Ah, Creature of Havoc. Fighting Fantasy #24 and a strong contender (along with City of Thieves) for Greatest Fighting Fantasy gamebook. Considerably longer than others in the series (460 references rather than the usual 400), Creature of Havoc’s notable “gimmick” is that YOU play not as a hero, but rather as one of the monsters you would usually slay.
Starting out unable to understand language (learning how to understand what others are saying to you is one of the best puzzles in the book) and unable to even reason, as the book progresses you learn more about yourself and the mission you find yourself on. Full of puzzles, but not the level of frustration of Jackson’s other fearsome puzzler, House of Hell, Creature of Havoc is an utterly engrossing experience.
The cover art -- presumably of the main villain Zharradan Marr -- is another one of Ian Miller’s baroque morbidities (his other Fighting Fantasy cover was, fittingly, for House of Hell). Alan Langford’s interior art shows his ability to nicely render the Fighting Fantasy bestiary, but -- and I don’t want to put down his work here -- one can’t help wonder what Russ Nicholson could have done with this material...
