Item - Flame of the Inquisition

This book is quite good; it takes a refreshingly direct approach to an ugly topic, and it doesn't sweeten things excessively just because it's a children's book. Its storyline is also nicely constructed, allowing all of its pieces to fall into place in a satisfying manner even though they are revealed non-linearly. All of this is helped by the attractively-shaded illustrations, which are a nice change of pace from the line drawings found in so many gamebooks. Like some other books in the series, this one requires the reader to select an item to take along before beginning the story. Unfortunately, this is the source of the book's biggest flaw -- unless the right item is picked, the book becomes an infinite loop (and yes, I have a map to prove it -- see also Julien Peter Benney's more complete version). This certainly increases the challenge of the book, but it also seems more than a little arbitrary, and it renders later references to different items totally pointless since the reader could not possibly have more than the one necessary object. Perhaps this whole aspect of the book is the result of an error somewhere along the line....

More reviews by Demian

[Rating: 0/10]
[Recommended? NO]

While the promising potential of the premise in the Time Machine adventure "Flame of the Inquisition" is at least partially well-handled, there were particularly few redeeming components to save the quest from its prominent, pitiful weaknesses. It's unfortunate how the dangers are kept at arm's length even though the era's appealing visual-oriented choice-based design system fares well as far as reader immersiveness goes. The writing drifts from uninspired and clunky to very much aware of the narrative's potential, but - as with the majority of the books in the series - I think the adventure would've been more enjoyable had it avoided limiting itself to a single correct path; the inventory selection at the start is a bit arbitrary, I might add, and less seamlessly woven into the story compared to the databank, use of setting and handling of "characters". While the year it take place in may be 1487 AD, you won't find too many pointers suggesting a whole lot of imagination was put into the writing of this quest apart from what had commonly been covered in existing documents/research books or documentaries at the time this was written; though the research isn't exactly dated, per se, retrospectively there are parts scattered about here and there which feel VERY incomplete.

These books, which in all truth are merely self-indulgent and hard-to-find excursions into a different point in time, appear hyper-focused on their short-lived novelty value - a real shame, since the design and the execution of the linear quest itself isn't all that great to begin with. With the exception of collectors of the series or the most ardent of pseudo-history buffs, I'm afraid I can't recommend this title or any of its time-traveling trepidations. ^^

(Mysteriously disappears into the shadows.)

More reviews by Shadeheart