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Fighting Fantasy #39
Fangs of Fury
The fire of the Sentinels must be rekindled!
Six massive stone dragons guard the tiny kingdom of Zamarra. But the fire they breathe has been extinguished. And now Zamarra is under siege by Ostragoth the Grim and his swarming hordes. His aim is to destroy the twelve wizards of the Mage-Order and spread the evil of the enchanter Jaxartes throughout Khul! The Sentinels' fire must be restored to its former power – and YOU have volunteered for the task! Your terrifying mission will take you to the white-hot core of the volcano known as the FANGS OF FURY and there is no time to lose!
Part story, part game, this is a book in which YOU become the hero! YOU decide which routes to take, which dangers to risk and which foes to fight.
Six massive stone dragons guard the tiny kingdom of Zamarra. But the fire they breathe has been extinguished. And now Zamarra is under siege by Ostragoth the Grim and his swarming hordes. His aim is to destroy the twelve wizards of the Mage-Order and spread the evil of the enchanter Jaxartes throughout Khul! The Sentinels' fire must be restored to its former power – and YOU have volunteered for the task! Your terrifying mission will take you to the white-hot core of the volcano known as the FANGS OF FURY and there is no time to lose!
Part story, part game, this is a book in which YOU become the hero! YOU decide which routes to take, which dangers to risk and which foes to fight.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 24, 2014
Meh. Definitely one of the weak titles in the Fighting Fantasy series, in my opinion. Not an interesting premise, and all the situations and characters are also pretty forgettable.
July 6, 2013
Once again go off and save the city
6 July 2013
Well I guess we are starting to get to the dull end of the Fighting Fantasy Series, and I know that I am now more than half-way through the official series (though I am wondering how I am going to get my hands on some of the later ones considering the prices can be ridiculously high – I could sift through Ebay though). It also looks like that I have read the last of the 'different' ones back with Skylord because the remainder seem to all be set in fantasy worlds (and the world of Titan to be precise). It would have been nice if they had done some more science-fiction ones, but I guess that is why they ended up with only 59.
Anyway, this one seems to follow a similar plot to a number that have come before: you are a soldier in a city that is under siege and are selected to go out and save the city by lighting a torch in a volcano called the Fangs of Fury which will activate the automatic defences of the city and thus destroy the army. When I discovered this I realised that this was going to be one of those books that I really wouldn't like, and it also seems that the writer (Luke Sharp) also wrote the Chasms of Malice which didn't seem to go down too well with readers (and the ordinary soldier thrown into a great mission is similar as well).
This book has a timing mechanism which involves a bracelet that goes black, and you have '12' chances to get to the end of the adventure. These chances refer to one of the walls of the city being breached, and once the last wall is breached, you, well, basically die. Also they have a few other things in this book, such as the black cubes, which are supposed to (well, they do, but that is irrelevant) protect you from the heat of the volcano. Sharp also uses the pictures a bit more because you are supposed to look for cubes in the pictures (which I could not really find because I was not really sure what I was supposed to be looking for, but you are supposed to find more than 28). Apparently there is also a gem box, but there were no gems in the adventure at all.
Anyway, I am determined to make my way through all of them, and maybe I can look at some of the other books (such as Lone Wolf and Grailquest) while trying to get the other books that I don't have access too through Ebay (though I have no intention of paying huge amounts of money to purchase them).
6 July 2013
Well I guess we are starting to get to the dull end of the Fighting Fantasy Series, and I know that I am now more than half-way through the official series (though I am wondering how I am going to get my hands on some of the later ones considering the prices can be ridiculously high – I could sift through Ebay though). It also looks like that I have read the last of the 'different' ones back with Skylord because the remainder seem to all be set in fantasy worlds (and the world of Titan to be precise). It would have been nice if they had done some more science-fiction ones, but I guess that is why they ended up with only 59.
