Item - Rescue in Mirkwood

Like Night of the Nazgûl, this is in effect a hybrid solitaire boardgame and gamebook.

Like Night of the Nazgûl, the result unfortunately emphasises the worst of both formats. As a boardgame, it has sub-par mechanics and the time system just mandates road travel to the destination - doubled up by going off road resulting in near constant rolls to avoid moving randomly and endless bookkeeping as to time. It's not an interesting boardgame.

As a gamebook, the need to describe and provide encounters for so many locations means it's spread too thin. It's marginally less telegram-like than Nazgûl, but the result of even slightly longer passages is even more repetitive encounter tables. Between the woodsmen's village and the final sequence, there's really minimal narrative interest.

It is quite short and its not awful, but this book makes clear that the map/time based system just doesn't work as Middle Earth Quest has attempted, despite the novelty and agency involved. The linear entries/sections in the series are just superior. The companion, with some scenic commentary, and the fact that the ending is a tiny dungeon sequence are improvements over Nazgûl, but the setting is much less interesting and the lore and tone is much less evocative of LotR. This is a low for the series and it's not surprising it was followed by a reduction in map focus in the future released books.

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