Flight From The Dark | Book Review | Author: Joe Dever | Publisher: Magmanund "Timeless Adventures For All -You Are Lone Wolf!" 🐺⚔️ #GameBook

When I had the opportunity to cover Magnamund’s Flight in the Dark gamebook, it dawned on me that I used to adore the gamebooks of my childhood and teens, but then they seemed to fall by the wayside - for some reason - for decades.

A couple of years ago, I was in a charity shop in my home town of Cardiff and saw a good number of Fighting Fantasy books for sale and grabbed them all. After reading a couple, the fun of the experience set back in and it sparked some conversations with friends – especially my GF colleague Max – as the design of the books is timeless, and there’s universal accessibility in them that I’ll touch upon later.

In short, the chance to write about Joe Dever’s Flight in the Dark could not have been more timely.

Before I get into the actual coverage of Flight in the Dark, it’s absolutely worth noting the history behind them, Joe Dever released the first two books in 1984 (Flight From the Dark and Fire on the Water) which were published simultaneously by Hutchinson Publishing Limited, with a third book (The Caverns of Kalte) released at the end of that year.

The series went on to be published in over thirty countries, selling over twelve million copies and winning numerous awards in the process. The publishing company wanted to commission four books, but Dever had already planned a series of at least twenty – the man clearly had a vision! 

Set in the fantasy world of Magnamund, the Lone Wolf series follows the adventures of the lone survivor of an ancient caste of warrior monks – The Kai Lords, sworn protectors of the realm of Sommerlund and masters of many natural and supernatural abilities. This campaign of adventure is comprised of five ‘series’, and each series contains a complete storyline.

The publishing history took several turns, but eventually, the series was to see a full thirty-two book-length saga. Tragically, on 29th November 2016, Joe Dever passed away at the age of sixty-one, but his legacy lives on through his son, Ben Dever.

Shortly before his passing, Joe outlined his plans for the final three books of the series, and these notes led to Ben Dever co-authoring the final books with Vincent Lazzari (Dead in the Deep, The Dusk of Eternal Night, and Light of the Kai). With the release of these, the series had finally reached its epic conclusion after forty years. 

With Magnamund now beginning the re-release of each book in the series, beginning with Flight From the Dark, now is the perfect time to dive into the world of Lone Wolf!

Illustrated by Gary Chalk, the cover shows the titular character astride a crevice between rocks, hooded, and brandishing a sword as arrows rain down upon them, and a dark army follows in frenzied pursuit. It sets up the premise for some classic adventure action, and the embossing of the text feels rich, as do the colouring and style used in the image. The spine will hopefully be uniform throughout the releases – as they appear to be numbered – and the back of the book has the usual synopsis, and publishing information and states that this is the first in an ongoing series.

There’s a lot of information to take in, if – like me- you are new to the series, this is a plus as I thoroughly enjoy getting lost in the worlds created by others if they are – as they are here – fully formed and heavy in lore. In comparison to the Fighting Fantasy books, there’s an additional layer of depth here in terms of gameplay, with an initial list of disciplines (magic and abilities), weapon skills and inventory management to handle, alongside the combat table.

At the beginning of the book, there are a couple of pages that lay out the story so far, which gives succinct context to your current situation. This is followed by a series of pages that detail the various Kai disciplines, weapons, game rules, a map of the area, and general details of the Kai. At the back end of the book, there is a chronological history of key moments in the timeline of this universe, followed by breakdowns of the characters and races mentioned as well as details on the various locales.

As you can probably tell, this is all wonderfully hips deep and full-on, it really helps set the scene of the world created by Joe Dever in the reader’s mind. At this point, I will point out that some parts of the book rely on random numbers, and whilst there is a random number chart included in the book for your use, I found it preferable to download a random number generator app on my phone.

The story itself begins with the Lone Wolf being the last survivor of the Kai, and needing to traverse the lands to let the king know of the slaughter of the Kai. The writing is tight and visual, with the choices being quite tense and varied. I liked the use of some items acting as red herrings, taking up needless space in your backpack, this combined with a lot of the choices being reliant on the various disciplines you’ve chosen makes the path and outcome of the adventure feel completely on the shoulders of the player.

This isn’t a ‘one choice is right and the other is instant death’, which means choices don’t feel arbitrary and cheap, every one of them feels important. Quite often I’d come to a junction and flick back to my skills and items page, mulling over the best way to proceed, and wondering if certain items were needed at all, or wishing I had chosen a different discipline at the start when a certain challenge arose before me. This immersion is strengthened by Gary Chalk’s artwork that is used to accentuate certain moments, such as a key battle against an enormous monster or simply to portray the innocent, wide-eyed gaze of an encountered creature featured in the plot, harmless? Or a deadly threat? Turn the page to decide! These images aren’t overly constant, and so add weight and intensity to your journey when you see them, acting almost as a bookmark of your process.

I’d never come across the Lone Wolf series before, but the story behind their creation, the absolute dedication to the completion of Joe Dever’s saga across thirty-two books, the pen-and-ink artwork and the classic setup melded with a true sense of personalisation to your character means that Flight From the Dark feels fresh and yet traditional at the same time.

There’s a timelessness to this adventure, and the passing of the torch from father to son in terms of authorship somehow feels in keeping with the passion and world-building that has lasted over forty years through the Kai series.

SUMMARY

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Flight From the Dark, and I’ve already recommended it to friends and family, I also fully intend to read through it again with my son when he’s a tad older – he’s currently two years old – reading it to him at bedtime, and watching his excitement as he sees his decisions played out in the world of Magnamund.

If like me, you loved gamebooks / choose your own adventure titles and drifted away from them, this is a great place to dive back in. And if this is your first time? You are absolutely in for a treat.

For Sommerlund and the Kai!

PURCHASE LINK:

https://www.magnamund.com/books/flight-from-the-dark