Top Best/Worst Novels

[woodsdarkman]

Another week, another list. Finally I take on the Novels. But this is going to be a little different. I am going for more of a point/counter point view with two novels that have a connection. So here we go.

5. Vampires of the Mist/The Enemy Within
Two novels by Christie Golden that give us a good backstory on Darklords and their Domains, but with two different results. Vampires of the Mist was the first Ravenloft Novel and one of the best. A very good description of early Barovia, a very gripping story, and the novel has been intergrated into Barovia's continuity.
The Enemy Within is just the opposite. Despite the fact that the book was well written and the story was good the book was considered non-cannon because it did not get the setting quite right. I find this ironic since this was the first real material on Nova Vassa and Tristen/Malken. On a side note: Golden changed Anton in Dance of the Dead as well but he was later "fixed" to match continuity while Tristen was not.

4. Heart of Midnight/Death of a Darklord
Two novels by two different authors about Kartakass and Harkon Lucas, again with different results. I personally find Heart of Midnight hard to read due to King's writting style, so much so that it is one of my least favorite books. But I can not ignore how spot on the book is at fleshing out Kartakass its people and its darklord. The story itself is good and King just gets it right. Death of a Darklord is universally panned and rightly so. It is an easy read and a fast paced book but it in no way represents Ravenloft. It was more of a Forgotten Realms Novel. That really is the sin it commits.

3. King of the Dead/Lord of Necropolis
Two books by the same author both about Azalin. King of the Dead was an unexpected gem. It really expanded Azalin to more than just some powerhouse lich. For someone who is such a mover and shaker in Ravenloft he really needed a good novel and we got one. Lord of Necropolis is average at best. It skips over or ignores major events and is to vague about alot of things. But when it needs to be vague in the end it explains way too much and the end is considered non-cannon. Trying to explain the dark powers is taboo.

2. Knight of the Black Rose/Spectre of the Black Rose
One book ushers Soth into Ravenloft and one book kicks him out. Knight of the Black Rose is an action packed, fast paced, thrill a minute ride that brings Soth into his own. Lowder really makes the character his. And let us not forget the great and only appearance of Duke Gundar and his son. I wish Lowder had did a book on Duke Gundar. What a story that would have been. Spectre of the Black Rose was written by two people (Lowder being one of them) and it reads like it. The book is disjointed and all over the place. Their are a few parts I like, Azrael and the Bloddy Cobbler being the highlights. It seems the sole purpose was of the book was to put Soth back in Dragonlance story be damned.

1. I, Strahad/I, Strahad 2.
I, Strahad is the best novel in the Ravenloft line bar none. It is well written and the pacing is good. So many of the ideas in this novel were transported over to the game world and rightly so. By the end of the story we can relate to Strahad and see why he did what he did, yet we can persecute him for it at the same time. There was a reason this book got the star treatment that it did and it deserved every bit of it. The sequel, written by the same author, was a victim of hype and misleading title. I was expecting a full on conflict between the two titans of Ravenloft but what I got was a squeak of a mini border skirmish. Not much of a war. Azalin was also written as an idiot. I get that this is supposed to prpaganda for Strahad but it took it to far, especially if one reads the portrayl of Azalin in King of the Dead. Bottom line: It is a subpar sequel.

[woodsdarkman]

By the way here is a short word or two about what I thought about the novels I did not mention.

Dance of the Dead: Average. I thought Golden got some things right and some things wrong with this book.

Tower of Doom: Average. The problem with this book is it is overshadowed by many other books that are just better.

Scholar of Decay: Great. This book does for the Reiners and Richmuleot what I, Strahad did for Barovia and Strahad. As a bonus we get a good story. One of the top Ravenloft Novels.

Tapestry of Dark Souls: Terrible. This book is just boring. Hard to read and boring. Nothing happens for the majority of the book then everything is rushed in the end.

Tales of Ravenloft: Great. A few of the stories I did not like but most were great. Wish there had been more anthology novels.

Baroness of Blood. Pointless. Good story, but what did it have to do with Ravenloft. It felt like a horror novel that just had the Ravenloft name slapped on it. It should have been about Ivana because she is Ravenloft's Baroness of Blood.

Mordenheim: Great. Another hidden gem. Another book that fleshes out a domain and the darklord. I really liked how it told both sides of the story. Plus the characters were all well written.

To Sleep With Evil: Good. Creepy book. Gothic story. But I have a problem with the new domain stuff. We have plenty to work with already why bring in new domains.

Shadowborn: Great. People tend to give this book a hard time but I loved it. It was an easy read that felt alot like an adventure module. I have no problem with that as long as it was done right. I felt it was. Ebonebane stole the show. Loved to hate him.

Carnival of Fear: Forgotten. The problem with this book is that it is far outshined by the game supplement Carnival. Not good for a book if a game supplement can come along and make you forget about it.

[MichaelTumey]

I can't make a Top 5 List, since I haven't read 5 Ravenloft novels.

