Windhammer

I was slightly surprised to see that despite there being a page for Windhammer Prize 2015, there was (previously) no page for Windhammer itself on IFDB.
Windhammer is an old-school high-fantasy gamebook in digital format, complete with rules, stats, printable character and combat sheets, and a map with along with a text description (NOTE: there is an error in the text description at the time of writing this review, situating Devkraager Tor at the south-east of the map instead of the south-west).
I really enjoyed the prose, and it is very apparent that the author put a lot of love into crafting the vast lore of this world. The writing conveys a sense of scale very vividly, and despite a substantial portion of the journey taking place in the dark belly of a mountain, the descriptions never seem repetitive or boring. There are 600 sections in this gamebook, and only a handful are explored in each playthrough. Besides the main story itself, there are several related reading materials, including one for learning a fictional ancient language.
My personal experience with Windhammer was very nice, however I must admit that I cheated through several of the combat encounters. Regardless of whether I won or lost, I was not enjoying the battles very much. Perhaps my opinion will change as I play and learn to enjoy more old school games.
The final few sections involving the dragon and the restoration seemed less than what it should have been after the build-up, the ending a bit rushed, (Spoiler - click to show)abruptly intruded by a new character already asking the player to go on another quest (in perhaps the sequel).
Despite its few shortcomings, Windhammer is a beautiful piece of fantasy made with passion, surrounded by lore extensive enough to be exciting without being daunting. I plan to play it again in the future.