Anyway, this one seems to follow a similar plot to a number that have come before: you are a soldier in a city that is under siege and are selected to go out and save the city by lighting a torch in a volcano called the Fangs of Fury which will activate the automatic defences of the city and thus destroy the army. When I discovered this I realised that this was going to be one of those books that I really wouldn't like, and it also seems that the writer (Luke Sharp) also wrote the Chasms of Malice which didn't seem to go down too well with readers (and the ordinary soldier thrown into a great mission is similar as well).
This book has a timing mechanism which involves a bracelet that goes black, and you have '12' chances to get to the end of the adventure. These chances refer to one of the walls of the city being breached, and once the last wall is breached, you, well, basically die. Also they have a few other things in this book, such as the black cubes, which are supposed to (well, they do, but that is irrelevant) protect you from the heat of the volcano. Sharp also uses the pictures a bit more because you are supposed to look for cubes in the pictures (which I could not really find because I was not really sure what I was supposed to be looking for, but you are supposed to find more than 28). Apparently there is also a gem box, but there were no gems in the adventure at all.
Anyway, I am determined to make my way through all of them, and maybe I can look at some of the other books (such as Lone Wolf and Grailquest) while trying to get the other books that I don't have access too through Ebay (though I have no intention of paying huge amounts of money to purchase them).
August 19, 2026
Normally, the fantasy kingdom of Zamarra is protected by six massive stone guardians, but their flames have been extinguished by the wizard Jaxartes. Those in charge decide that the best chance to break the siege and restore the power is an unknown solider--you. This book is ultimately not a great entry in the series, but it's a big step up for Luke Sharp, and it has some innovative elements that I will grant him a fair bit of credit for.
Mechanically, there are two (maybe three, depending on your account) that differentiates this book from the typical Fighting Fantasy gamebook. First, there's a time component, represented by your bracelet. Each time it glows, one of the wizards defending a citadel wall has been killed; if they all die, the adventure is over. Basically, it glows whenever you do something that takes more time, such as taking the long way around an obstacle, or being knocked out. It does feel a little arbitrary at times, but at least the fact that each wall is represented by a little castle on the adventure sheet adds a little flair. There's maybe been a shift in the book's design at some point--the back of the book clearly says there are twelve such wizards and segments, but the main text and adventure sheet has 14. 14 certainly feels more fair. According to online walkthroughs, the optimum path involves 6 breeches.
The second major element is bafflingly misseable. At two points in the adventure, you can gain the ability to collect white cubes. The justification for how this is done is iffy (diegetically, you just mentally "focus" on them when you see them) but the execution is kind of nifty. Most of the illustrations in the book have a number of white cubes. You can roll 1d6, and you get either the max number you roll or (if you see less than 6) the number you see, if the latter is lower than the former. It's generally not too hard because the cubes are usually beaded together, but it adds a bit of play to the proceedings. This is one of the first gamebooks in the series that I ever read, and it was this feature above anything else that makes it stand out.
The third element is not so complementary--Sharp loves random rolls. Throughout the book, you'll do a lot of them, and failing usually involves some penalty, even death. For example, on entry 72, you steal a horse to break through the siege. You do a regular Luck test to determine if arrows hit you, but you do another test for seeing if you can outride the Orc enemies. You roll two dice for your speed, two dice for theirs, and if the latter is greater, they catch you. The book is littered with these; it's not as harsh as his previous book Chasm of Malice, but it is frequent enough to be very annoying. It's particularly the sense that you have no choice or agency in the outcome. The book literally already has a statistic for that, and to force this heavy reliance on regular luck too feels bad.
Beyond this, the book doesn't hang together great. About a fifth or so of it is spent breaking out of the siege around the castle, which is fine, but there's not really any strong thematic heft to the rest of the book. There are a lot of dragonmen, which I feel is a unique to this book--humanoid, but with dragon wings, and the ability to breathe fire, as well as flaming swords. But they're not linked to the evil wizard, at least not strongly. There's a lengthy segment where you can get your Torch for re-igniting the flame stolen, and it's skippable, with no particular reward at its end. There's a lot of warrior women that pop up, which is cool, but would feel cooler if remarked on. There's a secret mystical order complete with knights, but they're not totally affiliated with the king; he has no presence outside of the castle, yet there's still large swathes of the land functioning mostly normally, minus the occasional orc raid. (The secret order also reminds me of the blindsight group in Chasms of Malice.)
