This series of books was written by J. H. Brennan, who hails from Ireland (I think...) and has a long history with adventure gaming. As you might be able to intimate from the name, all of the Grail Quest adventures take place in Avalon, the home of King Arthur. You get to interact with such fun characters as Merlin the wizard, and other inhabitants of the Court of King Arthur. Actually, Merlin tends to be the cause of all your problems.
You see, each book begins with Merlin casting a "net head" spell that transfers you into the body of a strapping young lad named Pip. Then you get to move Pip around Avalon (or wherever Merlin sends him/you), have him kill things, and get him killed in turn. All much fun. And after doing this, Merlin sends you on some task to save someone or something from whatever vile plague has descended on the land.
The Grail Quest books are a little odd. First, the book (sometimes through the voice of Merlin, sometimes through the Author's voice) talks to you. It will taunt you, encourage you, provide advice, and make fun of you when you fail. This takes some getting used to, but is okay as long as the writing style doesn't become pandering. Also, there is a sense of "this isn't very serious so just have fun." I mean, you get called by Merlin, stuck in some other guy's body, and you have a talking sword. Of course it isn't serious. In fact, there are plans in the book to make various little toys that have little, if anything, to do with the book's story. These books are likely aimed at a younger audience, and some of the humor is definitely juvenile. You will either like this or you will not.
The actual mechanics are simple. You roll 2 six-sided dice and multiply by 4 to determine your character's LIFE POINTS. Your combat ability is fixed, and is based on your weapon, Excalibur Junior, or "EJ." Your combat ability is better than most foes you will encounter, but combat is not easy. There is another feature of Grail Quest that is unique, the concept of "Dream Time." If you are injured, you can attempt to sleep to recover LIFE POINTS. Then you roll a die. If you are lucky you recover. If not, you roll on the Dream Time chart and you have an encounter, that can kill you or at least hurt you.
Grail Quest book 6, 1986, J. H. Brennan
I found this book to be very strange. I remember reading the first two Grail Quest books when I was 12 years old after finding them at my local library. I remember liking them very much. So, when I found Realm of Chaos at a used bookstore last month, I thought, "cool! Grail Quest! I liked those." However, after reading what I could of this book, I'm not so sure that I knew what I was talking about when I was in Junior High.
The book started out fine. Merlin brings you to Camelot to stop a plague. So you run off to the nearest town to look for clues. This brings up the best aspect of the book; the use of maps. Not too many gamebooks do this, but Mr. Brennan puts maps to good use, adding a non-linear feel to the beginning of the story. After enough Fighting Fantasy books non-liner stories are good. However, it takes you a while to find what you want. However, soon you should be on your way.
After that the book breaks down. You see, after you leave town you have to find a way into the big castle. So you find a secret entrance. This puts you into a maze that has some pit traps in it. What upset me greatly was that you could not get out of the maze. I mapped the whole thing, and the only way out was to actually fall into a certain pit trap (that you roll dice to avoid; there's no option to go into the pit), and then you happen to find a secret passage into the castle. I was mad after discovering this. Why? Because the stupid book made me cheat. I just started looking at the sections for each pit trap to discover that one of them had a secret passage. Oh, was I mad. But I recovered and proceeded into the castle.
Then things got weird, and downright stupid. I lost all suspension of disbelief, and just stared at the book. I couldn't believe what I was reading! It was such nonsense! You rescue a guy from an iron maiden and then he spits stupid riddles at you! You discover who the bad guy is, and background music begins to play! Aauugghh!! Make it stop! So I did. I stopped reading the book. As much as it pains me to admit, I gave up on this book halfway through. It just wasn't fun anymore. And why should I read a gamebook that isn't any fun? Beats me.
The only thing saving this gamebook from a dreaded one-star rating was the fact that it had maps and the beginning was okay. I have picked up another book in the series, so let's hope that this book was simply an anomaly.