The Buccaneers of Shadaki

Lone Wolf #22

by Joe Dever, Brian Williams (Illustrator)

The legendary Moonstone was created by the god-like Shianti, whose presence on Magnamund heralded the dawn of Humanity. It contains the might of all the Shianti’s magic and wisdom - the sum of all their divine knowledge. Lone Wolf, Supreme Master of the Kai, has successfully retrieved the Moonstone following its theft, and now this magical artefact must be returned quickly to its creators before its immense powers disrupt the delicate balance of nature. He has entrusted the precious Moonstone to you - the most promising warrior in the ranks of the New Order Kai.In The Buccaneers of Shadaki your quest is to deliver this stone of power to the Shianti who are exiled upon the mystical Isle of Lorn. Will your vital quest succeed, or will you fall foul of the pirates and perils that infest the southern seas of Magnamund?

Genres: Fantasy, Gamebooks, Role Playing Games, Fiction, Childrens

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 1994

About the author

Joe Dever was an award-winning British fantasist and game designer. Originally a musician, Dever became the first British winner of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Championship of America in 1982.

He created the fictional world of Magnamund as a setting for his Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. In 1984 he released the first book of the Lone Wolf series of young-adult gamebooks, and the series has since sold over 10.2 million copies worldwide. He experienced difficulty with his publishers as the game books market began to contract in 1995, until publication ceased in 1998 before the final four books (numbers 29-32) were released. Since 2003, however, the series has enjoyed a strong revival of interest in France, Italy, and Spain following the re-release of the gamebook series in these countries.

From 1996 onwards, Dever was involved in the production of several successful computer and console games. He also contributed to a Dungeons & Dragons-style role playing game for Lone Wolf published by Mongoose Publishing (UK) in 2004. Currently he is Lead Designer of a Lone Wolf computer game, and he is writing the final books in the Lone Wolf series. No official publication schedule exists for these works.

Reviews

[Dhana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf gamebooks were a consistent presence during my formative years and have had a big influence on my reading and gaming interests. I first started reading them in 1989 and continued to do so until 1999. With the resurgence of new Lone Wolf material in recent years, I've decided to revisit these nostalgic gems of my youth.

Book 22: The Buccaneers of Shadaki
(published 1994, first read 1994)

Story: 3/5
Game: 2/5
Replayability: 1/5

[Mathew Walls · Rating 1 out of 5]

If there's one thing that really stands out about this book it's the racism. This whole series is kind of known for its casual racism (what with all the swarthy villains and evil Arab-inspired races and so forth) but this book takes it to a whole new level. Even after the rest of the series it's honestly shocking. And Dever very obviously thought he was on the right side with this one, because there's a very blatant anti-racist message wedged in there, it's just completely at odds with every other part of the book.

If there were two things that stood out, the second would be that the new protagonist is making up for lost time in getting people killed who try to help him. Especially sailors. You get on several ships in this story and I don't think any of them make it. To help a Kai Lord basically marks you for death.

The actual gameplay is pretty good; it's possible to die, but wit the right choices and a little bit of luck it's also possible to survive even on your first attempt. So in that regard it's pretty good. It's just, wow, the racism. Seriously.

[Jonathan Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review of the original edition, not the new collector's edition. This is another excellent book in the long series by Joe Dever. It's a fitting second half to The Voyage of the Moonstone (book 21), with excellent tie ins to the first half of the story. This is definitely one where your choice of Kai Disciplines can make things a lot easier for you, but thankfully it doesn't seem like there's one ideal set that's necessary for a good experience.

This book is incredibly hard to find, so I recommend using the Project Aon site or the excellent Lone Wolf New Order app on mobile.

[Rachel Redhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be a consistent improvement from its predecessor. The storyline is stronger, the threats more credible and the choices have just the right level of complexity without getting in the way of the adventure. There's a couple of pleasing references to Grey Star, the protagonist in the 4 book spin-off series that was released concurrently with the Magnakai adventures. GS's adventures all took place in Southern Magnamund which I, as the book's protagonist, have now ventured into. It's still taking a little bit of getting used to, story-wise accepting myself as the (previously named) character Moonfire in the book, but less so than the first book.