Customer Reviews

To Sleep With Evil (Ravenloft)

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Andria (Hayday) Cardarelle's first novel continues on a smimilar vein to that of her short story "Dark Tryst" in Tales of Ravenloft, and she does a great job with it, introducing the domain of Lord Milos Donskoy (as well as possibly disposing of it at the end). However, we are left in the dark as to why Marguerite (the heroine) came to marry the wretch in the first place.

The best part was the inclusion of Jacqueline Montarri, from the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II: Children of the Night. I won't tell you who she is if you don't know, but she is truly a chilling enemy and one I wish had been better utilized in this tale.

The story was fantastic up until the end, where it seemed to suddenly grow tired as we waited for Marguerite to... well, I won't say, as it is one of the major turning points of the book. However, I wish that some space had been given to the domain's history (I don't even know its name; Donskoy?), save that it is an island and that Donskoy basically captured it long ago.

In all, I recommend the book, even if it is slow at times, and think it to be one of the better ones in the series.

To Sleep with Evil by Andria Cardarelle is the fourth book in the recently re-released Ravenloft line. This book was first published in September, 1996 and now has a new cover design as Wizards of the Coast seeks to get the Ravenloft line back where it was. The Ravenloft setting has been described as a gothic horror setting that is much darker than either the Forgotten Realms or the Dragonlance setting. I believe, when this book was written, it was the first published book my Ms. Cardalle which is the pen name of author Andria Hayday.

The plot of this book is rather simplistic and linear. It's about a young woman who is betrothed to a man. He desperately wants an heir to his name and holdings. However, as the story progresses more and more is revealed about who he is and who he surrounds himself with. As the young woman discovers these things she seeks a way to keep herself safe. I would like to go more in-depth about this plot, but quite honestly, that's really all there is to the plot. At best the plot is mildly interesting; at its worst it is a slow ponderous foray into a cure for insomnia. It's just not that interesting of a book. It almost seems to me that the author had enough material for a short story and stretched it to fill 308 pages to make a novel.

The characters in this book are mildly interesting at times. However, those times are few and far between. The character Zosia, is the cliché character that supplies information and is all knowing. The character, Lord Donskoy, is the evil leader of a band of ruthless killers. The character Marguerrite, is the clichéd maiden that does her best to survive in challenging circumstances and somehow develops extraordinary skills to discover things and survive where countless others have not. The most interesting character is Ramus, yet he only appears in about 30-40 pages of this book, leaving the rest of the book to flounder through until the next point he surfaces. Simply put the characters in this book are bland and uninteresting. Attentive readers can guess major, and minor, plot points within the first 20 pages and know how the book will end.

After finishing this book, I am still trying to figure out the reason behind Wizards of the Coast re-releasing this book when it so obviously falls short of the mystique of the Ravenloft world. This entire novel seems amateurish in scope and what it accomplishes. Ms. Cardarelle obviously has some talent, her descriptions of scenes were well done, yet in the end the story and characters were just not enough to warrant a full length novel or a place in the halls of Ravenloft. Fans of the Ravenloft world, and for that matter fantasy in general may be best served by skipping this book all together.

This book takes way too long to grab a reader into it. The characters are kind of interesting, but sometimes it seemed the author was having problems trying to figure out what the character was doing,which could of been better, without trying to give away too much. The ending was fairly well written, although predictable, but again it just takes too much time to get here. This is one book in the series that I would not take the time to go back and re-read it.

This is a really old fashioned, creepy campaign novel for Ravenloft, as they reissue old 1900s TSR novels, concentrating on Ravenloft with the 1990s novels. A lot of this stuff is hard to find and out of print.

To Sleep with Evil by Andria Cardarelle is the fourth book in the recently re-released Ravenloft line. This book was first published in September, 1996 and now has a new cover design as Wizards of the Coast seeks to get the Ravenloft line back where it was. The Ravenloft setting has been described as a gothic horror setting that is much darker than either the Forgotten Realms or the Dragonlance setting. I believe, when this book was written, it was the first published book my Ms. Cardalle which is the pen name of author Andria Hayday.

The plot of this book is rather simplistic and linear. It's about a young woman who is betrothed to a man. He desperately wants an heir to his name and holdings. However, as the story progresses more and more is revealed about who he is and who he surrounds himself with. As the young woman discovers these things she seeks a way to keep herself safe. I would like to go more in-depth about this plot, but quite honestly, that's really all there is to the plot. At best the plot is mildly interesting; at its worst it is a slow ponderous foray into a cure for insomnia. It's just not that interesting of a book. It almost seems to me that the author had enough material for a short story and stretched it to fill 308 pages to make a novel.

The characters in this book are mildly interesting at times. However, those times are few and far between. The character Zosia, is the cliché character that supplies information and is all knowing. The character, Lord Donskoy, is the evil leader of a band of ruthless killers. The character Marguerrite, is the clichéd maiden that does her best to survive in challenging circumstances and somehow develops extraordinary skills to discover things and survive where countless others have not. The most interesting character is Ramus, yet he only appears in about 30-40 pages of this book, leaving the rest of the book to flounder through until the next point he surfaces. Simply put the characters in this book are bland and uninteresting. Attentive readers can guess major, and minor, plot points within the first 20 pages and know how the book will end.

After finishing this book, I am still trying to figure out the reason behind Wizards of the Coast re-releasing this book when it so obviously falls short of the mystique of the Ravenloft world. This entire novel seems amateurish in scope and what it accomplishes. Ms. Cardarelle obviously has some talent, her descriptions of scenes were well done, yet in the end the story and characters were just not enough to warrant a full length novel or a place in the halls of Ravenloft. Fans of the Ravenloft world, and for that matter fantasy in general may be best served by skipping this book all together.

Sorry, but I cannot agree to the other review posted here. I found this novel rather boring and lacking the constant atmosphere of dread that each good horror story should have. I think it is the worst book of the series I read so far, but it does have a nice cover though. But should one judge a book by it's cover ? And another thing, all the other Ravenloft-novels were blue in color, why is this one...ahm...reddish brown ?

Marguerite is a young woman escaping the land of her birth, Darkon, after being attacked by a vicious vampire who has become obsessed with her and murdered the man she loved. Her parents, in an effort to save her from her stalker-vampire, broker a deal to betroth her to a total stranger; a somewhat wealthy lord in a far away land. The Vistani, a.k.a. gypsies, drug her and take her through the mysterious mists to the land that will be her new home. The gypsies drop her off on an abandoned looking road in the middle of a dark forest since they refuse to take her any further. With the foreboding cryptic comments of the gypsies hanging in her ears, she is picked up by two servants of her betrothed, Lord Donskoy. The crusty and creepy servants take her to the decrepit decaying castle that is her new home. She meets her betrothed who, while twice her age, appears to be nice if somewhat moody. Once settled into her new home, Marguerite befriends Zosia the cook who is an old Vistani witch and Yelena the mute girl who is her personal servant. She also befriends a strange gypsy man, Ramus, who lives in the surrounding forest and helps her home one day when she is lost.

The day after she arrives Lord Donskoy declares the marriage will take place the day after tomorrow. Meanwhile, Marguerite discovers the presence of her betrothed's mistress, Jacqueline Montarri, on the eve of her wedding in the castle, and also at the wedding and reception. She assumes that her new husband will set aside his mistress once the marriage takes place. But he does not. After the ceremony and the consummation of their marriage, Donskoy insists on strange bizarre rituals to discover if Marguerite is pregnant or not. He is determined to have a son, no matter what the cost. When the tests continually reveal she is not pregnant, Donskoy grows furious and strikes her. He vows that if she does not conceive soon, he will put her aside and sell her off to other lords he knows in favor of a more fertile wife; hinting that he might even kill her to be rid of her. Fearing for her marriage and her life, Marguerite is jealous of the attraction she senses between her husband and Jacqueline.

Consumed by unease and jealousy, Marguerite comes to depend on her friendship with Zosia. After several disturbing events, such as the apparition of her husbands deceased first wife, and signs of a gypsy curse, Marguerite begins to suspect something is very wrong with Donskoy and his strange household. One night she follows Donskoy, his mistress, and his deformed 'acquaintances', into the dark forest. She witnesses them slaughter inoccent stranded travelers, reveling in the bloodshed. Horrified, she unintentionally reveals her presence and her husbands hounds hunt her down. Now on the run, she knows she can't go home, believing Donskoy will kill her for what she has seen. She decides to leave, but finds she cannot. When she enters the mists and comes out the other side she finds herself even closer to the very castle she is trying to flee from. It is then she finally believes what others have implied, that the mists are magical and prevent anyone except the Vistani (and those of powerful magic) from leaving. In order to leave she must have a gypsy guide so she seeks out Ramus, who instead of helping her escape as she thought, bespells her so that she agrees to lay with him and conceives a son. He tells her that her husband is cursed, and as such cannot ever sire a child, in order to help her and spare her life of her husbands rage, he begets a child on her that will be passed off as her husbands. He tells her she must return to Donskoy, who won't kill her now that she bears his child. Then Ramus disappears leaving her no choice but to return when Donskoy's servants find her.

She soon falls seriously ill. Her pregnancy is far from normal and her belly swells more rapidly than it should. Only five months along she births the child, who has monstrous claws and black scarred hands. Then, this is where the book is a bit confusing, the baby turns into a shadow monster that takes on the form of a serpent and kills Donskoy. With the evil Lord Donskoy dead Zosia sends a now insane Marguerite off with a caravan of gypsies to return her to her home land of Darkon, where all her memories of her former life are erased and replaced with an entirely new identity.

And thats where the story ends, just as it was getting interesting. We're never told what happens to the baby/monster/shadow serpent that Marguerite bore. We don't know what happens to Ramus, the child's true father, or if the curse he is under is broken too. We don't know what happens to Zosia, Yelena, or the others left behind at the castle. The evil Jacqueline Montarri, presumably, is left now completely in charge and free to wreak evil wherever she wants without Donskoy to restrain her.

I don't mind a book with an unhappy ending, in fact I find it quite refreshing. But the one thing I can't stand, especially in this book; are all the loose ends and the complete lack of any form of closure or resolution. The story just seems so unfinished, perhaps because the author intends a sequel? But whatever the cause, once I finished reading this book I was left with a distinct feeling of disappointment, dissatisfaction, and frustration. I wanted to know what happened to all the other characters! Especially, Ramus who seems to be a damned and lost soul looking for redemption. Overall, the story just seemed so pointless to me. At the end of the novel Marguerite is in a worse position than when she first started. She is returned to the same land she fled in fear of her life (I presume with the same stalker-vampire waiting to pounce on her since the author never clarifies this), and the only reason she's not insane is because her memories were erased and replaced with happier ones. She ends up a far cry from the young, inoccent, and beautiful girl she first starts as; and not in a positive way. All the other characters, with the exception of Donskoy, are pretty much the same as when the novel began (at least I assume so since the ending never says otherwise). The characters, with the exception of Marguerite, fail to undergo any development, and Marguerite's changes were all for the worse. The author's writing and descriptions are excellent but the total lack of closure at the end makes the whole novel meaningless in my opinion. Afterwards I was left wondering what point was the author trying to convey, but (at least in my case) failed to do so? Why did she feel compelled to write this seemingly random and pointless story that has no real ending? And most importantly, why did I waste my time reading this? Therefore, my overall recommendation is to avoid this book. Maybe a sequel would make this book more bearable, tying up all the loose ends, but I doubt it.