Para ser un libro sobre tarot, esta muy bien hecho. No solo aprendes, sino que te atrapa.
Es un "elige tu propia aventura" que no se deja nada olvidado.
Ahora, los personajes. Amelia y sus ataques de pánico me resultaron medio sosos, no porque el personaje lo sea, sino que no hubo un crecimiento por parte de ella. Chase, en cambio, si lo tuvo, desde ser dependiente de Logan a elegir lo que quería ser y redescubrirse, formar su propio camino, un capo. Ahora, Cleo, tampoco tuvo tanto desarrollo, pero si tuvo un cambio muy abrupto.
El plot twist era muy fácil de adivinar, solo eso voy a decir.

A great premise, but it didn't really work for me (digital version)

I have to confess, I did not finish this book, but I thought it worth writing a review to explain why.

I was reading a digital copy, and so struggled with the format, as I couldn't 'turn to page...' I think with effective bookmarks in place, or with a version of the story told in it's entirety, with the option to deviate and flick to alternate versions placed after the first full version, that might make it easier, but after this, I'd probably avoid digital 'choose-your-own-adventures' as much as I used to like them.

I thought the 'choose-your-own-adventure' idea based on tarot was a really great one, but found the choices a bit mundane, I think I was expecting that the choices might be more tarot-based, as there's an element of chance, but the 'if you said this' or 'if you said that' kind of choices weren't very interesting, and because it was easier to read both versions of the outcome in the digital format that flick to the choice you made, it became clear that whatever you choose makes no real difference, there might be a slight conversation change, but the story remains the same, and often the bulk of the alternate choices are word-for-word the same. Having not finished it, I don't know if this remains true, or if there starts to be more deviation, but it began to feel a bit pointless after reading a few chapters.

Also, the description said that it could be read straight through as a single adventure, again, this may be a formatting thing, but with the digital copy I read, you can't read through one version without a lot of skipping paragraphs, or reading all of the options, it would be possible to arrange it so that a full single story thread is at the beginning, and the alternate choices at the end.

The characters were really good, however, and the plot in general was interesting, but I felt that I lacked the depth of tarot knowledge that the writing seemed to assume; there was just a little too much unexplained tarot language for me to really get to grips with, so it was that, as well as the above, that led me to abandon this one for now. It has had some really good reviews though, so who knows, I might try again one day should I stumble across a physical copy.

This seems like a fun book, but in the reviewer ebook I read, none of the links worked for me to make selections, so I had a hard time figuring out exactly what was happening when in the stories.

Major Detours is a fun, quirky interactive novel about four friends on their last road trip together before heading off to college. Full of mystical people and magical occult shops, the friends soon realize the tarot deck they have is far more valuable than they ever thought. What was supposed to be a fun road trip turns into a scavenger hunt for the missing cards, with obstacles at every turn, and countless people trying to steal their most prized possession.

Major Detours had a very strong start; I really liked all the characters and the direction things seemed to be going in. I did find it started to fall flat around the 25% mark though, and I did not have much more interest after that. The plot, while it was entertaining, ended up being relatively predictable, overdramatic, and ultimately could not keep my attention the way I had hoped it would.

This was my first interactive fiction novel, and while I enjoyed that aspect and would definitely like to read more of it, I often found myself frustrated but the options available. There were many times where neither option were logical, and I wouldn’t have picked either of them. But for the most part, the choices were fine, even though they were predictable.

Overall, this was not necessarily a bad read, it was just definitely not for me. I am grateful I got to try out an interactive novel though, I would for sure read more of them!

The concept of this book intrigued me, and I couldn’t wait to start reading. As a kid I loved these kinds of books where you decide and the whole story changes. And I love the telltale games, which are based on the same premise. So as an adult I was excited to know I could read a book and make decisions on the plot.
In the first quarter your decisions don’t really matter because the story doesn’t alter at all. Just a page of random text and nothing really changes. That kinda threw me off the wagon for a bit, but your decisions in the rest will matter more.

But until it came to that I was stuck with a story I didn’t really enjoy, with characters I couldn’t connect with and a writing style that wasn’t for me and I’m honest with you guys, I didn’t really want to continue and only did it for the decisions. I wasn’t invested in the story at all and after finishing I was not too sure how I felt about that book.
My biggest problem was the writing style, and I don’t even know what bothered me about that but reading this book felt bumpy and rough. I stumbled a few times and had to reread a sentence or two. It wasn’t as smooth as I know and enjoy it in other books I read.

The characters, well, I felt no connection to them whatsoever. They were bland and boring at times and I wasn’t that interested in getting to know them more. Same goes for the story, which I mostly didn’t care about a lot.
Maybe it was me, because I still enjoyed some of the book and I gave it a 3 star rating which isn’t bad at all. The concept idea was great and I definitely would recommend it just for the experience.

I thought this was a really fun read. Definitely different from other books I've read, format wise. I was nervous going into it because of the pick-your-adventure format, since it was new to. me, but I had a ton of fun reading it. I'm not familiar with all things tarot, but I had no trouble understanding it. Definitely a good read, especially for people at a similar point in their lives!

