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I'm looking to buy some ravenloft novels, and was wondering in what order I should read them in. Any tips?

Most of them don't have a specific order, they're not tied to each other. Read them in the way you prefer.

Harvos wrote:I'm looking to buy some ravenloft novels, and was wondering in what order I should read them in. Any tips?

Read I, Strahd before I, Strahd the war with Azalin
Read Knight of the Black Rose before Spectre of the Black Rose
Read King of the Dead before Lord of the Necropolis
You may wish to read Tales of Ravenloft after Mordenheim, I, Strahd, Knight of the Black Rose, and Tapestry of Dark Souls and before I, Strahd: The war with Azalin and Spectre of the Black Rose. (only because there are stories in there that are written by the same authors as those books, about the same characters, but none are really direct "sequels" to the books. (one's actually a prequel))

other than that, it doesn't really matter.

I would probably recommend Vampire of the Mists prior to I, Strahd ...but that matters a lot less if you're already familiar with Ravenloft and Strahd in general.

Yeah, I have found the Ravenloft novels to be of.....mixed quality.

The good is very good but the bad can be quite bad.

I loved I, Strahd and even its sequel (not as good, but still) and even Vampire of the Mists. Oh, and Knight of the Black Rose.

You can't go wrong reading them in the release order, but luckily most of the novels are actually fairly setting agnostic. Most take place in a particular domain with little interaction with other countries or impact from the Ravenloft metaplot.

I might also suggest reading I, Strahd before reading Lord of the Necropolis. Though it's not necessary, there's a minor mystery left unsolved in I, Strahd that is answered in Lord of the Necropolis.

Others have said enough about the order, so I'd just note that there's a handy set of reviews in the Drawing Room of the main site. My personal recommendations would be...

I, Strahd (book that got me into Ravenloft and gaming!)
Tales of Ravenloft
Sleep with Evil
Scholar of Decay

Stay away from Death of a Darklord if you value your sanity, even though it's by a big-name author.

Knight of the Black Rose and Tales of Ravenloft are my favorites. Scholar of Decay and both of the I, Strahd novels are great as well. I have read them all, I would have to say Baroness of Blood is my least favorite.