Customer Reviews

Baroness Of Blood

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are two ways a reader is likely to approach this novel: as a Ravenloft fan reading that line of novels; or as an Elaine Bergstrom fan starved for the latest Austra novel. Neither should be disappointed.

As a D&D novel, this book presents us with much more than we would normally expect and consequently should be more readily accessible to one not familiar with the game or the Ravenloft setting, while at the same time satisfying fans of both.

This book is well-suited to the genre. It would be easy to imagine this as one of those 1960's black and white classic movies or TV shows. 'Baroness' tells the tale of a young noble girl who witnesses the execution of her tyrannical father after his failed conquest of a neighbouring feudal state. Baroness Ilsabet then begins a slippery descent into evil in her pursuit of revenge.

The characters are well rounded protagonists acting within a well-paced (abeit linear) plot that steadily gathers momentum towards its tragicly epic, darkly cinematic, and sadly inevitable conclusion (Ravenloft fans have the added satisfaction of seeing the birth of not only a new Darklord but an entire domain).

A definite time-honoured, easy-to-read 'page-turner' with its concise chapters and spiralling pace that should come highly recommended to all readers, including those approaching from yet a third route: fans of the good gothic-fantasy-horror novel.

Other Ravenloft books by Elaine Bergstrom include:
Tapestry of Dark Souls (and the short story 'The Weaver's Pride which serves as a prologue from the anthology 'Tales of Ravenloft')

The Dracula 'sequels':
Mina
Blood to Blood

The Austra series:
Shattered Glass
Daughter of the Night
Blood Alone
Blood Rites
Nocturne

And the stand alone novels:
Madeline
After the Fall of Usher, Leanna
Possession of a Woman
The Door Through Washington Square

I started BoB with the same timidity I did HoM, as the reviews I had read were not all that flattering. However, unlike HoM, this book almost deserved all the flak it got. Almost.

BoB is a fine novel, with a compelling storyline and a protagonist/villain you have to feel sorry for... for about half the book. Ilsabet Janosk is a great villain, and I finished the book with the question: what is she now? Kislova is also an intriguing domain, with interesting customs, perhaps once located in the Forgotten Realms (a reference to the Shaar being my only basis for that theory), and even though it takes 99% of the book to finally enter the world for which the book bears its logo, the means justify the end: this tale could not have been told any faster without maiking the book horrible.

My only complaint? It seemed to me that the author really wanted to make Kislova a domain and not a province, and got tired of waiting near the end, when a flurry of useless deaths and a contrived ending were all we received after 300 pages of well-crafted storyline to move the tale to its conclusion.

This in itself nearly ruins the entire flavor of the book, but it couldn't have gone on much longer without growing stale. In all, BoB is a good read, but one has to take the ending with a fine grain of salt to truly appreciate it.

Having just finished Baroness of Blood, I must say that I enjoyed the novel tremendously. The ending did seem a bit rushed with a death to nearly all of the main characters, but it was a good climax to the story. If you want to read a Ravenloft novel that shows the creation or birth of a Darklord, then this is the one to read. It would have been preferable to have a chapter or two after the ending to see what life in Kislova would have been like, but all in all I enjoyed the read. Good job, Elaine Bergstrom!

Baroness of Blood by Elaine Bergstrom- This is the tenth book released in the Ravenloft line of novels that is based of the Ravenloft setting of the pen and paper role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. This is also a stand-alone novel and can be read without any prior knowledge of the setting or events. Elaine Bergstrom has written one other Ravenloft novel which is titled Tapestry of Dark Souls. She wrote the Austra Family series (Shattered Glass, Blood Alone, Blood Rites, Daughter of the Night, and Nocturne), two books that continue the Dracula story titled Mina and Blood to Blood, and wrote a novel titled The Door Through Washington Square. She wrote two novels under the name Marie Kiraly titled Leanna: Possession of a Woman and Madeline: After the Fall of User. She also contributed a few short stories to various anthologies. Baroness of Blood was originally released in March 1995 and published by TSR, Inc. However, this book is hard to find and you'll likely need to pick it up used.

Baroness Ilsabet Obour thirsts for revenge. Her country, Kislova, has been dealing with a rebellion and her father, Janosk, is seen as a tyrant and oppressor. After dealing with the rebellion, Janosk decides to try to invade neighboring Sundell, but Baron Peto Casse hears about the invasion and surprises the Kislova forces. Following the force back to Kislova's Nimbus Castle, Peto meets Janosk and executes him after seeing that Janosk has a mortal wound to his side. However, young Ilsabet sees this act and swears revenge on Peto and those who swore allegiance to him. She needs a way to take vengeance, without linking her to it. It just so happens that Ilsabet was learning how to use poisons. She experiments with more subtle ways of administering it, to have it not be traced back to her. As time passes she becomes more obsessed with revenge, but how far will she go?

Criticisms:
1) Storytelling. Baroness of Blood did have an annoying tendency to switch writing styles towards the middle and end of the novel. For a good portion of the novel, the story is told with a third person perspective and switches character viewpoints during breaks in a chapter. So it's pretty much reads like a 'normal' third person novel would. However, during the middle we have a sudden shift to reading Ilsabet diary at random times in various chapters. In other words, we have a chapter starting with a third person perspective for a scene or two, then suddenly it becomes something from Ilsabet's diary, and then returns back to a third person viewpoint. It's was off-putting and sudden. I would have understood if the entry was just inside of a scene (that does happen once) without stopping the scene, like an excerpt. However, this diary switching gets more prominent towards the end of the novel. In fact, it felt as through the novel should have been written from the perspective of just Ilsabet. The switch of storytelling did become annoying and at times took away from the enjoyment.

