The Ancestral Trail was a fantastic magazine series published by Marshal Cavendish over a period from 1992-1994. Written by Frank Graves and illustrated by Julek and Adam Heller (with computer-generated graphics in the second half by Mehau Kulyk), it tells the story of a boy called Richard who is suddenly plucked from his home world and into a new place, known as the Ancestral World. There, he learns from an old man named Golan that he is The Chosen One, appointed to save this world from a great evil being known simply as The Evil One. Said Evil One has already conquered the Ancestral World by stealing six pods from the Tree Of Life and imprisoning six Guardians (more on that when you read through the stories).
Richard, meanwhile, has two different coloured eyes, one green and one grey. The green eye sees only good; the grey eye sees only evil. Joined by a pig-man called Orkan, and a dwarf called Melek, Richard embarks on a quest to recover the pods, reinstate the guardians, and rally the forces of the Ancestral World together for the final battle, all within 26 days!
However, after the final battle is won, instead of returning home, Richard is catapulted into a new adventure in the deadly Cyber Dimension, a world where machines rule and carbon-based organisms cannot survive. Placing his trust in a small robot called Robo (no, really) he faces a desperate struggle to find a way back, while constantly on the lookout for the servants of the supreme overlord of the Cyber Dimension - The Evil One.
The Ancestral Trail was really written as a trilogy but, for the sake of marketing convenience was only split into only two halves of 26 issues each, making a total of 52 issues in all instead of 78 issues in all. (The middle section of the trilogy being left out altogether).
The first half takes place in the aforementioned Ancestral World, and describes Richard's struggle to restore good to the world. The second half takes place in the Cyber Dimension, and is about Richard's attempt to find a way back to his own world. It is in this second half that The Evil One is finally defeated..
The full title was called The Ancestral Trail: An Epic Story of Myths, Magic and Monsters.
The Ancestral Trail was published by Marshall Cavendish in a fortnightly format from 1992 to 1993. The author of the story was Frank Graves, while illustrations were done by JulekHeller. There were 52 issues in total, and several extras that came with every issue - extras like pieces to unique games created specifically by the magazine and clues to various contests. The series has long been out of print, and yet it is still one of the more memorable stories I've read. No wonder the series sold over 30 Million Copies it was readable to all ages, and I still find it exciting after all this time
It's actually quite amazing that I still love The Ancestral Trail amd that it also seems to have gained a cult type following (You can always find copies for sale on EBAY). Looking over the story again, the reading level for the series is certainly for young children. However, the story itself is actually quite mature for its reading level; unlike the sanitised American landscape of children's literature and television, The Ancestral Trail actually tells a dark, almost macabre fable in which people are frequently killed in incredibly gruesome manners. Also, the story manages to take a derivative concept - the fetch quest - and breath new life into it with some interesting characters and a unique setting. Sure, a lot of the story looks like it peobably owes a great deal to Tolkien...but so does virtually every single fantasy author published today. The fact is that The Ancestral Trail is fun and exciting and has a fantastic story to tell. Isn't that what really matters?
However, because this series was created before the internet became what it is today, there is much information available about it on the web. There are a few webpages here and there that talk about the series, but I feel that the information available on these sites don't reveal enough. Therefore, I'm going to take it upon myself to share with you as much as I possibly can about this series. I will look at each volume of the series individually, break it down, and show you why I love this series so much. There really is no purpose behind me writing this other than my own personal enjoyment, but if I manage to get you interested enough to seek out out-of-print copies, then that would be fantastic; this series, in my opinion, really is worth tracking down or adapting into a TV series or even a movie.
With that out of the way, please enjoy yourselves as you begin your journey through The Ancestral Trail, starting with an introduction to the series.
