Teenage geeky me would be all over these books in a second. Nerdy adult me loves them to bits too! Yes, once upon a time when I had more pimples than Pizza the Hutt, I would escape to unknown realms with a hardy bunch of adventurers - my extremely geeky bunch of friends and I would gather at Stu's house and play Dungeons and Dragons. If I could pass on one piece of wisdom to my 13 year old self, it would be to assure him that even 37 years later he'd still be a complete D & D obsessive, and would love fantasy fiction just as much. (I'd probably also tell him not to be such an idiot around girls, but we don't get into that particular bit of wisdom here on a family blog, OK?) Imagine my surprise to see a new book range from Studio Press that not only gathers up the awesomeness of creating your own hero, but wraps your experience up in a scintillating set of stories for your hardy Fighter or Cleric to embark on. The "Dungeons and Dragons: Endless Quest" series is a lot like the "Fighting Fantasy" book series, where each turn of the page, roll of the dice and every decision you make as your character has an impact on how your story will play out. "Escape the Underdark" is the first of the adventures releasing tomorrow (yep, you haven't got long to wait at all) with the accompanying cleric adventure "Into the Jungle" also coming along at the same time. (Don't worry wizards and thieves, you're also well catered for with your own Endless Quest titles popping up too). The books are gorgeously written, immersing you in a world of dungeons and dragons, awesome spells, amazing weaponry and danger at every turn of the page. We both dipped into the books, as I'm determined my poor daughter is going to grow up with at least a small percentage of my nerd genes - and we both agreed that these are excellent titles if you're the sort of armchair adventurer who loves controlling your own branching destiny in an adventure story. Very quick to master and pick up, but endless amounts of fun (you will die - a lot!) it's so awesome to see a revival for this type of book. I think the only slap across the wrist I'd give these titles is not featuring illustrator credits on the front covers - as they really are amazing looking, with full illustrations inside as well to give your quest even more immersion and atmosphere. That said, these are utterly unmissable and the perfect size to stuff into your bag to take to school for a bit of playtime adventuring. Far easier than toting along the old D & D manuals, that's for sure! * Read it Daddy *
