Steve Jackson's Sorcery!

RANKINGS

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1. The Shamutanti Hills - Score = 8.2    Tier = Good

Attempts to beat: 6

A good start! Steve Jackson gets his 4 book series rolling with a very good first adventure (or first part of one big adventure if you'd rather). You will probably want to start by reading the Sorcery Spell Book before beginning The Shamutanti Hills though so you know what the heck is going on in regards to the spells, what they do, how much they cost and most importantly what you have to memorize. This is clearly intended for a more adult audience than some of the Fighting Fantasy entries. You certainly CAN play this series as a warrior instead of a sorcerer as outlined in the intro by using the normal Fighting Fantasy rules. However, I'm not sure why you would want to do this as it seems you would be robbing yourself of some great mechanics and what is in essence the point of the series unique design. I suppose the option of playing as a warrior and not having to memorize the spells could open it up to a wider audience or perhaps provide some replay value if you wanted to revisit it at a later date.

The magic system here has a simple elegance to it. Remember a spell and what item you might need to cast it with, and you can use it.  Remember incorrectly or lack the needed item, and face a possibly severe penalty. Even if you do remember a spell correctly you have to think carefully about the situation you are in before you use it along with its associated stamina cost. This really brings in some great strategy about which spell to use and when, along with searching for that one key item you might need for a more powerful spell.

The story here is fairly typical fantasy gamebook (bad guy steals powerful item and you must retrieve it) although this was probably still pretty new in 1983. However, the set up in the prologue and the writing throughout the book is very well done and immersive so kudos to Mr Jackson on that front. At times I did feel as though the journey was slightly repetitive (climb over a hill, enter a village, stay at the inn or camp rough for the night, move on and repeat). Thankfully though, there were enough interesting encounters that it never quite becomes stale. None of the encounters seemed over-the-top to me either which gave the adventure sort of a grounded realism which I appreciated.

The final sequence in the Svinn village and the battle with the Manticore left a bit to be desired though and was probably the weakest section of the adventure. Playing as a sorcerer, whether you can beat the Manticore seems to come down to picking the correct spells in order or not. It's nice to have the option to fight it with your sword but if you go this route you likely have no chance.

Stamina points are also of higher value here than in normal Fighting Fantasy books as they are required for spells and are much tougher to come by than usual. Provisions don't restore that much stamina and if you don't eat (or sleep) you actually LOSE stamina. I thought this added another great layer of strategy as you not only needed to map out your route in terms of what items you wanted to collect but on where you needed to eat and sleep and where you could acquire a hot meal if necessary.

Despite its larger number of sections compared to most FF books, once you've planned out your optimal route the adventure really isn't all that long. This makes sense as a lot of the sections will need to be used for the various outcomes of all the spells you can employ. I've mentioned in other reviews that the joy in a book such as this comes in exploring and mapping out the ultimate winning route you desire to take. This is very similar to the joy I had in playing Citadel of Chaos and House of Hell (two other Steve Jackson penned books which I don't think is a coincidence). Your path to victory, once discovered, isn't all that long and maybe not even particularly difficult, but a LOT of fun comes in discovering said path through exploring, investigating, and trying new things.


Ranking: The first book in a running series is always the most difficult to score and rank because the series is only beginning its story arc and just introducing its design elements and doesn't want to throw too much at the reader right off the crack. That being said, I wouldn't call this book great, but it's VERY good which for a first book in a series is really quite an accomplishment. I look forward greatly to carrying my character over to the next book which might be the highest praise I can give it.
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2. Khare-Cityport of Traps - Score = 8.8    Tier = Great!

Attempts to beat: 10

Dialing it up a notch! Following up on the somewhat-easy-but-still-very-enjoyable Shamuntanti Hills, the second book in the series cranks things up both in difficulty and overall quality. There is definitely a City of Thieves vibe going on here as Khare allows us to explore another city full of monsters, villains and cutpurses. While I don't feel that Khare is quite as atmospheric as Port Blacksand (it's close)  it's still a character unto itself and there is much fun to be had exploring all its nooks and crannies. 

The goal of the book is to find 4 different spell lines allowing you to open the gate at the other end of the city. This replaces the usual item hunt with a "people" hunt and at least in this case we know what we are looking for before we essentially begin. (Not like some other gamebooks which have you gather items on your way to the end and have you hope you have the ones you need when you get there!). There aren't all that many combats in the book (unless you attack everyone you can but that seems out of character for a hero) but the ones that are here can be really tense and fun. Namely the Deathwraith and the Harpies once you realize if they kill the beggar you are screwed. 

I found the difficulty in finding the spell lines to be just right. I didn't find any of them right away but I also didn't have to spend too many attempts in locating them either. It was also a nice change of pace in that 3 of the 4 were obtained not by fighting some tough creature but by solving some interesting puzzles. 

There are enough early hints to help you find the holder of the first spell line and I was able to solve his puzzle without much difficulty. You could also use process of elimination on this one if you needed with there being only 4 options. Being the first spell line and occurring so early in the book, even if you guess wrong you can still carry on and map out a lot more of the city even knowing that you can't win on that go round. 

The second spell line is a bit hidden in a sort of maze-like street section but didn't take more than a few attempts to find as long as you are exploring all the routes. The riddle you need to solve in acquiring this line threw me off a bit. It mentions that in Bigfoot's family there are 6 sons. My first thought was "a-ha! You aren't going to trick me book! Bigfoot HIMSELF is a son! So therefore he has 5 sons!" But apparently no...he has 6 sons. Maybe I was looking too deep in expecting a trick question there. 

The third spell line is practically screaming out to be found. I mean seriously, what gamebook adventurer is going to pass up the chance to investigate a crypt? That being said, this is the one spell line you will have to obtain by combat and I suspect this battle might actually be easier if you are playing the series as a warrior. The battle with the Deathwraith here can be really tense although this can be greatly alleviated by using the "revitalize" boon from Libra in this fight. 

The last spell line is essentially divided into two parts and I must admit the first part could be easily missed in a few ways if you: 1) choose to ignore the blind beggar, 2) not aid him against the harpies, 3) have him die in battle or 4) not have any gold left to give him (and I think the presence of the wishing well is there to solely try and screw you over in this respect). Once you do manage to obtain his required information though you are given a clue that helps you greatly in acquiring the second part of the last line and combined with the sign hanging over the idol which holds this part I didn't have much trouble because of it although it was still very interesting. 

Still on the subject of puzzles, there is a section where you can get caught in a guillotine trap from an evil innkeeper. You are given a 50/50 chance of living or dying, however there is a picture accompanying this section which seems like it might provide a clue as to which of the options you should choose. I studied this picture for longer than I care to mention (my eyes started to go fuzzy) but damned if I could figure out if you were supposed to pull or release the rope. I eventually just had to guess. And much like the villain in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.......I chose, poorly. Fortunately that is one of those gamebook mistakes that are only made once in an adventure! 

As with The Shamutanti Hills, there is a kind of additional sub-goal here where you are also on the lookout for as many powerful items as you can get your hands on knowing you get to carry them on to the next book. There is one instance where you acquire a green wig and upon completion of that attempt I had to consult the spellbook looking for what that item did as that couldn't be just a random gift. (Your character surely looks like a complete idiot when he uses this!). This brings an added element of mapping to the adventure where you have several priorities (spell lines, useful items, gold, provisions) and chart your route in order to maximize your gains and I find this incredibly enjoyable.

As much fun as I was having with the adventure, I did have a slight problem with the final sequence where you are required to put the four spell lines in order to obtain the reference you need to win. I arranged these lines in every possible way and it seemed to me that there were at least 3 "viable" ways to order them. Perhaps poetically speaking one of these options is more correct than others but that doesn't necessarily mean that's the option that Mr Jackson was going to use. Therefore I was kind of left with a City of Thieves moment where I felt I had a 1 in 3 chance of guessing right at the very end. 

There is also a couple of times where you can meet Flanker, an ally (sort of) that you made in the first book. However, you are required to remember what reference number you need to be on and then also what reference number you need to turn to from said reference number without writing any of it down. Gimme a break! I'm already trying to memorize the spells and what items I need for them! Couldn't they have at least said "if you find yourself at a festival" or "if you find yourself inside an inn" instead of making you memorize the actual paragraph number?  The one time I did manage to remember the reference numbers was the encounter at the inn. Despite being told that remembering the reference is equivalent to you recognizing him, it is actually HE who recognizes YOU. So, wouldn't he have shouted out to me whether I remembered or not then? Oh well. I never liked that dirty bastard anyway. 

Ranking: Despite those last couple of grievances this book is still wonderful stuff and easily in the great tier. The city of Khare is teeming with interesting encounters and an immersive atmosphere. I found this a step up from the previous book as I felt there was more to do and find in this one and the hunting down of the 4 spell lines was an absolute blast. I hope this upward trajectory continues! 

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3. The Seven Serpents - Score = 7.7    Tier = Good

Attempts to beat: 11

Ladders give.....ssssssnakes take! The title of this one sure isnt some clever play on words as there is a heavy snake motif going on in this book. In addition to the titular seven serpents we have serpent staffs, serpent rings, even an unrelated pit full of snakes. And here I thought Ian Livingstone was the gamebook author with the snake fetish!

Much as like in The Shamutanti Hills, we are back into the wilderness for this adventure as we continue our trek to reclaim the stolen crown. Unfortunately, I found the story in this one to be a step back from the previous books. It doesn't feel like these serpents you are hunting would have any trouble in the slightest in evading you on your way to Mampang. I mean, they can fly for crying out loud and the Earth serpent in particular must be a complete moron for letting you find him if he has the ability to travel underground. Maybe they are just supposed to be extremely arrogant or flying is incredibly taxing on them? And why wasn't one of those goldcrest eagles sent along with you as an ally? They can turn invisible apparently so would therefore not jeopardize your stealth mission. Seems like one of these could have come in handy but I digress. The story does have some positive aspects however as the desolation of the opening section comes across pretty well. It was a nice touch having Fenestra aid you with the Sun Serpent in particular as it made the world you are traversing feel more real as obviously not everyone would be content with letting the Archmage take over. However, with the exception of the sorceresses and the serpents themselves I really didn't find too many interesting encounters and a great deal of them seemed a bit on the bland side. The Nighthawks at the very beginning of the book seemed a bit like a waste of time as you only need fight for 3 rounds and you are almost immediately replenished by Shadrack anyway. There is also a puzzling encounter with a whirlwind that I'm still not sure what the heck it was supposed to be. The Tasmanian Devil maybe?


The design of this book is for the most part pretty good but does have some problems. While not nearly as strong as Khare in design, learning the weaknesses of the serpents and tracking them down provides for some interesting exploring. Or, at least it does in the opening plains section. Once you hit the shore of Lake Ilklala you encounter 3 of the serpents one right after the other in rapid succession right before the book ends and this feels kind of rushed.  I also initially felt the search for the weaknesses of the serpents (so key to defeating them) was going to be just as fun and challenging as finding the serpents themselves. However, the aforementioned Fenestra who you encounter in the forest provides you with an info-dump as she alone relates 3 serpent weaknesses to you providing you ask the right question. Somewhat strangely from a design standpoint though, she reveals the weakness of the sun serpent (which she has already captured) and the weakness of the fire serpent which I believe you have already gone past by this point? Also somewhat disappointingly, learning the weaknesses of the serpents isnt always required. When asked if you want to "fight it with your sword, cast a spell, or TRY SOMETHING ELSE?" you can almost be certain it's that last option.

I think the adventure also does itself a disservice but not requiring you to find and destroy all seven serpents. True, the more you find the better position you are apparently in moving on to the final book but still, you can end up missing out on several of the serpent encounters which are really the highlights of the book. Having them provide you with clues for the next adventure by using your serpent ring was also a very cool idea and well implemented and you would have missed out on these in addition. It would have been tougher if you needed to destroy all seven sure, but I think overall the adventure would have been better for it.

Ranking: It probably seems like I'm down on the book based on the review but that's not really the case. I think it's just a product of increased expectations after the first two books in the series as this one was a step backwards for me and clearly not as good as those two. It's still better than a majority of gamebooks out there though and easily in the good tier.
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4. The Crown of Kings - Score = 9.8    Tier = Great!

Attempts to beat: 17

A masterpiece. Jackson concludes his 4 book series with easily the best one of the bunch and that's saying something. You can tell you are in for something special just when you first pick this book up by how thick it is. Clocking in at 800 sections (and granted a lot of sections have to be used for spell outcomes) I don't believe there was another gamebook released with this many sections until DestinyQuest's Legion of Shadow in 2011. Hopefully someone will correct me if there was another but if not, that's a heck of a run for holding that record.

It certainly FEELS like an epic conclusion too. The book opens with a wilderness section that is a good adventure in itself as you just attempt to make it to the front gate of the fortress of Mampang. There are some really great encounters here in the She-Satyrs and Colletus the holy man. Don't sleep on this section either as this area is key in acquiring items that you will need much later in the adventure.

The taking away of the aid from Libra just before you enter the fortress is a clever turn as it builds tension from there on out as you no longer have her to bail you out. I felt some of the tension of the combats through the first 3 books was lessened knowing you could use the Revitalize option if you really needed (only once per book of course but that was usually enough).

