Item - The Towers of Rexor

This book is a bit better-paced than the last one; most of its paths are satisfyingly long, and there's a lot of exploration to do along the way, making for decent replay value. Unfortunately, in other respects, it's not as strong. Things start out promisingly enough, with the reader being given decent motivation for going on a quest and with the story's villain sounding like a complex and potentially interesting character rather than yet another boring megalomaniac. Unfortunately, though, the book doesn't really use its promise to its fullest. On many paths, the reader never discovers exactly what is going on, and even when explanations are given, they tend to dramatically contradict one another. This inconsistency actually made me like the book less and less with each reading -- I started over a few times so that I could find out more about what seemed like a complex story, but each reading further suggested that there actually wasn't anything like a coherent plot hiding in the book. Some of the individual paths are quite interesting, but their lack of unity undermines the book as a whole. In the end, I was mostly frustrated, which is a shame, since some of these pieces could have been put together into a much more effective whole.

More reviews by Demian

Another solid entrant to the series, this time with a male protagonist. You play Colin, an apprentice bard, meaning that you have a single spell (charm) at your disposal.

You volunteer to rescue a headstrong young princess from her father's former advisor, Rexor. Rexor is an interesting mystery as they don't give you much info on him, leaving you wondering exactly what you are facing (and even wondering if you are on the right side). Luckily, the endings differ, leading you to continue to search for different answers to the mysteries.

The world feels like D&D, with griffons and mimics, but also a bit Alice in Wonderland with talking mops and chutes that fall upwards. The love interest feels a bit out of your league but within the realm of fairytale endings.

Interesting extra: the final page of my copy has a feedback form that they ask you to fill out and post to the author. It asks you to rank a wide variety of factors, such as plot, male protagonist, female protagonist and even the colours on the cover artwork. It also asks you to rate other series', such as Endless Quest, Fighting Fantasy, etc., which I assume were their main rivals.

I wonder if feedback of this type caused the shift in writing style away from romance to adventure, at least in the male-centered books. But I also wonder how many people actually bothered to fill out the info as it is a bit long and to be honest, I have no idea how I would rank the colours on the cover from 1-10. I mean, there are colours, but beyond that....

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 "The Towers of Rexor", 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