Side questing

"The World Of Lone Wolf" is a quartet of gamebooks spun off from Joe Dever's "L/W" series. While edited by JD, it was written by his buddy Ian Page, lead singer of the mod band Secret Affair. The primary difference is you play a traditional mage as opposed to a ranger with psi powers.

Having beaten the entire main range, I decided it was time to knock over "The World...". At lunch, I finished the opener, "Grey Star The Wizard". It was tough! Even giving myself maximum scores and choosing ultra carefully, I died twice on the way. Grab any healing, don't be afraid to flee from battle and ensure you have the discipline of Prophecy!

"Grey Star" is atmospheric, with a palpable sense of danger throughout and a uniquely poetic cliffhanger. The interior art by Paul Bonner is excellent. Apart from your pretty companion Tanith, his humanoids tend to look like they've stepped out of "The Dark Crystal".  So a Brian Froud influence?

On the downside, the feeling upon reaching the end is very much, "Oh, this was just a lead-up to the real quest." In other words, "G/S/T/W" amounts to a lot of running, avoiding and, as a last resort, fighting for your life! Worse, there are numbering errors that almost wrecked it for me until I consulted the relevant entry on Demian's Gamebook Page.

Those grumbles aside, the strength of the scene-setting and the tantalising final page have left me keen for Book 2!