In terms of adventure design, things are pretty meh--the reward for getting a high number of white cubes feels good, but otherwise, the encounters are more strange than striking. Things will be very hard going for you if you don't find a wand, but this is relatively easy to miss. There are a lot of locations where you'll also have a harder time without elfin wings, but the only place you get them is only accessible by losing a Luck roll, which is very counterintuitive and hard to manage. The book has no final boss, just a prolonged final dungeon sprint. There's no have-or-die items either--though if you take the wrong path, the lack of a wand might kill you in some circumstances. The book is open to its detriment; it's hard to see any clear path or direction that leads to the goal, or even anything in particular.
The white cube mechanic is really cool. I like it whenever the illustrations are required investigation for the story, and this goes further in that direction than any Fighting Fantasy book I could name. But otherwise, it's a mix of material that's middling, frustrating, and baffling.
Mechanically, there are two (maybe three, depending on your account) that differentiates this book from the typical Fighting Fantasy gamebook. First, there's a time component, represented by your bracelet. Each time it glows, one of the wizards defending a citadel wall has been killed; if they all die, the adventure is over. Basically, it glows whenever you do something that takes more time, such as taking the long way around an obstacle, or being knocked out. It does feel a little arbitrary at times, but at least the fact that each wall is represented by a little castle on the adventure sheet adds a little flair. There's maybe been a shift in the book's design at some point--the back of the book clearly says there are twelve such wizards and segments, but the main text and adventure sheet has 14. 14 certainly feels more fair. According to online walkthroughs, the optimum path involves 6 breeches.
The second major element is bafflingly misseable. At two points in the adventure, you can gain the ability to collect white cubes. The justification for how this is done is iffy (diegetically, you just mentally "focus" on them when you see them) but the execution is kind of nifty. Most of the illustrations in the book have a number of white cubes. You can roll 1d6, and you get either the max number you roll or (if you see less than 6) the number you see, if the latter is lower than the former. It's generally not too hard because the cubes are usually beaded together, but it adds a bit of play to the proceedings. This is one of the first gamebooks in the series that I ever read, and it was this feature above anything else that makes it stand out.
The third element is not so complementary--Sharp loves random rolls. Throughout the book, you'll do a lot of them, and failing usually involves some penalty, even death. For example, on entry 72, you steal a horse to break through the siege. You do a regular Luck test to determine if arrows hit you, but you do another test for seeing if you can outride the Orc enemies. You roll two dice for your speed, two dice for theirs, and if the latter is greater, they catch you. The book is littered with these; it's not as harsh as his previous book Chasm of Malice, but it is frequent enough to be very annoying. It's particularly the sense that you have no choice or agency in the outcome. The book literally already has a statistic for that, and to force this heavy reliance on regular luck too feels bad.
Beyond this, the book doesn't hang together great. About a fifth or so of it is spent breaking out of the siege around the castle, which is fine, but there's not really any strong thematic heft to the rest of the book. There are a lot of dragonmen, which I feel is a unique to this book--humanoid, but with dragon wings, and the ability to breathe fire, as well as flaming swords. But they're not linked to the evil wizard, at least not strongly. There's a lengthy segment where you can get your Torch for re-igniting the flame stolen, and it's skippable, with no particular reward at its end. There's a lot of warrior women that pop up, which is cool, but would feel cooler if remarked on. There's a secret mystical order complete with knights, but they're not totally affiliated with the king; he has no presence outside of the castle, yet there's still large swathes of the land functioning mostly normally, minus the occasional orc raid. (The secret order also reminds me of the blindsight group in Chasms of Malice.)
In terms of adventure design, things are pretty meh--the reward for getting a high number of white cubes feels good, but otherwise, the encounters are more strange than striking. Things will be very hard going for you if you don't find a wand, but this is relatively easy to miss. There are a lot of locations where you'll also have a harder time without elfin wings, but the only place you get them is only accessible by losing a Luck roll, which is very counterintuitive and hard to manage. The book has no final boss, just a prolonged final dungeon sprint. There's no have-or-die items either--though if you take the wrong path, the lack of a wand might kill you in some circumstances. The book is open to its detriment; it's hard to see any clear path or direction that leads to the goal, or even anything in particular.
The white cube mechanic is really cool. I like it whenever the illustrations are required investigation for the story, and this goes further in that direction than any Fighting Fantasy book I could name. But otherwise, it's a mix of material that's middling, frustrating, and baffling.
June 27, 2020
After the brilliant Vault of the Vampire, Fangs of Fury is really a case of after the Lord Mayors Show comes the dustcart!
Luke Sharp never one of the best authors in my opinion, comes up with black cubes and white cubes!
To get to the white cubes you have to look out for dice on a piece of string hanging or placed on different objects which are on various items in the book. The problem is these are not well illustrated so blink and you could miss them!There is also the pointless citadel walls imho that flash up on a wristband you are wearing when they are captured! Meant to be a time scale thing theese really are not necessary, but the worst thing of all in this book imho is the mining for different shape rocks that you have to collect and out in a certain order and solve a maths problem! Overall average at best!
Luke Sharp never one of the best authors in my opinion, comes up with black cubes and white cubes!
To get to the white cubes you have to look out for dice on a piece of string hanging or placed on different objects which are on various items in the book. The problem is these are not well illustrated so blink and you could miss them!There is also the pointless citadel walls imho that flash up on a wristband you are wearing when they are captured! Meant to be a time scale thing theese really are not necessary, but the worst thing of all in this book imho is the mining for different shape rocks that you have to collect and out in a certain order and solve a maths problem! Overall average at best!
December 22, 2021
I'm a little surprised by some of the negative reviews of this one, to be honest. It just goes to show, I suppose.
I found this one a solid entry in the series. It's not quite top-tier, but it's well worth a go. The plot is decent, there is strong characterisation, locations are well described, and there is some very good worldbuilding. It's also unusually forgiving on the reader, in two senses. First, there are few really challenging combats, the author possibly having learned from his mistakes in Chasms of Malice (number 30 in the series). Second, there doesn't seem to be one specific, rigid path to victory, as is so often the case in these books. That makes for good replay value.
All in all, a very good book, not far away from five stars.
I found this one a solid entry in the series. It's not quite top-tier, but it's well worth a go. The plot is decent, there is strong characterisation, locations are well described, and there is some very good worldbuilding. It's also unusually forgiving on the reader, in two senses. First, there are few really challenging combats, the author possibly having learned from his mistakes in Chasms of Malice (number 30 in the series). Second, there doesn't seem to be one specific, rigid path to victory, as is so often the case in these books. That makes for good replay value.
All in all, a very good book, not far away from five stars.
February 5, 2024
I knew right away that this was the same writer as Daggers of Darkness. The forced player involvement and arbitrary puzzles left me flat in the same way. I also found the MacGuffin torch hidden in your armour that remotely restarted the city defenses a bit weak. The whole white cube/black cube collecting was too gamey for me (I know, game elements in a gamebook, right? Still.), and the cackling villain, world domination bit, and general writing didn't do it for me. Good illustrations, but that's all I really got out of this one.
August 15, 2024
This book is so underrated. As usual, Luke Sharp gives this book a breezy feeling which highlights the urgency of the premise. The illustrations are impressively drawn and the locations are memorable through the illustrations and their atmosphere. Sharp also packed so many intense situations into this one, it’s his most mad one I’ve read. Definitely one of my favourites.
January 15, 2023
Fairly mediocre effort, suffering from inconsistent tone and tepid prose. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews