Fighting Fantasy - Books 1-10

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1. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - Score = 7.5   Tier = Good!

Attempts to beat: 4

Well, what more can be said about this seminal entry that hasn't been said many times elsewhere? It is almost impossible to rate this book objectively with the great love many (myself included) have for it on a personal level. It was the first gamebook I ever played and almost immediately I was hooked. I can remember picking this out at the second hand bookstore a few blocks away from me on a rainy day, marveling at the adventure sheet and promise of dice rolling to come, then setting up at the desk in my room with the rain beating down outside. The first sight of that sleeping orc guard and I actually felt like I WAS in that mountain. Hearing the sounds, smelling the odors, just a great job of transporting me to a fantasy world. The difficulty level was just about right too and I had a great time making the map and marking down the location of the keys. It was likely the map-making aspect that hooked me in for life as I could draw the layout of the mountain as I saw it in my minds eye. I would even actually draw as much detail in the rooms as I could! Then, I would use what I had gleaned in each attempt to get just that little bit further the next time. To this day, the drawing of the maps is still my favorite part of gamebook adventuring and this is where it began.

All that being said, my purpose on this blog is to try to beat and then score each book on its own merits. If Warlock of Firetop had been released later in the series would it have obtained the legendary status it has? I think most would say no and I have to agree. Judging it as a stand-alone, it's still pretty good, but not great. It does have some issues. I think the Warlock himself should have been made out to be a bit more evil. All it would have taken was a couple of extra sentences in the prologue. Something along the lines of how every few years he would attack the nearby village or some such. The other issue I would bring up is the oft-mentioned maze section in the second half of the book. I didn't mind the maze itself so much but I believe its inclusion was a mistake. The frustration level here for younger readers in particular may have frustrated them right out the door of gamebooking, never to return. It's a fine line at times but there is a difference between enjoyably hard and book hurlingly infuriating. The maze didn't quite reach the latter for me but I could see how it might for some.

Famously written by both Ian Livingstone (the first half up to the river) and Steve Jackson (the second half after the river) you can really tell the difference in approaches. Ian's half is more linear and contains more basic fantasy staple creatures (orcs, goblins, barbarian) while Steve's half contains the maze, final battles with dragon and warlock which can be bypassed with the right items and more horror themed creatures (zombies, vampire, ghoul). The inclusion of the numbered keys being used to unlock the chest at the end is a great mechanic in my opinion and I wonder which one of the two came up with it (my money is on Steve). Along with the fantastic artwork here, it's easy to see how this hooked so many players. Overall, a very good start to the series as it kickstarted the craze and you couldn't ask for more than that.


Ranking: As this is the first book to slot in the rankings this is as easy as it gets, #1 so far!

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2. The Citadel of Chaos - Score = 9.0    Tier = Great!

Attempts to beat: 8

I had a blast with this book! Steve Jackson really got his solo gamebook career on the right track with this one. It seemed a little on the short side as far as gamebooks go if my map was any indication but I don't have a problem with that if the setting, story and encounters are interesting and indeed they are. Unlike a lot of other gamebooks I've played which start out great but fall apart in the final act, this one actually gets better as you go. The encounters as you make your ascent up the final part of the citadel are very tense and engaging. What really pushed this book into the great tier for me though was the final battle against Balthus Dire. You have several different approaches to beating him and it can be really tense wondering if the spell you chose to use will have any effect or if you might have to go mano a mano with your sword. Now that's a boss battle done right! Did the best end battle in the series occur way back in book #2? I guess I'll find out but this was really top notch. Great job Steve!

The encounters in this book are also incredibly varied and interesting. The Rhino-man, Ghost woman, Leprechaun, Black elf, Gark, Miks, Hydra, and of course Ganjees are all standouts and show a great level of creativity from Jackson. The jar with the spider that had a man's head I also found very unsettling and creepy, even if it did kind of borrow from "The Fly" movie from the 50's. I wonder if Steve was a fan of this movie with all the head-swapping going on in this book!  The gambling den was a nice touch that added to the immersion as you would expect such a place where an army of cutthroats was being raised. The library was cool too as was the fact that aside from the librarian it was totally empty (also what you would expect among an army of cutthroats!). Getting to also meet Mrs Dire and what I presume are their children if you go a certain way was also a very nice and immersive touch.

Picking which magic spells to take from the incredibly varied list at the beginning of the book then using trial and error with each playthrough to see which spells work where was great fun. The creature copy spell in particular was a great one to experiment with. If only there had been more combats in the book where this was usable it would have been even better. Attempting different routes through the citadel and even in the opening courtyard, making notes of what items could be found where and learning as you went which ones you would need on a subsequent attempt was all a part of unlocking this great puzzle. The whole layout and design of this book is really first rate.

Ranking: Easily ranked as I clearly enjoyed this more that Warlock and this becomes the current #1!

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3. The Forest of Doom - Score = 6.0    Tier = OK

Attempts to beat: 3

Well, when it comes to the debut solo books for both Steve Jackson (Citadel of Chaos) and Ian Livingstone (Forest of Doom) I'd say the first round easily goes to Steve. Not that Forest of Doom is bad mind you, it isn't. However there were several things about it that brought its score down to the just OK level. Maybe my biggest disappointment with the book was its ease. Just as a book can be too hard, it can also be too easy and I think that is the case here. I completed this in just one single sitting (3 attempts) and when that happens, I don't really feel like I got my money's worth. This situation COULD allow for a high score if the book was really interesting but unfortunately this one just isn't. I found the story to actually be pretty weak in fact. The hammer situation isn't particularly well done (sounds like a pretty crappy warhammer)  and the map you are given in the prologue reminded me of the great episode of Blackadder 2 where Rowan Atkinson is given a blank map of the area he will be traversing and told the foremost cartographers of the land would be very grateful if he could just fill it in as he goes along!

The purchasing of magic items and introduction of Yaztromo was interesting enough but the implementation of magic was done much better by Steve in Citadel of Chaos. Even understanding the limitations of the gamebook, you don't seem to have nearly enough ways to use the items you purchase. And then of course, there is the issue of the "time-warping forest". This is the mechanic whereby if you don't have both parts of the hammer when you reach Stonebridge, you can walk back around the outside of the forest to start over while the forest resets. This destroys immersion and believability and does not work in the slightest. I'm not sure why you wouldn't just start over like in every other book?  I suppose it could help you if you only had one part of the hammer, but then you would know where it was so shouldn't have any trouble picking it up again anyway.

All that said, there are some pretty good individual encounters here such as the Shape-changer, Wyvern and Werewolf (I'm a sucker for werewolves, possibly my favorite creatures) and the setting of the forest and plains is engrossing enough that overall I'm still glad I played it even if it is nothing to write home about.

Ranking: Still in the early stages so the rankings are still easy. While decent, the first 2 books were clearly more enjoyable, therefore this goes down to the bottom at #3.

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4. Starship Traveller - Score = 2.0    Tier = Bad!

Attempts to beat: 17 excruciating attempts

Good grief. This book is truly awful. Not because of the sci-fi setting either. I love sci-fi and was greatly looking forward to the change of pace to be provided here. Unfortunately, while this entry starts off promisingly enough by rolling up stats for your ship and crew (I get to have a whole crew with their own stats? Awesome!), once you actually start the book it goes off a cliff almost immediately.

The story here is incredibly weak. I kept trying to make sense of why the coordinates of the black hole you are trying to get to would be scattered across various planets but I couldn't come up with anything. Is a black hole that hard to find in this universe? Maybe just try the most technologically advanced planet? Surely they know the exact location of the black hole or nobody does. Oh that's right, you have to find the CORRECT black hole. This BOOK is a black hole!

Maybe I'm over-analyzing the "book" part of it but that's what happens when there isn't much "game" to speak of. The fact you can beat the book without ever rolling the dice once after creating your characters just boggles my mind. Gee, I'm sure glad I spent all that time rolling up those characters. Time well spent there!

Maybe the biggest reason why I can't forgive this book is how lazy it feels. It has an abbreviated number of sections as opposed to the usual 400 and there are references made that never turn up again. What was the warp speed reference all about? As far as I could tell it never came up again. If I had paid full price for this back in the day I would seriously want my money back.

There is also another Warlock of Firetop Mountain style maze here that I solved by mapping using the paragraph numbers instead of drawing a proper map. When you have to map using the paragraph numbers, that is never a good sign.

It's a shame too because if Steve went back to re-visit this and maybe expanded it to 600 or more sections, have each planet be its own self-contained mini adventure, have the method of finding the black hole make a bit more sense, and for the love of Captain Picard add some meaningful combats (especially ship to ship combat) he might have really had something. C'mon Steve, please go back and release a Starship Traveller Redux edition! As it stands, it's hard to picture that the author who wrote the fantastic Citadel of Chaos is also responsible for this rubbish.

I gave it a couple of points for the crew idea and choosing which ones you take with you to the planets which was neat. This score also leaves room for a future book to score even lower than this and God help me if there is a worse one in the series. I might as well order my cyanide pill now.

Ranking: HAHAHAHA!!!

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5. City of Thieves - Score = 8.5    Tier = Great!

Attempts to beat: 8

Ahhhhh that's better. After the travesty of the last book it feels good to get back in the sweet spot again. City of Thieves gets a LOT of things right. The prologue is really quite good in setting up (initially at least) a top notch villain with Zanbar Bone and the atmosphere of the city itself is fantastic. The opening third of the book even has 3 different paths you can take and still win through any of them (a rarity for Livingstone). The City really does feel like a place you wouldn't want to be caught out after dark in with brigands and cutthroats lurking around every corner. The creation of atmosphere is really proving to be a Livingstone strong suit. There are a couple of missteps however. The Bays Ball game is incredibly immersion breaking if only briefly. Creatures playing baseball Ian? C'mon man. That's incredibly dumb. Thankfully you don't need to go the way of this encounter but unfortunately there is a point where you need to get a tattoo of a unicorn on your forehead which is pretty ridiculous to say the least.

Still, this book was well on its way to a 9 or maybe better score but dang, the third act really dropped it down a few notches as the quality falls off precipitously. After the great setup and visual of the main villain, the final battle against him is really rather quite lame. Ian should have gotten some help from Steve on how to do a boss battle as this really isn't anywhere near as exciting as it should have been. I've also saved my biggest gripe with this book for last. The IDIOTIC "choose from 3 different combination of ingredients" fiasco. This is gamebook unfairness at its worst. Unless you are pretty lucky, you will probably guess wrong on your first attempt and have to start over knowing that you aren't going to experience anything different on your next playthrough and could very well guess wrong again the next time you make it there after who knows how many tries at beating the high skill Moondog again. There should have been some kind of clue somewhere in the book as to what the correct ingredients were, even if it was tough to find. I kept reading the note from Nicodemus over and over thinking there was some hidden clue in the text. Apparently there isn't. This kind of random guessing game is maddening. For what it's worth, I guessed correctly on my 2nd guess at it. Not sure if I should be happy or not about that but I do know I was INCREDIBLY relieved I got it right that 2nd time.

Ranking: This was well on its way to the #1 spot until that final act which knocked it down below Citadel of Chaos which retains the top ranking. Still a great book overall though!
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6. Deathtrap Dungeon - Score = 9.0    Tier = Great!

Attempts to beat: 28

Wow, what a dungeon! For the second book in a row Ian Livingstone has provided a great book with atmosphere to spare. Another really well done prologue that sets the stage for the adventure to come. Having the book take the form of a contest rather than killing a particular baddie is really a great idea. As is the inclusion of other contestants that join you in this test of intelligence and swordsmanship. The ninja seems a little out of place in a fantasy setting mind you but he is so badass I didn't mind in the slightest.

Yes, the book is VERY difficult and punishing and I'm not sure I agree with other defenses of this fact being that the contest itself would be incredibly difficult. Hunting down and killing an evil sorcerer would be incredibly difficult too I imagine but I don't think if that was the plot the book would be given a free pass on the difficulty level. What I DO think defends the difficulty level is that I was having so much fun going through the dungeon and exploring I didn't really mind (for the most part) having to play it over and over as I slowly mapped out my route. Where could I pick up all the correct gems? Where could I squeeze out an extra stamina point or two? Where could there be a much needed extra luck point?  Where were the best points in the adventure to use my provisions? etc. Exploring to find the locations of all the gems (some of them needed, some not) is incredibly satisfying. There is a relevatory moment of triumph whenever you find a new one. I say I didn't mind the difficulty for the most part because after 28 attempts I did feel that maybe there was just one extra high skill enemy near the end too many. I had long ago figured out the route but just wasn't getting the dice rolls. I have a bad feeling this situation might get worse as I go through the range but we shall see.

I think Ian learned from the flat out stupid ingredients guessing game that marred the end of City of Thieves. Oh, there is another guessing game at the end of this book where you have to put the gems in the correct spots, but doing it incorrectly results in a stamina loss, not instant death. THAT is how it should be and it is very well implemented here. Yes, there are several points in the adventure where if you turn one way instead of another you've already lost even if you don't know it yet. However this is nothing new for gamebooks and Ian Livingstone penned ones in particular.

