Island of the Lizard King (Fighting Fantasy) [Paperback]

The year was 1984. Steve Jackson was busy, slaving away over a hot typewriter, creating the second and third instalment of his excellent Sorcery series. Meanwhile, Ian Livingstone was working long and hard on his third successive Fighting Fantasy gamebook for the regular gamebook series.

After the outstanding Fighting Fantasy number 5; City of Thieves and Fighting Fantasy number 6; Deathtrap Dungeon, was it possible for Ian to produce another winner of such calibre? Well, I know it's a matter of personal preference, but I believe that he did!

Fighting Fantasy number 7; Island of the Lizard King, following hard on the heels of it's predecessors, has all the ingredients of a rock solid Fighting Fantasy gamebook! Original story, well planned out and written, set in the medieval world of Titan and an ample assortment of monsters to slap around, that should satisfy the most bloodthirsty paperback adventurer, make for a sure winner in my opinion!

For our next foray into the Fighting Fantasy world, we find ourselves helping an old friend from Oyster Bay. So, it's time to settle in a comfortable chair, buckle on your sword, check your backpack for the last time, then set off to do battle with the evil denizens of Fire Island! Kidnapped by the vicious Lizard King and his cold-blooded, reptilian cronies from Fire Island, the young men of Oyster Bay face a grim future of slavery and starvation!

Hearing this news from an old friend of yours, you decide to set sail for the Lizard King's lair on Fire Island. Once there, your audacious plan is to rescue those poor souls and give that oversized lizard and his scaly henchmen a damn good kicking that they'll never forget!

But this won't be no walk over, oh no! For Fire Island is not only the personal empire of an eight foot tall iguana with a serious attitude problem, no! It's also populated by a hostile collection of killer dinosaurs and nasty monsters! Not only do you have to face the mother of all crustaceans, dinosaurs, carnivorous and poison plants, but the Lizard King's personal garrison of armoured green skins as well!

Shall I tell you any more about it? Hmmm... No, I don't think so. It'd be much more fun to let you find out the hard way! Hey, I wouldn't want to spoil your fun!

The cover illustration, by Iain McCaig, is cool. Internal illustrations, by Alan Langford, are also very good. Both add immeasurably to the atmosphere, making this an all round, first rate Fighting Fantasy gamebook...

One of the more standard FF books, Island of the Lizard King adds another chapter to the Fighting Fantasy world. In an attempt to rescue slaves, you become stranded on the Island.

IotLK, is different in the way that you have to use information that you gather along the way, to a) win, and b) gain an advantage. There is not so much magical element in IotLK than that in other FF books, but the slightly more exotic range of items and weapons you can collect, as well as the enemies you fight, compensates greatly.

IotLK is a good book for intermediate FF players, the wandering around is not quite as random as the other books; the use of information to defeat the game is good fun. Sadly it has no special rules, and you get the feeling that its all been written before.
Nevertheless, a good storyline, great FF quality, but lacking a large ammount of originality on the adventure part- its all been played before.

The original publication of this was the first ever adventure gamebook I ever played. After almost three decades it still stands up well. A lot of the successful elements of the previous six books are incorporate here. However, there is less of the 'game' element that can be found in 'Deathtrap Dungeon' or 'Forest of Doom' or the infiltrate and assassinate kind of quest fond in 'Citadel of Chaos' or 'Warlock of Firetop Mountain'.

In this adventure you must instigate and lead a rebellion against the tyranny of the Lizard King. This is not a quest you can do solely as an individual. The reader must free slaves and raise an army. This is where the book is a little different to,it's predecessors. Although leading an army was innovative at the time, it is relatively uncomplicated and forms a small section of the adventure. Such battles have been handled much better in subsequent FF books, most notably 'Armies of Death' by the same author.

Inevitably you face a lot of lizard men, but the author does his best to vary this with lizard men on dinosaur steeds or with various mutations such as two heads. The greatest mutation is, of course, the Lizard King himself. The symbiant Gonchong is one of the most inventive creations of Fighting Fantasy. It makes the Lizard King more intriguing as a character and adds a twistbtonthe storyline. The Lizard King is a strong opponent but with the right equipment and information he can be substantially weakened.

There are perhaps more allies to be gained in this adventure than many others. The most useful ally is a shaman who essentially fulfils a similar role to Yaztromo or Nicodemus in other adventures.

'Island of the Lizard King' isn't too hard to complete and there isn't a great variation in the route you can take. fire Island is quite well portrayed though and you gain a geographic sense of how it must appear from your journey. The underground mine and the prison fort are typical Ian Livingstone constructions but the river setting and scenario are more inventive. And it is some time into the series before an island setting is used again.

This is another strongly written and structured adventure from one of the series' founders and the only time that the lizard men of Titan get given the attention they deserve. It would be good to see a new adventure published that concentrated on the civilisations of the lizard men and/or the Caarth.