Bantam, $2.50, ISBN 0-553-25473-1
Sci-fi, 1986

Trapped in the Sea Kingdom sees you flying off in a hot air balloon, having finally succeeded in getting out of Tenopia Island. But before you can reach the galactic patrol station in Kabran, you get caught in a dire storm and, oops, down you go into the sea. The kingdom of Saleria is not exactly the most hospitable place, and you certainly won’t find singing lobsters and happy mermaids to escort you to Kabran. Instead, you will be wandering around in perpetual boredom until you finally find the one true way out of the fishy kingdom.

Despite promises of your character being ripped apart by “flesh-eating killer fish” called barracas or being abused by “fierce underwater pirates”, you don’t really get caught up in gratuitous violence here, as this is, after all, a Choose Your Own Adventure type of gamebook aimed at kids. You will therefore wander around, mostly back to the same paragraphs. In other words, this is just like Tenopia Island, only with water instead of trees.

Still, the scenery is tad less monotonous, so I suppose this one is a bit better than the previous gamebook. Faint praise, yes, but the series has to start somewhere.