There was another neat sequence of just entering the front gate by either luring the guards out and sneaking behind them (which might take some trial and error) or engaging them head on in combat. Once inside we have 4 sets of double doors (the Throben Doors) to advance through before we can face the Archmage. I like knowing this as you can kind of gauge how close you are to your goal.

There isn't all that much involved in passing through the first Throben Door but it dials up in complexity and creativeness after that. Getting through the second Throben Door involves a tricky trip across a crowded courtyard which was very reminiscent to me of the opening section of Citadel of Chaos. We must also deal with the Mucalytics and Valignya in this part and we are helped out greatly if we have the clues to dealing with these characters obtained in the previous book.

Once through the second door we are faced with what I believe is a left-right option where picking the wrong one means you are doomed but I can't really hold that against any gamebook at this point as it's all part and parcel of solving the puzzle of the book. We have a well thought out encounter with some Birdmen here and also meet Naggamanteh the Torture Master. Interestingly, I thought Naggamanteh lets you go pretty easily. If you just pay your respects he not only lets you go but gives you what certainly must be classified information that allows you to pass through the next Throben Door. My reasoning for this was that he really wanted to see the Archmage overthrown himself although he never actually says this.

Once through the third Throben Door we have the interesting Chamber of Night. I made it through this on my first try just by picking the very first reference number given each time as I had nothing else to go on and surprisingly this worked.

As good as the adventure as been overall up to this point, once we encounter Cartoum the Captain of the Guards things get truly excellent from here until right up until almost the end of the book (more on that later). There appears to be several ways to get past Cartoum based on things you may have acquired in earlier books and even fighting him head on you really need to think about the actions you take. This is really well done and is carried over into the encounter with The Marbled Ram in the next room. I have to believe the glass vial obtained in the previous book helps you out greatly here!

Once past the Ram and through the fourth and final Throben Door, we make our ascent up the tower to confront the Archmage. The section with Farren Whyde can be a little frustrating I have to admit because if we remember the clue given to us by The Time Serpent we know (or strongly suspect) that he is the Archmage but aren't given the option to do anything about it! We are funneled off to another tower first. Fortunately this second tower is incredibly well done also.

Getting to meet up with Jann the Minimite again is a treat as is the tension involved in figuring out what the heck you are going to do knowing that magic doesn't work with Jann around....with one exception we eventually discover. The reveal of the ZED spell allowing us to travel back in time to confront Farren Whyde again is a pretty cool moment (even if we knew who he was the first time around).

Initially I thought the final encounter with the Archmage was a bit of a letdown after all this buildup. The final demon battle is actually fairly easy and once defeated we have our victory provided we picked up a key item from Peewit Croo earlier in the book or we have some holy water on us that allows us to escape with the Crown. End boss battles are something Steve usually excels at so I was somewhat surprised at the anti-climactic nature of this one. The more I thought about it though, I suppose the point could be made that this whole area is the boss battle , from the first time we encounter Farren Whyde to the point we defeat the demon. If you think of it in those terms then it's excellent! On a personal note this ending finally gave me the chance to use the RES spell which I don't think I had ever used in any of the previous books. Lugging around that holy water for so long finally paid off!

I have to say, I found Steve's writing in this book to be top notch. The passages are very descriptive and immersive and helps to create a fantastic atmosphere.

There was a point in this book around attempt #14 where I felt like I had stopped making progress. It was then I decided to try killing the two guards sleeping at their post before you reach the front gate (this didn't seem very heroic to me which is why I hadn't tried it up to that point). Doing this gave me a couple of pieces of gold, which I had none of when I started the book. This in turn allowed me to finally give the beggar a gold piece, which opened up a wealth of new information and clues as to what to do next. This just went to show me that even changing a simple action in your path near the beginning of a book can have a ripple effect which can drastically aid you in what to do next. Three attempts later and I had beaten the book. And of course if these books are teaching me anything, it's that if you encounter a beggar, always give them a gold piece!

Ranking: Truly excellent and easily the best book of the series and probably the best gamebook I have played to date. What contributes to make this such is the combination of game design and story. It is chock full of interesting and well thought out encounters and there is vary rarely only one way to get past an obstacle. Brilliant.
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Hall of Famers chronologically

2 Khare - Cityport of Traps
4 The Crown of Kings

Seeing as how all four books can be viewed as one singular big adventure, if you wanted to classify all four as Hall of Famers I couldn't really argue with that. Jackson's gift for gamebook design comes across exceptionally well all throughout the series. The Shamutanti Hills and The Seven Serpents are very good books no doubt, but I don't think they quite reach the same level of greatness as these two. I wonder if I will find another gamebook series with the overall quality of this one. I want them all to be this good!