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Fighting Fantasy #51
Island of the Undead
Ancient evil has come to Solani Island!
The mysterious sorcerers of Solani Island have protected the local people from danger for many years. Now, it seems, their power has been usurped. An evil force holds sway across the land, an evil that seems to hold the power over life and death itself!
A hero is urgently needed to journey to Solani Island and discover what has happened to the wizards. Dare YOU be that adventurer? Who knows what terrible fate awaits you on the island where death rules? There is only one way to find out. Are YOU brave enough to solve the mystery of Solani Island?
The mysterious sorcerers of Solani Island have protected the local people from danger for many years. Now, it seems, their power has been usurped. An evil force holds sway across the land, an evil that seems to hold the power over life and death itself!
A hero is urgently needed to journey to Solani Island and discover what has happened to the wizards. Dare YOU be that adventurer? Who knows what terrible fate awaits you on the island where death rules? There is only one way to find out. Are YOU brave enough to solve the mystery of Solani Island?
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 26, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 14, 2015
A quest to learn the fate of a coven of wizards
14 February 2015
Not only is this one quite long, but it is also quite difficult in that there are a couple of puzzles that you need to solve to be able to determine the paragraph number. There is even one puzzle where the riddle is written in code, so you have to decipher the code before solving the riddle (and codes and riddles have never been my strong point). This adventure also has an incredible number of objects that you need to collect, though fortunately you are told if you need to record a specific number (such as the paragraph in which the object was found). Martin is quite clever in using numbers in this book, as there are items that are used multiple times, meaning that you have to multiply the number on the item using different multipliers. Another trick that he uses is having you turn the letters of the word into its numerical values, and then adding them all together.
Anyway, unlike many of the other Fighting Fantasy books, this one you begin with basically nothing other than a knife and some clothes. The reason for this is because you begin the adventure as a humble fisherman living in a small fishing village. For years the villages in the local area were protected by wizards living on an island off shore, which included them keeping away ferocious storms. However suddenly the storms began to pick up again and the villagers suspected that something may have happened to the wizards, so a group all pile into a boat and go and investigate. However halfway across the straight the boat is overturned by a massive wave leaving you the only survivor.
While the introduction to the adventure suggests that you can complete it with minimal skills, this is not quite true, especially since the first few monsters are really tough and all you have is a little knife (especially the ghoul in the ship wreck which you must kill to get the magical sword simply because without a magical sword you cannot complete the adventure). Despite the name, there isn't actually all that many undead on the island, and once you move away from the beach the number begins to drop. I actually liked this because many of these books seemed to involve only undead and demons and I had begun to miss the good old normal monsters (though there are no orcs or goblins anywhere, which is probably because people find these monsters a little boring).
Still, I quite liked this adventure, though as I suggested, it is quite long namely because you need to visit all of the locations on the island to be able to complete the adventure successfully. By the time I got to the lower levels of the black tower I simply wanted to get to the end of the book, so I stopped doing what I normally do - that is try to check out ever nook and cranny. Also, you do need to explore the locations on the island in a specific order, but at least, unlike some of the other books, you do get the option to backtrack, and also you do have the option to explore multiple parts of the locations. In a way this book is much more location centric rather that story orientated, meaning that the choices tend to focus on where you want to go rather than direction that the story is heading. It also tends to be a lot less linear. Once again I like this because with many of the linear adventures if you take the wrong path you might end up skipping a large number of important encounters which means that it becomes impossible to solve. At least with this one if you go through one door, you generally get the option to then check out the other place (if you have not done so already).
14 February 2015
Not only is this one quite long, but it is also quite difficult in that there are a couple of puzzles that you need to solve to be able to determine the paragraph number. There is even one puzzle where the riddle is written in code, so you have to decipher the code before solving the riddle (and codes and riddles have never been my strong point). This adventure also has an incredible number of objects that you need to collect, though fortunately you are told if you need to record a specific number (such as the paragraph in which the object was found). Martin is quite clever in using numbers in this book, as there are items that are used multiple times, meaning that you have to multiply the number on the item using different multipliers. Another trick that he uses is having you turn the letters of the word into its numerical values, and then adding them all together.
Anyway, unlike many of the other Fighting Fantasy books, this one you begin with basically nothing other than a knife and some clothes. The reason for this is because you begin the adventure as a humble fisherman living in a small fishing village. For years the villages in the local area were protected by wizards living on an island off shore, which included them keeping away ferocious storms. However suddenly the storms began to pick up again and the villagers suspected that something may have happened to the wizards, so a group all pile into a boat and go and investigate. However halfway across the straight the boat is overturned by a massive wave leaving you the only survivor.
While the introduction to the adventure suggests that you can complete it with minimal skills, this is not quite true, especially since the first few monsters are really tough and all you have is a little knife (especially the ghoul in the ship wreck which you must kill to get the magical sword simply because without a magical sword you cannot complete the adventure). Despite the name, there isn't actually all that many undead on the island, and once you move away from the beach the number begins to drop. I actually liked this because many of these books seemed to involve only undead and demons and I had begun to miss the good old normal monsters (though there are no orcs or goblins anywhere, which is probably because people find these monsters a little boring).
Still, I quite liked this adventure, though as I suggested, it is quite long namely because you need to visit all of the locations on the island to be able to complete the adventure successfully. By the time I got to the lower levels of the black tower I simply wanted to get to the end of the book, so I stopped doing what I normally do - that is try to check out ever nook and cranny. Also, you do need to explore the locations on the island in a specific order, but at least, unlike some of the other books, you do get the option to backtrack, and also you do have the option to explore multiple parts of the locations. In a way this book is much more location centric rather that story orientated, meaning that the choices tend to focus on where you want to go rather than direction that the story is heading. It also tends to be a lot less linear. Once again I like this because with many of the linear adventures if you take the wrong path you might end up skipping a large number of important encounters which means that it becomes impossible to solve. At least with this one if you go through one door, you generally get the option to then check out the other place (if you have not done so already).
March 20, 2015
This book is divided into two sections: one is an exploration of the namesake island, which is cool and enjoyable with a good balance of clues and puzzles, and the second, a terribly dull and boring dungeon, where all your choices are about opening the right door or the left door, do this or do that, and there's little in the way of atmosphere or story. It's also horribly difficult and you have to take exactly the right steps, or risk not to have necessary items or fall into instant kill traps. Which is a shame, because otherwise I would have really loved this book. As it is, I merely enjoyed it. It's still well written and definitely poses a challenge, so I suppose, as a Fighting Fantasy title, it's a valid one. Yet hardly a memorable one.
September 2, 2014
My first "role-playing" book, played it when I was 13 or 14. I had a french version translated as "Les Mages de Solani" - wonderful at the beginning, it gets annoying and challenging as you die more often in battles - or choose the wrong paths.
October 4, 2009
This was a really good gamebook. The story/mystery was good, the areas that can be explored and the paths that can be taken both have good variety.
April 23, 2021
Gamebook #51 is an evocative entry, in a Tempest-like kind of way. This is best exemplified by Russ Nicholson’s understated, eerily tranquil illustration of a stone archway in a woodland clearing in paragraph 141. Some of Keith Martin’s prose, too, is quite beautiful.
It’s a mystery story, and the balance between fighting and investigation is well pitched. The first half has you exploring a number of key locations on the eponymous island. The second half is a less interesting dungeon crawl.
I got the feeling that success means finding the right items (a lot of them, too) in the correct order. I think it would take a lot of attempts and you’d need to make a lot of notes.
Nicholson’s artwork here is surprisingly variable in quality. The one I mentioned already is a masterpiece, and there are some other excellent pieces, but others are so finely detailed that it’s hard to make out what’s being portrayed.
I liked this book a lot but I wasn’t invested enough to take the large amount of time I think would be necessary to complete it.
It’s a mystery story, and the balance between fighting and investigation is well pitched. The first half has you exploring a number of key locations on the eponymous island. The second half is a less interesting dungeon crawl.
I got the feeling that success means finding the right items (a lot of them, too) in the correct order. I think it would take a lot of attempts and you’d need to make a lot of notes.
Nicholson’s artwork here is surprisingly variable in quality. The one I mentioned already is a masterpiece, and there are some other excellent pieces, but others are so finely detailed that it’s hard to make out what’s being portrayed.
I liked this book a lot but I wasn’t invested enough to take the large amount of time I think would be necessary to complete it.
January 20, 2024
Has ambitions which outstrips the format's ability to satisfyingly deliver. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
August 17, 2024
Keith Martin is the best Fighting Fantasy author.
April 6, 2024
A very AD&D style adventure with classic illustrations. The book is a little too sprawling, with an entire island and multi-level dungeon that must be explored in a very specific order. Had there been multiple paths to victory, the book would have been great. Sadly, there are far too many numbered items, codes, and difficult boss fights, turning the adventure into a slog. It's a shame because there's an interesting story and lots of great locations to explore. 2.5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews