Best of the Magnakai series?

I think we've had our say on the Kai series - it's actually quite funny to find myself nodding in agreement with everyone's views for different books (though Book 3 remains my least favourite of 1-5).

Anyway, moving on to the Magnakai series...

I love the feeling of being around a busy thriving civilisation. The introduction in the small town of Quarlen, to the bustle of Varetta, to the travel towards Tekaro, with robbers, pirates and a war to contend with... It's one of my favourite of the whole series. Not so gone on the Dakomyd though - while it's a very nasty beastie I'd prefer if it had more of a link to its surroundings. How a city could exist over such a horror without knowing about it and dealing with it, I don't know.

On to Castle Death. On the plus side, I like the fact that I still have no idea where to go when I play this book. It's a well-constructed tunnel-based adventure, a bit like how The Warlock of Firetop Mountain should have been done. On the downside, I'm not a big fan of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I would have preferred a bit more of Paido's brother. Some of the insta-deaths have no warning to them at all, which is unusual for the LW series. Overall, it's a good book which would stand out quite well in the GM series, but it's up against some of my favourite of all the LW books in the Magnakai and comes out last for that reason.

The Jungle of Horrors is a fantastic book. As the beginning of the epic from books 8-12, it has the novelty of having a companion for the whole book. The feeling of being on the edges of a great battle gives it a sense of danger which I love. From the Vordaks to the Gnaag Helghast to the Danarg itself, to more Vordaks, it's a great, great read. The only drawbacks, as I'd see it, would be the difficulty of the Gnaag Helghast fight and the anomaly of the fight at the end if you don't have the Sommerswerd, but I can easily overlook these for the sake of the overall story.

The Cauldron of Fear saw a change in illustrator which, probably in combination with the fact that I was 10 or 11 by the time I got it, gave it a feeling of "s**t just got real". The war going on around you, meeting Banedon again, Zaaryx, and of course the huge fight at the end, are some of the highlights of the Magnakai series. As with Book 8, the only drawback, as I see it, is the difficulty of the fight with Kimah.

I love the change of scene for the Dungeons of Torgar. I think it's almost a pity that you can avoid the encounter with Roark, which I feel is one of the great moments in the whole series, in spite of its difficulty Again, there are some superb illustrations in the book, which helped to give it a great atmosphere. I think that, in books 8-10, I like the level of power Lone Wolf has the most. You can enjoy being able to beat the weak enemies around, but the more powerful ones can present a challenge without being over-inflated.

The Prisoners of Time was a tricky book for Dever to write, I think. He was introducing another world, with its own struggle between good and evil, and trying to add enough character for the reader to care about it. It's quite a railroaded book, and quite a lot of it I could take or leave. However, saving Vonotar for the end of it was a masterstroke, and it's one of the epic encounters of the whole series. It doesn't quite elevate my view of Book 11 to the top of the Magnakai, but it certainly lifts it above Castle Death

The Masters of Darkness is quite similar to Fire on the Water, in that it was a hugely enjoyable epic journey the first time I played through it. What's unusual, perhaps, is that while Book 2 had a lot to tell and only 350 sections in which to tell it, Book 12 doesn't seem to have as much happen in it. Less Lajakeka and more Helgedad would have been no bad thing, perhaps. It's a great finale to the Magnakai series, but not a great book in its own right.

Anyway, over to you guys...

Can we bump these replies over to the new thread?

This one has Book 11 in it so vote here

TMoD for me...the whole idea of you going, alone, on an infiltration mission into the enemy capital city and stronghold itself in order to destroy their leader just reeks of total epicness for me. It's just you (and a couple of helpers) against the whole Darklord empire. It also genuinely has the whole 'THIS IS IT' feeling - it shows how far LW has come when he can pull something like this off and the feeling that all of your training and your Lorestone quest have been preparation for this one, final, epic mission. The final all-or-nothing effort to destroy the Darklords before it's too late.

(Of course, he has to do the same thing again during the GM series but...)

Though I do agree with kolinovic that more Helgedad would have been a good thing.

As for the other books - I enjoy TDoT too - if only for the fact that Roark finally gets it in the kidneys. And how.

Dungeons of Torgar or potentially Kingdoms of Terror. But Dungeons gets it because it's one of the least linear books with interesting paths no matter which way you choose to go and a host of memorable NPCs.

Fair enough Zipp...I suppose as kolinovic says, too much time around Argazad and not enough in Helgedad.

But it's still my fave - possibly because I'm sentimental as it was amongst the first LW books I ever read, and the whole idea of a lone warrior going to the heart of an evil city to finally destroy a threat that has existed for millenia and that he has been fighting against all his life really struck a chord with me. Guess it's the whole 'grand finale' thing...possibly a reason why Book 20 is one of my faves in the GM series too despite not many others liking it.

In Helgedad, it is possible to take one of the side tunnels and then meet some Xaghash and a very angry Liganim. More of a detour and EP drain than sight-seeing really, but those sections are there (for the record).