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Lone Wolf #12
The Masters of Darkness
You are Lone Wolf - the last Kai Master of Sommerlund. Upon your triumphant return from the twilight world of Daziarn, you discover your mortal enemies - the Darklords of Helgedad - are poised to conquer all of Magnamund.
In the Masters of Darkness your mission is to journey to the infernal city of Helgedad, to the very heart of the Darklords’ evil empire. There you must confront Darklord Gnaag, Archlord of the Black City, in a battle that will determine the future of your entire world.
The ultimate challenge awaits you in this exciting and terrifying climax to the Lone Wolf saga.
In the Masters of Darkness your mission is to journey to the infernal city of Helgedad, to the very heart of the Darklords’ evil empire. There you must confront Darklord Gnaag, Archlord of the Black City, in a battle that will determine the future of your entire world.
The ultimate challenge awaits you in this exciting and terrifying climax to the Lone Wolf saga.
Paperback
First published April 7, 1988
1 person is currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Joe Dever
216 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.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 15, 2022
Against Your Nemesis
13 June 2022
The one thing that stood out to me with this book was how the Darklords of Helgedad were actually had some form of industrial technology. For instance, the first part of this book has you on a ship attempting to slip into the Darklord’s realm, and when you encounter their ships they turn out to be Ironclads. Anyway, I’ll say something more about that in a bit.
After escaping the Shadowlands you arrive back in Sommerlund only to discover that eight years have passed since you fell through the gate. It turned out that time works differently in these two realms. You could say that your return is quite a pleasant surprise, but in eight years a lot of things have happened and it seems that the Darklords are on the cusp of victory. As such it is decided that you will attempt to infiltrate their lands, sneak into Helgedad, and destroy a machine that gives them their power.
As I mentioned, I found it interesting that the Darklords use industrial technology, which includes rockets and bombs. It is also noteworthy that the steam that comes out of the ironclads is actually sulphur, and quite poisonous. A part of me was thinking as I was reading this book that there was a suggestion that the industrialised world is actually bad, while the agrarian world is good. Like, the realms of the Darklords seem to be a desert waste that has been destroyed by overproduction.
However, I suspect that this might more be something that he borrowed from Tolkien as opposed to something that Denver was exploring himself. No doubt he would be familiar with Tolkien, particularly since the last section of Return of the King has the hobbits return to the shire to discover that Saruman has turned it into an industrial hellhole.
The reality is though that agrarian societies aren’t immune to overproduction, it is just that industrial societies tend to be to much more effective, and much more permanent. Yet, it seems to be a fantasy trope that the agrarian age is a much more pleasant, and much more simpler, age, while the industrial ages comes about poisoning and destroying the lands. It sort of conjures up images of the factories in England, and what had been described as the black lands.
As for the book, it is pretty much the same as what we had with the other ones, and that is that it is mostly checking to see what skills you happen to have, and what level you happen to be (I discovered that you actually start off with three Weapon Master skills), though if you have gone through all of the books beforehand, you pretty much have all of them anyway. Mind you, one interesting thing is that the Sommerswerd is actually a bit of a hindrance here – it’s very useful, but you can’t draw it because it will give away your location, meaning you have to keep it sheafed until the end.
Anyway, I’ve finished the first twelve now, so I’ll probably move on to some other books, but I do intend, sometime in the future, to read the books beyond this one. The problem is that I feel that now that you have defeated the darklords, well, the story has come to an end.
13 June 2022
The one thing that stood out to me with this book was how the Darklords of Helgedad were actually had some form of industrial technology. For instance, the first part of this book has you on a ship attempting to slip into the Darklord’s realm, and when you encounter their ships they turn out to be Ironclads. Anyway, I’ll say something more about that in a bit.
After escaping the Shadowlands you arrive back in Sommerlund only to discover that eight years have passed since you fell through the gate. It turned out that time works differently in these two realms. You could say that your return is quite a pleasant surprise, but in eight years a lot of things have happened and it seems that the Darklords are on the cusp of victory. As such it is decided that you will attempt to infiltrate their lands, sneak into Helgedad, and destroy a machine that gives them their power.