I received a copy of this book as an e-ARC from NetGalley. Any and all thoughts are my own.

It has been years since I have touched a choose your own adventure book. The last one I think I ever read was a Goosebumps one that took place on a cruise ship. But now that I'm older, this book was a great reminder of how much I loved them.

Amelia, Chase, and their friends are on one last road trip before they all leave on different paths to college. The one thing tying them together is this old tarot deck passed down to them by their grandmother. However, when one random trip to a tarot store turns into a journey to reassemble this unfinished deck by a lost creator, friendships and relationships are tested. How will you put Amelia and Chase to the test?

First, this book sold me the moment tarot was involved. It was done pretty well, and you really could feel the attachment, and sometimes skepticism, these characters had towards the deck and tarot in general. I also practice tarot, so this book also gave me a new appreciation for the art and the lives it can connect and build. This story also had its own lore and world-building behind the creator of the deck and what he inspired, which was scary, fun, and inspirational.

This book is also perfect if you love puzzles. There are some really well done puzzles and mind games throughout, and it goes to prove how much research was put into this story and the heavy lore that is often associated with tarot. But the author wrote explanations in pretty easily, much like when a person recalls exactly what the meaning of a card is, that it made me the reader feel more educated coming out of this story, and I hope to put that towards my own readings and journey with tarot.

For the most part, I also liked the characters. Amelia and Chase are best described as the major and minor arcana, like two parts of a whole, and you could really tell that through the decisions they make outside of what you choose for them. I will absolutely die for Cleo. Cleo goes through a giant journey of self-discovery with pronouns that I could heavily relate to, since I have had my own gender identity crisis. I thought it was done pretty well when it came to Cleo discussing it with other people and having an honest, open conversation about where exactly does one fit on a binary and is it okay to step out of that? There's even a whole bathroom discussion at the beginning of the book because of this, which I felt was important.

Now Logan and Chase. I feel I kind of have to discuss this because of how conflicted I was with it. So if you don't want to be spoiled, skip this section. Logan and Chase's main conflict is that Logan accidentally reveals indirectly to Chase that he wants to explore the idea of an open relationship, but Chase isn't really having it because the communication was god awful here. I reached out to a friend that is polyamorous and got their thoughts on it, and honestly I think it blurred the line between just bad miscommunication and demonizing being in a polyamorous relationship, but I think it leans more towards the miscommunication. It's worked out in the end (at least the ending I picked) but I want to make this aware to anyone who might find it problematic.

One of the things that upset me with the book was that the e-arc was not in a PDF format (aka I just read it on the NetGalley app). First, there were no page numbers, so you just had to hope and pray you found the choice you wanted. Second, it was very confusing, especially at the ending when it's like 6 different choices. I struggled so much to find the proper ending for what I was going for, and spent like 10 minutes figuring it out before giving it up. So it kind of ruined the impact for me.

But my FAVORITE PART was that there's a section at the end where you can take your major choices and sort yourself into a group of people aligned with a specific suit of cards in tarot. And then you can tally up all of your minor choices with Alaina and Chase, each one aligned with specific traits, and you can determine what kind of the major and minor arcana you made them out to be and UGH IT'S SO FUN! It really showed how much attention to detail and care was put into this story.

Major Detours might be one of my new favorite reads this year, with great rep, a fun story, and an interactive element that has been missing from literature for quite some time. I highly recommend this for anyone looking to get into choose your own adventure stories, or if you just want a little get away from heavy stories.

A fun little interactive novel featuring a cast of queer characters, tarot cards, mystery, and a road trip! Major Detours muses on the final weeks before we leave our teenage years behind and enter the world, as well as the legacy our families leave us.

I don't know if it was the interactive element but some plot reveals seemingly came out of no where? Like Cleo's confession to Amelia or Anwar's deception. I think it was a little short for all the conclusions the characters come to in the end,

I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was a hard copy rather than the Netgalley arc because it was configured so poorly and I was so confused at which page I was on sometimes.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Major Detours: A Choice Novel-
So A Choice Novel is a novel in which you get to decide the flow of the story and there could be multiple endings depending on the choices you make. The fun part is you can reread these books and choose a different path.

Zachary did an amazing job writing this book, I loved it. Although it's hard to read in ebook format, but the Physical copy experience is gonna be very fun. The story is like an adventure and there are tarots also which makes the adventure even more interesting. I wouldn't want to give spoilers but I suggest you pick it up without anything to worry for.

This book was a fun YA take on the "choose-your-own-adventure" titles, with a fun and witchy spin (I read the Tarot myself). The characters were likable and the relationships heartwarming and realistic.

This is an intriguing book concept: a choose your own adventure mixed with tarot cards. I think this is better read physically versus digitally with all page flipping.

Major Detours is a choose your own adventure styled book that revolves around four friends and their journey to unlock the mysteries behind a tarot deck that was left in their care by Amelia’s grandmother.

