The King's Quest Novels thread!

[dark-daventry]

This thread is for discussion of the three KQ novels, as well as the various editions of the Companion, and any other printed material of KQ that exists in the world. For those may not know, the King's Quest series has had three novelizations:

The Floating Castle

Kingdom of Sorrow

See No Weevil

Unfortunately, these books are all out of print, and hard to find. They are available on eBay and Amazon, but the prices vary. I know See No Weevil at one point was going for thirty bucks, while the other two were going from as low as 5 cents to five dollars. The first two books are amazing, and I can't attest the third, considering I don't own it (yet).

So use this thread to discuss your favorite book of the series, or even the KQ Companion. Just, for major plot details, try to use the spoiler tags. Also, I put this in Off-Topic because it's not technically about the games... If anyone thinks it fits better there, let me know and I'll move it.

[Arkillian]

I read through the King's quest companions- it was interesting to see 'what the characters were thinking' when they wrote the game. NZ didn't get to see the novels though

[dark-daventry]

I really need to find a copy of the 4th edition of the companion. From what I hear, it has KQ7 in it. I have a really old copy of the Third edition at home with pages falling out that tops off at KQ6. I think I tried doing a search for the fourth edition on a number of websites and couldn't find it anywhere... But that was a number of years ago...

Another question: Is it legal for me to scan and upload all the pages from the novels? I mean, they're out of print, and the only people that would make any money off of them are the people selling them. I want to try scanning them and seeing if I can transcode the text and hopefully make it into an eBook. That way, it'll be easier for everyone to read, and everyone can get a copy of it. I just don't know legality of it, or the logistics of how to go about it. They seriously need to reprint those books. They're so good, and definitely worth every penny in my opinion. They're just hard to find now, which is a real shame.

[Baggins]

Dark Daventry, you might be better off buying hte KQ7 Authorized Guide, by Peter Spear and his brother.

It's all the KQ7 chapters stand alone, and has an additional chapter not included in the 4th Edition, with yet an version of the previous game synopses.

Seriously, when it comes to the companion the only versions probably worth owning stand alone is probably 2nd and 3rd Editions, with the KQ7: Authorized Guide. Or owning 2nd and 4rd Edition (if you don't have the authorized guide).

I'm glad to have first edition as well, for its alternative world maps (based on the KQ3 land charts).

Another question: Is it legal for me to scan and upload all the pages from the novels? I mean, they're out of print, and the only people that would make any money off of them are the people selling them.

Technically yes, but I've thought of creating my own pdf for my own personel use, self typed up. But if you ever make your own pdfs down low, let me know .

BTW, you can find someone typed up the text of the two Gabriel Knight novels (minus page numbers), and they can be found on scribd. Just do a google search for gabriel knight novels, and scribd. With the novels specific title. Illegal, but still cool. I've found it useful for hunting down text in the book, to build up my articles for the Gabriel Knight Omnipedia. Though I use it for search for topics, and then find those pages in the original books, for page numbers.

I will not be giving the direct links.

[KatieHal]

Definitely not legal, DD, sorry.

[dark-daventry]

Definitely not legal, DD, sorry.

Drat. Oh well. I can only hope that whatever company owns the rights to the novels can reprint them. Or at least put them on the iBook store. I mean, that way you don't have the costs of printing physical copies, and can track much more easily who bought the book. Plus, eBooks have like bookmarks and stuff. Seriously, these novels are really good, and it's such a shame that no one is rereleasing them in some form. I'd so buy them on the iBookstore, or Kindle or whatever. These are some serious lost gems.

[Baggins]

Also personally, I have typed up the prologue chapter for Quest for Glory Authorized Guide. It can be found on Quest for Glory Omnipedia (and is only about 10 pages of the entire book). If you are interested. It covers Hero's journey from Willowsby.

I've also transcribed the KQ2 Novelization from the companions (with notes pointing out the alternative paragraphs between each edition) for the Omnipedia. I will not do that for every chapter, and I have only included it to give an example of the kind of material included in the Companion (it's also the only example of an official "expanded" version of the KQ2 story).

[colin]

I read through the King's quest companions- it was interesting to see 'what the characters were thinking' when they wrote the game. NZ didn't get to see the novels though

Actually the NZ bookstore  I contacted a few years ago said they could have ordered them for me. Unfortunately
I just missed my chance as they had just gone out of print.

[Arkillian]

I read through the King's quest companions- it was interesting to see 'what the characters were thinking' when they wrote the game. NZ didn't get to see the novels though

Actually the NZ bookstore  I contacted a few years ago said they could have ordered them for me. Unfortunately
I just missed my chance as they had just gone out of print.

