Item - La Naissance du mal

This is yet another French title that I wish I had the language skills to read, made all the more enticing by its interesting illustrations, which are a strange blend of the attractive and the ridiculous. I love that fish monster on the cover!

More reviews by Demian

I won't keep you in suspense any further; I'll admit up front that La Naissance du mal is a good gamebook, but it could have been far better. This gamebook has been written by the same author as La Saga du Prêtre Jean (at least some of the authors; there were several persons involved in the writing), and there are similarities with that series. The reader has many different paths leading to the end, and it adds greatly to the replayability. Of course, the main hindrance is that the book can be a bit short if you know it well, especially since you don't have dice to roll for fights. The text is well-written and pleasant to read, the universe is promising, especially when thinking about the fourth volume where Fanwyr could have been the main character.

However, this gamebook isn't perfect and has some flaws. My first regret is turned towards the use of challenges. After a couple of attempts, I quickly figured out a "killer combo" with the three characteristics which enabled me to succeed at every challenge I had to face in the book. Of course, I didn't map the whole book, and my technique might not be perfect, but basically, the difficulty and variety of the challenges isn't optimal, and it's rather easy to realize which characteristic you should maximize, in which proportion, etc.

Another regret is the lack of use of the Search Table. In my five attempts before the final victory, I never had the opportunity to test it. I took several paths (not all of them obviously), but I never had the pleasure to gain money, a magic item or even to scream "noooooooooo" when finding a cursed item.

Overall, this gamebook deserves to be in your library and more importantly this series deserved more volumes, and a possibility to get even better.

More reviews by Feldrin