As I mentioned, I found it interesting that the Darklords use industrial technology, which includes rockets and bombs. It is also noteworthy that the steam that comes out of the ironclads is actually sulphur, and quite poisonous. A part of me was thinking as I was reading this book that there was a suggestion that the industrialised world is actually bad, while the agrarian world is good. Like, the realms of the Darklords seem to be a desert waste that has been destroyed by overproduction.
However, I suspect that this might more be something that he borrowed from Tolkien as opposed to something that Denver was exploring himself. No doubt he would be familiar with Tolkien, particularly since the last section of Return of the King has the hobbits return to the shire to discover that Saruman has turned it into an industrial hellhole.
The reality is though that agrarian societies aren’t immune to overproduction, it is just that industrial societies tend to be to much more effective, and much more permanent. Yet, it seems to be a fantasy trope that the agrarian age is a much more pleasant, and much more simpler, age, while the industrial ages comes about poisoning and destroying the lands. It sort of conjures up images of the factories in England, and what had been described as the black lands.
As for the book, it is pretty much the same as what we had with the other ones, and that is that it is mostly checking to see what skills you happen to have, and what level you happen to be (I discovered that you actually start off with three Weapon Master skills), though if you have gone through all of the books beforehand, you pretty much have all of them anyway. Mind you, one interesting thing is that the Sommerswerd is actually a bit of a hindrance here – it’s very useful, but you can’t draw it because it will give away your location, meaning you have to keep it sheafed until the end.
Anyway, I’ve finished the first twelve now, so I’ll probably move on to some other books, but I do intend, sometime in the future, to read the books beyond this one. The problem is that I feel that now that you have defeated the darklords, well, the story has come to an end.
July 22, 2020
After making it this far in the Lone Wolf series, you'll be glad if you didn't skip any of the previous eleven books before arriving here at your last mission, to vanquish the Darklords of Helgedad once and for all. With each new book that you've successfully completed up to this point, you've had the ability to choose another Kai/Magnakai discipline to add to your arsenal, and boy do you need every single one of those disciplines now. I began The Masters of Darkness with Combat Skill of thirty-two and Endurance of forty-three, yet it was all I could do simply to make it to the end of the book alive. Substantial augmentation in enemies' combat skill for this book makes it more difficult than ever to win fights without losing crucial chunks of Endurance points, and some of the otherworldly creatures you will be battling have insane Endurance levels of their own. And let me tell you this: YOU NEED THE SOMMERSWERD! I don't see how it's even possible to do battle with the Darklords without this wonderful sword that doubles all of their Endurance Points lost when you fight them with it. You pick up the Sommerswerd right near the beginning of the Lone Wolf series, though, which is the most compelling reason of all to begin at book one and work all the way through. If you can survive the multi-tiered journey into the center of Helgedad in The Masters of Darkness, then your tenacity and courage will be rewarded as you finally come face to face with Darklord Gnaag himself in an epic showdown that will decide the fate of Sommerlund forever. It's a battle that I, personally, have been waiting for most of my life.
Author Joe Dever stretches the imaginative use of vivid descriptive English to very near its maximum potential in this book, festooning paragraph after paragraph with eye-popping imagery and rich sensory activators, utilizing metaphor and simile with the master skill of a truly superior fantasy writer. The descriptions of your battles with all kinds of nightmarish creatures both living and undead are enough to make it almost feel as if you're actually seeing the black ichor gush forth when you slash at a monster with your sword, or as if your very life hangs in the balance when you close your eyes and fearfully pick a number from the random number table, hoping that your heightened Kai senses will be enough to carry the day in whatever dire situation is confronting you. Clearly Joe Dever is an extraordinary writer, and the high level of imaginative power that he puts into every page of this book never dips at all. His mental energy levels must be through the roof.
For those of us who have followed Lone Wolf's path all the way from book one, the end of The Masters of Darkness will be a particularly emotional one. To complete a quest of this magnitude, one that first requires the completion of eleven other books, is a major personal commitment, and requires an emotional investment that really pays off as you near the finish line in this book. The final battle with Darklord Gnaag has been anticipated for so long that it would be nearly impossible for the actual fight to live up to expectations, but just knowing that freedom for all Sommerlunders—and payback for the massacre of the entire population of your Kai kinsmen at the hands of the darklords prior to the beginning of book one—is now only a single battle away is incentive enough to finish this war once and for all, and wipe the evil darklords off the face of the land forever.