A highlight of the adventure is the fantastic inclusion of a companion for a brief time in Throm the barbarian. Although he seems so reluctant to touch anything in the dungeon I wonder how the heck he expected to find all the gems! Other great encounters include the Trialmaster, the Mirror Demon, the Bloodbeast featured on the cover, and of course the aforementioned badass Ninja. The trick he attempts to play on you is really quite clever! On the other hand, and although he can be avoided, the Pit Fiend didn't seem to make much sense to me. How much would that thing have to eat every day?

The satisfaction on finally beating this book was really something. I wanted to sit back and light up a big fat cigar and I don't even smoke!

Ranking: Dang this was the toughest one yet. I spent a couple of days trying to decide which one I enjoyed more, Citadel of Chaos or Deathtrap Dungeon. I knew I had to give them the same score, it was that close. But which one would get the tiebreaker and the higher slot in the rankings? Ultimately I had to go with Deathtrap Dungeon. The tiebreaker being that overall I got more playtime out of it (a lot more actually). All other things being equal, the book that gave me more total hours of enjoyment will get the edge. Therefore, in a photo finish we have a new current #1 in the rankings!
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7. Island of the Lizard King - Score = 8.0    Tier = Good

Attempts to beat: 16

What a great little adventure! I have to say, after my first few attempts on this one I wasn't really all that impressed as it initially felt a bit generic, but it grew on me more and more as I played it until by the time I finished I found myself enjoying it very much. As in the previous book, we are provided with a companion here in the seafaring Mungo. However, his time is VERY short lived. My time was very short lived in one of my earliest playthroughs as well though. Upon seeing Mungo attacked by a giant crab I took the "every man for himself" approach and ditched him only to find out that ignoble decision is met with instant death. "Such is the price of cowardice" I suppose. The reason I mention this insta-death in particular is that this had to be only 3-4 sections into the book and so far must be the record for my quickest death.

Like City of Thieves, this book provides more than one route in the early game where the adventure can still be won no matter which way you go although the paths meet up at the bottleneck much quicker this time. I really like this approach and hope to see it implemented more often ie. provide several paths that contain different helpful (but not essential items). This allows for much more exploration and experimentation.

The setting here isn't near as good as Ian's previous two books but it's still on the solid side. He really mixes up the locales as we get to traverse beach, jungle, swamp, plains, mines, valleys and mountains. We also get to raise an army of freed dwarven slaves here although admittedly that doesn't factor into the endgame at all which seems like a missed opportunity. Another missed opportunity comes in the form of the shaman encounter which almost serves no purpose at all. Sure he gives you some info about some helpful items, but it's info about items you likely would have acquired anyway. There are also a few pictures of girls in bikinis in this book so can't complain about that! In fact, there is one encounter with a girl and her pet tiger that I'm convinced solely exists to allow for the sexy drawing that accompanies it. And is it just me or does that picture of the marsh-hopper look incredibly like Gollum?

There is a very cool helmet that can be found hidden away which provides an automatic win in the first round of any combat. This is a GREAT idea for an item and is another idea I hope is used again in the future.  The endgame also contained a nice balance of difficulty with battles being made easier if you had certain items and more difficult if you didn't as opposed to automatic game over for missing something seemingly innocuous earlier in the adventure.

I have to give a special shoutout to the Gonchong. This horrifying creation somewhat along the lines of the face-hugger from Alien is really well done and is probably my favorite FF creature creation to date (seeing as how Steve or Ian didn't invent werewolves!). The story could have been told with just the Lizard King himself, but the addition of the Gonchong (and also the Black Lion) really added some great extra layers to the final sequence. Well done Ian. You are on a roll sir!


Ranking: I really don't have much bad to say about this book. If there is anything that holds it back it's the blandness of some of the areas (plains, mountains) and early encounters. The best encounters all seem to be during the end game. This book isn't at the great level of Ian's two previous books, but definitely still very good.  If the mines section had been fleshed out a bit more and if the dwarven army you raise had come into play at the end of the book (what was the point in telling you how many soldiers you had?) I could easily see this having made it to the great tier. As such, it's not quite as good as City of Thieves, but better than Warlock of Firetop so that's where it goes!   
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8. Scorpion Swamp - Score = 5.8    Tier = OK

Attempts to beat: 3

A case of substance over style here I think. I'm really rather impressed with the free movement system on offer here. Being able to move freely between the various clearings is much more realistic and allows for some great exploration without having to worry about missing a key item which basically ends your adventure with no opportunity to go back. The "other" Steve Jackson really went out of his way to devise a new approach and that in itself works really well. Unfortunately, the mechanic just isn't really put to good use as the story isn't very interesting.  We are offered our choice of three different quests, Good, Neutral, and Evil. The Good, and Neutral quests are really quite bland with only the Evil quest being somewhat involving. If you do the Good or Neutral quest before the Evil however, you will know exactly where to find all the Masters of the swamp which severely robs this quest of any tension.

I knocked Forest of Doom for being too easy and I have to do the same for Scorpion Swamp. I completed all the quests in one evening and again didn't feel like I had gotten my money's worth out of the book. The 3 different quests available here would seem to add replayability but I'm not really sure that's the case. Once you've mapped out the swamp and the various clearings you should really have no problem easily navigating your way through. This includes avoiding the stupid Sword Trees which might be the most frustrating creature encounter in any book so far. Also, many times when you re-visit a clearing after the initial pass through you find it is simply empty. Not very interesting in the slightest.

I call it a swamp but it is really that in name only. There is a cavern, river, even a town that make it seem that the swamp was only a small part of the map proper. And what is with the numbered clearings? Is there a wooden sign at every clearing denoting its number? Who numbered them? The player character? If it's the player then why not use sequential numbers (Clearing #1, #2, #3 etc) instead of the apparently random numbers used? A bit puzzling and somewhat immersion breaking.

The encounters here are also really quite dull. The Masters of the swamp come the closest to being interesting but even they are often on the boring side. Some of the encounters are even ridiculous and seem out of place such as the aforementioned Sword Trees, the Brigands, and even the monster from the cover. The town of Willowbend also seems to be strangely located nestled where it is on my map.

All that said, much like Forest of Doom this isn't bad by any means. It just doesn't capitalize on what should have led to a much better book. Moving freely among the clearings is great...until you find that there is almost always nothing there in subsequent passes. I think by going with one quest instead of three might have actually led to a better overall experience as it could have been fleshed out more. 

Ranking: It's close with Forest of Doom but I have to give that book the edge due to a slightly better story, encounters, and basically I just enjoyed it a bit more. Scorpion Swamp is still miles better than Starship Traveller though so in between these two it goes!
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9. Caverns of the Snow Witch - Score = 7.8    Tier = Good

Attempts to beat: 27

Gee, you think Ian made this adventure long enough? What an endurance test! I'm fairly amazed by this book. I kept having to peek at the very back of the book to make sure there really were only 400 sections as this feels like much more than that. I guess that speaks to the linearity of the adventure (my map was basically just one long line) but I'm pretty sure I've read other linear ones that didn't feel nearly this long. Having said all that, and as I mentioned in my Deathtrap Dungeon review, Id much rather have a longer adventure than a shorter one if just for the sheer play value. And this one is definitely on the long side!

For the most part I found it enjoyable with enough detractions to keep it out of the great tier although it is still solidly good. It suffers from some pretty strange design choices including a return to the random guessing game like we saw in City of Thieves (c'mon Ian, didn't you learn your lesson? I thought you had figured it out after Deathtrap Dungeon!). The rock-paper-scissors guessing game here isn't quite as bad as it occurs at the halfway point of the book and you actually get a couple of cracks at it before the insta-death kicks in.

There are also some odd story choices here that if changed, could have pushed the score on this book higher. The battle against the Snow Witch herself is VERY weak (the aforementioned rock-paper-scissors game) and occurs at the halfway point. The rest of the book is just you walking home basically. Or, to Stonebridge to be more precise, the home of one of your companions. The fight against the zombie versions of these elf and dwarf companions (Redswift and Stubb respectively) is just bizarre. It was so strange in fact, that as I was playing the back half of the book involving the journey to Stonebridge I was convinced that I was in fact a victim of one of the Snow Witch's illusions. That it had been the ACTUAL elf and dwarf companions I had killed through her trickery, and that I had never in fact left the caverns. (We were told she was a big fan of illusions). I was waiting for this big reveal, whereby I would have a final climactic battle with the Snow Witch after figuring out her evil treachery and paying her back for the death of my companions. Even better, the book could have gone into really "dark twist" territory by revealing in the last section that you had in fact never left the cavern, and would spend your final days there alone in darkness. What a killer ending that would have made! I guess I was giving Livingstone WAY too much credit because alas neither of these proved to be the case and the final act was just a random stream of seemingly unconnected encounters as your stamina slowly ebbs away. And why the heck is the frigging Birdman the toughest unavoidable enemy in the book??? Jeesh!

