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The World of Lone Wolf #2
The Forbidden City
Fantasy role-playing at its most exciting. Imagine you are Grey Star, the wizard, embarking on a perilous journey to The Forbidden City. Your magical powers protect you, but the power of the Wytch-king threatens . . .
Paperback
First published March 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 24, 2025
I really loved this series as a quick enjoyable read when they came out. Recommended
July 15, 2022
More Wilderness Wanderings
14 July 2022
I’m starting to find these choose your own adventure stories to be getting a little dull, but maybe it is because I’ve been reading a bunch of them of late, even if it is only to finish them so I can get them back to my friend when I next see him. Anyway, this one is a direct follow-on to the last one, and now that you have discovered the lost tribe, you learn of the location of the gate (which regularly changes its position) and now must travel to it.
The interesting thing about this book is that you suddenly seem to have some companions. One of them is an old wise man from the tribe, though it turns out that he isn’t as infirm as you would expect. Well, he’s actually the one that learns of the location of the gate, so you sort of need him to take you there. You also rescue a couple of people from slavery, a fighter and a thief, so they end up tagging along with you as well.
Like the previous book, much of this is a journey to get to the gate. Fortunately, it isn’t too far, though apparently you only have a couple of days to get there, so you fly for half of the time. Mind you, your steeds end up getting killed, so you then have to walk, but as I mentioned, since you pick up a couple of companions, the trek isn’t too difficult.
Yeah, come to think of it, this story wasn’t too bad. Fortunately, you are fully restored to health at the beginning, and also get more willpower to cast spells, and more health. Willpower is important because since you are a magic user, you need it to be able to fight, especially since your main weapon is firing bolts of energy through your staff.
There is also a little surprise at the end of the book, but of course I’m not going to give that away. It’s a fairly quick read, especially if you don’t actually do any of the fighting, and just assume that you pass all the tests. While I probably should play them properly, time sort of is an issue, and anyway, I’m simply rereading them again since I believe that I did read them initially as a kid.
14 July 2022
I’m starting to find these choose your own adventure stories to be getting a little dull, but maybe it is because I’ve been reading a bunch of them of late, even if it is only to finish them so I can get them back to my friend when I next see him. Anyway, this one is a direct follow-on to the last one, and now that you have discovered the lost tribe, you learn of the location of the gate (which regularly changes its position) and now must travel to it.
The interesting thing about this book is that you suddenly seem to have some companions. One of them is an old wise man from the tribe, though it turns out that he isn’t as infirm as you would expect. Well, he’s actually the one that learns of the location of the gate, so you sort of need him to take you there. You also rescue a couple of people from slavery, a fighter and a thief, so they end up tagging along with you as well.
Like the previous book, much of this is a journey to get to the gate. Fortunately, it isn’t too far, though apparently you only have a couple of days to get there, so you fly for half of the time. Mind you, your steeds end up getting killed, so you then have to walk, but as I mentioned, since you pick up a couple of companions, the trek isn’t too difficult.
Yeah, come to think of it, this story wasn’t too bad. Fortunately, you are fully restored to health at the beginning, and also get more willpower to cast spells, and more health. Willpower is important because since you are a magic user, you need it to be able to fight, especially since your main weapon is firing bolts of energy through your staff.
There is also a little surprise at the end of the book, but of course I’m not going to give that away. It’s a fairly quick read, especially if you don’t actually do any of the fighting, and just assume that you pass all the tests. While I probably should play them properly, time sort of is an issue, and anyway, I’m simply rereading them again since I believe that I did read them initially as a kid.
May 9, 2022
В света на Самотния вълк изгрява нов герой - магьосникът Сива звезда. Ти си магьосникът Сива звезда. Твоята мисия е да върнеш легендарния Лунен камък и с помощта на силата му да свалиш от трона злия крал вещер. Трябва да откриеш Сенчестият портал - вход към магическа област, където камъкът лежи скрит. Когато настъпи пълнолуние, Сенчестият портал се отваря - в Пустата долина отвъд планините Морн, където трябва да се изправиш срещу Забранения град. Прочетете ревюто на „Книжни Криле“: https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/202...
February 14, 2021
Ho letto questo libro (insieme ad altri) perché sto provando a scrivere un libro-game, quindi oltre a scegliere una strada, ho letto anche le altre possibilità e mi ha delusa molto.
Finge di essere un libro a scelte multiple, ma di fatto la storia è una, il finale è quello (se non muori prima), il lettore cambia solo alcuni piccoli dettagli irrilevanti lungo il percorso. Puoi scegliere la porta di destra o di sinistra, ma entrambe ti portano nello stesso posto.
La storia di per sé non è brutta, anzi, se fosse stata un romanzo avrebbe avuto un bel potenziale. Ma messa così, come un falso libro game, mi ha fatto sentire presa in giro, tanto che verso la fine mi sono ritrovata a cercare il modo più breve per arrivare alla fine piuttosto che pensare quale fosse la scelta migliore da compiere, e penso che questo sia un modo riassuntivo per dire che, secondo me, questo libro ha fallito nel suo compito.
Finge di essere un libro a scelte multiple, ma di fatto la storia è una, il finale è quello (se non muori prima), il lettore cambia solo alcuni piccoli dettagli irrilevanti lungo il percorso. Puoi scegliere la porta di destra o di sinistra, ma entrambe ti portano nello stesso posto.
La storia di per sé non è brutta, anzi, se fosse stata un romanzo avrebbe avuto un bel potenziale. Ma messa così, come un falso libro game, mi ha fatto sentire presa in giro, tanto che verso la fine mi sono ritrovata a cercare il modo più breve per arrivare alla fine piuttosto che pensare quale fosse la scelta migliore da compiere, e penso che questo sia un modo riassuntivo per dire che, secondo me, questo libro ha fallito nel suo compito.
May 15, 2019
The most obvious thing about this book is that it's way less difficult than the previous one. There were problems with how the difficulty was implemented in the first one (mostly the fact that mistakes early on won't kill you until at least half way through) but I liked that level of difficulty. It made it more replayable.
The first one also had a better story. You were vulnerable and constantly on the run. This book is more of a standard Lone Wolf style journey, and as with Lone Wolf I would prefer more time spent at the destination rather than on random encounters along the way.
The first one also had a better story. You were vulnerable and constantly on the run. This book is more of a standard Lone Wolf style journey, and as with Lone Wolf I would prefer more time spent at the destination rather than on random encounters along the way.
October 3, 2022
A fun spin off book from the Lone Wolf series.
November 12, 2024
This has been on my to-read pile for ages and I have no idea from where it came. It's not very good. It's a linear adventure, with few opportunities to take different paths, and even then, those paths always lead back to the same point. There are piles of useless entries that offer no choices and instead force the reader to wade through leaden prose; you go through three entries -- plus an introduction -- before you are given an actual choice to make.
The book could get away with this if the story were better, or if there was some interesting imagery, or compelling characters, but there's none of that. What's worse is that the book is full of dubious racial stereotyping; one of your companions is a literal monkey man, while another is a Strong Black Barbarian™. It's perhaps no worse than the average Conan story, but it's still a bit creepy.
It's by no means the worst gamebook I've ever read, but it's not much good either.
The book could get away with this if the story were better, or if there was some interesting imagery, or compelling characters, but there's none of that. What's worse is that the book is full of dubious racial stereotyping; one of your companions is a literal monkey man, while another is a Strong Black Barbarian™. It's perhaps no worse than the average Conan story, but it's still a bit creepy.
It's by no means the worst gamebook I've ever read, but it's not much good either.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews