1. Flight from the Dark
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Gary Chalk (interior and original British cover), Brian Salmon (British Beaver cover), Don Maitz (American cover), Peter Andrew Jones (credited as Peter Jones) (British Red Fox cover)
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-09-935890-5 (British editions), 0-399-21217-5 (American Pacer edition), 0-425-08436-1 (American Berkley edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 17 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: You are Silent Wolf, a young man studying with the Kai
monks. When the Dark Lords attack and wipe out the Kai monastery, you rename
yourself Lone Wolf and set off to warn the king of the approaching evil.
Collected In: The Lone Wolf Adventures, Lone Wolf Game Book Omnibus
Translations: Danish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: It's practically impossible to write objectively about
this book. I've probably read and re-read it more times than any other book
that I own. Although the writing is a bit more dry than I remember it being
(I guess childhood imagination does make a difference), this remains a
satisfying start to a grand adventure. The challenge level is neither too
hard nor too easy, with numerous ways to reach a successful conclusion and
choices that are always in some way meaningful. It was a great pleasure to
revisit the adventure, and if you somehow haven't played it yet, you owe it
to yourself to give it a try. Since it's now available for free online play
at Project Aon, there's really no
excuse not to.
The British Beaver edition of this book is not part of my collection; the
scan is courtesy of Tan Hong Kiat.
2. Fire on the Water
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Gary Chalk (interior and original British cover), Brian Salmon (British Beaver cover), uncredited artist (American cover), Peter Andrew Jones (credited as Peter Jones) (British Red Fox cover)
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-09-935900-6 (British editions), 0-399-21218-3 (American Pacer edition), 0-425-08437-X (American Berkley edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 19 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: You must travel overseas to Durenor to recover the
Sommerswerd, a magical weapon capable of driving back the Darklord invasion.
Collected In: The Lone Wolf Adventures, Lone Wolf Game Book Omnibus
Translations: Danish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: Of the books in this series that I clearly remember
reading as a child, this was my least favorite. It's mostly about travel,
and there aren't too many monsters to fight or atmospheric dungeons to
explore. I also felt at the time that it was unfairly difficult. However,
having replayed it now, I think that I was underestimating the book.
Although it didn't include the traditional elements that made me enjoy
fantasy adventures, it was clearly memorable -- the "whodunnit"
sequence and the final sea battle were both enjoyable to revisit. As for
being unfair, I think I mustn't have been observant enough when I first
played. Some choices that seem random are in fact entirely strategic if you
carefully examine the map and illustrations. There are better things yet to
come, but this is an entirely worthy sequel to the first book.
The British Beaver edition of this book featuring Brian Salmon's art is
not part of my collection; the scan is courtesy of Tan Hong Kiat.
3. The Caverns of Kalte
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Gary Chalk (interior and original British cover), uncredited artist (first British Beaver cover), Brian Salmon (second British Beaver cover), Don Maitz (American cover)
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-09-938530-9 (British editions), 0-425-09357-3 (American edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 21 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: Vonotar, the traitorous magician who betrayed the Kai
to the Darklords, has retreated to the icy realm of Kalte and taken control
of the Ice Barbarians residing there; you must capture him and bring him to
justice.
Translations: French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: I have very fond memories of this book, but having
replayed it, I'm not exactly sure why. It certainly doesn't strike me as a
bad book by any means, but it doesn't really stand out either. It's a
perfectly decent entry in the series, with all the usual characteristics that
make a Lone Wolf book fun, but it doesn't strike me as being a really
special book the way it did when it first made an impression on me. I think
that initial reaction must have been due to the atmospheric icy setting;
although I maintain that Dever's style of writing is adequate but nothing too
special compared to his greater skill in game design, he does have some nice
touches here that help to convey the peril and beauty of a frozen
environment -- the threat of snow blindness, the interesting Cloudmaker
Mountain, the constant threat of cold-adapted creatures. It all goes by
rather quickly, but there are certainly some nice sights along the way.
The first British Beaver edition of this book is not part of my
collection; the scan is courtesy of Ed Jolley.
4. The Chasm of Doom
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Gary Chalk (interior and original British cover), Brian Salmon (second British Beaver cover), Richard Corben (American cover)
First Published: 1985
ISBN: 0-09-939180-5 (British editions), 0-425-08419-1 (American edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 14 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: A convoy of gold and gems has disappeared, as has the
troop of cavalry sent to investigate the disappearance; you must find out
what has happened to everyone.
Translations: French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: Although I know I got as far as book ten when I played
these as a child, my memory of the series kind of runs out with this volume.
I approached it as if I had never played it before, and only the most dim of
memories were revived as I went through it. Hopefully this will make my
reviews a little more objective from this point on. In any case, like the
last book, this is a good but relatively undistinguished entry in the series.
The pacing is nice, with a mysterious but seemingly mundane mission growing
into something of greater importance. Replay value is also good, with random
numbers changing some aspects of the adventure and choices allowing other
variations; I died a few times before succeeding in the quest, and each try
was sufficiently different from the ones before it to keep me engaged. The
book's biggest weakness, really, is the fact that it puts you in command of a
group of men but never gives you a real feeling of control or even a sense of
who it is that you're commanding. By offering more tactical decisions and by
characterizing at least a few of the men being commanded, the book would have
been somewhat stronger; this flaw aside, though, it's another good entry in
a consistently above-average series.
The British Beaver edition of this book featuring Brian Salmon's art is
not part of my collection; the scan is courtesy of Tan Hong Kiat.
10. The Dungeons of Torgar
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Brian Williams (interior), Brian Salmon (British Beaver cover), Neal McPheeters (American cover), Peter Andrew Jones (credited as Peter Jones) (British Red Fox cover)
First Published: 1987
ISBN: 0-425-10930-5 (American edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 16 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: The Darklords have control of the final three
Lorestones, but you have learned that they are currently held in the dungeons
beneath the Drakkar fortress of Torgar.
Translations: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: While reading this book, I did realize that I owe a lot
of my appreciation of Lone Wolf to nostalgia. While I still give the
series plenty of credit for its fun system and its story continuity, I think
that I would find its shallow characters and silly location names a lot less
thrilling if not for the fact that I know they were created by Joe Dever. I
guess I still cannot claim to be unbiased. That being said, this was yet
another fun adventure. It's highly replayable since the first choice leads
to two different story branches that allow wildly different events to be
experienced during the first half of the story. After that, it's time for
some reunions and daring deeds leading up to a gigantic cliffhanger. Of
course, it could have benefit from better characterization (I dare you to
tell two Lone Wolf characters apart) and some elaboration (much of
the adventure feels a little bit rushed), but it's Lone Wolf. It's
hard not to enjoy it, flaws and all.
The British Beaver edition of this book is not part of my collection; the
scan is courtesy of Tan Hong Kiat. The British Red Fox edition of this book
is not part of my collection; the scan is courtesy of Marcus Pearse.
11. The Prisoners of Time
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Brian Williams (interior), Brian Salmon (British Beaver cover), Neal McPheeters (American cover), Peter Andrew Jones (credited as Peter Jones) (British Red Fox cover)
First Published: 1987
ISBN: 0-09-951320-X (British editions), 0-425-11568-2 (American edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 12 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: Due to a Darklord trap, you (and the remaining
Lorestones) are trapped on the Daziarn Plane.
Translations: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
My Thoughts: This is an extremely disappointing book. Although it
does have some merit thanks to the strange environment of the Daziarn Plane,
some colorful characters, interesting revelations about Lone Wolf's role in
the universe, and a surprising reunion (that's unfortunately spoiled in
advance if you accidentally see the wrong illustration), its flaws really
outweigh its good points. To an even greater extent than The Cauldron of Fear, it's an extremely linear
adventure, with more page-turning than choice-making. It seems that by this
point, the author was getting tired and just wanted to force things along to
their conclusion. Another flaw shared with The
Cauldron of Fear is the fact that this adventure is effectively unwinnable
if you bring the Sommerswerd along. I can see how it would be fair to make
the book more challenging for Sommerswerd-wielding readers; after all,
wielding such a powerful weapon is generally an unfair advantage. However,
to make victory impossible for players who have faithfully followed the
storyline from the beginning is frustrating and makes no sense plot-wise;
after all, why would Lone Wolf ever choose to leave his best weapon behind?
