DISCOVERING  THE  SECRETS  OF  SALAMONIS

                                Is it just me or is the cover a tad dull with muted colour ?

                     And the gold foil letters on my copy are already beginning to flake and fade....

Based on two attempts so far, I am giving this one a tentative thumbs up but with grave reservations.

You have to wonder just how much of this book was actually written by Steve Jackson and how much of it

we can attribute to Jonathan Green ?

The opening section is an almost total disaster with it's puerile tone and misguided attempts to be

broadly humorous. I also didn't care for how we are told about what we are saying to other characters.

And a talking dog ? That nearly killed it stone dead for me.

Mercifully, things picked up after I fooled the dwarves with a card trick. A little voice in my head kept saying

" Ok this is more like it ! "

Training, exploring and choosing of quests kept me happy until I perished once more in the sink pits of Bu Fon Fen.

By that stage ,a warm glow of nostalgia was flowing through me as I realised that FF and Steve Jackson had come full circle.

Looking forward to further playthroughs !

Note to first time readers : don't be discouraged by the early section - persevere and you will be rewarded !

For what it's worth, here is my full review - warning - may contain minor spoilers !

A confession up front- I had to cheat in order to progress to the final section of the book.

At times, it felt as if I were reading CREATURE OF HAVOC REDUX, almost like a tour of old haunts from that previous

( and far superior ) adventure. Nothing wrong with re-visiting a classic but it just felt like a re-hash at times.



The GOOD points - The art is very impressive - clear and concise- always a plus in a FF book.

- The Shriekers are a truly frightening adversary and the mystery behind them is ingeniously plotted

by Jackson although true to form , he leaves some questions hanging in the air - for a sequel perhaps ?

- The nostalgia factor is very high in this one with many nods to the history of FF.




The NOT SO GOOD points - I didn't care for the patchwork approach of having mini-adventures and then going back to Salamonis

for the umpteenth time. This led to an awful lot of repetition. I just prefer the more linear style

of adventure.


- In order to complete the final quest, you need quite a few rare items to hand and if you don't have them,

its GAME OVER. Business as usual in Allansia !


- As I mentioned before , the opening section is near fatal and very off putting.


So there you go, SECRETS OF SALAMONIS is enjoyable enough but it could have been so much more.

Just a few additions to my earlier review :


GOOD POINTS : An alternate title for this book could have been FIGHTING FANTASY BEGINS

in the sense that it seems to be setting you up to be the adventurer in the original series.

There is even a bad but good ending which directly segueways into CITADEL OF CHAOS !


NOT SO GOOD POINTS : In one scene, YOU seem to be having a future vision dream of being inside Firetop Mountain.

While I can see the logic in this, was it really necessary for Steve to repeat the exact text verbatim from WOFTM ?

This just seemed pointless.

Ok enough time has passed to have a retro look back at Steve Jackson's latest opus.

It couldn't help but feel just a tad disappointing after all the anticipation.

And it didn't help that the title and cover made it resemble a guide to angling.

But still plenty of good stuff in there to digest and enjoy.

                    ASSASSINS OF ALLANSIA  -  MY   (  LONG OVERDUE  )   REVIEW

Ok this  has been a  long time coming,  been meaning to post this for ages but

just never got around to it until now.   This entry is an odd one, sandwiched between

Livingstone's earlier efforts and the recent new releases.   

First up - the cover :

I really like this one  -  its  colourful and eye catching - the  blue of the font and Lord

Azzur's  robes contrasting nicely with the gold  background  -   however you cant 

judge a book by its cover so let's delve into its mysteries.

The starting premise has you willingly stranded an a dangerous island in order to earn some gold.

I know I'm not the only reader who found this to be somewhat far fetched.   An adventurer could earn

 more in one day if he played his cards right in Port Blacksand. !    Accepting a bet from your friend just

 seems to be a contrived way to get you on the island  but  it would have been more satisfying to have

 you wash up from a shipwreck for example.    It must be noted here that said island does contain a lot

 of dangerous elements such as insects and poisonous plants etc.    No sooner have you settled into this

Robinson Crusoe lifestyle when an assassin comes knocking on the door of your makeshift hut. 

Kudos to Livingstone  for making this early section extremely  eerie and effective.   You awaken during

 the night , not knowing who is outside or why.   (  or for that matter how he reached the island in the

 first place  )      A violent altercation  ensues with this knife fighter.   After dispatching him, you

 discover he is wearing a scorpion pendant.  This will become a familiar sight as you progress through

 the book.

After various other encounters on the island,  you learn that a bounty has been placed on your head by

 Lord Azzur due to your  interference with Zanbar Bone.    Now all of his top assassins are converging

 on your location  to compete for the honour of killing YOU.     Honestly, at this point,  the plot began

 to resemble that of   THE  PINK  PANTHER  STRIKES  AGAIN   wherein all of the world's top

 hitmen  try to kill Inspector Clouseau  !    

                                                Could this be the man they are looking for  ?

So we can  assume that this adventure is set between  CITY OF THIEVES  and  DEATHTRAP DUNGEON    (  for reasons that will  become clear later in the book  )

Sadly , your friend  Captain Crow dies shortly after you learn this news but you somehow manage to make it off the island and back to the mainland.  Then things really start to pick up.  !

The titular assassins are now coming at you thick and fast, some in subtle ways.  Others are not  so subtle.

Such as  Garanka Vassell,  a blood thirsty warrior and all round mad bastard.

                                Definitely not a face that stands out in a crowd. Oh no.

I should point out that  every time you manage to slay an assassin,  you collect another pendant.

SPOILER - you need to have a certain number of these to proceed to the final stage of the book - END

OF SPOILER.     It will take  you quite a few attempts to find the optimum path  which allows you to

confront / be ambushed by as many assassins as possible.

Having dispatched as many as you can ,  your final port of call is FANG itself  and who should you run into but  THROM ,  a familiar face from DD.   

                    Lord Azzur  ( on the right  )  -  by all accounts, a thoroughgoing bastard

And so we reach the endgame,  the showdown with Lord Azzur himself,  the man who has made your

life a misery.   Let me warn you  right now that this guy is EVIL  through and through.  There is no

 way to beat him , no way to come out on top.  The  best you can do is survive and live to fight another day.

As I mentioned earlier , you need to have acquired a certain amount of pendants in order to satisfy

Lord Azzur.   If you don't have the right amount, its  GAME  OVER.   But even if you  do have

 enough,  your only reward is to be offered   a  '  lesser of two evils  ' choice -   enter Deathtrap Dungeon or be killed on the spot.

So there you go folks,  its a no win scenario of the worst sort.    Having the book with you entering DD

 is a clever bit of dovetailing on Livingstone's part   but it still leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Maybe someone could write a sequel in which YOU  hire a bunch of assassins to kill Lord Azzur.   Now

 THAT would be fun  !