Customer Reviews

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Fighting Fantasy Gamebook, No. 1)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first book of a great series known as Fighting fantasy. Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone made a fortune out of this original Idea, and so it is not surprising. It is first class, well produced literature. Continuously entertaining, and thoroughly enjoyable for all ages. It Is a shame to see the series cut its production line, but after writing 59 different books In the series, It's no wonder the craze had to end somewhere. Young males of this era have missed out on good literature.

The first time I picked this book up, I was only 11. I couldn't believe it. The fact that you could pick a book up and play it like a game just blew my mind. The illustrations were first class and once I'd put it down, I just wanted to pick it up again (and of-course you could because the second time you played it, it would be slightly different depending on where you went within the pages...) I loved it. I still have the original and still read it just for posterity... What a brilliant book!

Women in my life complain "boys are hard to buy presents for" - well, here is an idea (and it is non-electronic).
This series is recommended for fans of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld / Harry Porter/ Perry Jackson / Lord of the Rings / Diana Wynne Jones books, but particularly boys. Content is not too gory, but these are titled "fighting fantasy" books for a reason. Similarly, the reading age is probably 8+ years, but I am no expert.
The random element of encounters throughout the books is what stands out for me - "re-playability". You choose if the protagonist goes left or right, etc. However, even if you pick the same options twice, you probably will not get exactly the same result if you are unlucky.
I am tried of giving kids electronics and want them to learn that reading can be fun (yes - I am my becoming my grandparents), so I will be trying these books out on them - it worked for me.

NOTE FOR PUBLISHERS/DISTRIBUTORS: The new version of these books have a preview of the next book in the back. Why don't you make these half-dozen pages available in the Amazon "look inside" function for the matching book? That is clearly what they were written for.

The book that was the start of this idea. Riding on the back of the fantasy role playing game craze came these interesting books, and plenty more popped up along with them on other topics, from other publishers.

They were designed so that all you would need was a pencil and a simple randomiser and be able to carry the whole thing around with you, and introduce the game and chance into it.

I'm new to the gamebooks of my childhood. Started with the Lone Wolf Series and moved onto this book. I was expecting the same kind of thing, make decisions, turn to the page, fighting, etc. However, after 4 tries all I ever did in this book was dungeon crawl. I've not completed it due to the fact, I keep ending up in the same loop. I've drawn out the map as the book suggests and followed it many many times. I can not get out of the maze. At this point I'm beyond frustrated and am beginning to think something is missing as all the choices in this particular area just keep leading back to the same page/area. It feels like there is no way out. On the positive, I enjoyed the story better than Lone Wolf, the fighting/story is more intense and slightly more difficult. This book didn't feel as young as the Lone Wolf series. Due to the dungeon crawling and forever being lost feeling (since I was unable to complete it), I will not purchase more of the Fighting Fantasy series books. I wanted this to be more than it was.