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A review by tiggum
Shadow on the Sand by Gary Chalk, Joe Dever
3.0
This one's a bit longer than the other Lone Wolf books and is broken into two sections, and I feel like that's a mistake. Part one is really good, especially if you manage to experience both the chase through the city and the prison break (you can skip one or the other depending on your choices), and part two starts really well but really loses steam just before the end when you stop to ask for directions.
And despite the two parts actually being the same length, I always feel like part two is way shorter because of the strange choice Dever made about where to break them up. Rather than ending with your escape from the city of Barrakeesh, part one actually ends a fair bit before that. It is the point where the story's focus shifts from escape to trying to stop the bad guy's plan (that you just learned about), but although it makes sense logically it doesn't feel right.
If it were me I'd probably reduce the book to the normal length for the series and cut out the asking for directions section. Instead, have Lone Wolf fight Haakon in Barrakeesh and then end with the escape via airship. Because as it is the ending feels very abrupt and comes after a needlessly drawn out and boring section.
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The collector's edition bonus adventure, The Tomb of the Majhan, is a bit of a disappointment. There are a lot of blind choices, which I guess is supposed to allow you to replay it and learn the correct path, but I prefer the ones where you can make a reasonable guess as to where each decision will take you.
And despite the two parts actually being the same length, I always feel like part two is way shorter because of the strange choice Dever made about where to break them up. Rather than ending with your escape from the city of Barrakeesh, part one actually ends a fair bit before that. It is the point where the story's focus shifts from escape to trying to stop the bad guy's plan (that you just learned about), but although it makes sense logically it doesn't feel right.
If it were me I'd probably reduce the book to the normal length for the series and cut out the asking for directions section. Instead, have Lone Wolf fight Haakon in Barrakeesh and then end with the escape via airship. Because as it is the ending feels very abrupt and comes after a needlessly drawn out and boring section.
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The collector's edition bonus adventure, The Tomb of the Majhan, is a bit of a disappointment. There are a lot of blind choices, which I guess is supposed to allow you to replay it and learn the correct path, but I prefer the ones where you can make a reasonable guess as to where each decision will take you.