The encounters in the first two thirds of the book were pretty good though (just ignore the puppy dog eyed picture of the Yeti). The Brain Slayer, Yeti, Ice Demon, Illusionist, Frost Giant, Crystal Warrior, Banshee, and Sentinel were all pretty memorable and well done. I had the added bonus of always singing "The Sentinel" by Judas Priest every time I got to that battle!

All in all a solid adventure and another one with good atmosphere (at least until you leave the caverns) from Livingstone. As a personal note, was that old man you encounter on the plains lugging all his belongings supposed to be the newly evicted Zagor? I just thought it strange that the question of whatever happened to the warlock of Firetop Mountain is brought up by one of your companions the second before he appears!


Ranking: This book is solidly in the good tier for me. Is it hard? Heck yes, but I like that in a gamebook as long as it doesn't go into ludicrous territory and this one doesn't quite go that far. I suspect I might be in the minority but I actually enjoyed it more than Warlock of Firetop but not quite as much as Island of the Lizard King so it slots in between those two.
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10. House of Hell - Score = 9.5    Tier = Great!

Attempts to beat: 18

An instant classic! Steve Jackson must have really wanted to make up for Starship Traveller because he hits this one out of the park. I'm big on atmosphere in the books and this one has it in spades and just drips with dread. The prologue is near perfect and is easily the best one to date. I say near perfect because there is a somewhat clumsy sentence about the lack of a phone line you didn't notice (huh?) but this is at the end of the intro and doesn't really detract from the brilliant setup.

To be fair, this book isn't really a Fighting Fantasy gamebook per se. The genre isn't fantasy (it's set on Earth) and there isn't much in the way of fighting. I wonder if it might have been better to release as a stand-alone book, or even a beginning to a new gamebook Horror series. It might be more accurate to describe it as a puzzle book and I love that about it. The few combats that the book does contain are not particularly difficult, the difficulty comes from slowly mapping out the house, determining which rooms and pathways contain needed items or information, which ones needlessly dial up your Fear score, and which ones are death trap dead ends. Difficulty in a gamebook that comes from finding the true path is much more preferable than difficulty that comes from needing a series of unlikely dice rolls. (Caverns of the Snow Witch for example). There is a VERY tight path to victory to find here and the fun comes in discovering it.

The villain(s) in this book are truly exceptional. The opening setup involving the dinner with the Earl is very well done and you know right away this wont be your typical Fighting Fantasy adventure. From there you slowly make your way through this creepy old house on a dark and stormy night with all its hidden passageways and terrible secrets to uncover. Some of the stand out encounters here include the Ghost outside the Apollyon room, the Vampire (there couldn't NOT be a vampire in this house!), the Poltergeist, Shekou the hunchback, the Torturer, the Devil Worshippers, and of course the Earl of Drumer and his butler Franklins. Giving the various rooms in the house the names of demons was also a particularly very nice touch. An added bonus comes in the great final victory paragraph. Best one of those to date as well!

I do wish there was a way to encounter the ceremony going on in the basement and still win through the adventure (perhaps involving somehow saving the girl being sacrificed down there) because this is a truly blood curdling section of the book. That being said, it is incredibly unlikely you WONT go through the encounters down here as this book will require many playthroughs. It just would have been nice to rescue the girl here who presumably dies at the end of the book even when you win.

I highly suggest playing this at night, in dim lighting with a thunderstorm outside. The immersion factor is incredible!

Ranking: No problem here. This is easily for me the best one of the range so far and as such we have a new champion at #1!
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Hall of Famers chronologically from books 1-10

1 The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (*)
2 The Citadel of Chaos
5 City of Thieves
6 Deathtrap Dungeon
10 House of Hell

Well, you can certainly see why Fighting Fantasy took off as a phenomenon. A full 50% of the first 10 books are Hall of Famers in my view. Including 4 of the first 6! I have an asterisk beside Warlock of Firetop Mountain because strictly speaking from a score and ranking standpoint, this wouldn't have made the classics list. However, I feel it merits a special exemption into this class due to its iconic place in gamebook history and its success leading to the creation of the series as a whole. If someone were to ask me for a list of the must-plays in this series, I could not in good conscience omit it. It will likely be the only book to get this exemption but I feel it is well deserved.

It's a tall order to expect this ratio of Hall of Fame books to continue as I advance through the series but hopefully I am proven wrong and we can keep this momentum going! Im looking forward to seeing what the next group of 10 books has to offer.