the word count just wasn't high enough to make the book long enough on its own and they spread it out.
May 21, 2018
Ah, Choose Your Own Adventure, that paper bridge between that 5th grade fantasy map (see my Hobbit review) and my life-changing discovery of Dungeons & Dragons in the 7th grade.
Some of them were great, some punishing, some arbitrary, but they revealed to me for the first time that I could make choices and that they had immediate effect the course on my (fictional) reality. For a kid whose home life felt largely hopeless and inescapable, the empowerment of making my own way by the power of my own choices and facing consequences traceable directly to my decisions, wow!
While day-to-day reality seemed to deal out arbitrary, unpredictable punishments regardless of my actions, here was a place where I could experiment and learn and grow in safety and if I was punished there was always a why.
Some of them were great, some punishing, some arbitrary, but they revealed to me for the first time that I could make choices and that they had immediate effect the course on my (fictional) reality. For a kid whose home life felt largely hopeless and inescapable, the empowerment of making my own way by the power of my own choices and facing consequences traceable directly to my decisions, wow!
While day-to-day reality seemed to deal out arbitrary, unpredictable punishments regardless of my actions, here was a place where I could experiment and learn and grow in safety and if I was punished there was always a why.
April 7, 2014
Choose Your Own Adventure: Return To Atlantis by, R.A Montgomery was an amazing book. I love the Choose Your Own Adventure books because the author lets you choose how the book ends. This book is one of the many great Choose Your Own Adventure books. Something that I also like about the Choose Your Own Adventure books is that in most of them the main character is you. In this book the author did a great job of describing what the seen was and what the character looked like and what the stuff around the character looked like for example in this book one of the sentences was, "Something ahead of the submarine was glowing, it looked like a giant yellow glowing light". I can not wait to read all of the books that are in the Choose Your Own Adventure series.
May 5, 2010
Just gave this to MEM last night to read. We read up to the first decision together, so she could understand the concept. She couldn't wait to tell me how her first pass through ended last night and then gave me the play-by-play this morning. She is also thinking about all the people she knows who would like this book. I bought a lot of them through eBay last year...my plan is to give her a new book every few days this summer.
February 21, 2016
In the choose your adventure book: Return to Atlantis, the narrator and his friend go down to atlantis for a second time to see how things have changed, but when they finally reach atlantis, they find out there has been an attack and that they (you) must make the biggest choice: stay, go back home, or go to another planet where it is safe. Once you make this choice, you will keep on making more until you die or until you finish safely, so in this book, you decide your own fate.
April 6, 2009
When I was young, I used to ready every Choose Your Own Adventure or Which Way Book that I could get my hands on. After following the initial course of my decisions, I would go back and read every possible path of decisions. I loved these books.
January 20, 2016
This is another book that I read as part of our library's book nerd challenge. I used to read these as a kid and loved them. It wasn't quite as fun this time around, but it brought back fun memories.
December 11, 2007
If you ever thought about being in Atlantis here is the place, and you have many different ways to experience the adventure!
May 13, 2008
I read what seemed like dozens of these books, though to be honest I can't remember which ones specifically. They were awesome. I hope they still publish them today.
October 22, 2008
wow ... buku jaman dulu kala ... masih adakah diluaran sana?
April 17, 2011
Another choose your own adventure book, and again Soren went through every possible outcome. He did say this one was not as exciting as the snowman one.
April 4, 2012
A thrilling tale of adventure and you get to choose the course of events what more could a 10 year old want!
August 30, 2012
Used to love these as a kid
January 17, 2018
My brother and I read every single one of these we could get our hands on when we were kids.
March 14, 2014
it was pretty good
March 29, 2015
It was good
You should put like more interesting beginings tbfh and yeah you should put more choices for the next ones or sequals ✌✋☝
You should put like more interesting beginings tbfh and yeah you should put more choices for the next ones or sequals ✌✋☝
February 13, 2016
This book was different but very funny. I really liked it.
January 14, 2019
Primer libro que leí, allá por la primaria, lo encontré en mi casa y me trajo muy buenos recuerdos, se merecía una relectura.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews