''To Be or Not to Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure'', also referred to as ''To Be or Not to Be: That Is the Adventure'', is a 2013 novel by

Ryan North Ryan North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer and computer programmer. He is the creator and author of ''Dinosaur Comics'', and has written for the comic series of ''Adventure Time'' and Marvel Comics' ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl''. ...

, retelling the story of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' in a

choose your own adventure ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...

format and mostly contemporary language. The initial run of the book was

crowd funded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

through

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

and published by charitable "uncorporation"

Breadpig Breadpig, stylized as breadpig, is a company that produces a variety of items that appeal to geeks, most notably publishing the book ''xkcd: volume 0''. Details Breadpig was founded by Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of the social news site Redd ...

. It was eventually followed by two sequels, also by North, ''Romeo and/or Juliet'' and ''William Shakespeare Punches a Friggin' Shark and/or Other Stories''.

Development

North posted ''To Be or Not to Be: That Is the Adventure'' to Kickstarter on November 21, 2012, with a fundraising goal of $20,000, which was reached in three and a half hours. North promised stretch rewards for higher fundraising amounts reached, including improving the book to be created and further prizes for backers. One promise originally made in jest was at the $500,000 level: "I will literally explode (literally)". Although made in jest, this promise was fulfilled with the assistance of Site 3 coLaboratory, where a 3D scan was taken of North's head, a replica 3D-printed out of blue plastic, and that replica exploded using a dry ice pellet in a plastic bottle. North said that calling the response "'amazing and incredible' would almost be underselling it." By the close of the 30-day fundraising period, the project had raised $580,905, making it the most funded Kickstarter publishing project (second-most as of May 2013).Hallett, Alison
"Outrageous Fortune."
The ''Slate'' Book Review. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013. The book was mailed to backers in August 2013, three months after the original proposed date. A

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

story titled ''Poor Yorick'', illustrated by

Tyson Hesse Tyson Hesse (born August 30, 1984) is an American graphic novel illustrator and director, known for his work on the '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Career Webcomics Hesse produced the webcomic ''Boxer Hockey'', which he started in 2006. Hes ...

, was made available to backers. ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'' referred to the book's successful Kickstarter campaign as "a demonstration of the power of new media", considering it the type of project that could not have succeeded under a more traditional publishing model.

Structure

''To Be or Not to Be'' offers the reader the option to play as one of three characters:

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...

, or Hamlet Sr., King of Denmark. From there the story branches frequently, with some options following the course of the original play and others providing the choice to give up on the quest to kill

King Claudius King Claudius is a fictional character and the main antagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle and later stepfather to Prince Hamlet. He obtained the throne of ...

, or to follow other pursuits (Ophelia, for example, is a keen scientist who can invent indoor heating, and King Hamlet, as a ghost, can choose to explore the ocean floor or tame the ghosts of dinosaurs). The choices that follow Shakespeare's play are marked with little "

Yorick Yorick is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is the dead court jester whose skull is exhumed by the First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a reminiscence by Prince Hamlet of th ...

skulls". The story can reach any of 110 endings, each illustrated in colour by one of a wide variety of artists, including fellow webcomic artists

Kate Beaton Kathryn Moira Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant'', which ran from 2007 to 2018. Her other major works include the children's books '' The Princess and the Po ...

Christopher Hastings Christopher Hastings (age ) is an American comic writer and artist. He is known for his webcomic ''The Adventures of Dr. McNinja'' as well as writing for ''Unbelievable Gwenpool'' and the ''Adventure Time'' comics. Biography Hastings attended t ...

Jeph Jacques Jeffrey Paul "Jeph" Jacques ( ) (born June 17, 1980) is an American cartoonist who writes and draws the webcomics '' Questionable Content'', '' Alice Grove'', and ''DORD'' (and formerly "Indietits"). Personal life Jacques was born in Rockvil ...

and

Randall Munroe Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic ''xkcd''. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006. In addition to publishing a book of th ...

, among many others. The book features references to other works, including other plays of Shakespeare's (in one ending, Hamlet returns to the University of Wittenberg, befriends classmate T. J. Macbeth who nicknames Hamlet "

Banquo Lord Banquo , the Thane of Lochaber, is a semi-historical character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play ''Macbeth''. In the play, he is at first an ally of Macbeth (both are generals in the King's army) and they meet the Three Witches together. ...

", and returns with him to Scotland) and more recent pop culture. Occasionally the player can switch control between characters, such as taking over as Hamlet after his father has succeeded in convincing him to kill Claudius, playing as Claudius while reading a "The Adventure is Chosen by You" book-within-a-book based on play-within-a-play ''The Murder of Gongazo'', or having a brief adventure as

Horatio Horatio is an English male given name, an Italianized form of the ancient Roman Latin '' nomen'' (name) '' Horatius'', from the Roman '' gens'' (clan) '' Horatia''. The modern Italian form is ''Orazio'', the modern Spanish form ''Horacio''. It app ...

. Reviewers noted that the choose your own adventure format of the book proved to be a good fit for the themes of the original Shakespeare play.

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), '' The Magician King'' (2011), and '' The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technolog ...

of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' stated that "Hamlet is all about the difficulty of choosing your own adventure: it's a story about a man caught between the urgent necessity of action and the existential impossibility of making decisions". ''Slate''s Alison Hallett referred to the "

To be, or not to be "To be, or not to be" is the opening phrase of a soliloquy given by Prince Hamlet in the so-called "nunnery scene" of William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Act 3, Scene 1. In the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide, weighing the pa ...

" soliloquy of the original, noting that the book "puts the being vs. not-being decision square in the reader's hands".

Adaptation

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

adaptation of the book, published by Tin Man Games, was released in 2015 for PC and iOS. The iOS version received a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

score of 93, indicating "universal acclaim".

References

External links

Official Kickstarter page

Breadpig page
{{Hamlet, collapsed 2013 Canadian novels Kickstarter-funded publications Gamebooks Novels based on Hamlet