'Deathtrap Dungeon' – Ian Livingstone (Scholastic)

The end of the half term holiday is starting to loom large now so this is probably the last 'Fighting Fantasy' review that you'll see here for a while, at least with my kids playing through a book. I've got a couple left ('Appointment with F.E.A.R' and 'The Shamutanti Hills' in case you were wondering) but will leave these until we have at least a good couple of hours spare for a good read-through. Bearing in mind that I'm back at work (well, sitting downstairs with my laptop but you know what I mean...) next week, as well, it will be a while before I get round to doing another one of these.

With that in mind that, what better way to temporarily bow out than to talk about 'Deathtrap Dungeon', my joint favourite adventure ('Forest of Doom' is the other one) and, I'm willing to bet, the book that springs to mind for most people when they think about 'Fighting Fantasy'. Same rules as before, no dice and an overly lenient Dungeon Master, they're only kids and I'd rather they enjoyed this than got frustrated with the dice etc (there's plenty of time for that later...) With that in mind then, let's delve into 'Deathtrap Dungeon'...

Are YOU brave enough to enter evil Baron Sukhumvit's devilish dungeon and take part in his Trial of Champions? It's a trap-filled and monster-infested labyrinth where you'll compete against five other adventurers to collect certain gems, which are the key to escaping and winning the Trial.

It's been a long time since I played 'Deathtrap Dungeon' but reading through it was like coming home in a strange kind of way; a lot of the rooms and puzzles felt familiar but a few still managed to catch me out (and hence the girls as well, they weren't impressed...) and that is what I love about 'Deathtrap Dungeon', it is a book that goes all out to punish complacency and that's why it felt like coming home. After all these years, this is still a book that will keep you on your toes; you will suffer if you let your guard down.

The other thing that I noticed, this time round, is that there seems to be so much more to do in this book than the other two that we've read through. All Fighting Fantasy books, at least the ones I've seen, have four hundred numbered paragraphs that link together into the story that you follow. 'Deathtrap Dungeon' is no different but the 'quest' just feels a lot more involved here. There are more rooms to explore, more corridors to walk down, more characters to meet. The nature of the scenario demands a lot more detail and things to do, rather than just walking across Fire Island with a couple of tasks at the end for instance, but to me it was noticeably more involved. It's not just the dungeon either, you're competing against five other contestants so the book has to follow them too. Same number of paragraphs then but a lot more going on in each one, that's the best way to explain it without me waffling on too much. There's plenty to think about and plenty to fight at the same time and that's what makes this Fighting Fantasy book, in particular, stand out for me. I really felt like were having an adventure here rather than just reading about one. The stakes are high here and I'm not just talking about winning the contest, there are many ways to die horribly here (it's not just the atmosphere that's dark).

Talking about atmosphere... 'Deathtrap Dungeon' is full of that. Credit to Ian Livingstone for taking each paragraph and incorporating it into the game narrative (with all that entails) and still finding room to convey the kind of creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere that you would only find in a dungeon like this.

It goes without saying that the girls loved it and have declared 'Deathtrap Dungeon' their favourite, probably because there was more to think about in each decision that they had to make. What's interesting is that a couple of bad choices early in the book meant that they started asking me to make decisions for them. I'm just waiting for them to make multiple bookmarks, or mark the last page with a finger, and then I'll know that I've made real adventurers out of them! :o)

I've had a lot of fun with this set of reviews and I wouldn't be surprised if you saw more here in the future. For now though, this will be the last. In the meantime, if you've never read a 'Fighting Fantasy' book before, 'Deathtrap Dungeon' is the one that I'd start off with, no question about it. If you want a second opinion, just ask my kids ;o)

If you fancy a read...

Here's my review of 'Island of the Lizard King'
And here's my review of 'Forest of Doom'