Item - Shadow on the Sand

The final part of the Kai series, and if it isn't the best!

As Demian points out, the book is split into 2 sections which basically has no point at all, but then I think that the Caverns of the Snow Witch needed something like that... it's not fun to kill the "final" boss then slog around for another half a book.

The first half of the book, anyway, is amazing. As usual with Lone Wolf, the speed of the adventure is high and my course involved a high-paced escape through a town, running through sewers, buildings and the sort. The Middle-Eastern/North African theme is really well captured (Barrakeesh - Marrakesh, anyone?)

The second part of the adventure, however, is where the book really shines through. The escape continues, and a reunion with someone who you met in book #1 was a great idea. I won't spoil it anymore!

Obviously one of my favourite gamebooks, and you can play it online at Project Aon, so you don't even need to buy a printed copy.

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This book seems to be something of an experiment; rather than having the usual 350 sections, it is instead divided into two 200-section parts. There doesn't really seem to be much point to this; although the American edition claims the book is a "super edition including two adventures," the two parts really aren't distinct adventures. Although both parts are the same length, the first part just feels like a comparatively trivial (but highly replayable) prologue to the action-packed second part. In any case, since this format was never used again, it can be assumed that the experiment was not a great success. The book itself, though, is a great success. As I said, the second half is genuinely exciting, with aerial battles, the return of an old friend and a final battle that could have been a little more detailed but which is nonetheless a genuinely satisfying close to the Kai portion of the series.

More reviews by Demian