Item - Beware the Snake's Venom

While this book is considerably better than the previous one in the series, it is still has some problems, the most notable being that you have to get through seventeen pages (almost a quarter of the book if you don't count the illustrated pages) before making the first choice.

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By any standards, this book is really poorly done.

The best thing is that the writing is passable. They define a character for your cousin, and they hammer that home.

But there's an incredible lack of consistency, something that is seriously annoying. Characters have good or bad intentions. Even the location of the general store changes depending on your choice!

There's very little "horror" in this book. The majority of the book is hanging around the desert, looking at a rock, and eventually deciding to go look for treasure at a cave. The extent of horror in the book is limited to levels lower than most of the CYOA books. The Horror of High Ridge is way, way stronger than this one.

The thing that bothers me the most, and it seems trivial, is the title. There's mention of a snake in a legend early in the book. One path results in encountering a snake. A better title was needed. Something having to do with Native American ghosts or something.

Unless you're a completist, it's not worth your time.

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Ken McMurtry follows up the first Choose Your Own Nightmare, Edward Packard's Night of the Werewolf, with Beware the Snake's Venom, which intermingles archaeological intrigue and Native American mysticism. You join your uncle Evan at a dig site in desert Arizona, though you're not happy to see your cousin Maggie. She's your age, and never misses a chance to flaunt her superior knowledge. A Native American man named Coyote tells you the legend of Teewah and Nila, star-crossed lovers who died by rattlesnake bite years ago in this region. The legend warns that anyone who disturbs their burial cave and its treasures will face supernatural retribution. That night, there's an intruder in your tent. You don't see the person, but whoever it was left a stone with etchings that may reveal where the burial cave is. Should you discuss it with Maggie, or wait and think it through while driving to town for supplies with Uncle Evan's assistant, Lisa?

Stay to speak with Maggie, and your conversation draw Coyote's attention. His personality nettles you, but is it right to hide the stone from him? You and Maggie could sneak off, using the stone as a treasure map. You stumble upon a cave that may be the burial site, but a rattlesnake guards the entrance. Should you risk a deadly bite to get inside? Maybe you chose to tell Coyote about the etched stone; he wants to confiscate it, but Uncle Evan allows you to hold onto the stone...for now. You and Maggie quietly follow where the etchings lead, but if you find the cave should you enter alone? Coyote may be stalking you; you'll have to run away into the cave. If you reach the burial chamber, can you keep Coyote from killing you to steal Teewah and Nila's riches? Do everything right and you might survive to uncover the treasure.

A Jeep ride into town with Lisa so you can decide what to do with the etched stone means you end up showing the stone to Lisa first. On the drive to town you may get lost; the Jeep conks out and you have to walk the scorching desert. Lisa collapses; should you trudge on alone to bring help? Stay beside Lisa, and a treasure hunter named Casey McKee picks you up in his Jeep. He's mentally unstable, but can he save your life? If you and Lisa never became lost, in town you overhear her on the phone talking about your stone. Is she plotting to betray you? Lisa invites you to a séance at camp that night. You can decline to attend, but a different sort of ghost may attack your tent. Go to the séance, which is mediated by Coyote, and you could be tricked into a paralysis trance, or encounter Native American spirits with their own agenda. Personal safety is rare on this dig.

Beware the Snake's Venom is as long as other original Choose Your Own Nightmares, but feels sparse. There are relatively few decision junctures, in exchange for longer sections between, but this doesn't enrich the story much. Lack of internal consistency doesn't help, with major details changing from one branch to another with no explanation. Beware the Snake's Venom is inferior to Night of the Werewolf; for a book about predator snakes and a hunt for treasure, it's downright dull.

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