The book that started it all is back with the re-release of Choose Your Own Adventure #1, The Cave of Time. Written by CYOA creator Edward Packard, the book has you exploring the titular cave, which has the power to send you to various periods throughout history. You could end up in prehistoric times hunting mammoths with cavemen, on a train with Abraham Lincoln, in medieval times facing knights, and more. Many future CYOA books would zoom in and focus on some of these times and ideas as their entire premise, but The Cave of Time is the perfect grab bag of what CYOA is all about. It was the ideal launching point for the franchise, as it allowed readers to experience several different mini-adventures and provided a taste of what future installments might be like.
This new version is exactly how you remember it, with all 40 endings and the original illustrations by Paul Granger, all of which are here and look just as great as they did in 1979 when the book was first published. It’s strange to hold a pristine copy of this book, as most of my memories of CYOA are devouring well-worn copies from the local library.
You can purchase The Cave of Time now on the official CYOA site for $8.99 or from retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Bookshop.org. There is also the “Retro Box” collection, coming in September, which will feature The Cave of Time, along with republished copies of Journey Under the Sea, Space and Beyond, and By Balloon to the Sahara.
