Dear friends of the fraternity,
I will post this here, but feel free to move this, if it belongs somewhere else.
This will be a review of the book "De vloek van Woestewolf" by Paul Biegel.
Paul Biegel is a dutch writer of childrens books. Some of them have been translated into English (you can check Amazon for them), but not this one. Paul Biegel's books are filled with fantasy elements and can sometimes be very dreamlike.
"De vloek van Woestewolf" translates into "The curse of Ragingwolf" I read this when I was a child and since I have a child of my own, I thought it would be a good addition to his budding library. So I bought it for him and read it again yesterday and I was struck with how very gothic this book is. It could be very easily adapted to a short Ravenloft adventure.
The book contains a very rational, inquisitive and worldly docter, curses, gold and its own curse of greed, magic, brothers and the deep jealousy that can be between them, common greed of common people, gypsy's foretelling the future and the terrors of the night.
Below I will discuss the book in some detail, so here be spoilers.
"The curse of Ragingwolf" starts with a very good, very scientifically oriented docter and his manservant. One day the docter receives a letter from the Duke of Ragingwolf, requesting the aid of the docter, since he suffers from goldfever. The request is accompanied by a chest of gold. The docter ignores the letter, since goldfever is not a disease. But the chest of gold attracts unwanted attention, so the docter and his manservant go in search of Castle Ragingwolf and the Duke of Ragingwolf to solve this mystery and possibly cure the Duke.
During thier travels the docter and his manservant discover that the gold is very unusual. It makes you see things that will happen in the future and some of it makes you dream things that are real. On the way they meet several people who have somehow been affected by the gold of Ragingwolf.
In time the docter and his manservant come to a small town. There they hear that Castle Ragingwolf has been lying in ruins for hundreds of years. They also hear the legend of Castle Ragingwolf. It was ruled by three brothers, evil to the bone. One day the youngest of them was wounded and no longer able to raid the countryside with his brothers. He was mercilessly mocked by his elders brothers for his disability. Until he could no longer suffer their cruelty and he retreated into the basement of the castle, where he fashioned a kingdom made of gold. In time the brothers all died and the castle fell to ruins.
Yet for some reason people sometimes disapear. Swallowed by the ruins. The docter and his manservant check out the castle and they find that at night the ruins transform into the castle of old, where the two oldest brothers and their guests/victims have a drunken party. In the basement that youngest brother has through magic made a kingdom of gold. Yet is brings him no joy. He is grown old and weak and cannot show his vast riches to his brothers (to spite them mind you).
The docter and his manservant conspire to bring the brothers to the basement to give the dying man what he wants. He then sees his brothers and sees all his vengeance was for nought and dies. His brothers, no more than ghosts of the cursed castle, vanish with the castle.
But the curse of Ragingwolf still wanders the ruins. It tries to posses the docter, it could use his knowledge to rule again over the area. It had used the feelings of hate and vengeance of the youngest brother, but now needs a new host. Yet the docter is saved by his loyal manservant from this fate.
I was amazed atwhat a good story it was. Pretty frightening for a young child (recommended for 10 years and older) too. The curse was well done as well. The curse took the form of a wolf, trying to posses those near and playing to their weaknesses and vanity. It seduced the youngest brother with promises of vengeance (which never really came) and tried to seduce the docter with promises of more knowledge and insight into the world. Which would also have been an empty promise, leading only to the ruin of the docter and his companions.
So in conclusion, good inspiring material for Ravenloft, a good bedtime story and some good leads to start a discussion with your children on good and evil and shades of evil.
Too bad it is only available in dutch language. Although I suppose the publisher could be persuaded to translate it.
Jennifer
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