I was unaware of them. I'm sure they could've ordered them in for me if I knew of them, but I wasn't on the net back then. The companions got to nz.

[dark-daventry]

Well the books are still for sale (albeit used) on various websites like Amazon and eBay. The novels are most certainly worth a read! Very good if I do say so myself!

[Lambonius]

The novels are nowhere near as good as the fan games that are based on them.  lol

[dark-daventry]

The novels are nowhere near as good as the fan games that are based on them.  lol

Well, that's bias. Considering you work for IA, which means you're helping to develop Kingdom of Sorrow. Which I'm very much looking forward to, btw! Oh, I just can't wait for it to be done! And the SQ2 remake... I'm seriously dying to play that.

[Arkillian]

Well the books are still for sale (albeit used) on various websites like Amazon and eBay. The novels are most certainly worth a read! Very good if I do say so myself!

I'll think about it. I'm totally over budget this month with importing a DS XL from America, and paying for a convention over Easter. I'll look at it in February's budget. January is over shot T.T

[dark-daventry]

Well the books are still for sale (albeit used) on various websites like Amazon and eBay. The novels are most certainly worth a read! Very good if I do say so myself!

I'll think about it. I'm totally over budget this month with importing a DS XL from America, and paying for a convention over Easter. I'll look at it in February's budget. January is over shot T.T

If you're on a budget, skip the third book. If memory serves me correctly, the first two books were dirt cheap for me, from five cents to five bucks. The third book, See No Weevil, was around 30 or 40 dollars the last time I checked. Granted, it's been a couple of years since I've checked

[Arkillian]

Well the books are still for sale (albeit used) on various websites like Amazon and eBay. The novels are most certainly worth a read! Very good if I do say so myself!

I'll think about it. I'm totally over budget this month with importing a DS XL from America, and paying for a convention over Easter. I'll look at it in February's budget. January is over shot T.T

If you're on a budget, skip the third book. If memory serves me correctly, the first two books were dirt cheap for me, from five cents to five bucks. The third book, See No Weevil, was around 30 or 40 dollars the last time I checked. Granted, it's been a couple of years since I've checked

Oh- the cost isn't so much of an issue. I can't buy them here so how can i complain ^^; I just don't have the cash to buy AT ALL without missing out on a few meals till my next pay check. The sacrifices I must make to play Ace Investigations.... Hmmmmmm 

[Baggins]

While, See No Weevil, is perhaps the weakest of the trilogy when it comes to sense of adventure. Its more of a adventure-comedy, I think its the most interesting in the fact it gives the most details of culture and customs within Daventry. You get alot more about castle life in Daventry, and the most details about the town of Daventry.

But to be fair, every book in the trilogy shows different sides of the castle life (so by the end you'll get a good look at the castle's layout).

My anthropology background craves these kind of fine details.

[Arkillian]

Me too- I love flavour text IT's what makes a world unique

[dark-daventry]

While, See No Weevil, is perhaps the weakest of the trilogy when it comes to sense of adventure. Its more of a adventure-comedy, I think its the most interesting in the fact it gives the most details of culture and customs within Daventry. You get alot more about castle life in Daventry, and the most details about the town of Daventry.

But to be fare, every book in the trilogy shows different sides of the castle life (so by the end you'll get a good look at the castle's layout).

My anthropology background craves these kind of fine details.

Personally, my favorite of the series was The Floating Castle. It may have something to do with my love for Alexander, but it just seemed, to me, to be the strongest of the trilogy. Kingdom of Sorrow was really good as well, don't get me wrong. Both were amazing books, but Floating Castle is my favorite thus far. I'm probably going to re-read both of the books at some point down the line, but I'd like to acquire the third and final book of the trilogy too so I can have bragging rights

[Arkillian]

The Floating Castle. It may have something to do with my love for Alexander...

Guess which one I'm buying first then

[Baggins]

I have to agree with Floating Castle being my favorite as well. It's the darkest of the series (I understand the late author actually had a depressive side to his personality, and it shows in three books he wrote during his life). The book has alot of high fantasy aspects, even some directly tolkien inspired bits, like the dark riders/black knights.

Yes, its obvious cliche and generic tale as far as fantasy goes, it won't win any awards, but its simply a fun read.

Another thing about The Floating Castle, its imo, the one game in the series that seems to fit within the adventure game style. There are many examples of Alexander get some item, that he has to use later, to bypass some obstacle. There are many instances of this happening. He basically has an 'inventory'. These would all easily convert to "puzzles".

In Kingdom of Sorrow, Graham goes through the adventure without using very many items at all (in fact for a long sequence, he has no pockets). This will probably make it interesting to see how, IA reinterprets the story, to add "puzzles".