In Stealer of Souls (1988), you’re off to the Isle of Despair to rescue one wizard and defeat another which is essentially the same plot as all the other Fighting Fantasy books I’ve posted this week. I swear, the series is more varied than this, I guess they just didn’t hire Russ Nicholson to illustrate the off-beat ones.

It goes without saying, maybe, that the Isle of Despair isn’t going to be a rip-roaring good time, but I was pretty puzzled by how…empty…it seems. Not in a good way, but more of a meandering, page-filling way. Things pick up once you hit the dungeon, but nothing felt terribly dangerous or even off the wall weird. Unlike most FF books, I got through this one in one shot without dying (yes, I cheated on the combats, sue me), which is definitely strange. And the big fight with the evil mage is just a fight, no spell slinging like with Balthus Dire, which is a bummer.

There’s a memorable bit with a talking lizard though. I liked that part.

As ever, feast your eyes on Russ Nicholson’s art though, which is still worth the price of admission. I love that knock-off grell thing that almost looks like a critter from an Edward Gorey book. So non-threatening in its threatening.