Item - The Quest for Dragon Mountain

While a gamebook where the reader plays a dragon is not unheard of -- there's Revenge of the Red Dragon and a couple of the Dragonlarks books -- it's still enough of a novelty to make this an interesting book. Unfortunately, apart from the novel premise and some well-executed artwork, this book doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it. The near-total lack of internal consistency prevents the book from telling an interesting story, and many of the paths and endings are somewhat repetitive. It's certainly not a total failure -- you'll get a bit of entertainment out of it -- but it could have been better.

More reviews by Demian

Back in the eighties, gamebooks were seen as gateway drugs to the world of tabletop roleplaying games. It was therefore somewhat understandable that their creators did not want to stray from the formula of having the reader play a hero instead of a creature of the kind typically encountered by heroes in their adventures. Several decades later, it should be clearer that gamebooks are a medium of their own and not just a submedium to other types of games; in spite of this, most of the interactive books being produced today have not experimented with letting the reader take on the role of creatures other than humans, elves, dwarves, etc. The Quest for Dragon Mountain goes against this trend by letting you play a dragon living in a late medieval/early Renaissance fantasy setting.

This is a fairly typical Twisted Journeys entry in that there is no fixed plot; the story changes wildly depending on the choices the reader makes. This may disappoint those looking for a single plot as in the Endless Quest series, but the book is actually quite successful within its own parameters. Replaying allows the reader to explore the complex spectrum of experiences a dragon's life involves. There is also way more variety to the different pathways than Demian's review suggests, and the outcomes of choices are not always obvious, meaning that the reader is always kept on their toes. Overall, I would say this book is a must-read.

More reviews by Guillermo