Of course, regardless of the Sommerswerd issue, the book ends with not one
but two nasty combats in rapid succession. These aren't unwinnable, but to
lose them is endlessly frustrating, since the book is so linear that replay
is tedious rather than exciting. In any case, this all goes to show that,
while I have praised the Lone Wolf game system in the past, it does
have major flaws in the area of combat balance -- by this point in the
series, most fights are either too easy or completely impossible, and it
detracts from the reading experience. I had to cheat to win here, and I
really hate having to do that. If you need to visit the Daziarn, try the
World of Lone Wolf series instead; this book
reminded me of my sadness over the brevity of Grey Star's time in the
spotlight.
The British Red Fox edition of this book is not part of my collection; the
scan is courtesy of Marcus Pearse.
12. The Masters of Darkness
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Brian Williams (interior), Brian Salmon (British Beaver cover), uncredited artist (American cover), Peter Andrew Jones (credited as Peter Jones) (British Red Fox cover)
First Published: 1988
ISBN: 0-09-951400-1 (British editions), 0-425-11718-9 (American edition)
Length: 350 sections
Number of Endings: 21 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: When you return from the Daziarn, you discover that
years have passed and the Darklords are on the verge of victory. Now is the
time to take your long-awaited revenge!
Translations: French, German, Italian, Swedish
My Thoughts: For a long time, I thought this was truly the last book
in the series -- I think many people have been under that impression in many
places. In any case, I've waited for years to actually play out the last act
of Lone Wolf's battle with the Darklords, and now that I have, I'm rather
disappointed. Like the previous volume, this book has extremely long linear
sequences without meaningful choices. Fortunately, the game balance is
considerably better, with multiple ways out of some nasty situations, but
this doesn't change the fact that the book really isn't especially exciting.
There are a couple of good action sequences and a variety of monsters to
fight, but there just isn't the sense of fun and potential that was so
palpable in the first few volumes. Perhaps I'm just tired from having
reviewed so many of these books in so short a time, but I think it's more
likely that it was the author who was getting tired -- the increasing
linearity as the series went on suggests a growing desire to just get the
storyline over with. It's all kind of anticlimactic. Still, more than two
thirds of the books so far were well worth the effort, and that's a good bit
above average. I look forward to eventually filling some gaps in my
collection and moving on to the next chapter in Lone Wolf's adventures. I
sense that there are still good things to come.
The British Red Fox edition of this book is not part of my collection; the
scan is courtesy of Marcus Pearse.
The Magnamund Companion (Dawn of the Darklords)
Author: Joe Dever
Illustrators: Rob Adams, Gary Chalk, Richard Hooks, Jane Laycock, Peter Lyon and Graham Round (interior), Brian Salmon (British cover), uncredited artist (American cover)
First Published: 1986
ISBN: 0-425-10759-0 (American edition)
Length: 96 pages (Dawn of the Darklords: pp. 84-96, 80 sections)
Number of Endings: 5 (not including failure by loss of points)
Plot Summary: You are Banedon the magician, and you have a vitally
important message to deliver to the Kai Monastery....
Translation: Swedish
My Thoughts: This highly sought-after volume includes lots of
information on the history, geography, culture and dangers of Magnamund along
with a board game, information on building models, and a brief gamebook. The
whole book is an interesting read, but this being a page about gamebooks, it
is the mini-adventure that I'm most interested in discussing. It uses the
basic Lone Wolf game system, but you choose magical powers instead of
Kai disciplines; rather than using Willpower points like the spells in World of Lone Wolf, some (but not all) of these
powers drain Endurance. The adventure itself runs parallel to Flight from the Dark, showing some familiar events
from a different perspective. It's so short as to be rather trivial, which
is too bad, as it would have been nice to adventure as Banedon for a little
longer.
The British edition of this book is not part of my collection; the scans
are courtesy of Tan Hong Kiat.