What do you think?
Rate this book
Lone Wolf #13
The Plague Lords of Ruel
You are the warrior Lone Wolf – Kai Grand Master of Sommerlund. You have defeated the Darklords of Helgedad and avenged your murdered ancestors, but now you are challenged by a sinister evil which threatens to destroy all life on your home world of Magnamund.
In The Plague Lords of Ruel your mission is to prevent the malevolent Cener Druids of Ruel from releasing a deadly plague virus that will destroy all but their own kind. Of all the warriors of Magnamund only you can thwart their wicked plans – for only you possess the disciplines of a Kai Grand Master.
In The Plague Lords of Ruel your mission is to prevent the malevolent Cener Druids of Ruel from releasing a deadly plague virus that will destroy all but their own kind. Of all the warriors of Magnamund only you can thwart their wicked plans – for only you possess the disciplines of a Kai Grand Master.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
2 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
Joe Dever
226 books170 followersJoe 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 31, 2025
Now that the Darklords have been destroyed forever, never again to corrupt the peaceful lives of Sommerlunders, one might think that you would be able to relax for a while; and, in fact, you have, taking the next five years to rebuild your land and unify the people to an extent that had been impossible when the threat of the Darklords still hung over everyone's heads.
The peace is not a perfect one, however. When you hear that the Cener druids of Ruel are preparing to unleash a devastating plague of their own nefarious design on all of Sommerlund, you must step into your role as hero once again and stop their deadly plot from coming to fruition. Of help to you in your quest is the new knowledge you've gained that the Magnakai disciplines you have already earned, previously thought to represent the pinnacle of humanoid accomplishment, can actually be improved upon via your own creation of the Kai Grand Master disciplines, superior forms of the old skills which allow you an even greater range of attack and defense options. You start off in The Plague Lords of Ruel by picking four of the twelve available Grand Master disciplines, and I'd urge you to consider this choice very carefully. Think back on the Magnakai disciplines that the decisions in the past books called for most often, and by all means choose the correlating Grand Master disciplines as your first four. You can pick up the rest of them in future adventures. The decisions you make here, before the book even begins, could determine whether or not you make it to the end.
The horrible creatures you come up against in The Plague Lords of Ruel have taken another quantum leap forward from the previous book in terms of Endurance and Combat Skill. Seriously, I'm not sure how they expect you to win some of these fights, battling against monsters with Endurance in the neighborhood of eighty (eighty!!!) points and Combat Skill of fifty or higher, dwarfing whatever your own levels in either category might be. It's hard to accept that after so many years of intense training you are still less skilled in combat than a pack of wild dogs, but it is what it is, and Lone Wolf always finds a way to overcome enemies that on the surface appear stronger than he. I would definitely recommend, though, that you choose the "evade combat" option whenever possible in these hopeless situations, as it will be challenging enough to make it in and out of Ruel without nearly being killed in a fight every few pages or so.
Of particular concern for veteran Lone Wolf adventurers will be the fact that most (if not all) American editions of this book are abridged. According to what I've heard, substantial portions of text are missing from these abridged editions, which no doubt will be a letdown for those who love the captivating, image-rich writing of author Joe Dever. I think it's safe to say that we're missing out on something by reading the abridged American editions, but it's no easy task to get one's hands on a real British edition, so these versions will have to do for most of us. Still, the journey is suspenseful and thrilling, and the writing is classic Joe Dever style and should provide a few chills up the spine, as all of the Lone Wolf books seem to do.
So, for abridged Lone Wolf, I think I'll give two and a half stars, but all three for the unabridged original. This first adventure of the new "Grand Master" sub-series offers up everything that's awesome about the world of Lone Wolf, and gives us yet another chance to step into the shoes of perhaps the greatest gamebook hero ever conceived and fight to establish peace and drive away greed and evil in our world. I recommend The Plague Lords of Ruel as a virtually indispensable read for anyone who has taken the time to complete the first twelve books in the series.
The peace is not a perfect one, however. When you hear that the Cener druids of Ruel are preparing to unleash a devastating plague of their own nefarious design on all of Sommerlund, you must step into your role as hero once again and stop their deadly plot from coming to fruition. Of help to you in your quest is the new knowledge you've gained that the Magnakai disciplines you have already earned, previously thought to represent the pinnacle of humanoid accomplishment, can actually be improved upon via your own creation of the Kai Grand Master disciplines, superior forms of the old skills which allow you an even greater range of attack and defense options. You start off in The Plague Lords of Ruel by picking four of the twelve available Grand Master disciplines, and I'd urge you to consider this choice very carefully. Think back on the Magnakai disciplines that the decisions in the past books called for most often, and by all means choose the correlating Grand Master disciplines as your first four. You can pick up the rest of them in future adventures. The decisions you make here, before the book even begins, could determine whether or not you make it to the end.
The horrible creatures you come up against in The Plague Lords of Ruel have taken another quantum leap forward from the previous book in terms of Endurance and Combat Skill. Seriously, I'm not sure how they expect you to win some of these fights, battling against monsters with Endurance in the neighborhood of eighty (eighty!!!) points and Combat Skill of fifty or higher, dwarfing whatever your own levels in either category might be. It's hard to accept that after so many years of intense training you are still less skilled in combat than a pack of wild dogs, but it is what it is, and Lone Wolf always finds a way to overcome enemies that on the surface appear stronger than he. I would definitely recommend, though, that you choose the "evade combat" option whenever possible in these hopeless situations, as it will be challenging enough to make it in and out of Ruel without nearly being killed in a fight every few pages or so.
Of particular concern for veteran Lone Wolf adventurers will be the fact that most (if not all) American editions of this book are abridged. According to what I've heard, substantial portions of text are missing from these abridged editions, which no doubt will be a letdown for those who love the captivating, image-rich writing of author Joe Dever. I think it's safe to say that we're missing out on something by reading the abridged American editions, but it's no easy task to get one's hands on a real British edition, so these versions will have to do for most of us. Still, the journey is suspenseful and thrilling, and the writing is classic Joe Dever style and should provide a few chills up the spine, as all of the Lone Wolf books seem to do.
So, for abridged Lone Wolf, I think I'll give two and a half stars, but all three for the unabridged original. This first adventure of the new "Grand Master" sub-series offers up everything that's awesome about the world of Lone Wolf, and gives us yet another chance to step into the shoes of perhaps the greatest gamebook hero ever conceived and fight to establish peace and drive away greed and evil in our world. I recommend The Plague Lords of Ruel as a virtually indispensable read for anyone who has taken the time to complete the first twelve books in the series.
July 31, 2012
I first encountered Lone Wolf over twenty-five years ago in Fire on the Water, the second book in the series and fell in love. I then bought or borrowed the rest of series up until the last twelfth book and through my childhood played and read through them many, many times.
Then I discovered that there had been more written, but that I had never seen published... and that they were coming back into print again. I was overjoyed. I purchased the first twelve in the series again in the new collector's edition format and started playing through them again from scratch, enjoying the additional content and new artwork, as have enjoyed reading them with fresh eyes.
So, when I at last came to The Plague Lord of Ruel, it was with a feeling of high anticipation and interest, as this was the first Lone Wolf I was going to be reading for the first time in over twenty years. What a treat.
Also... What a shock.
The book is just as good as its predecessors, and while it will not go down with some of my all time favourites, it was up to par, written well and put together nicely. It was enjoyable to be choosing new skills and seeing those choices paying off of not so much as I made my way through the story. The quality of the play was up Dever's usual standard and as usual the illustrations compliment the prose well and add to the holistic feeling of the world of Magnamund.
The shock came in the amount of times I died. And yes, it was a lot. It was so many than eventually I put down the book for several months as I got distracted with other things. Being on my Goodreads list as currently reading is actually what has prompted me to go back and give it another go. So... then I died two more times... and this time, I decided to allow myself the privilage of cheating a little and setting myself in-book save points and not going all the way back to the start. Essentially, this was just because I had been rather unlucky with my dice rolls and met autodeath twice - once, RIGHT before the final page.
The play was much harder than any Lone Wolf book I had played since first picking up Fire on the Water without doing Flight from the Dark first. That one took me a few times to complete as well, but this was a new experience. Still, a challanging experience is a good one and it was fun not to be able to just romp through the whole story knowing that having the Sommerswerd and eight or nine powers to call on could pull me through any situation.
Still... silly random chances of just getting killed are highly annoying, and if it were not for these, I would probably not have become frustrated, and this would be getting a four star review instead.
I'm looking forward to the sequel and seeing how the improved powers play out and what the else Dever brings to my favourite game book series.
Then I discovered that there had been more written, but that I had never seen published... and that they were coming back into print again. I was overjoyed. I purchased the first twelve in the series again in the new collector's edition format and started playing through them again from scratch, enjoying the additional content and new artwork, as have enjoyed reading them with fresh eyes.
So, when I at last came to The Plague Lord of Ruel, it was with a feeling of high anticipation and interest, as this was the first Lone Wolf I was going to be reading for the first time in over twenty years. What a treat.
Also... What a shock.
The book is just as good as its predecessors, and while it will not go down with some of my all time favourites, it was up to par, written well and put together nicely. It was enjoyable to be choosing new skills and seeing those choices paying off of not so much as I made my way through the story. The quality of the play was up Dever's usual standard and as usual the illustrations compliment the prose well and add to the holistic feeling of the world of Magnamund.
The shock came in the amount of times I died. And yes, it was a lot. It was so many than eventually I put down the book for several months as I got distracted with other things. Being on my Goodreads list as currently reading is actually what has prompted me to go back and give it another go. So... then I died two more times... and this time, I decided to allow myself the privilage of cheating a little and setting myself in-book save points and not going all the way back to the start. Essentially, this was just because I had been rather unlucky with my dice rolls and met autodeath twice - once, RIGHT before the final page.
The play was much harder than any Lone Wolf book I had played since first picking up Fire on the Water without doing Flight from the Dark first. That one took me a few times to complete as well, but this was a new experience. Still, a challanging experience is a good one and it was fun not to be able to just romp through the whole story knowing that having the Sommerswerd and eight or nine powers to call on could pull me through any situation.
Still... silly random chances of just getting killed are highly annoying, and if it were not for these, I would probably not have become frustrated, and this would be getting a four star review instead.
I'm looking forward to the sequel and seeing how the improved powers play out and what the else Dever brings to my favourite game book series.
May 7, 2018
I really like this one. It's a neat story and a good way to carry on the series after the destruction of the Darklords in the previous book, and it's challenging without being unfair. As far as game balance goes it's one of Dever's best efforts since way back in book one. It does have a few of those instakill luck rolls, which aren't great, but are pretty easy to ignore, but combat is a mix of reasonable and avoidable that I really like. If you end up in a fight you can't win, you can still run away.
It's not great literature by any stretch but it's a decent return to form for a series that had gotten a bit off-putting with its wildly unbalanced gameplay. It's also a rare example of a Lone Wolf book where it's possible to succeed in your mission and then die, which would leave Magnamund worse off but not hopelessly so. With a monastery full of recent graduates and the magic items you just spent the last eight books retrieving they should be fine, honestly.
It's not great literature by any stretch but it's a decent return to form for a series that had gotten a bit off-putting with its wildly unbalanced gameplay. It's also a rare example of a Lone Wolf book where it's possible to succeed in your mission and then die, which would leave Magnamund worse off but not hopelessly so. With a monastery full of recent graduates and the magic items you just spent the last eight books retrieving they should be fine, honestly.
January 2, 2020
So after the fall of the Darklords comes a new era of relative peace, until a strange plague is discovered and traced to its source, our protagonist is sent to investigate and while the storyline lacks anything like the epic feel of the previous book the quality is so much better, the storyline is richer and more detailed, and while the threat is small potatoes the cause is revealed to be something altogether more sinister, which will play out in later books. This is a book that has evolved past its humble origins, the Lone Wolf series has become more about telling a good story well rather than just series of big events with some banter in between. Had it been written in the style of previous books it would be lucky to get a two, but the sumptuous prose and attention to detail has elevated it so much, I liked it a lot.
April 4, 2019
I dusted this series of books off to read with my sons, unsure what to expect. I had many fond childhood memories of reading these as a kid, but would they stand up? The answer is yes, they aged well. The stories were pretty straight forward, but my imagination has evolved enough to cover the gaps that this story had. Bear in mind, it was written for children... and isn't that why we read them, to immerse ourselves into the story? So yes, it was a lot of fun and I only cheated a little bit.
March 10, 2015
Une aventure intéressante, remplie d'action et de combat, où l'on sent pleinement la puissance de notre personnage rendu à cette étape de notre périple. Seule déception, un début lent et une fin un peu trop légère.
January 11, 2017
Nuova saga che mi ha sorpreso. Non credevo si sarebbe andati oltre il volume 12. Bello sentire il potere del personaggio crescere ulteriormente, anche se i passaggi narrativi obbligati aumentano.
July 17, 2024
Torna Lupo Solitario e questa volta nella veste di Grande Maestro Kai. Anni sono passati dalla sconfitta di Gnaag, l'ordine è stato ricostituito e nuovi discepoli apprendono le arti Kai. Ma il male non riposa mai, e Lupo Solitario deve partire per una nuova missione, alla volta di Ruel, per sventare il malvagio piano dei druidi di rilasciare un devastante virus, capace di annientare l'intero Sommerlund.
Il viaggio verso Ruel è angosciante e claustrofobico, e la fortezza di Mogaruith è opprimente come poche cose descritte nei libri di Lupo Solitario. La varia congerie di mostri, innesti di diversi animali, rasenta il disgustoso. L'avventura è serrata, varia, lunga nonostante ci siano dei bivi interessanti ed ampi, e segnerebbe un miglioramento della serie se Dever non ricadesse nei soliti difetti e ne aggiungesse di nuovi.
Innanzitutto, all'evoluzione di Lupo Solitario non corrisponde un miglioramento equivalente delle sue capacità, anzi: non è possibile portare dalle avventure precedenti tutti gli oggetti speciali, per cui combattività e resistenza si riducono. Dever alza l'asticella della difficoltà (e la cosa non dispiace), introducendo nuove variabili alle prove, aumentando i punti di resistenza persi con i fallimenti e proponendo nemici con combattività e resistenza elevate, i cui scontri rasentano l'impossibile anche muovendosi nelle "intercapedini delle regole". Non aiuta il fatto che si inizia sempre con quattro abilità da Gran Maestro, nonostante quelle delle serie precedenti siano tutte già apprese. Alla difficoltà mal bilanciata si accosta la solita frustrante divisione in paragrafi (ci sono circa dodici paragrafi che sono quasi uguali tra di loro: potevano essere sicuramente gestiti meglio).
Anche lo stile trova un miglioramento: Dever cerca di contestualizzare maggiormente, la narrazione secca del libro gioco si avvicina un pizzico a quella da libro vero e proprio. Tutti segni, questi, che Dever aveva capito di dover rivoluzionare qualcosa. Ci sono le idee, ma l'esecuzione è ancora da sistemare.
Il viaggio verso Ruel è angosciante e claustrofobico, e la fortezza di Mogaruith è opprimente come poche cose descritte nei libri di Lupo Solitario. La varia congerie di mostri, innesti di diversi animali, rasenta il disgustoso. L'avventura è serrata, varia, lunga nonostante ci siano dei bivi interessanti ed ampi, e segnerebbe un miglioramento della serie se Dever non ricadesse nei soliti difetti e ne aggiungesse di nuovi.
Innanzitutto, all'evoluzione di Lupo Solitario non corrisponde un miglioramento equivalente delle sue capacità, anzi: non è possibile portare dalle avventure precedenti tutti gli oggetti speciali, per cui combattività e resistenza si riducono. Dever alza l'asticella della difficoltà (e la cosa non dispiace), introducendo nuove variabili alle prove, aumentando i punti di resistenza persi con i fallimenti e proponendo nemici con combattività e resistenza elevate, i cui scontri rasentano l'impossibile anche muovendosi nelle "intercapedini delle regole". Non aiuta il fatto che si inizia sempre con quattro abilità da Gran Maestro, nonostante quelle delle serie precedenti siano tutte già apprese. Alla difficoltà mal bilanciata si accosta la solita frustrante divisione in paragrafi (ci sono circa dodici paragrafi che sono quasi uguali tra di loro: potevano essere sicuramente gestiti meglio).
