Mithras Court

[steveflam]

If this is elsewhere please direct me there. I was just wondering if any of you have read it and is it any good?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Moving to General Forum, since it is in fact a Ravenloft book, despite appearances.

I'm reading it right now, actually. Thus far, the story is comfortable and straightforward (compared to the good, but bizarre, narrative of Heaven's Bones, which I read just before this), and it feels very "Ravenloft-y". Hits all the marks, and yet... feels lacking a bit. I think it's the writing style. It's the author's first novel, and it shows. A lot of repetition, and a lot of telling rather than showing, as far as the characters' emotions go. But very nice atmosphere, and a high creepiness factor. I'm looking forward to see where things go.

[Band2]

Overall Mithras Court is good. I would say above average.

Here is my review:
It is more Gothic Earth meets Ravenloft. The characters are from late 19th Century London and travel to the new Ravenloft domain of Mithras Court, which looks very similar to London. At first the characters assume they are just in a forgotten neighborhood of London they have never been to before.
The book is very atmospheric as Gonzoron mentioned. And it is definitely Ravenloft. There are the mists and vistani.
The characters are an interesting and varied bunch. So times they act a little too much like conservative/ paranoid DnD players (you know the kind that refuse to take a single step without searching for traps) and that can make the narrative slow down a little at times, but it does make logical sense in the story for them to act this way.
Mithras was a Roman war god and the dark lord and his minions are based on some of the mythology of Mithras. The domain would be an interesting place to run an adventure, however, it would be one of those domains where the adventure has to revolve around confronting the dark lord and his minions, since they are so pervasive.
The one aspect of the book that I did not like was there was a little too much talk of the rules. Its is not like the characters were discussing their attack bonus or who had the highest Will save, but… I don’t want to give too much away. It is as if in a Drizz’t novel, he battles the drow high matron and her allies to final discover her secret grandiose plot that spans continents was all to … gain enough experience points so she could get to the next level.

[Icecubez]

I am curious about the ending, so did the new swamp replace the existing Mithras Court buildings or what exactly was botched?

Was Lord Lucius upset he got a bonus swamp as extra land to his domain?

[Pizza]

Overall Mithras Court is good. I would say above average.

Here is my review:
It is more Gothic Earth meets Ravenloft. The characters are from late 19th Century London and travel to the new Ravenloft domain of Mithras Court, which looks very similar to London. At first the characters assume they are just in a forgotten neighborhood of London they have never been to before.
The book is very atmospheric as Gonzoron mentioned. And it is definitely Ravenloft. There are the mists and vistani.
The characters are an interesting and varied bunch. So times they act a little too much like conservative/ paranoid DnD players (you know the kind that refuse to take a single step without searching for traps) and that can make the narrative slow down a little at times, but it does make logical sense in the story for them to act this way.
Mithras was a Roman war god and the dark lord and his minions are based on some of the mythology of Mithras. The domain would be an interesting place to run an adventure, however, it would be one of those domains where the adventure has to revolve around confronting the dark lord and his minions, since they are so pervasive.
The one aspect of the book that I did not like was there was a little too much talk of the rules. Its is not like the characters were discussing their attack bonus or who had the highest Will save, but… I don’t want to give too much away. It is as if in a Drizz’t novel, he battles the drow high matron and her allies to final discover her secret grandiose plot that spans continents was all to … gain enough experience points so she could get to the next level.

Not sure about the book in question, but that is a big problem in DnD licensed novels. A lot of them sadly seem to exist just to showcase some new game mechanic. Salvatore has enough sway due to sales to minimize it somewhat, but it still crops up.