I’m an unabashed fan of classic “choose your own adventure” style gamebooks. Sure, most of my fondness for the genre has its roots in nostalgia, but I still collect them (there are treasures to be found at used bookstores), and I’m continually amazed at just how many different series there were.

From the OG Choose Your Own Adventure books to Time Machine, Twistaplot, Find Your Fate, Endless Quest, Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, and so many more, the 80s were the absolute heyday for immersive gamebooks.

But they’re still around, and there are a number of series putting out new books that deserve more attention. In this series, we’ll highlight a few of the books and series that require you to read closely, make decisions, and hopefully avoid a gruesome end.

Back in 2018, venerable publisher of highly designed books DK dipped its toes in the gamebook waters with LEGO Star Wars. Because if you’re going to test out a new type of book, you might as well do it with Star Wars and be guaranteed some sales.

That book – LEGO Star Wars: Choose Your Path – set you loose in the Galaxy Far, Far Away and presented you with choices that would take you planet hopping to the Outer Rim and across the paths of many familiar characters.

It must’ve done at least moderately well, since DK returned to the formula with LEGO Ninjago and an infinitely better title: Choose Your Ninja Mission.

The world of Ninjago might not be as immediately familiar as Star Wars, but it’s still surprisingly rich and rewarding. If you have kids, odds are you’ve seen at least one episode of the animated series (an astonishing 13 seasons have aired)… or own a few of the more than 250 LEGO sets that have been produced (the line was first introduced in 2011).

Choose Your Ninja Mission presents the reader with two main storylines. You can choose Ninja Trial, in which Nya invites you to test one of her new inventions. Or you can choose Time for Training, in which Master Wu trains you to defeat some of his most powerful past enemies.

Along the way, you’re presented with an abundance of choices to make (there are 2 on every page), 40 possible endings, backstory about the world of Ninjago and its characters, and interesting facts about the real-life LEGO sets.

And since this is a DK book, it’s designed incredibly well and overflowing with beautiful photos of LEGO sets, vehicles, and minifigures from almost 10 years of Ninjago toys. Even if you aren’t tempted to look at every page just to see where different options take you in the story, you’ll want to flip through just to look at the pictures and information on each page.

And since this is a DK LEGO book, it also comes with a minifigure. In this case, you get a Jay to add to your collection.

LEGO Ninjago: Choose Your Ninja Mission (and LEGO Star Wars: Choose Your Path) is available now. Here’s hoping we see more LEGO gamebooks from DK!