text: Item - Master of Kung Fu - Demian's Gamebook Web Page
  Choose Your Own Adventure (1979-1998) #88
  Majster v kung fu (Slovakian)
  Mistr v kung fu (Czech)
  Your friend Billy has been studying kung fu. Although you haven't been studying it, you still get to travel to China with him on a class trip. When you get to China, though, Billy disappears!
  This was a fairly entertaining read. While it is certainly not the best that the Choose Your Own Adventure series has to offer, it is definitely far from the worst. Being a fan of fighting disciplines and Asian culture in general, this book instantly appealed to me. It does a decent job of exploring the areas of China, although some threads of the story could have been improved. Overall, I would say this book falls in the realm of mediocrity.
  This is the first book in the "Master of" series. When you get to China, Ninja assassins kidnap your friend Billy, and you are supposed to find him. At least in this book there is a substantial amount of martial arts involved but there are only a few storylines where you actually learn Kung Fu.
  There is also a storyline that where you fall and hit your head and somehow end up in ancient China, but it may turn out to be a dream. I thought this storyline was weird and redundant. Other than that, the book is a good introduction to the martial arts, and the plot of trying to infiltrate the Ninja assassins is interesting. Overall it is fairly good start to the "Master of" sub-series.
  This was one of the most popular books in this series -- due to its martial arts theme, it remained in print for a much longer time than the other books released around this period.
  This is the first in a "sub-series" of Choose Your Own Adventures whose titles start with "Master Of." All were written by Richard Brightfield, and all involve martial arts.
  Despite its popularity, this is a below-average book in the series. The writing is average in quality. The story is divided into two unrelated plotlines, only one of which involves you searching for Billy. There are quite a few errors in it, and three of the endings (pages 77, 89 and 93) just end abruptly and confusingly. Another thing I found strange was that the book seems a bit mistitled -- you start the adventure knowing nothing about kung fu at all.
  On the positive side, there are a few funny jokes in here, and the scene on page 18 with the disgusting food reminds me of the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie, with the same foods (chilled monkey brains, for example) being used in both. This may not be a coincidence, as Richard Brightfield also wrote the Choose Your Own Adventure - Young Indiana Jones Chronicles series.
  On page 88, "your horse is spooked by the scent of a mountain lion," but mountain lions are native to North America, not China. On page 70, the picture of "you" should have a shaved head, not a full head of hair. The picture of the ancient Chinese guard on page 42 really shouldn't be wearing Western clothes. On page 24, a character refers to the protagonist as a "nice young man" -- considering that this series usually has gender-neutral text (but not illustrations), this was something of a surprise.
  Thanks to Mason Green for the plot summary and errata.
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