Anche lo stile trova un miglioramento: Dever cerca di contestualizzare maggiormente, la narrazione secca del libro gioco si avvicina un pizzico a quella da libro vero e proprio. Tutti segni, questi, che Dever aveva capito di dover rivoluzionare qualcosa. Ci sono le idee, ma l'esecuzione è ancora da sistemare.
July 29, 2022
Si torna nel mondo di LS con una nuova saga e dei nuovi nemici da combattere. Ho apprezzato la storia del salvare il mondo da un virus mortale impedendo ai cattivi la sua creazione e distribuzione. Ben dosati anche i combattimenti e gli enigmi, le descrizioni accurate portano il lettore ad immergersi ancora di più nell’ambientazione (la foresta di Ruel e la fortezza di Mogaruith). I combattimenti avvincenti con nemici anche tosti da battere rende il tutto più interessante e coinvolgente.
Buon primo libro per una nuova saga.
Buon primo libro per una nuova saga.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2025
La storia in sè è accattivante e anche l'ambientazione mi è piaciuta molto. I bivi, perlopiù dettati dalle arti possedute e dalla Tabella del Destino che dalle scelte effettive del lettore, e i numerosi paragrafi copincollati fanno però storcere il naso. Per non parlare del penultimo paragrafo dove c'è praticamente il 40% di aleatorietà sulla riuscita della missione, con un minimo ma improbabile aiuto relativo alle arti possedute.
Insomma, a me piace Lupo Solitario senza ombra di dubbio, anche se non sono un fan, però i tempi di Traversata Infernale erano un 'altra cosa.
Insomma, a me piace Lupo Solitario senza ombra di dubbio, anche se non sono un fan, però i tempi di Traversata Infernale erano un 'altra cosa.
June 29, 2021
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 13: The Plague Lords of Ruel
(published 1990, first read 1991)
Story: 4/5
Game: 4/5
Replayability: 5/5
Book 13: The Plague Lords of Ruel
(published 1990, first read 1991)
Story: 4/5
Game: 4/5
Replayability: 5/5
April 15, 2020
Comprato nel lontano 1999 nel pieno della mia vita universitaria volevo scoprire questo genere a me completamente sconosciuto.
Divertente seguire i corso della storia in base alle proprie scelte.
Buon librogame...
Divertente seguire i corso della storia in base alle proprie scelte.
Buon librogame...
July 7, 2021
Starting from here, the setting of the series was less convincing: While lone wolf is grand master and has all the power, his most powerful enemies - the dark lords - are gone. So what's left to do (an evil driud challenging the lone wolf, the grand master??)
March 30, 2020
I have had a lot of fun in this one. After so many years, living a lone wolf adventure again was very much entertaining.
October 3, 2022
Fun game book to get kids to read
June 12, 2025
The worst entry in the series so far. Clearly a step back from the Magnakai cycle.
I liked that the book takes into account that you actually master the Magnakai disciplines and builds upon it, but at the same time you feel so powerless at times that I had mixed feelings as a result. The book is also way more punishing to compensate for the now-baseline abilities like healing 1hp/§ or sky-high CS, but also in a very unsatisfactory way. The final hurdle of having Lone Wolf's life depending on a single die roll (40% chance to have an instant death unless you have two specific disciplines which reduce that chance to 10%) is just plain bad in my opinion... It feels uncalled for and cheap.
And that's really too bad, because that story is a compelling one. Infiltrating a fortress overrun with evil alchemists and endless minions to succeed where a 7000-man army failed feels indeed epic. I loved the options presented to do so, but because of the unfair difficulty, I was unable to really enjoy the story.
I liked that the book takes into account that you actually master the Magnakai disciplines and builds upon it, but at the same time you feel so powerless at times that I had mixed feelings as a result. The book is also way more punishing to compensate for the now-baseline abilities like healing 1hp/§ or sky-high CS, but also in a very unsatisfactory way. The final hurdle of having Lone Wolf's life depending on a single die roll (40% chance to have an instant death unless you have two specific disciplines which reduce that chance to 10%) is just plain bad in my opinion... It feels uncalled for and cheap.
And that's really too bad, because that story is a compelling one. Infiltrating a fortress overrun with evil alchemists and endless minions to succeed where a 7000-man army failed feels indeed epic. I loved the options presented to do so, but because of the unfair difficulty, I was unable to really enjoy the story.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews