The Tasks Of Tantalon

PuzzleQuest #1

by Steve Jackson, Stephen Lavis (Illustrator)

Tantalon, wizard of the court, devises an ingenious adventure quest to seek out the cleverest minds in the land of Gallantaria and the reader becomes a competitor in the ancient sorcerer's puzzle quest.

Genres: Gamebooks, Childrens, Fiction

Paperback

First published July 18, 1985

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steve Jackson (born 20 May 1951) is a British game designer, writer, and game reviewer, who is often confused with the American game designer of the same name.

Along with Ian Livingstone, he is the creator of the Fighting Fantasy books. The US Jackson also wrote three books in the Fighting Fantasy series, which adds to the confusion, especially as these books were simply credited to "Steve Jackson" without any acknowledgement that it was a different person.

See also:
Steve Jackson, US game designer
Steve Jackson, author of works on crime
Steve Jackson, Scottish thriller writer

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for the illustrations - I will be keeping this book for that reason.

The concept is fun, but not that well executed - some of the puzzles are basically just counting items in a picture, while other puzzles are next to impossible to figure out. Three stars for the concept.

[Gaelan D'costa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had this book as a child, rented it out many times, made it through some puzzles but definitely not all (nor the "secret" puzzle that one has to do at the end of the book.

Looking back, a couple things:
1) The art is gorgeous, any page could be posterworthy in their own way.
2) I really appreciate how so many of the puzzles wind up requiring a close reading of the book as a whole. I don't think I learned the lesson well as a child, but had I solved this book then I would have developed so many good problem solving tools that would carry into my day-to-day efforts.
3) There are a few puzzles I wish didn't rely on brute force, or red herrings, but not enough for me to feel they diminished from the book.
4) The final puzzle is dastardly and I'm curious to see how people throughout the years handled it!

Really sad this book hasn't been reprinted, it's a beautiful thing for a shelf and I'd love to introduce it to more people with less fear about how they'd grapple with it >:)

[Adam Cleaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book I must have taken out from the library on many an occasion as a kid.
Not sure I ever read the full story before though as I was more interested in the puzzles.
Reading it again now as an adult, and its not bad. The pictures are great and the story was actually pretty well done. However, some if the puzzles feel just too cryptic, and the final puzzle to get the sword and crown I still don't understand... and I've read the solutions lol.
Still I'm very happy to have this book in my collection, even just to admire the art inside.

[Lannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember where I played with this, but I do remember it being on the coffee table of some friend or relative. I did a couple of the puzzles and only later realized that they all connected to a grand solution, which blew my mind! It really stirred something in me. I never got a chance to finish it, but man, look at the art? If nothing else, it's just a beautiful piece of work, and they don't seem to make stuff like this much anymore.

[Edie Walls · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really wanted to enjoy this book, and I can totally understand how people do! It just wasn't for me. I was either really bad at these puzzles or they were very difficult.