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tiggum's review
3.0
After the Grand Master and New Order books, this is quite a refreshing change. It's a lot more like the Kai series, with the protagonist being relatively weak and the best course of action usually being to run away. The combat system is a massive improvement too. Whereas there's nothing you can really do to offset a low Combat Skill in Lone Wolf, the addition of Willpower gives you the ability to win a fight even if you're at a severe disadvantage - as long as you've got the Willpower to spend, that is.
Unfortunately, a lot of the rules don't seem to be well thought-out or explained. The Project Aon version of the book is littered with footnotes explaining how things work and what to do in particular circumstances, and even then it's still not entirely clear sometimes. As bad as Dever could be about writing clear rules, Page is a lot worse.
The other issue is the difficulty. You will die the first time you try this book. Probably the second and the third too. It's like one of those old video games where playtime was extended by having you repeat the early sections every time you died. And like those games, you do need to get through those early sections almost perfectly to stand a chance in the second half of the book.
I don't really see that as a negative though, given the target audience. Kids playing this book would most likely want to play it repeatedly. By making it challenging but not unwinnable, Page has actually given value for money. You can beat this book - even with low ability score rolls - but you're going to have to try and fail a few times to learn how to avoid all the traps.
As far as the actual story goes, it's fine. It's very Dever-esque. It's not great literature, but it's good enough. The only issue, really, is that it's not a complete story. This is just part one. Which is actually basically the same as [b:the first Lone Wolf book|893396|Flight from the Dark (Lone Wolf, #1)|Joe Dever|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388331153s/893396.jpg|2283922]. I prefer the separate, complete stories, but this way is also OK.
Unfortunately, a lot of the rules don't seem to be well thought-out or explained. The Project Aon version of the book is littered with footnotes explaining how things work and what to do in particular circumstances, and even then it's still not entirely clear sometimes. As bad as Dever could be about writing clear rules, Page is a lot worse.
The other issue is the difficulty. You will die the first time you try this book. Probably the second and the third too. It's like one of those old video games where playtime was extended by having you repeat the early sections every time you died. And like those games, you do need to get through those early sections almost perfectly to stand a chance in the second half of the book.
I don't really see that as a negative though, given the target audience. Kids playing this book would most likely want to play it repeatedly. By making it challenging but not unwinnable, Page has actually given value for money. You can beat this book - even with low ability score rolls - but you're going to have to try and fail a few times to learn how to avoid all the traps.
As far as the actual story goes, it's fine. It's very Dever-esque. It's not great literature, but it's good enough. The only issue, really, is that it's not a complete story. This is just part one. Which is actually basically the same as [b:the first Lone Wolf book|893396|Flight from the Dark (Lone Wolf, #1)|Joe Dever|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388331153s/893396.jpg|2283922]. I prefer the separate, complete stories, but this way is also OK.
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