Item - Maiden of Greenwold

On the whole, Maiden of Greenwold manages to provide a fairly satisfying adventure. It does a good job of portraying that the heroine is more or less alone against her titanic enemies except for one or two trustworthy souls, especially among her chauvanistic neighbors. Another nice touch was that despite being aimed at adolescent girls, the book isn't as insistent that the reader's character find romance, a problem I had with a couple other Dragontales books. While not one of the stronger gamebooks overall, this is one of the stronger Dragontales books.

More reviews by Fireguard

In this one, you play village girl Jessica (this series loves 1980s style names), who uses a trick to string the legendary bow of Greenwold (apparently a "sword in the stone" type of scenario) gaining the resentment of the males of your village and becoming the champion who must save the village.

There are two main paths to take, a fire demon and a frost giant, leading to quite a bit of replayability, and the missions seem pretty suicidal. The romance angle is downplayed, focusing more on the mission, which feels a bit more realistic. It has a few tough choices and is overall a fun read.

More reviews by Kveto

[Rating: 3/10]
[Recommended? NO]

Rhondi Vilott's Dragontales gamebooks are a pleasantly refreshing exploration of the limitless potential of the epic fantasy genre, providing within each title an adventurous sort of excursion into danger with a bit of romance on the side. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the same approach returns in "Maiden of Greenwold", what with its fairly lengthy quest of a familiar nature and the way readers are intended to play through it. Distinctively different enough in tone yet reminiscent of both the HeartQuest and Endless Quest series in more ways than I predicted, this is a moderately paced story with a commendably well-conceived setting and cast of characters (for the most part), and while the narrative and set-up are admittedly on the predictable side of things, the eloquently fashioned tone is quite readable. It's a seamless experience overall, but I couldn't help finding myself strangely dissatisfied by the end of it; perhaps I was hoping for something a little more ambitious or innovative, since I thoroughly enjoyed reading good portions of the book and found it ended before it made much use of what the experience had going for it. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily - but it made me more analytical upon my next few re-reading exercises, to which I came to the conclusion that, alas, some paths are more satisfying than others, and that the intuitive incompleteness was owing to the fact that not every path was... well, completely written.

This title is recommended to a precisely particular extent: a majority of fantasy readers and gamebook lovers alike will relish in the refreshing feel and thoughtfully designed adventure offered here. But a few warnings are to be had (which keep me from recommending this title wholly) - not all copies are created equal! Original printing editions feature proper passage pointing, well-formatted pages and some absolutely stunning cover artwork by the brilliant Tom Hallman... while reprintings and reissues are cheap, shallow, incorrectly embedded and outright ugly to look at, if not unreadable and inaccessible (numerous errors, omissions and problems with the writing itself). Furthermore, don't be surprised if the entirety of the book is not as good as the best parts (ex. alternative routes)... but don't be afraid to give this one a shot if this sounds up your alley! ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart