Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft) [Paperback]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author), Robh Ruppel (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Ravenloft | Publication Date: June 1995

A conspiracy for good targets the tyrannical leaders of Kartakkas for assassination, but risks setting off a disaster that could change the lands of the mists forever. Original. 75,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

LAURELL K. HAMILTON has spent over a decade in the dark world of vampires, penning the best-selling Anita Blake series.


From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 313 pages
• Publisher: Tsr from Wizards of the Coast; First Edition; First Printing edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786901128
• ISBN-13: 978-0786901128
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars False Advertising..., August 31, 2006

By 

CN "neuwomann" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of a Darklord (The Ravenloft Covenant) (Paperback)

A lesson from this book is to look closely at the original copyright date - as in this one being 1995. This is a very early work by Ms. Hamilton and it shows. It's also an excellent lesson in greed and book publishers. The book was not particularly good and verges on amatuerish. The story line is not strong, in fact motivations of certain characters don't really makes sense.

In the beginning of the story one character, Tereza, agrees to take along another, our heroine Elaine, who is dangerously weakened. Doing so doesn't make sense (especially since Tereza's character is suppose to be chock full of common sense).

A main story line is the antagonist persuades an ill, but noble character to lure another into a trap. From the other action in the book it really isn't clear why our antagonist even needs to do this.

Even in fantasy books, the "rules" must be consistent - whatever they are. Here things happen and you have absolutely no clue as to why. For instance, the main character Elaine heals others, toward the end of the book we find this 'healing' goes wrong. Why? To what end? This is never explained and needs to be because it is an important aspect of the story.

This book was a nice second draft and should never have been reprinted. However, with Ms. Hamiltons current popularity the publisher went with it - too bad for Ms. Hamilton.

Other than the nice cover artwork by Jon Foster and Matt Adelsperger - don't bother buying this book. If you feel compelled to check it out, do so from the library! Save your money.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Started strong, but..., February 14, 2007

By 

Erich Krueger (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of a Darklord (The Ravenloft Covenant) (Paperback)

ended too quickly and with too much left unsaid.

The first 200 pages or so were very interesting with great plot and character development. The characters were really well done, and their interaction with each other was very enjoyable.

Then everything abruptly changed. The author dedicated the book to a pet she lost during the book, and I have to wonder if that happened around page 200. In the last 100 pages, suddenly, the rug gets pulled out from underneath the reader and everything is tied up very fast and messily.

It really feels like this book should have been at least another 100 pages in length, with more in depth exploration of the characters and slower resolution to the conflicts that she'd developed. Instead, everything goes to hell in the course of 4 chapters or so.

There is also no closure to the story of the main character. After things go to hell, before there is any attempt at recovery or damage control by the main character, we pick up with a couple of minor characters and the book then ends.

All in all it started out as a very good read, but ended off leaving me feeling like I needed to read the last 100 pages again in a desperate attempt to try and glean some meaning from the car wreck it turned into.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to Ravenloft., October 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Death of a Darklord (Ravenloft) (Paperback)

Laurell K. Hamilton (of Anita Blake fame) does a superb job with this foray into the Ravenloft world. The book is "about" a party of adventurers and their journey to save a village tormented by a plague of walking dead. But Hamilton chooses the right story, the self-discovery and slow spiral into evil of a would-be mage. She does a wonderful job of describing magic, much better than the typical TSR work, and her action sequences are about the best I've seen in this type of novel. The end is a bit weak, the young mage's story needs more closure than it has, but I truly enjoyed this book.