Young Adult Book Review: To Catch a Thief by Matt Forbeck

By Jennifer Hancock | Central Library

Although many older readers remember the beginnings of Dungeons & Dragons, it is making a comeback among our youth and teens. The Endless Quest series is aimed toward our juvenile audience, and is set in a “choose your own adventure” format that fits well with those who are used to actually playing in DnD campaigns. And each book in the series is from the perspective of a certain “type” of character. For example, To Catch a Thief (Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest) by Matt Forbeck is from the perspective of a Rogue . . . a Halfling to be precise. This series is not, though, based on a connected timeline, so there does not appear to be a particular order in which they must be read.

In this book, our Halfling “hero,” a skilled lock-pick and thief, is careless enough to be caught by the authorities and is forced into service to retrieve a stolen item from the leader of the Thieves’ Guild.  From this point, the story is up to the reader, as several options are given at each turning point. There are several paths that lead to escape, to freedom, to exile, and to death, and it is up to you to decide which path suits you; whether you want to be the diamond in the rough, choosing a noble course, or be the typical thief, looking out for yourself with no care for others.

In honesty, I have to tell you that I personally do not care for “Choose your own adventure” books because I’m too impatient to flip back and forth between pages and it tends to break up the flow.  However, some people really like the interactive aspects, and this series is definitely great for them.  But I can tell you for absolute certainty, if you are an audiobook reader like me, these books will not work for you. They read straight from cover to cover, which makes these books very disjointed and highly confusing at times. Instead, stick to paper or possibly e-books to give this series a try.