Although this advanced readers ebook was difficult to navigate due to a lack in page numbering and clickable links, I was able to successfully follow my chosen path through to completion. This book was enjoyable, yet I feel readers could be lost even though the author tries to explain what the cards mean; it assumes a lot of the readers advanced knowledge.

Some of the scenes could have been fleshed out more as I felt at times I had missed something important.

Overall, a fun and easy young adult read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the free e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
3.5 stars
It was a very long time ago when I’ve read a “Choices” book, I forget how much fun it can be! And also, I loved this tarot themed story, as a tarot reader i truly enjoyed it!

The stroy follows four best friends who decide to go on an adventure before leaving for college. Their adventure is fueled by the desire to find four missing Tarot cards from the deck belonging to one of the main characters.

I was initially super intrigued by this choices novel, a genre which I loved when I was younger. The main problem turned out to be purely practical - the advanced copy was digital and didn't have proper hyperlinks which made going to the correct page once you've made a choice a major pain. As a result it took me a solid month to get through the novel and brought more frustration than joy.

The plot itself was okay though I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, possible ships and the outcome of their quest. I just wanted the book to end honestly.

Perhaps having a physical copy of this book might provide a better reading experience which I sadly didn't get to have.

Major Detours is such a cool concept for a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story. As a tarot reader and deck collector myself, I really enjoyed reading about the history of tarot and the characters' love for it. The quest they were sent on is interesting enough to be a movie and I hope this gets picked up for one some day!

The characters were alright, I didn't really get a feel for any of them. We get some good information about Amelia and Chase especially, but not enough to make me feel connected to them outside of their tarot obsession and connection to Amelia's grandmother. However, this is more of a plot-driven story (literally, considering it's a CYOA) than a character-driven one, so it makes sense that they weren't written too thoroughly. The amount of twists and turns this story has definitely made up for the lack of character depth.

Like others have mentioned, the ebook format makes reading this CYOA incredibly difficult. I was able to get through it but it took much longer than it would have otherwise. I'm definitely buying this book when it comes out so I can get the full experience.

“These gestures are little, I know. But I also know how the littlest things can accumulate…. Single steps that make up an entire journey - major detours, minor miracles and all.”

Four friends embark on an epic summer road trip before they all head to separate college adventures flung across the country in the fall. Told in alternating chapters by Chase and Amelia who have been best friends forever and are guiding much of the decision making of the trip with an old tarot deck left by Amelia’s grandmother. Along the way, they stumble upon a secret society hunting this unique deck, a decades-long secret and unexpected opportunities to decide who they want to become.

A fan of all those Choose Your Own Adventure books, this was a must read for me and it didn’t disappoint. (Swipe to see an old school cover if you aren’t as old as I.) While tarot isn’t my thing, it anchors this story and provides plenty of opportunities for readers to decide between fate and determining one’s own destiny. There's a lot going on with the four and their changing relationships that you have a hand in deciding. This is a book that will read better in print than other formats because your choices have you flipping to different pages. There are some cool interactive features at the end where you can track your choices and go back for different versions; sort yourself into one of the four groups of secret societies based on your choices; and a horoscope reading. For readers who enjoy different formats, this is a winner. For reluctant readers, it adds levels of engagement as you decide the outcomes. A good choice for high school libraries looking for different reading opportunities for students. For all the mention of tarot this isn’t fantasy. Realistic fiction with LGBTQIA representation.

With all due respect, this book has a very specific reader in mind and that reader is not me.

I picked up this book because I loved the idea of a choose-your-own adventure story reboot. That style of story is always so fun, but doesn’t really get much play these days. Even though I knew going in that it would have tarot themes in it, I was grossly unprepared for the sheer knowledge of tarot that would be needed. I could get by, but I constantly felt like J was just picking something without really understanding why.

The story is okay, a little choppy and a little obvious, but still okay, and the reading guide and extra activities at the end were a nice touch. However, I can’t see this book gaining a wide audience as it is.

This is a sort of choose your own adventure book for young adults. It would also be appropriate for upper middle school grades.

Im going to start of with saying this was incredibly hard to read because of the format, I couldn't flip to the pages I wanted. However, I tried to read as much as I could, and from what i read this book was a good read. I am probably going to buy the book when it comes out so I can read the book fully and understand everything.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Major Detours is a choose your own adventure book. It follows Amelia and Chase, lifelong best friends as they take a road trip with some friends before heading off to college. Amelia's grandmother had a set of tarot cards that she passed down to her, which leads them on a treasure hunt to find four cards hidden; one from each suit. Along the way and depending on what the reader chooses, Amelia and Chase learn not only about themselves, but even deeper truths about those they surround themselves with.

I always love choose your own adventure books, and my interest in tarot has grown in the past few years, so this book was a great ride for me. I really enjoyed flipping from Amelia's POV over to Chase's and back again. It wasn't jarring and actually helped with the flow of the story. Some of the plot points felt a little forced at first, but once we came to the conclusion of the novel it all tied together beautifully.

I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to give a choose your own adventure novel a go. Even if you aren't big into tarot there is plenty of story to appreciate along the way. Recommended for readers 12+.