126–539 pages, Tor Books, ISBN-13: 978-0812579758 (1), ISBN-13: 978-0812579802 (2), ISBN-13: 978-0812579857 (3), ISBN-13: 978-0812559897 (4)
Zork was a text-based computer adventure game first released in 1977 – that I knew nothing about when I collected the original four Zork books. At the time I was all about these gamebooks that had multiple avenues of success or failure (think Endless Quest, reviewed November 11th, 2021 and Choose Your Own Adventure, reviewed on April 24th, 2024). And just like the video games, the Zork books (and the other series I mentioned) were a kind of interactive fiction which offered the reader a choice of actions symbolized by pages to turn to.
The protagonists of each book were a boy and girl, called Bill and June on Earth and re-dubbed Bivotar and Juranda in Zork. Unlike other like series, at the ending of each Zork book the reader received a score from ‘0’ to ‘10’, based on just how far they had made it through the book; if one ended in failure the reader was given an opportunity to try again (the books also usually contained a “cheater trap” that was reached by opting to use an item which didn’t exist, in which the story abruptly ended and the reader is chastised and not given a chance to try again).
The Zork books did not affect me like the other series I read and, seeing as there were only four of them – The Forces of Krill with 20 possible endings; The Malifestro Quest with 18 possible endings; The Cavern of Doom with 17 possible endings; and Conquest at Quendor likewise with 17 possible endings – I don’t suppose they affect very many other people, either. Maybe I’m wrong. But, I bought them all and read them and grew (at least a little) with them and they will forever be a part of me.
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