KharéCityport of Traps (Fighting Fantasy: Sorcery! #2) by Steve Jackson

KharéCityport of Traps (Fighting Fantasy: Sorcery! #2) Reviews

• 
  Forrest

  1984, I think it was, when I picked this book up at a store called "The Book Professor" in Papillion, NE. Truth be told, Mom bought it for me as a consolation for JC Penny not having the Star Wars jersey I wanted in stock. If you haven't figured it out yet, I was a bit of a nerd. But I was a nerd going into regression. The metalhead/punk was, instead, coming out. So this book, being an easily-hideable nerd manual, was perfect. Part solo
  role playing module (think
  Tunnels & Trolls), part choose-your-own-adventure book (though much better than it's more famous cousins), the sorcery books were two-fists-full-of-six-sided-dice worth of awesome! Now, it was good that I had fairly low self-esteem at that time, too, since the narration could get a little condescending, at times. If you did something dumb, the book let you know it. But, hey, I lived through it, even if my character didn't, and I'm stronger for it. One important caveat: This Steve Jackson (of
  Games Workshop) is not the same as the Steve Jackson of
  Steve Jackson Games (Gurps, Car Wars, Ogre, etc). I just want you to know so that you don't make the same mistake I made while talking to the American Steve Jackson: Me: "Hey, I really liked your Sorcery books. Are you going to do any more of those?" Mr. Jackson (if you're
  nasty): "Huh?"
  
  I failed my saving throw for putting my foot in my mouth on that one. Temporary loss of dexterity, permanent loss of charisma . . . believe me, you don't want it to happen to you. Thankfully, I've had my share of limited wishes to undo the damage.
• 
  Nicola

  A step up in difficulty and enjoyment from the first of the series, this was where you needed to 'pick the right path' - far more so than in the first. Khare was a wonderful city to explore though, so even if you took a few tries it didn't matter.
• 
  Paul Christensen

  Kharé ensorcells through the chaos of John Blanche.
  Somewhere in its twisted streets are four parts of a spell.
  
  Against the fearsome Red-Eyes, you don’t stand a chance;
  You’d be better off staying in the smelly guardroom cell,
  
  Or even in the streets where the Living Corpse drifts,
  Or even in the sewers where the Slime Eater feeds.
  
  But wherever you go, and however you grift,
  Just, please, don’t ever try the Smoking Weed.
  
• 
  Michael Kelly

  In many respects, Khare - the second instalment in Steve Jackson's mammoth 'Sorcery!' epic - is deserving of five stars. It has real atmosphere and the vast, sprawling city with its weird and dangerous denizens is utterly enthralling.
  
  But I have to deduct a star because it just that little bit too frustrating and difficult to discover all of the information you need in order to open the gate on the far side of the city in order to continue your journey in the next book in the series. This real difficulty in finding out the information, coupled with some very tricky encounters, make the book just that touch too hard. I was back and forth through the pages so many times that it just wasn't funny any more. And yet, it was also rewarding and I'm glad I stuck with it.
  
  Khare is a city of factions, thieves, deathtraps and murder. It's a cess pit. All of these things make it the perfect setting for a fantasy tale.
  
  The reader is tasked with discovering the four lines of a spell which will open the North Gate. These lines were in the safe keeping of certain of the city's nobles, who are now largely disappeared or dead, which complicates matters somewhat.
  
  Extensive note taking is essential. There is just so much to take in and to remember in this book. Funnily enough, I can remember breezing through it on my very first attempt as a child. All I can say is that I must have been very, very lucky indeed in the path I chose to follow, as it took me a good number of hours and several attempts this time around!
  
  In spite of the difficulty factor, it is still a highly recommended gamebook. This was as far as I got when a kid, so I'm looking forward to covering new ground with the final two books in the series in due course, though am nervous to note that they are both MUCH bigger!
• 
  Stuart

  This was an innovative combo of choose your own adventure and RPGs in a cohesive fantasy series. Really loved it as a kid, to the point of contorting my body to roll dice on the floor of the plane in economy on my my way to Wisconsin for Christmas one year. Good fun!
• 
  Jeff Miller

  Having a break from the computer screen during Coronavirus Lockdown I am revisiting this epic series of Fighting Fantasy books from my youth...
  
  Lovely adventure - really nice winding streets filled with all forms of traps and trickery...I remember being in all sorts of bother here as a kid, but this one was more plain sailing as I worked my way around, greeting friends from Book 1 and obtaining the required spell parts to unlock the gate at the end. Just the one workback as I made a mess of kissing a statue first time around, as you do...but now I have something special to help me as I face the unknown ahead...
• 
  Dies Irae

  Siamo giunti a Kharé, luogo in cui è interamente ambientato il secondo volume della serie. Lo scopo del gioco consiste nell'uscire dall'insidiosa città, ricettacolo della peggiore feccia di Kakhabad. Per farlo dovremo però entrare in possesso dei quattro versi che compongono una formula magica. Ogni quartina è conosciuta da un diverso cittadino di prestigio ma non ci è dato sapere quale. Path-true rigidissimo; basta deviare accidentalmente o non prestare attenzione ai particolari per perdere un passaggio essenziale nell'acquisizione delle quartine. Ma Jackson non bara ed è sufficiente procedere in modo circolare per visitare ogni anfratto di Kharé. Un passo avanti rispetto al precedente racconto.
• 
  Juho Pohjalainen

  This is where the difficulty ramps up. There are far more death traps than previously, tricky encounters, traps, and more to the point, the most-maligned plot coupons make their return. And even at the end, the city honestly loses in charm and novelty to the more appealing and memorable Port Blacksand.
  
  But there are also several points where things from the first book come back up, several notes should have been taken, and your previous paths can make a difference. Props for good continuity - the first of its kind in this series, I think, given that all the other books have been standalone.
• 
  John Somers

  Have this as part of the Sorcery! boxed set.
• 
  Bernard O'Leary

  Grimy
• 
  Elsie

  A fordítások nagyon rosszak, az angol eredeti nélkül nem is lehet megcsinálni, mert még a számokat is sikerült félrefordítani a magyarban. A Steve Jackson-ok jó gondolkodtatósak, a varázslós extrázás tökre feldobja, csak lehetne kicsit hosszabb.
• 
  Vincenza Wall

  I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
  
  http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13396738
• 
  Patrick

  Puzzle upon puzzle.
• 
  Kevin Pimbblet

  With an increase in difficulty levels along with a greater preponderance of deadly traps, Kharé presents a much greater challenge than the previous book in the series, especially for younger audiences. It is easy to make a mess of this one, so expect to come back more than once to find a better route through the city. On the bright side, there is good continuity from the previous volume which starts to mark this series out as significant for the genre.
• 
  Andy Horton

  Read for a reading challenge (“next in a series”). Classic Fighting Fantasy gamebook with added puzzles and memory games around spellcasting. Part of a series I only started in my youth. Looking forward to completing the wurst at a later date,
• 
  R.M.F. Brown

  The hardest Fighting Fantasy gamebook I've ever came across.
  
  Anybody who has ever played an FF gamebook, will be familiar with the urge to cheat, to skip ahead a few pages and see if your choice was the correct one (your character using suffering a gruesome death in the process)
  
  The benefit this 'hindsight' brought, was a smooth progression through even the toughest dungeon.
  
  With Cityport, such an option is not available. Almost impossible to solve without cheating, and even then it's no guarantee, I've yet to meet anybody who has ever finished this book.
  
  Despite its toughness, it's still an enjoyable trek through the worlds created by Steve Jackson, although you'd be forgiven if you thought you'd heard some mad cackling in the background!