Book Review: Cinderella; Ninja Warrior

I was browsing the Barnes & Noble website, perusing my options for a gift card I was splitting with a friend from work, when I came across this title. The search bar read, "Twisted Fairy Tales" and to my surprise, halfway down the page appeared:

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior

I purchased it for two reasons. The first; I couldn't think of any other book I wanted to get. My first option was "The Child Thief" by Brom. The second; C'mon. Cinderella: Ninja Warrior? How could it be bad?

I knew before it arrived that it was going to be a teen romance quasi-action packed adventure for twilight fans. (That was the assumption, anyway.) And when I finally got my hands on it, my assumptions were made fact. Everything from the size and shape of the book to the font screamed "I AM A TEEN NOVEL. BEWARE CHEESY LOVE SCENES." But - I took a chance on it. Sure, it was technically a free book because of the gift card... but it is still a book. And regardless of the subject matter or the author or the genre, I do have such a huge soft spot for books.

So I turned it over and read the back of it. And to my delight, I read the following sentence and it widened my eyes and twisted my mouth into a grin. A Big goofy grin.

"In a special twist, you will have the opportunity to make decisions for Cinderella and decide where she goes next - but no matter the choice, the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!"

Oh. My. God. I thought. I just happened across one of the newest CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOKS EVER!

So naturally, I dove right in. I ate that whole book within the span of 6 hours. (Less, really.) The writing was for a younger audience, of course, but they had a lot of fun stuff going on - enough to hold my interest from choice to choice, which impressed me. Sure, it was a lot of laughs, and yes there were cheesy love scenes, but hey... I got to decide HOW she got to the ball! And of course, which part of the MAGIC TOURNAMENT she entered. (Oh yeah. New stuff. Not only is she a NINJA WARRIOR but she had inherited her mother's wizarding skills. W00t!)

All in all - if you enjoyed reading Harry Potter, and you liked the Choose your own Adventure books from your youth, this is a delightful combination of the two, with enough story wrapped up in it that the character you play isn't some random chick, but Cinderella, princess-to-be.

The author, Maureen McGowan has put out one more title in this little set. It is called "Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer."

It is next on my list.

Later. Hopefully sooner then the last time:

Oru