Item - The Chasm of Doom

Although I know I got as far as book ten when I played these as a child, my memory of the series kind of runs out with this volume. I approached it as if I had never played it before, and only the most dim of memories were revived as I went through it. Hopefully this will make my reviews a little more objective from this point on. In any case, like the last book, this is a good but relatively undistinguished entry in the series. The pacing is nice, with a mysterious but seemingly mundane mission growing into something of greater importance. Replay value is also good, with random numbers changing some aspects of the adventure and choices allowing other variations; I died a few times before succeeding in the quest, and each try was sufficiently different from the ones before it to keep me engaged. The book's biggest weakness, really, is the fact that it puts you in command of a group of men but never gives you a real feeling of control or even a sense of who it is that you're commanding. By offering more tactical decisions and by characterizing at least a few of the men being commanded, the book would have been somewhat stronger; this flaw aside, though, it's another good entry in a consistently above-average series.

More reviews by Demian

My fourth foray in Lone Wolf, this one is pretty good, a bit of a step up from the previous book. You are assigned by the king to find out what happened to a company of guardsmen, putting you in command of 50 soldiers to aid you. As usual it took me a few tries to get through, but I felt that it is the instant deaths, more than loss of endurance points, that killed me. As by the time you reach this book, if you've read the others, your character will be pretty powered up with Kai disciplines. (If you've read all the books, you get 8 out of 10 disciplines).

(Side note: One thing about Lone Wolf is how he doesn't fit into the conventional character classes I expect. He is a warrior monk, although he never appears religious or prays, making him a monk/fighter, but his Kai disciplines can either focus on more magical properties, like mind over matter, or more Rangerish skills like hunting or camouflage. I'm not complaining, I've just been trained my entire D&D reading career to have characters fit into neat little categories. He is a much more realistic jack-of-all-trades.

Lone Wolf's setting feels European, but his Monkish background feels Eastern and his name sounds Amerindian, making him a nice blend of cultures.)

Anyway, the book feels combat heavy, with lots of bandits to fight, but luckily the fights in this series are short and brutal, due to the great combat system. But it feels like a missed opportunity to introduce some kind of mass combat system, perhaps similar to the system in Sagard. But, spoiler, you don't spend long in command as you get separated from your troops, which is appropriate for a loner like Lone Wolf. Still, a mass combat system would have made this one stand out.

While I'm whining, I had assumed there would be an overall story arc, like in the Grey Star books, which make the stakes feel higher. But Lone Wolf books so far have been little "one and done" missions for each book.

That said, it is still a fun read.

More reviews by Kveto

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

Tactics take the spotlight this time around in the impressively varied Lone Wolf series' fourth title, proving yet again that readers should expect the unexpected with this held-in-high-esteem franchise. Alas, the strategic prowess of the narrative's design spearheads the very integrity of the adventuring experience in a completely unexpected way; I've never seen a gamebook as ambitious as "The Chasm of Doom" often is. It was moderately challenging to - again - adjust to the completely different direction this book directed me through, and this was heightened by the fact that this story in particular seemed especially inclined to appearing as a standalone adventure (ex. it read as a disconnected endeavor with minimal overarching conntinuity to the previous books), even though the specifications of the demands on the reader did ask quite a bit of the reader in terms of remembering and keeping track of all the (rather unfamiliar) elements that suddenly come into play all at once. I believe the title suffered from its sharp turning points/difficulty level and the complete absence of character development and/or focus; self-immersiveness into the strategic mindset of the protagonist is clearly what the talented Joe Dever is going for, though it's pretty hard for readers to fully spring into the role - the books following the excellent "Flight from the Dark" failed to carry on the protagonist's supposed emotional motivations quite the same, and all we're left with is the intellect, skills and situations to deal with. Fortunately, the ever-pleasing combat system and decent worldbuilding scenes (particularly near the start of the book, what with the old man in the cabin and the troubadors) did make this one a more enjoyable read than the previous two titles (which were mostly tonally dominated by pressing themes of doom and gloom) - but I was let down once again by the book's reliance on arbitrary path splits (as in, the return of the dreaded 'pick a number, any number' divides) and possible instant death choices.

While the fourth Lone Wolf title didn't quite overcome its shortcomings, it was certainly an improvement over its immediate predecessors, and I believe the satisfaction of the series is something that can be appreciated even when it isn't one's cup of tea. The continued reliance on arbitrary path-determining measures remains a fatal weakness for the books, just as the story's overall unwillingness to try and relate to the characters ends up keeping the experience at arm's length a lot of the time. Even so, while this adventure isn't as effective as the series' debut, it's still pretty easy to see why these books have garnered a reputation and entertained many readers over the years - and these books are great at providing readers the chance to practice carefully considering all the possibilities when navigating tough theoretical situations, not unlike what life itself calls for. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart