Item - The Renegade Lord

The Falcon series is an oddity among British gamebooks. Instead of fantasy, the genre used in the series is time travel science-fiction, with inspiration drawn from products such as Doctor Who and The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. The game system is also unusual in that there are no monster stats, and all situations are resolved by skill checks, in a manner more reminiscent of the American AD&D Adventure Gamebooks. Finally, the text has smaller print and slightly longer paragraphs than usual in the British gamebook tradition, suggesting a more mature intended audience.

The first book in the series is a blast. The use of mental powers adds a great strategic dimension to the game, and the variety of past and future settings you get to visit makes for a complex and engaging story. I also liked the fact that winning the adventure requires a lot of careful thinking and making use of the background information given to you. The book can be made frustrating by the fact that there are many opportunities to fail due to having bad luck with the dice. If you are not lucky in the skill rolls, you will need to keep restarting the adventure over and over. Moreover, while the adventure offers the reader many locations to explore, this is ultimately a "find the correct path" book in the tradition of Fighting Fantasy, meaning that there is basically just one way to complete the adventure. This may put off people who enjoy more open-ended gamebooks. In spite of its flaws, this is an involving and challenging book which should provide many hours of entertainment. Definitely a favourite of mine.

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