'Island of the Lizard King' – Ian Livingstone (Scholastic)



I won't lie, my original plan was to buy a few Fighting Fantasy books and get all nostalgic, during Lockdown, while the kids were asleep. Little did I know that they'd both end up really getting into it. I don't get to read to them nearly enough (I don't live with them) so they're enjoying that and there's also the fact that they've never read anything like it before; a book where they get to have a direct influence on how the story pans out. The slight (and it is very slight) downside is that my own reading has fallen to the wayside while I read these books to them... Small price to pay though ;o)
'Forest of Doom' went down a treat the other day and I was going to follow it up with 'Deathtrap Dungeon' (my own personal favourite) but the vote went against me. They wanted 'Island of the Lizard King' so 'Island of the Lizard King' it was... As with last time, there was no dice involved (I really want them to get into the stories before making it more difficult for them) but I took more of a back seat this time and let them make the decisions with less input from me.

PART STORY, PART GAME - PURE ADVENTURE! You, the hero, are tasked with travelling to Fire Island to confront the terrifying Lizard King and free the human slaves captured by his bloodthirsty army. You must discover the chink in his armour if you have any hope of defeating him.And even if you do, that may not enough...

Is it just me or is 'Island of the Lizard King' a little less involved than 'Forest of Doom'...? We completed it over the course of yesterday (compared to 'Forest of Doom' which took closer on two days to polish off) and playing through, this time round, felt like it was less about exploring (and finding what you needed) than it was about getting you to certain points (i.e. the mines and finding the Shaman) and then letting the dice decide how you did. There were a few side quests and, to be fair, if we'd used dice to play then it would have been a very diferent story I think. Not that the girls minded at all, they were really getting into the whole idea of being adventurers on a quest and treated every decision like it was a matter of life and death (which was fun to watch but could get a little frustrating when you wanted to keep the story going at a decent speed). Just right for them then but a little too straightforward for me. And you know what? That's okay. I love these books, and always will, but I'm not the target audience anymore. 'Island of the Lizard King' was pitched at just the right level for these two (six and ten years old) to really enjoy it, that's what counts.

Having said all of that though, it occurred to me halfway through the book that we were basically freeing a large number of convicts from the justice originally meted out by the Prince. Not sure how I feel about that one but sometimes you have to roll with it and just go for the bigger evil ;o)

The idea of raising an army, and setting it against the forces of the Lizard King was a new one for me (give me a break, sometimes I can't remember what I did last week so don't expect me to remember every little thing from a book that I read when I was nine...) and fun to see it used in the climactic battle. Livingstone does really well to get the chaotic feel of the battle across in what is basically a series of short paragraphs. He also does brilliantly (in the same conditions) in terms of describing the island and getting us in a state of slightly heightened tension regarding what the island may throw at us. It's a lovely looking place but I wouldn't want to live on Fire Island, we were fighting for our lives only a short while after landing on the beach! And as bad as the Lizard King was, the Gonchong made my skin crawl...

We're two books into this little experiment now and the kids cannot choose between 'Forest of Doom' and 'Island of the Lizard King' in terms of which one they have enjoyed the most. Like I said, the questing felt a little too straightforward for me but to be honest, who really cares? I got my nostalgia buzz on and also had a great afternoon with my kids. Job done, bring on the next book...

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