Item - Echoes of Eternity

The Huntress has been a strong series from the beginning, and Echoes of Eternity concludes it on a very strong note indeed.

The first two books set up a mystery but don't dwell on it, focusing more on the journey than the destination and keeping the plot straightforward. I thus was unsure how important the series' key mystery would actually turn out to be to the overall arc. As it turns out: very important. This final volume reveals answers in satisfying detail, with a complex plot containing multiple layers of surprises to reveal (and also a few exciting set-pieces lifted from 80's cinema). To say much more would be to spoil the pleasure of discovering everything for yourself, but I highly recommend setting out on this journey at the earliest opportunity!

In addition to a well-thought-out and well-executed story, this book also offers some very interesting and distinctive gameplay. Again, to say too much would be to spoil it, but I will say this much: the thing I enjoyed least about playing this series up to this point related to something that's just inherent to gamebooks -- the nuisance of having to restart after failure. While this is a necessary evil -- after all, you generally need some risk or gameplay feels pointless -- gamebooks often have a tipping point where failure stops being an opportunity to try new things and starts to feel like a bookkeeping exercise. You can of course work around this in a variety of ways, but however you address the issue, it tends to take you outside of the story and put the focus on mechanical things, which rarely enhances the reader experience. This book largely avoids that problem in a creative and story-related way, and it made it an absolute joy to play. I was completely engaged with this one from start to finish, and the gameplay and narrative complemented each other beautifully -- each an important part of the overall experience, but neither getting in the other's way.

As mentioned in my previous review, while my adventure reached a very satisfying conclusion here, it is also obvious that there are important paths that I failed to uncover, so a future replay will likely offer additional rewards. I'll let this rest a little while before diving back in -- I don't want to use up all the joy too quickly -- but I definitely look forward to revisiting this in the future!

Jonathan Stark has really achieved something special here -- doubly so considering that this series is his first published work. Working in a franchise like Lone Wolf is a real risk, given the amount of nostalgia and affection associated with the setting. Somehow, though, The Huntress series manages to live up to all the expectations about what a Magnamund adventure should feel like -- more successfully even than many of the original books. I haven't had this much fun playing gamebooks in years, and I'm eager to see what comes next.

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