Ravenloft Novels

[Galeros]

What Ravenloft novels have you read? Which ones did you like?

For me:

Vampire of the Mists - I really liked this one, mainly because I really like Christie Golden's writing style.

Knight of the Black Rose - This was the first Ravenloft novel I read. I read it back in 2007 before I was even into Ravenloft. I just picked it up because it was about Lord Soth, and I am a huge Dragonlance fan.

Dance of the Dead - I liked this book a lot too. I like how it used Souragne as its main location, and of course I like Golden's writing style.

Tapestry of Dark Souls - This one was okay. The first part with Leith was difficult to get through for me.

I,Strahd - Fantastic, I read through this one in about a day. The fact that it is the origin story for the Demiplane helps too.

The Enemy Within - Loved this one too, and I like Tristan and Malken's origin stories better than the canon backstory for them.

Scholar of Decay - Starts out slow, but gets better. I like it because it can be considered a true Tragedy.

To Sleep With Evil - Good, but like Scholar of Decay it starts out slow but gets better.

[Manofevil]

What Ravenloft novels have you read? Which ones did you like?

All of 'em, and All of 'em

[Strahdsbuddy]

I like I, Strahd a lot and i read it about once a year. I also have the audiobook which I enjoy a lot, even in spite of some hammy voice acting by Roddy McDowall.

I, Strahd 2 was OK. I liked it more when I first read it, but I keep it handy as a reference for things like the appearance of domains (Forlorn, Arak, Darkon) and the first apparance of the VIstani.

Vampire of the Mists is considered the strongest of the novels, and I think with good reason. Golden is an excellent writer and her treatment of Strahd is even better than Elrod's.

Knight of the Black Rose is great. James Lowder is a fantastic writer and he really made Soth the total badass of Ravenloft, even if it ticked off some people across the hall at TSR. My one knock is that it introduced Azrael, easily my least favorite character in the history of the Ravenloft line.

Spectre of the Black Rose was in some ways the book no one wanted Lowder to write. In an effort to reconcile Dragonlance history witht hat of Ravenloft, it was inevitable that our favorite buckethead was going to get yanked out of our setting. There are a lot of creepy characters in this book, however, that make it a worthy read even if you're sad to see the main baddie disappear.

King of the Dead is another origin story, and a good one. Azalin's struggle with Darcalus for supremacy in Darkon is well done and ends with a bang. I liked this book a lot since it gives Azalin teh I, Strahd treatment with a full backstory and explanation of how he got to where he is today.

Lord of Necropolis has been declared non-canon because it breaks a major taboo of describing the nature of the Dark Powers. Ignoring that little hiccup, I think it is a good book that deals with the Requiem. The disappearance of one darklord (Azalin) and the creation of another (Death) are good aspects of this book. I think it may be considered one of the weaker novels in the series, but I still enjoyed it.

[woodsdarkman]

For the most part, I thought the Ravenloft novel line was pretty good for what it was. You had a few really good ones, lots of middle of the road, and a few stinkers. I think Baroness of Blood, To Sleep With Evil, Tapestry of Dark Souls, Tower of Doom, and Death of a Darklord were really terrible and added nothing to the setting. Really hard to pick a favorite although it would most likely be I, Strahad. The most underrated novels are Bride of Mordenhiem and Scholar of Decay. I really enjoyed those two and they stayed true to Ravenloft. Most overrated to me is Vampires of the Mists. It is a good book but I think the characterzation of Strahad is a little off the mark.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The novel's just called "Mordenheim" woodsdarkman, "Bride of Mordenheim" was the adventure in the Book of Crypts.

I agree with this:

For the most part, I thought the Ravenloft novel line was pretty good for what it was. You had a few really good ones, lots of middle of the road, and a few stinkers.

Though I disagree with your list.

I thought To Sleep with Evil was one of the best. The perfect feeling for the setting. Lots of great stuff with the vistani, and Jacqueline Montarri. I liked that it didn't have to feature any of the "big guns" of the setting to be a good Ravenloft story.

I also liked Baroness of Blood for a look into the mind of a budding darklord, and the Tapestry of Dark Souls itself, the gathering cloth, is a supremely creepy item. The book itself was kind of terrible, but I believe it did introduce The Guardians to the setting, so it's not completely without merit.

My votes for the "duds" are Death of a Darklord, Tower of Doom (an enjoyable enough read until the ending), and Mithras Court (a real struggle to finish. Read like a bad campaign journal, too repetitive, and left too much unexplained).

I am an unabashed VotM fanboy, and rate that one the highest. Other faves are the I, Strahds, Tales of Ravenloft, Dance of the Dead, and the aforementioned To Sleep with Evil. The Soth books gave me a new appreciation for the character and his right to be counted as an RL character and not just a DL one. The Azalin books are both great too, if you ignore the "revelations" of the Dark Powers as merely the delusions of Azalin. Shadowborn is also quite good, IMHO.

[woodsdarkman]

Thanks for the correction. with so many products it is easy to err from time to time. I guess to each his own on the novels. Maybe when I have the time I should re-read some of them to give a new perspective on them. I still think they are stinkers although I could be a little hard on To Sleep With Evil. I agree with you on Shadowborn. At the time I remembered the book being panned but I always thought it was a good, easy read. It gave alot of information about Ebonbane which was an added bonus.

[woodsdarkman]

By the way. As far as the new Ravenloft novels go like Mithas Court they don't exist to me. I'll never read them. They just threw the name Ravenloft on something and tried to cash in. They could have taken place anywhere. I know Kartakas made an appearance in one of the novels but that was just a bone to throw our way.

[cure]

Scholar of Decay is underrated. I recommend it highly.

The Death of a Darklord has exactly the reputation that it deserves.

Mordenheim pales, unsurprisingly, next to Shelley's work and could have been improved significantly by a skilled editor, but is (generously) worth reading for anyone interested in Mordenheim and/or "his" creature and land. I have written and submitted a review of it, which I don't think has been posted yet. (Hint, hint)

Dance of the Dead is excellent.

Vampire in the Mists is excellent.

The pair of Strahd books, as well as the pair of Azalin books, have blurred together for me, which makes it hard to comment on them. The lot is well done however. Strahd in his general days, and those about him, cut interesting figures. Azalin and the Room of Life in Avernus make for a very clever twist. As does his confrontation with the power that was in Darkon.

Curiously, the pair of Soth books don't blur together. The last of the two features some very interesting characters. The uncharacteristic use of the Vistani was excellent.

To Sleep with Evil I quite liked. Although I could have lived without the horseless carriage. What was the point? No need for that high fantasy in the midst of a gothic work.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

By the way. As far as the new Ravenloft novels go like Mithas Court they don't exist to me. I'll never read them. They just threw the name Ravenloft on something and tried to cash in. They could have taken place anywhere. I know Kartakas made an appearance in one of the novels but that was just a bone to throw our way.

It's your right to feel that way, though I disagree. For one thing, they removed the Ravenloft name from them before publishing, so I don't think they were trying to cash in on the name. In addition to mentions of Kartakass and other domains, the vistani feature heavily in all three of the new novels, and if there's one good thing I can say about Mitrhas Court, it definitely takes place in an Island of Terror domain, no question. I haven't finished Black Crusade yet, but all three of the "Ravenloft: Dominion" novels (what they would have been called, if the name was kept on them) were as Ravnloft-ish as To Sleep with Evil, Baroness of Blood, Carnival of Fear, or any other Ravenloft story set in an Island of Terror.

[woodsdarkman]

Being like To Sleep With Evil may be one one of the reasons I have such a dislike for them. Now I know I am admitting to my bias here but any Ravenloft novel that does not feature a darklord in some way as a main character I have an imidate dislike for. So the novel really has to wow me in order to give it any credit. That may be a reason I will not read the new novels. I still do believe they were cashing in at the time even if they dropped the Ravenloft name we will have to disagree on that. To be honest my main gripe with the new novels may be that it has been so long since we have had any new official Ravenloft products. And this was an opportunity to publish 3 new stories about the "big guns" of Ravenloft and instead we get something wants to be then doesnt want to be a Ravenloft novel. The stories themselves may be good but I am to obsessed with what could have been to give them a fair shake. At least I am honest about it.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Yup, that's fair, and I'm not going to try to convince you to read them. Honestly, the link to Gothic Earth, or just Earth (never 100% clear which it is) really turned me off initially. I read them for completeness' sake, not expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised by Heaven's Bones (and by what I've read so far of Black Crusade.) Regardless of the link to Earth, they all read like Ravenloft novels.

I love the "big guns" as much as the next RL fan, but to me, Ravenloft is more of a "feel" than a place. I like the intimate little scary stories as much as the demiplane-spanning plots. Would I have liked the novels to be about known characters? sure... but every established Ravenloft character was new at some point. If we never had Carnival of Fear, would we have had the Carnival in its current (and awesome) form?

[woodsdarkman]

I am a completest as well and will at some point give in and read the novels (if I can find them, except for the internet I have never seen them at a store.) I see your Carnival of Fear point and you are 100% right on that. I never got into Gothic Earth maybe because it was never really supported. To me Ravenloft is about feel but I have always thought that what seperated Ravenloft was the Darklords and the feel of the domain sprang from them. We could debate that all day long. I guess the point I was trying to make was that every Ravenloft novel does not have to be about a darklord that would get stale over time, but the darklords influence should be felt one way or another. and a cameo appearance would not hurt.

[cure]

The Black Crusade features the birth of a Darklord, which is hardly to be sneezed at. And, my flawed memory, would have the poor woman in To Sleep With Evil married to a Darklord of a pocket domain. I haven't tracked down copies of Heaven's Bones or the Mithras Court yet.

[Manofevil]

Maybe it's time for a comprehensive list:

Vampire of the Mists

Knight of the Black Rose

Dance of the Dead

Heart of Midnight

Tapestry of Dark Souls

Carnival of Fear

I, Strahd

The Enemy Within

Mordenheim

Tales of Ravenloft

Tower of Doom

Baroness of Blood

Death of a Darklord

Scholar of Decay

King of the Dead

To Sleep with Evil

Lord of the Necropolis

Shadowborn

I, Strahd-The War with Azalin

Spectre of the Black Rose.

[Lost Heretic]

Vampire of the Mists - Great introduction to Ravenloft. Jander is interesting as well as Strahd. 5/5

Knight of the Black Rose - Pretty cool link to Dragonlance, but suffers from some high fantasy elements. Works well with the red box Ravenloft. 4/5

Dance of the Dead - Well written, great treatment of the darklord, but the mood and atmosphere don't feel right. 4/5

Heart of Midnight - Good treatment of the darklord, interesting main character and origins. 3/5

Tapestry of Dark Souls - I stopped reading at page 25. 1/5

I, Strahd - I don't think this novel was really necessary but a lot of folks seem to like it more than me. 4/5

The Enemy Within - Great. I should probably read this again some time. 5/5

Mordenheim - Okay. It really feels like a Frankenstein rehash set to the backdrop of Ravenloft. 3/5

Tales of Ravenloft - Mixed bag. Jeff Grubb's story is the only one I really remember. 2/5

Death of a Darklord - One dimensional characters who are too damn agreeable. Everyone works together. Darklord portrayed poorly. Stupid. 1/5

Scholar of Decay - The best Ravenloft novel! Great characters, astounding villains, a plot that keeps you on the edge of your reading chair! 6/5

Heaven's Bones - This novel was really strange. I guess it was good - definitely creepy. 3/5