I missed the Fighting Fantasy novels by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston when I was young. Perhaps I was just slightly too old, or maybe it was because of my science fiction proclivity (I wanted lasers and spaceships, not spells and dragons). But the series is, book by book, making its way to Apple’s iDevices. Fighting Fantasy: City of Thieves is the fifth to appear, and the first I’ve played. I mean “read.” I mean…enjoyed, I guess, because it was quite fun to work through.

If you don’t know what a Choose Your Own Adventure book is, you’re pretty much dead to me. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston graphed more of a role-playing game onto the genre, adding stats, combat and dice, while retaining the “make a choice and turn to this page” mechanic. And now the books by Jackson & Livingstone have come to the iPhone: literally; the same text, the same choices and art.

Yes, I used to read Choose Your Own Adventure books. Of course I did. I was in grade school when the series launched, so I was there at the right time. And although I used to own quite a few of them, I have no idea where they ended up. The attic at my parents’ house? A garage sale? Donated to a fund raiser? I’d like to have them back, because I think they’d be fun to read to my own kids now. Assuming that’ll never happen, I guess my iPhone will suffice.

Magnetism Studios has released the Return to Atlantis Choose Your Own Adventure book for the iPhone, and they’ve done so faithfully. The original cover remains. The illustrations remain. Even the “This book is different from other books” warning remains. Fans of the series will be thrilled, but what about everyone else? If you’ve never chosen your adventure, is this book worthy of your App Store dollars? Well, in the spirt of things, I’ll let you choose.