Praises:
1) Descent. Throughout the story we see Ilsabet's slow descent into evil, and it was great. When we first meet the young baroness, she seemed to be little more than a frail girl. But as the story progresses, we see her cruel and disturbing streak she has. Seeing this girl do increasingly horrific things is disturbing and frightening at times. Her blind quest for revenge really does blind her from what's right and what's wrong. The descent into evil is also intensified due to the supporting characters. The characters around her are all likeable and sympathetic, making her descent all the more noticeable. It seemed like no one compared to her, no one really matched her actions. However, her actions never really seemed to be tragic. Ilsabet's story only felt tragic at the beginning, but I could never really identify with her. It was shocking about how much you came to loathe her as a character.
2) Ending. The ending of Baroness of Blood was simply fantastic. We see everything that the story was building up to coming to a head, and the pay off was just great. Seeing Ilsabet's mental state slowly crumble and all her actions in the last few chapters seemed desperate. Plus seeing what the outcome of everything was really satisfying. However, I really can't spoil to much of what happens, but needless to say it was great.
3) Atmosphere. The atmosphere didn't really feel like a horror story until near the middle of the story. Instead, until that point, the atmosphere was of a war-torn land with hope of the future. This does help the atmosphere of the last half of the novel, making it a stark and obvious contrast. The second half of the novel the atmosphere seems more like a 'regular' Ravenloft novel. The feeling of doom and fear is almost palpable. In fact, there were times when it seemed like the atmosphere around Ilsabet seemed to want her to stop what she's doing. It really did feel like the atmosphere was another character in the novel.

Side Notes:
1) Title. Baroness of Blood should not have been the title of the novel. When I see a title like that I almost suspect it being more gory. However, there is little actual blood shed, or at least not enough to warrant such a title. Sure, there's a high body count, but it's not 'bloody'. Instead, a more appropriate title could have been Baroness of Poison or something along those lines.
2) First Third. The first third of the novel doesn't really feel like a Ravenloft novel. Instead it feels like something that belongs in Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance, albeit darker.
3) Cover Art. The cover art work for Baroness of Blood is generic. It seems that all the Ravenloft novels have a character staring out at you with a plain background, and this novel is no different. Ilsabet looks okay. Her eyes are kind of creepy, but other than that she's just okay. Nothing really stands out for her. It doesn't help that the colors are so bland and plain. Nothing really stands out and would be very easily overlooked.

Overall: 5/5
Final Thoughts:
Baroness of Blood is a really look into someone's fall into evil and what revenge can do to a person. There isn't much wrong with the novel. I did find that the change in writing styles between the 'regular' style to a diary style was a little awkward and annoying at times. However, everything else was wonderful. Seeing Ilsabet's fall was exciting and different. When the story first started, she never really felt all that menacing or evil, but you see how twisted she becomes, and it was great. The ending was superb, it was fitting and left me very satisfied. Finally, the atmosphere was just great. At times the atmosphere felt like another character in the story. All in all, Baroness of Blood is certainly worth the read and I highly recommend tracking down a copy, if only to see how revenge can corrupt a person.

I have read this book many, many, many times. This is the book that got me hooked on T.S.R. books. I am a major fan, as you can most likley tell. I think Ilsabet is one of the best portrayed charactors, Elaine Bergstrom seemed to have thought as if she were Ilasbet, because it tells all about her, from her favorite breakfast to her most primal fear. "I would take the men who served him and burn them at the stake. Let the sight of their agony be the last thing he sees before we take out his eyes. Let the pain of the same fire be the last thing his hands feel before his hands are scarred so terribly that he will never be able to lift a sword against us again. Then send him back to his people, as an example of the justice and mercy of Barron Janosk Obour." These are young Ilsabet's words of what to do with the rebel leader. She has a very creative mind. The next best charactor in the book is Jorani. I still think it strange that he could become as good at what he did, when he was of common birth, and had very little education. In conclusion I would recomend this book to who ever can get their hands on a copy of it.

First of all, please forgive me any mistakes I make, as I am from Spain and, as you can supose, English is not my mother tonge. Anyway, Baroness of Blood has been one of the most absorving novels I have ever read. From begining to end, it really creates an incredible atmos(fear) of darkness and death. The young Baroness (sorry I can't remember her name) plays a scaring role taking vengeance over every living being on the castle. The way she plays with her old mentor, and how she does a web of intrigue and lies... Well, I don't know what to say about this novel, apart from recommending it to every body. I also recommend, from the same Ravenloft Novels Series (yes, you have guessed, I'm a fanatic of Ravenloft and I play RPG's), "I, Stradh", "Carnival of Fear" and "Scholar of Decay". I have read all of them in English, and I must say I am happy about it, because translations into Spanish are usually C.R.A.P. That's all, sorry for being so long. Have a happy and misty new year. Marcos García Sánchez (Gijón, Spain)

Elaine Bergstrom knows how to describe evil! As I read this book I really could not wait for Ilsabet to die or that something bad happens to her. Fortunatly, she gets the punishment she deserves. The only thing I found a setback about the book was that the pace was somewhat slow during all the killings. The story is about a girl whose evil father, a baron, is killed when his castle is invaded. She swears revenge and plans to kill all people involved by poisoning them until she is the only one left to rule both her kingdom and that of the invader. If she ever will...

Item was as described. Book arrived quickly. I am very satisfied with the product and service. Thanks.

Many of the books in this series are not up to the task of creating horror in such a specified area such as Ravenloft, but this one is. I liked it a lot.

this is the best book i have ever read in my life. it captures the true spirit of the untamable, and shows us all once we taste blood how can we stop ourselves.