You Are The Hero: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks: 2 (Snowbooks Fantasy Histories)

I think the first crowd funded edition of the book (2014) has a slightly nicer layout with less white space and often using larger versions of the illustrations. But it's good to see it refreshed ten years later for a wider audience! This 2024 edition coincides with the 40th anniversary and includes material from the Part 2 book (2017) that was released some years after the original, covering newer books and with interviews and information not available at the time. It's in good company with other official retrospectives such as Magic Realms (the art of Fighting Fantasy) and Dice Men (Ian & Steve's history of the early years).

I was hooked on Fighting Fantasy books from the very first day Yaztromo packed my adventure sheet with potions and sent me out on to the perilous trails of Darkwood Forest, as a not-yet-teenager back in about 1983.I have embarked on many other adventures since then, both on the page and in real life in the decades since, but those books always held special memories.I was therefore very excited to read Jonathan's book and eagerly backed its Kickstarter. It was well worth the wait and is jam-packed full of information, nostalgia, artwork, background stories, and everything else a fan of the series could hope for.It took a long time to obtain them, but I have a complete set of the original 59 books now, which are among my most prized possessions. This feels like an important addition to the collection, and I would highly recommend it to anyone else that spent their younger days eagerly collecting gold pieces and testing their luck.

Having played my fair share of Fighting Fantasy books on my youth, I felt a mix of nostalgia and surprise while reading this book.Jonathan does a wonderful job of taking the reader on a journey that encompasses all the books, games, merchandise and factoid surrounding these great books, providing the expected nostalgic trip, while at the same time informing and educating the audience, letting us all know how deep the rabbit hole goes.This book can be read in one go, or by opening a page at random just to enjoy the history around one of the FF books.If you're a fan of Fighting Fantasy books, you need to read "You are the Hero". Great read.

Lovely book - or it would be if Amazon hadn't bashed it about in transit. The corners are all bashed in. This is becoming a more regular problem with Amazon deliveries so consider buying elsewhere.

Back in the day, the Fighting Fantasy series of books was one of the most successful children and young adult series ever published. And yet their appeal continues, transcending age boundaries.In 'You Are the Hero', Jonathan Green provides a delightfully detailed history of how the series started, the wrangles with editors and publishers, the mechanics of game development, the plot inspirations, and the amazing artwork that was fundamental to the series success.Following the non-linear structured of the original books, this is a volume is a journey to be explored and treasured.I was delighted to have been able to back this book on Kickstarter and to see it come to fruition. And now you have the opportunity to enjoy it too!

If you grew up in the 80s like me and were a fan of fantasy RPGs then chances are you will have played at least one Fighting Fantasy book. Jonathan Green has written two previous excellent volumes on these books the worlds they built. This volume is no other and takes a playful way to set out the information. If you were a fan (like me) then this is highly recommended.

Having been a huge fan of fighting fantasy since I was a kid in the 80s this book is a fascinating and exhaustive history of the series with tons of fascinating insights into the creation of the series and how each book and spinoff came about

I backed this excellent book via the Kickstarter and received it in May. I've really enjoyed it, there's some fascinating nuggets of info and lots of insights into the creation of the series. Adding the interactive element so you can choose to read in order or according to various topics by picking from a choice of paragraphs (in the style of the FF game books) was a very fun touch- it was also a lovely surprise to see I had a mention!