"Eclipse of the Kai" is a fantasy novel by Joe Dever and John Grant, based on Joe Dever's "Lone Wolf" game books. When the game books had become popular, Dever, with co-author Grant, begin writing novelizations for each game book, retelling the events of the books in a more standard novelized form.
What I expected: a nostalgic trip through a world that entertained me in my late preteen years, mixed with some very cheesy high fantasy action.
What I got: that, and also some fantasy that managed to be a little surrealistic and thought-provoking.
The world that the Lone Wolf books take place in is called Magnamund, a world where good and evil fight, with evil represented by hideously deformed demons called "Darklords" who live in a hellish landscape of lava and smoke and engage in torture, cannibalism and worse, and the forces of good are represented by the warriors of Sommerlund, a typical medieval feudal state of warriors and magicians, with pale skinned, fair haired people (which is a bit problematic at first, although this book manages to undo some of those implications). The game series begins when the monastery of the Kai, a Jedi-like order of warrior monks, is destroyed in a surprise attack, leaving Lone Wolf as the only survivor. One of the problems with translating game books to real books is that Lone Wolf doesn't have a lot of introspection or character growth in the books, mostly deciding whether to turn left or right down a trail, or whether to rummage through a treasure chest. This book solves that by telling about the surrounding events, including the treachery of the evil wizard Vonotar, the journey of good sorcerer Banedon, and the actions of new character Alyss, a demigod on the side of good who interacts with the main characters to try to forestall events. The book also describes the events in the cities of the Darklords in a way that is almost hammy, as it follows Darklard Zagarna as he stomps around, cannibalizing his Giak (kind of like an orc) warriors.
There are two things I liked about this book: the first is that it really leans into the mythology and cosmology that Dever constructed. Dever created an entire world, most of which is only mentioned in passing, but this book describes thousands of years of history, even when it is not plot relevant. Some of his stories of demons and dragons seems cliched, but parts of it is wildly inventive. The enthusiasm for the world makes me want to know more about it. Secondly, although the book doesn't exactly try to "deconstruct" the game books, it does broaden them and presents a little bit more complex of a world. Sommerlund is presented as being a little bit more venal than in the books, and it is hinted that the complicity of the Kai was the reason for their downfall. It also approaches the battle between good and evil a little more philosophically, with a hint that the Darklords, despite their great evil, are basically automatons. Interestingly, Dever's co-writer John Grant wrote a book called The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and had a great knowledge of fantasy literature. It could be that he used his exposure to different types of fantasy to "flesh out" a sword and sorcery world into something more.
I liked the book enough that I am curious to find more books in the series, although they are hard to come by.