In some ways this book is the end, but it's also the beginning of the next great Lone Wolf adventure, as you encounter further challenges that will test your Magnakai skills to their utmost. Of the first twelve volumes, though, I have to say that The Masters of Darkness is one of the best, and brings a satisfying conclusion to a magnificent odyssey. I recommend The Masters of Darkness as strongly as pretty much any other gamebook from any other series that I've ever read.
Author Joe Dever stretches the imaginative use of vivid descriptive English to very near its maximum potential in this book, festooning paragraph after paragraph with eye-popping imagery and rich sensory activators, utilizing metaphor and simile with the master skill of a truly superior fantasy writer. The descriptions of your battles with all kinds of nightmarish creatures both living and undead are enough to make it almost feel as if you're actually seeing the black ichor gush forth when you slash at a monster with your sword, or as if your very life hangs in the balance when you close your eyes and fearfully pick a number from the random number table, hoping that your heightened Kai senses will be enough to carry the day in whatever dire situation is confronting you. Clearly Joe Dever is an extraordinary writer, and the high level of imaginative power that he puts into every page of this book never dips at all. His mental energy levels must be through the roof.
For those of us who have followed Lone Wolf's path all the way from book one, the end of The Masters of Darkness will be a particularly emotional one. To complete a quest of this magnitude, one that first requires the completion of eleven other books, is a major personal commitment, and requires an emotional investment that really pays off as you near the finish line in this book. The final battle with Darklord Gnaag has been anticipated for so long that it would be nearly impossible for the actual fight to live up to expectations, but just knowing that freedom for all Sommerlunders—and payback for the massacre of the entire population of your Kai kinsmen at the hands of the darklords prior to the beginning of book one—is now only a single battle away is incentive enough to finish this war once and for all, and wipe the evil darklords off the face of the land forever.
In some ways this book is the end, but it's also the beginning of the next great Lone Wolf adventure, as you encounter further challenges that will test your Magnakai skills to their utmost. Of the first twelve volumes, though, I have to say that The Masters of Darkness is one of the best, and brings a satisfying conclusion to a magnificent odyssey. I recommend The Masters of Darkness as strongly as pretty much any other gamebook from any other series that I've ever read.
June 10, 2013
The final book of the Magnakai Lone Wolf series, stretching 12 gamebooks up to this point. And you'd better hope you did start from book 1, since not having that one key item from book 1 will make book 12 very difficult to complete due to the overpowered enemies. Unfortunately, having the one item will make most of the fights bearable will make the finale such an anti-climax that it's almost a joke. A poor choice of a series finale, considering the 12-book journey to get there.
Still, the writing is one of the best as Lone Wolf delves into the heart of the enemy. The prose and descriptions were top-notch. Despite the rant about finale scene, the story does comes to a nice closure and puts to rest a long and memorable adventure. I still look back at the first time I've read a Lone Wolf book with nostalgia. And every decade (gosh, I'm feeling old) or so, I seem to pull them out and start the 12 books over again (don't know why, but I seem to have less fondness for books 13 and onwards).
Still, the writing is one of the best as Lone Wolf delves into the heart of the enemy. The prose and descriptions were top-notch. Despite the rant about finale scene, the story does comes to a nice closure and puts to rest a long and memorable adventure. I still look back at the first time I've read a Lone Wolf book with nostalgia. And every decade (gosh, I'm feeling old) or so, I seem to pull them out and start the 12 books over again (don't know why, but I seem to have less fondness for books 13 and onwards).
July 5, 2012
This was the best written book of the series - until the end.
SPOILER ALERT: The ending was such a let down. After all the near impossible fights in earlier books, the villain Lone Wolf has been chasing throughout is defeated by simply unsheathing the Sommerswerd. The is simply weak storytelling. Maybe let the sword weaken him and make it easier, but not even a Combat sequence. Just wrong. Great book with a poor ending to the continuing twelve book saga. I suppose not having the Sommerswerd may have yielded another battle of sorts, or maybe an insta-death, but very disappointing.
SPOILER ALERT: The ending was such a let down. After all the near impossible fights in earlier books, the villain Lone Wolf has been chasing throughout is defeated by simply unsheathing the Sommerswerd. The is simply weak storytelling. Maybe let the sword weaken him and make it easier, but not even a Combat sequence. Just wrong. Great book with a poor ending to the continuing twelve book saga. I suppose not having the Sommerswerd may have yielded another battle of sorts, or maybe an insta-death, but very disappointing.
January 7, 2020
Fairly long. I finally slain the darklords. Time to save the rest of the world
April 23, 2018
This is a great cap to the Magnakai series, and unlike the last two it's actually winnable without cheating. It's really a great example of what this series can be like when it's on form; you've got fun encounters, sweet loot, gross monsters, cool bad guys - and if you've played through the previous books, you really get the sense of finally being as powerful as you should be by this stage. You've got the magic weapons, you've got (almost) the full suite of powers, you've got the skills and experience to handle this mission to finally take out the enemies who've been lurking in the background since book one. It's worth putting up with the previous two books to get to this one.
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 12: The Masters of Darkness
(published 1988, first read 1989)
Story: 5/5
Game: 3/5
Replayability: 3/5
Book 12: The Masters of Darkness
(published 1988, first read 1989)
Story: 5/5
Game: 3/5
Replayability: 3/5
will-probably-never-read
October 13, 2008this is interesting. a RPG style novella. part of the Lone Wolf series?
looks like Choose your Own Adventure combined with Dungeons and Dragons
checking Wikipedia, it looks like there's a whole series of gamebooks. cool.
looks like Choose your Own Adventure combined with Dungeons and Dragons
checking Wikipedia, it looks like there's a whole series of gamebooks. cool.
January 11, 2017
Chi non ha sempre sognato di sconfiggere il Male? Questo dodicesimo volume della splendida saga di Lupo Solitario ne offre la possibilità. E se si sono fatti tutti i libri precedenti, il potere del personaggio è aumentato notevolmente.
November 15, 2020
Sei finalmente riuscito a tornare dal mondo del Daziarn dove sei riuscito a sconfiggere Vonatar il traditore, hai raggiunto le massime capacità del Ramastan e sei pronto per la sfida finale nel regno di Helgedad, dove dimorano i Signori delle Tenebre.
August 3, 2012
Nail-biting thriller! Lone Wolf confronts his archnemesis once for all! The future of Sommerlund is at hand!
February 26, 2015
Bon livre de manière indépendante, mais un peu léger et facile pour celui qui franchit une étape (fin de la partie Magnakai). Je me serais attendu à plus épique.
March 10, 2024
Written notes are better than mental notes in this book, especially if you don’t read it in a single sitting, or you might meet a premature end like I did (twice). It was one of the better books as far as combat is concerned, especially during an early naval battle where you’re forced to defeat multiple foes before it concludes. However, the end was rather anticlimactic, at least if you have the Sommerswerd. The sword is Lone Wolf’s single greatest boon throughout the entire magnakai series, but its power defeated Darklord Gnaag without us even having to fight him!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2025
Premetto che amo la serie di Lupo Solitario. È stata parte integrante della mia gioventù e non posso che renderle omaggio rileggendola da adulto. Ad ogni modo ho trovato questo volume un po' deludente, non dal punto di vista narrativo, ma da quello ludico. Diciamo che se, come me, ci si arriva avendo letto i precedenti volumi risulta veramente troppo facile. Menzione speciale per lo scontro finale che, chiudendo la prima parte della lunghissima serie, avrebbe dovuto essere come minimo epico ed invece praticamente non c'è stato. Voto con 3 stelle più di cuore che di altro insomma.
November 27, 2018
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 20, 2019
Terminé el arco del Magnakai, creo que una vez que se le agarra la onda a las decisiones en los primeros tres, lo demás va bastante sencillo (con algunas contadas excepciones). Son un bonche de libros muy entretenidos y si algún día tengo tiempo libre definitivamente me encantará seguir explorando el Magnamund.
January 2, 2020
In many ways this is the end of the Lone Wolf saga, the storyline takes our hero into the heart of enemy territory to fight them like never before and the ending is just monumental, everything afterwards is smaller scale, though in some ways more personnel but this book wraps up so many storylines that it takes some effort for the Grandmaster series to find new ones.
September 21, 2019
Che delusione il finale!! Questo volume della saga è stato troppo "diretto" e i combattimenti troppo semplici. Peccato.
July 26, 2019
Liked it a lot. Read it quickly.
June 4, 2025
A very solid entry in the series, and an epic finale of the Magnakai cycle. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews