Zool Books

There were two books released in Great Britian by Boxtree Limited Broadwall House, 21 Broadwall, London SE1 9PL. Credit is given to Gremlin Graphics Software Limited 1994 for the Trademark of Zool.

The first book being "Zool Rules" written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Shane Oakley. In this book the primary characters of Zool, Zooz, Zoon, Mental Block, Krool, and other reoccurring characters are introduced. All the first book takes place in the many realms of the Nth Dimension. Essentially the book and illustrations give a nod to the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy in comedic and action writing as Zool and crew chases Mental Block through quite a few the Nth dimension realms.

The second book being "Cool Zool" written by Stan Nicholls and illustrated by Paul Campbell while developed by different people manages to continue the story of the first book. In this book challenges begun in the first book are addressed, and other supporting characters from the first book and new ones introduced in the second book are present. The second book takes place on Earth, as Zool continues to pursue Mental Block while stranded in a strange new world. Those familiar with Sonic the Hedgehog film released twenty-six years later might sense a similar vibe. However ultimately different is the appearance of fictional characters that Zool has to fight, and the humor of the book briefly describing these characters, some of public domain and others of contemporary sources, in such as way that they are recognizable but still vague. One such example was when Zool encounters a "tough-looking battle-scarred termination android" that talks in a peculiar foreign accent. (1)

Overall the books can get a bit repetitious in the battle segments however both books give a complete story arc and provide some interesting world building for the Zool franchise characters.

Speculation is these books take place after the events of the video games Zool or Zool 2. Based on the endings of Zool 1 the main hero attains the title of "Ninja of the Nth Dimension" which is a title he already has in the books. Also the small bug looking ship seen in all the Zool games is replaced by the Pure Thought ship that is much larger, fully crewed, and higher ability. While Mental Block is defeated at the end of Zool 2, having an ending where Mental Block is defeated and Krool continues to exist to rescue his fallen henchman seems to be a theme throughout the games and books.

(1) From "Cool Zool" page 118.