In June 1982 the first four books of the Endless Quest series came out, written by Rose Estes and all set in the D&D world of Mystara, this is really the start of TSR moving into book publishing. There had been Andre Norton’s Quag Keep in 1978 but that was not published by TSR and was a story based on D&D rather than set in a D&D universe. From these endless quest books we would go on in 1984 to the Dragonlance Chronicles and to hundreds of subsequent novels set in D&D worlds up until today. 

Endless Quest is not, however, a common novel. It’s a gaming book, a Choose Your Own Adventure style book (that series having started in 1979) and similar to the Fighting Fantasy books coming out in the UK, with the first of those (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) also being from 1982. However, there is a clear distinction between the Endless Quest and the Fighting Fantasy series, which is a difference that is present in US vs. UK fantasy in general. While the Fighting Fantasy are grimy, violent and pretty scary affairs, the Endless Quest books, at least this one, is a much more genteel and child friendly affair. 

As an experience it’s a page turner, this is the first I read and I got through it in a day, because there is always something interesting around the corner. Here you play a fighter who finds a Halfling rifling through his things and together they decide to join up to defeat the Magic User who controls the nearby mountain dungeon. A very recognizable D&D plot, but absolute fun from beginning to end. And when you finish it, you’ll want to go back to find what other places you could have gotten to. Here I particularly loved befriending some blink dogs and using them to attack skeletons while giving them some boney treats. Great stuff.