I always found the Lone Wolf series to spin an interesting enough yarn, but to fall far short of the more vivid and intense experience offered by Fighting Fantasy.This second book in the series is a good read, and the story is much, much better than the slightly damp squib that was the first book. It benefits from the sense of continuity, following directly on from 'Flight From the Dark', and allowing the reader's character to progress as a result of his experiences.This book has much, much more plot than volume 1. However, the rationale for that plot is a little weak and thin. Basically, your besieged kingdom once loaned the Sommerswerd, the only weapon capable of slaying a Darklord and saving the capital city, to a neighbouring city, who promised to give it back if it was ever needed. Makes no sense to give up your only defence in my opinion. Nor does it make any sense that only this single weapon and no other in the entire world can save you now. Even if it was a hugely costly magical device, you'd invest every penny and have every wizard in the kingdom working on making more of them if it was so essential.Anyhow, I digress. Lone Wolf is naturally the only person capable of recovering the Sommerswerd, so he's sent packing on a ship to collect it.The book actually makes a really decent job of representing the long and hazardous journey. There are troubles and sabotage at sea, resulting in you being left clinging to a piece of driftwood. Then you may or may not get robbed and need to recover your essential items. A journey by carriage ensues, with an assassin among your fellow passengers on the coach. This aspect, and the subtle visual clue hidden in one of the illustrations rather than the text, which ultimately identities the assassin, is very well handled.You then make your way across country, pursued by Helghast (like Nazgul, but with worse complexions), who can only be harmed by magical weapons. Finally, you are given the Sommerswerd by the neighbouring king and sent back home with a war fleet. This, naturally, is attacked by a fleet of 'death hulks' manned by undead crews. But what do you know? If you manage to leap aboard their flagship and single handedly kills its crew and scuttle it, all the others will sink too! It's a jarring moment that detracts from the sense of real danger, but the section does at least read well and keep the excitement flowing.Then you arrive back home, stand in a watchtower and simply send out a ray of power from the Sommerwerd which incinerates the Darklord leading the enemy army in his tent and makes all his soldiers run away. Call me a cynic, but this, which should have been the climax of the book, where I was hoping for a large scale battle climaxing with a duel against the Darklord, was utterly ludicrous and entirely laughable. I wonder, had Joe Dever reached the limit of his page count?The book also punishes the reader for being honourable. You need a magic spear to get past an unskippable encounter with Helghast. But when you first find the spear, your Sixth Sense skill if you have it, seems to warn you off taking it. Then when you do figure out on a later playthrough that you're supposed to take the thing, if you give it to an ally to protect himself while he guards your back, the Helghast will kill you. Instead, our brave hero is supposed to say, "Sod you, you'll have to fend for yourself, my skin is more important!" Hooray, selfishness rules! Who needs Darklords when Lone Wolf is your 'ally'?Your skills are also occasionally ignored when it is convenient for the plot to do so. I can't believe that anyone of Lone Wolf's status with the Sixth Sense skill could possibly have been fooled, overpowered and robbed by the fishermen. This is bad plotting.It also has to be said that the Sommerswerd is way, way overpowered. I suspect this will be 'adjusted' in later books in the series by simply boosting the stats of enemies. In which case, what is the point of its wondrous powers in the first place?I have serious niggles with this book, but it does succeed in conveying the sense of a perilous journey, being hunted by assassins and worse. The sense of being part of an epic, unfolding adventure that progresses through the series of books is also compelling. Deeply flawed, and definitely the weakest of the series of gamebooks I'm currently revisiting, but readable and enjoyable for all that.