That said, I didn't care for I, Strahd - since the canon on Strahd, his brother, and Tatyana is different than the original Ravenloft module. Still it's not a poorly written book, but I found the canon differences jarring.

Heart of Midnight indeed was a good book regarding content (unlike I, Strahd), if less than desireable writing style.

My favorite Ravenloft fiction was not a novel, however, rather a collection of short stories - "that I cannot remember the book's title". However, my favorite short fiction within that is The House of a Hundred Windows, which I consider one of the best gothic short stories I've read regarding Ravenloft. If anyone can recall the book's title, I'd be interested to know.

Edit: I was posting this at the same time as the second post, I believe the book is Tales of Ravenloft...

Looking at my book collection I see I also possess The Enemy Within, however, I've never actually read it.

[woodsdarkman]

Tales of Ravenloft is the book you are thinking about.

[Jimsolo]

I am still searching for a copy of I, Strahd, but have just accepted the fact that I will probably never get a chance to read it.

That being said, I am going to pick up the defense for Death of a Darklord. I think that Laurell K Hamilton took her normal formula and turned it on its ear. I thought it did a phenomenal job of showing magic used with best of intentions twisting out of control to make everything worse than before. I think it did a great job of telling a complete story while at the same time preserving the status quo in the setting. Hamilton is an incredibly gifted author who's stories tend more to the overly sexualized, (she knows how to tell a good story, her early work proves that, I think it's just that she tends to cater to the audience that pays her bills, and I can't blame her for that) and I enjoyed seeing her tell a tale with less romance and more bite. While it doesn't fit perfectly with the Ravenloft setting, the book reads very much like a piece of Gothic fiction, and a good piece of Gothic fiction at that.

Personally, I don't think the book gets a fair shake. If people read it with an open mind and still didn't like it, I'm not saying they're wrong (since it isn't an objective question) but I'm going to have to disagree.

[Trike]

That said, I didn't care for I, Strahd - since the canon on Strahd, his brother, and Tatyana is different than the original Ravenloft module. Still it's not a poorly written book, but I found the canon differences jarring.

I'm always torn when it comes to I, Strahd. On one hand, I don't really like the changes in Strahd's character. The book alters canon and forces many readers to assume that it is mainly Strahd's propaganda.

On the other hand, I really enjoy P. N. Elrod's writing and it is a good book, canon notwithstanding. I guess I just prefer the character as strictly a villain. The character narrating the novel is a great character. He is just not the Strahd I envisioned.

My favorite Ravenloft book was Vampire of the Mists.

Second favorite would have to be Master of Ravenloft. But that is a gamebook so its a totally different animal.

I can't do five because I've had a love/hate relationship with the rest of the Ravenloft line of novels. I loved the setting and source material. But, in the end, I thought the novels focused too much on the villains and the hopeless atmosphere. Too many miserable endings spoiled it for me.

[Jimsolo]

Too many miserable endings spoiled it for me.

Hmm. I wonder if this is the source of my disagreement with people about Ravenloft stories. This really threw me for a loop, since it seemed so out of place. See, I kind of assumed that overarching Ravenloft stories (like a game campaign as a whole, or a novel) should always end in tragedy. For me, the fun of a Ravenloft game is playing a character that I know is going to come to a tragic end. If he's lucky, my PC is just going to die. If he's unlucky, then everything he believes in will be twisted until he doesn't even recognize the thing he's become, and everything he knows and loves is taken away or perverted into a mockery of the joy it used to be.

As a DM, the challenge (and thus the fun) of Ravenloft is doing all those terrible things to my players and still making sure they have a good time.

I'm surprised that other people want happy endings in Ravenloft. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, it's just not something I ever really thought was common for the setting.

Oh well. Different strokes for different folks, right?

[MichaelTumey]

I'm surprised that other people want happy endings in Ravenloft. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, it's just not something I ever really thought was common for the setting.

Oh well. Different strokes for different folks, right?

Yeah, for my Kaidan setting the premise is this world is very, very dark and cursed. The 'good' aligned PCs seek to push back the darkness a little bit with their heroics, but they will never succeed in making Kaidan not the very, very dark and cursed place it has always been. There are no real opportunities for happy endings in Kaidan, nor Ravenloft, as far as I'm concerned.

[Trike]

See, I kind of assumed that overarching Ravenloft stories (like a game campaign as a whole, or a novel) should always end in tragedy. For me, the fun of a Ravenloft game is playing a character that I know is going to come to a tragic end.

The people in charge of the product line seemed to agree with you. Definitely a personal preference thing.

It also depends on what you take for your inspiration. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ends in sadness and loss. This is common for many Gothic tales. On the other hand, Bram Stoker's Dracula and the Hammer and Universal movies that I draw from commonly have a "happy" ending. At least, the beast is usually dead and the heroes have usually survived.

I prefer to think of my characters like Batman. Batman has fought for good in Gotham City for decades. Yet, it is still a dark place. He tells himself that he has done good deeds and he often succeeds after great hardship. But there is more evil to battle.