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Worlds of Power #5
Wizards & Warriors
A statue-turned-knight leads Matthew Lukens to the land of Elrond where an imprisoned princess awaits her rescue from the evil wizard Malkil
- GenresFantasyVideo Games
121 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
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About the author
F.X. Nine
16 books8 followersF.X. Nine is a pseudonym used by Seth Godin for the Worlds of Power series. He was the creator of the series and wrote outlines for each book. Authors were hired to write the novelizations based on Godin's vision and outline.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 5, 2020
Terrible.
I loved it.
I loved it.
August 24, 2020
Where Simon's Quest succeeded in incorporating "kid from real world travels to fantasy land to learn lessons," this fails kind of miserably. There was a (mild) sense of danger in Simon's Quest and a real, albeit junior, growth and arc. In this one, there's no danger/stakes and the kid from the real world...learns to do well in creative writing? Not sure how this is meant to help middle grade readers, but whatever.
December 23, 2020
The most vanilla story of the series thus far. Nothing particularly great about it, and nothing particularly bad about it.
If anything, this story seems a bit lesser when compared to Castlevania which came before. Both stories tell the tale of a young teenager who enters the world of the videogame as a sidekick to the hero proper. I find this story didn't hit the lows of Castlevania (terrible puns) nor did it hit its highs (the teenager of this story is not nearly so positively affected by discovering what it really means to be a hero).
On the whole, the story finds an okay balance between fun adventure and videogame retelling. Some very odd videogame moments play out in this one, particularly at the beginning where the knight hero Kuros uses his sword and dagger to fight off bees, and then flies, and then ants. I'm not even sure how to visualize what that's supposed to look like...
With Bionic Commando being the absolute worst in the series, and Blaster Master being the absolute best, this story sits firmly in the middle. Utterly forgettable.
If anything, this story seems a bit lesser when compared to Castlevania which came before. Both stories tell the tale of a young teenager who enters the world of the videogame as a sidekick to the hero proper. I find this story didn't hit the lows of Castlevania (terrible puns) nor did it hit its highs (the teenager of this story is not nearly so positively affected by discovering what it really means to be a hero).
On the whole, the story finds an okay balance between fun adventure and videogame retelling. Some very odd videogame moments play out in this one, particularly at the beginning where the knight hero Kuros uses his sword and dagger to fight off bees, and then flies, and then ants. I'm not even sure how to visualize what that's supposed to look like...
With Bionic Commando being the absolute worst in the series, and Blaster Master being the absolute best, this story sits firmly in the middle. Utterly forgettable.
July 6, 2025
I read a few of the Worlds of Power books back in middle school, and I remember liking them. I am reading through some other ones for fun, and I will try to review them as what they are: kids' books.
I've always felt that when parents or other adults try to write from a cool kid's perspective, the result is just embarrassing. That was the case here. Matthew uses slang, gives high fives, and teaches the stoic knight a secret handshake, and it all seemed rather forced. Kuros, the knight, ended up seeming like a joke with his pseudo medieval air, not the awesome knight from the game. I think I would have enjoyed this somewhat as a kid, but it would not have made much of an impact.
I've always felt that when parents or other adults try to write from a cool kid's perspective, the result is just embarrassing. That was the case here. Matthew uses slang, gives high fives, and teaches the stoic knight a secret handshake, and it all seemed rather forced. Kuros, the knight, ended up seeming like a joke with his pseudo medieval air, not the awesome knight from the game. I think I would have enjoyed this somewhat as a kid, but it would not have made much of an impact.
April 3, 2022
This has a dollar store Neverending Story feel to it.
In this story, the hero of the game is accompanied by a kid sidekick, a Robin or Bucky type character the audience gets to live through.
Is it corny? Is it a bit off-putting at times?
Sure.
Is it so bad it is good?
The bad is bad enough to be good, but this book isn’t terrible. It just sort of . . . is.
It was good enough to finish, but I probably won’t read it again :)
In this story, the hero of the game is accompanied by a kid sidekick, a Robin or Bucky type character the audience gets to live through.
Is it corny? Is it a bit off-putting at times?
Sure.
Is it so bad it is good?
The bad is bad enough to be good, but this book isn’t terrible. It just sort of . . . is.
It was good enough to finish, but I probably won’t read it again :)
January 24, 2021
Silly little tale based on the NES game of the same name. One of the better Worlds of Power books.
June 27, 2013
Not completely horrible, but there are certainly moments.
This was part of a series of books, the Worlds of Power series, based on some of the top-selling Nintendo games at the time (this was back in the days of the original NES). Under the name F.X. Nine, Seth Godin translates the story of Wizards & Warriors into a story for children. Unfortunately, this is one of those completely safe "nobody will ever be in any actual danger" books that some people think necessary when it comes to writing for children,
Kuros, the hero of the Wizards & Warriors story, is joined in his quest by a young man from the real world, fully intended to be an in for children reading this (because apparently it's impossible for them to imagine themselves as characters from the game world). This young man is a bit of a Marty Stu, just there to be a representative of the audience. It's established at the start of the book that he has no imagination, failing to write anything for his creative writing class, which makes him a very bland character (maybe it was books like this that gave Stephanie Meyer the idea for bland-beyond-belief Bella). He isn't even noticed by the creatures constantly attacking Kuros, that's how little he's actually a part of this world (until the end when they face the evil wizard, because I guess Godin thought it would be more exciting by that point).
This is not the first Worlds of Power story I've read in which a kid from the real world gets swept into the fantasy realm of a video game, but that one was even worse.
A very quick read. Only took me about two hours to get through it.
This was part of a series of books, the Worlds of Power series, based on some of the top-selling Nintendo games at the time (this was back in the days of the original NES). Under the name F.X. Nine, Seth Godin translates the story of Wizards & Warriors into a story for children. Unfortunately, this is one of those completely safe "nobody will ever be in any actual danger" books that some people think necessary when it comes to writing for children,
Kuros, the hero of the Wizards & Warriors story, is joined in his quest by a young man from the real world, fully intended to be an in for children reading this (because apparently it's impossible for them to imagine themselves as characters from the game world). This young man is a bit of a Marty Stu, just there to be a representative of the audience. It's established at the start of the book that he has no imagination, failing to write anything for his creative writing class, which makes him a very bland character (maybe it was books like this that gave Stephanie Meyer the idea for bland-beyond-belief Bella). He isn't even noticed by the creatures constantly attacking Kuros, that's how little he's actually a part of this world (until the end when they face the evil wizard, because I guess Godin thought it would be more exciting by that point).
This is not the first Worlds of Power story I've read in which a kid from the real world gets swept into the fantasy realm of a video game, but that one was even worse.
A very quick read. Only took me about two hours to get through it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews