We round off a trilogy of Jonathan Green Fighting Fantasy books with Stormslayer, which follows Bloodbones and Howl of the Werewolf. Is it a case of the third time’s the charm or is this book falling at the final hurdle? With art from experienced illustrator Stephen Player this takes more of a classic fantasy approach than the more horror themed Howl of the Werewolf. Eagle eyed fans will notice a few neat Easter Eggs for those familiar with his previous work, as well as long standing fans of Fighting Fantasy and the Sorcery series. There’s also a small announcement about the first ever patron only bonus episode. Don’t worry, it won’t become a habit.
Episode 66: Howl of the Werewolf
We’ve seen a fair amount of Jonathan Green lately and that’s not changing anytime soon as we play the Fighting Fantasy book Howl of the Werewolf, his 2007 book with artwork by the redoubtable Martin McKenna. We’ve got a distinctly gothic horror vibe on display here as we head into the dark realm of Lupravia in search of the monster that infected us with lycanthropy. What could possibly go wrong? Listen along to find out.
Review starts at 49:10
Bonus Episode - Steam Highwayman 1: Smog and Ambuscade
We’re doing another open world book this episode in the form of the first Steam Highwayman book by Martin Noutch with art by Ben May. It’s a whopper of a Victorian science fiction extravaganza weighing in at over 1000 sections and featuring all manner of systems and a whole host of different plot lines to explore. Is it any good? Listen along to find out.
Note that the review portion starts at 47:20.
Bonus Episode - Frankenstein
It’s bonus episode time again and we’re playing Dave Morris’s unique take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This is a digital gamebook (played on iOS) which always make for an interesting departure from the classic formula. How will Morris’s take on a classic stand up to the original? Listen along to find out.
Episode 64: The Eye of the Dragon
Ian Livingstone is back! Eye of the Dragon written in 2005 is the first new Fighting Fantasy book since 1995 and Livingstone’s first book since 1992. We’re in proper old school mode for this extended dungeon crawl which has the added bonus of Martin McKenna’s always exceptional artwork. Will it be able to recapture the magic of the series for a new generation? Listen along to find out.
The review portion of the episode starts at 46m22s.
Bonus Episode - The Cave of Time
We’re investigating a key piece of gamebook history this episode as we explore The Cave of Time, the first proper Choose Your Own Adventure book by Edward Packard with art by Paul Granger. With 40 different endings this packs a lot of adventure into a small package. It spawned a wildly successful franchise but is this book actually any good? HJDoom plays it to find out and offers a mildly contentious and completely untested theory about the reason gamebooks exploded in the early eighties.
Bonus Episode - Heart of Ice
It’s bonus episode time again! This time we’re playing through Dave Morris’s seminal Heart of Ice, often touted as the very finest adventure gamebook of all time. It’s the 24th century and Earth has gone very strange indeed as a quixotic computer messes with the climate and the human race clings to an increasingly precarious existence. It as has art by Russ Nicholson which always makes me happy. These bonus episodes, which are free to everyone, are only made possible by the generosity of my patrons. If you’d like to contribute to the running of this podcast, as well as getting a few freebies, then you can do so at patreon.com/hjdoom.