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Post by thealmightymudworm on Mar 15, 2014 15:44:47 GMT
From TUFFF (November 2009)... So... What are these like? I've never read them. I do know they were co-written with Carl Sargent though, which of course adds fuel to the fire that Keith Martin = Carl Sargent... |
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Mar 15, 2014 15:45:13 GMT
From TUFFF... I read them years ago, and found the series a pretty uninspired generic fantasy quest. As I recall, in just about every book, the heroes eventually find a way to defeat Zagor, but then it turns out that he's found a way to come back even stronger for the next book. |
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Mar 15, 2014 15:45:44 GMT
From TUFFF... Some of the worst things I've ever tried to read unfortunately... I think I got half way through Skullcrag and gave up. I'd actually like to see them deconstructed and work out the whole Zagor/Almarilla/Titan thing, but I can't bear to do it myself! |
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Mar 15, 2014 15:47:39 GMT
From TUFFF... I'd actually like to see them deconstructed and work out the whole Zagor/Almarilla/Titan thing, but I can't bear to do it myself! I'll be doing some of it soon, as I've just finished HOTWW, which means Skullcrag is up next. IIRC there's a bit in Skullcrag about how Zagor influenced the early years of Amarillia which is why there are so many similarities between there and Titan/Allansia. The only thing I'm looking forward to is that Skullcrag features Gonchongs, the Dark Elf city beneath Darkwood (which really should have been in Eye of the Dragon), and is less than 200 pages long! Impudent Peasant! |
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Post by Jon on Nov 26, 2015 23:13:12 GMT
It's amazing how much better the Legend of Zagor gamebook was than these novels. The gamebook made the first two in the series seem so much more impressive than they actually were having waded through them.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,451
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Nov 27, 2015 10:46:21 GMT
To be fair, eating a cockroach sandwich is preferable to reading the Zagor Chronicles.
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Post by Jon on Nov 27, 2015 22:47:31 GMT
Unfortunately yes. The picture book, the Casket of Souls that was in the library of my junior school was also much more intellectually stimulating than any of the Chronicles. At least the reader felt they were getting somewhere by reading it. They get to be the one to trap the demon.
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Klea
Wanderer
Writing Lyssia Ulmer's marriage for Camp NaNoWriMo (based on King's Heir: Rise to the Throne)
Posts: 57 
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy (Sorcery!)
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Post by Klea on Dec 12, 2015 3:55:38 GMT
Heh, I remember when I'd special-ordered A Casket of Souls from a local independent bookstore. When they called me to say it was in, I promptly went down, and announced to the elderly lady who was clerking that day, "I'm here to pick up A Casket of Souls."
For some reason she gave me a somewhat alarmed look... and then a relieved one when she realized I was talking about a book.
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Post by slloyd14 on Aug 15, 2018 21:30:10 GMT
I remember reading them. Zagor isn't even in the first one - it is all about the Casket of Souls etc. The characters don't get much development and the wizards and magical items seem grossly overpowered compared to anything else in canon - being able to summon earth elementals, having magic arrows that split into twelve arrows etc. In hindsight, they read like reports of dungeon crawls.
When writing Dragonlance, Weiss and Hickman had the good sense to skip the bits of the story that seemed too dungeon crawlish and focus on the character interactions and drama.
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Post by CharlesX on Oct 22, 2021 17:09:06 GMT
It's amazing how much better the Legend of Zagor gamebook was than these novels. The gamebook made the first two in the series seem so much more impressive than they actually were having waded through them. I thought LOZ gamebook had underwhelming writing with its 'Heroquest not RPG' feel, its poorly designed character and magic systems, and it's heavy emphasis on combat with little characterisation. Might give Zagor Chronicles a miss then. I think I only half-enjoyed Trolltooth Wars because I'm into FF. |
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Post by nathanh on Nov 8, 2021 6:34:51 GMT
I wouldn't waste your time. From what I remember, the only interesting thing in the whole series was the twist at the end of book 3 (or start of book 4?)
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Post by philsadler on Nov 8, 2021 7:58:04 GMT
Just in case you didn't know. Ian Livingstone had these books ghost-written by Keith Martin.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,451
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Nov 8, 2021 8:00:52 GMT
Just in case you didn't know. Ian Livingstone had these books ghost-written by Keith Martin. Well, partly. Carl Sargent is credited as a co-author which is more than he got for Legend of Zagor. |
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Post by philsadler on Nov 8, 2021 8:09:51 GMT
True. So, that's 5 books in total that we know of that Livingstone claimed to write but didn't: anymore I'm not aware of?
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Post by slloyd14 on Mar 26, 2022 9:37:09 GMT
I remember reading them. Zagor isn't even in the first one - it is all about the Casket of Souls etc. The characters don't get much development and the wizards and magical items seem grossly overpowered compared to anything else in canon - being able to summon earth elementals, having magic arrows that split into twelve arrows etc. In hindsight, they read like reports of dungeon crawls. When writing Dragonlance, Weiss and Hickman had the good sense to skip the bits of the story that seemed too dungeon crawlish and focus on the character interactions and drama. If I remember correctly, I don't think Zagor is in the third one apart from right at the beginning when they see him stuck in the Heartfires (spoiler for a 30 year old book). So he's not in 50% of his own series. |
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