I also had a few other books which are similar, but a bit different; the Escape from Tenopia books (I think I had all four; I know for sure that I had three of them at one point) and it's sister-series, Escape from the Kingdom of Frome (I think I only had two of these, though.) I also had the similarly structured Time Machine series—at least three volumes. These latter series were more like puzzles; you just kept wandering around making choices until you found your way "out" by finally having done everything that allowed you to progress to the last page and finish the book. I recall looping around many times trying to find the way out, but they're quit a bit different than the others because of the fact that you couldn't lose, die, or otherwise do anything except go around in circles until you got to the one ending.
And finally, several years later I bought about half a dozen books from the Star Challenge series, but I bought them in Argentina, and in Spanish, where the series is called El Reto de los Galaxias. This isn't a direct translation, needless to say. While it fits neatly with the Choose Your Own Adventure style, because they're in Spanish, I've usually not associated them together. Plus, I actually still have all of these. All in all that has to be; what, nearly 100 titles? Plus several that I read without buying, usually from a public library.
Many of these are not "gamebooks" in the sense that there's no system; you just read it, make choices and keep making choices until you get to an end. The Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks were the first I got that had a very minimalist (and frankly, inadequate) RPG system along with them, turning them into what is basically a solo module; albeit a very railroady one.
One that I never actually owned, but which I read a few times in the library was Scorpion Swamp written by the other Steve Jackson (it's curious that the first book not written by Steve Jackson or Ian Livingstone was written by the GURPS guy who also happens to be named Steve Jackson). This one was interesting because rather than merely railroading you through the plot, you actually wandered around making a map of the swamp; not unlike a hexcrawl. And the book that I miss the most, and really wish that I hadn't gotten rid of, was Night of the Nazgûl which actually was a hexcrawl, complete with a hexmap and everything.
Now, while I say that the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook "system" is inadequate (you have three scores; STRENGTH, STAMINA and LUCK and you just roll 2d6 a lot, you have to keep in mind that by its nature, you probably don't want a very involved system. The TolkienQuest game had what is probably too involved of a system, and not only that, there were several pages exploring how you could use the book as a solo MERP adventure even if you really wanted a complicated system. Although the system didn't come with the book, in that case.
I actually think the Lone Wolf books had the best "system" but the TolkienQuest books (specifically Night of the Nazgûl, which did it best) had the best structure.
Now; why am I mentioning this? I'm actually giving some serious thought to creating what is basically a gamebook for the TIMISCHBURG setting. I could, in theory, adapt FANTASY HACK as is, or I could maybe adapt the Lone Wolf system by turning Kai Disciplines into skills, etc. And then I'd need to get writing.
In the meantime, you can read the Lone Wolf books online, thanks to the generosity of the original copyright holder, by following the link right there above. But if I do them, it'll be more like Night of the Nazgûl, and they'll be more hexcrawl-like.
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