Series - Zork - Demian's Gamebook Web Page

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Language:	English
Alternate Title:	Infocom Books
Publishers:	Penguin (Puffin imprint) -- United Kingdom Tor Books -- United States
Categories:	Complexity Level : Basic (No Game System) Format : Paperback Game System : Scores Genre : Fantasy Licensed Property : Video Game Tie-In Product Family : What-Do-I-Do-Now? Target Age Group : Older Children Writing Style : Present Tense Writing Style : Third Person
Translated Into:	El reino de Zork (Spanish) Zork (Italian)

These books, based on the popular Infocom computer game series of the same name, are part of the What-Do-I-Do-Now collection of gamebook series. The books are written in the third person and follow the adventures of Bill and June, two schoolchildren who are magically transported to the land of Zork, where they become young adventurers Bivotar and Juranda. There are no game mechanics here beyond the requisite choice-making, though there are a few interesting features. Each ending has a score associated with it, and most offer the opportunity to go back and try the other option; only one ending in each book is victorious. Additionally, some books in the series feature sections designed solely to punish readers who might be tempted to cheat.

The Zork adventures were first published in the United States and Canada by Tor, but Puffin issued three slightly larger-format British editions in 1984.

Several years after its original release, the third book in this series was made freely available over the Internet (though this version can only be read in a web browser).

Gamebooks

1. The Forces of Krill
2. The Malifestro Quest
3. The Cavern of Doom
4. Conquest at Quendor

Bibliography of Items About "Zork"

Articles

Linefeed: Computer Books, Game Books, Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Reviewed
Subterranean Adventures in Zork

User Comments

The Zork series was a neat addition to the text adventures for me. You control Bill and June who become Bivotar and Juranda, whose uncle Syovar summons them to Zork in times of need. It gave hints, oblique and direct, for how to get past some puzzles, especially Zork 2, and there are cameos from elements in the Zork game universe, friend or foe.

The pagination is linearly ascending in the books, which is a fancy way to say you don't have zigzags like page 60/20/80/40. It keeps score, which appealed to my younger self, but more practically it told you the branch page you could go back to if you made a mistake.

Some of the choices seem telegraphed, but there are neat side trips you need in most books where Bivotar or Juranda finds something useful, which feels like finding a neat item in the game proper. Or you encounter powerful evil and die.

Bivotar and Juranda may not really be fleshed out for different personalities, but I like how they feel like equals. They're both right half the time when they say "We should do X. No, we should do Y" at a branching choice. And sometimes Juranda is the braver (or more foolhardy) of the two, or vice versa.

The later books have Max and Fred, elf companions who give effective comic relief, and most of the books have an anti-cheat mechanism where you're asked if you found a certain item that's not in the book.

The illustrations are a bit dark and fuzzy at first but come into their own as the series goes on.

I enjoyed them all, and I still do for more than nostalgia value, but ranking them favorite to enjoyable, I'd go with 2-3-1-4.

--andrewschultz

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Series - Zork

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