Item - The Forces of Krill

This is a fantasy CYOA-styled book written for kids (target audience about 10 years old). It stars both a boy and a girl, which I found thoughtfully inclusive. The kids must survive a dangerous swords & sorcery styled world, aiding their uncle in defeating an evil menace. This is a very short book, easily finished in 30 minutes or less, with not a ton of choices to make. When you fail or succeed, you're given a score. I found some typos; the proofreading's not the best. However there are a lot of nicely drawn pictures spicing up the text. Overall not the best CYOA ever, but a decent fantasy jaunt for a young child.

More reviews by amesgames

I can't answer for how the Zork gamebooks will appeal to kids who never played Zork, but the introduction is clever. In it, you see a book about Zork that looks neat. Read it, or go home and watch boring reruns? (Hooray loaded questions!) Watching reruns actually dumps you on a page that lists other books in the series, at least in some versions. Sneaky Infocom! Oh, and you're sent to the start of the book proper, anyway.

Even without that, this miniseries was a thrill! You see, I barely managed to get into the basement in Zork I. None of my friends knew. Some had older siblings who knew and wouldn't tell them. And my parents didn't want to buy the Invisiclues. (Well, I nagged enough, they eventually did.) I didn't realize, at the time, many of the puzzles were perhaps deliberately unfair so that people would get their friends to buy and try. Sneaky Infocom, again!

As for me, I was sort of hoping I'd get some hints for Zork and maybe see more of the Zork world. Forces of Krill offers more of the second. It's actually the most complex of the Zork gamebooks. Most of them have a right and wrong choice as you press through, but FoK has two passages. Either way you have side routes where you may find an item you want. And the most standout feature is how endings are listed.

You get a point score total, from 1 to 10, based on the correct decisions you made. Then you're offered the chance to rewind to page X. This would've been wonderful in CYOA, and I felt spoiled for wanting it, but it's actually a minor spoiler in FoK, as it has some branches that lead to death either way, because of the second part: "You probably deserve to try again. Go back to page X." So if you choose on page 28 and it says you lose, go to page 24, you know you were in a no-win choice. They're fun and relatively easy to plow through, though. And one of the endings is a fake one: you're asked if you found a certain item at several points around the book. The answer to avoid death is clearly yes, except in the case where the item doesn't exist in the book, at which point you get a negative score and aren't escorted back to the previous choice. It's a clever way to keep players honest in theory, but I actually looked forward to more of that, because it amused me. Yeah, I'm a rebel, Dotty.

The story starts when Bill and June find a magic sword, and your first point is given if you, well, take it. If not, they watch reruns the rest of the day, and they don't even have a nice book about Zork to read! If so, they become Bivotar and Juranda and learn their Uncle Syovar is King of Zork. They learn, too, about the dark lord Krill and his dark army, looking to bring darkness to the kingdom. (Yes, the pictures are rather dark, too. Sometimes this is very effective, when Krill is drawn, but other times it's a bit blah.)

The other choices are a bit less basic. If you stay someplace in fear, despite owning the Sword of Zork? Shocker of shockers, Krill conquers the land. But along the way you learn that if you find the Three Palantirs (familiar to people who played Zork 2) you have a chance. Finding them seems hopeless, though. If you rely on Bivotar or Juranda's guesses, and not a third party who knows something about Zork, well, that is trouble too. Other times, the choice feels a bit telegraphed: on finding the palantirs, you're offered the choice of trying to get them or "saving your own neck." Hmm.

But there are good bits in the book that provide clues, ones I overlooked before I solved Zork I. Bivotar and Juranda eat the sack lunch but not the garlic. (Important in Zork I.) If you know what to do in Zork I, you know what to do with the troll. Finally, Juranda discovers how to enter the basement of the white house with a mailbox. Later, Bivotar's suggestion is right--and in general the series has both of them batting .500 on critical decisions, which is pretty cool, because they should feel like equals.

Oh, and given the relatively linear progressions of the pages you read (they don't go backwards,) there's a neat trick where you may be lulled into always choosing the significantly higher page number at a branch. It doesn't work.

The ending blew me away as a kid, but not so much now I've read more fantasy novels. But I still like it, and how it promised more adventures. Biv and Juran (I felt familiar enough to call them by their self-imposed nicknames) become Bill and June, with no time passed in the world, but they keep a souvenir.

FoK has a lot of humor and references that non-Zork fans might fail to appreciate, but I think adults who've played Zork will find both main paths through a wonderful lighthearted distraction.

More reviews by andrewschultz

The third person writing gets rather awkward sometimes and the humor which makes the Zork computer games so great is missing, but this isn't a bad gamebook. The use of familiar locations and a scoring system do bring the games to mind, and, as a cute touch, page 83 includes a trap to catch those who would cheat.

More reviews by Demian

I read this book after The Cavern of Doom. This book is less linear than The Cavern, since it includes two major paths to the conclusion (one is a dungeon crawl while the other is a wilderness adventure). Like that other book, this one is rather easy to complete successfully, but it's nonetheless a fun read. Recommended.

More reviews by Guillermo

I know nothing of the video game Zork. I borrowed this book from a friend as a kid. I found it very underwhelming. The third person narration made me less invested in the characters, although I like that it had both male and female protagonists.

The art was poor and the choices basic. The only fun part is the punishment for cheaters. My friend told me about it while jumping through hoops to explain how he found it by accident. He wasn't cheating, you know.

I wouldn't recommend this one.

More reviews by Kveto

Here I am doing my first review on here.

This is a pretty good book I must say, I always enjoyed playing the old Zork games so I thought, why not try the gamebooks. Sadly, I couldn't manage to find a place to purchase them from, but I found out that all four were up for download on a site, so I just got them from there.

It really does remind me of the Zork games, in story telling and gameplay (even if it is just choices) for instance, adding a score on each "game over" as I will call it, is pretty neat and original which in turn makes it feel more Zork-like. I also like that there was at least one logical choice in this gamebook (I won't give it away) that had you looking at the illustrated picture for help.

My only real complaint with it is length and difficulty. It was easy for me to get through with only one or two deaths in my adventure. Also, it wasn't very long. It was a great read though and I would love to get to reading the other three real soon.

8/10.

More reviews by leon101