Customer Reviews

Tales of Ravenloft

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In Ravenloft's first (and only, to date) short story anthology, we receive a wide variety of tales, some showcasing established talent: P.N. Elrod, J. Robert King, Chet Williamson, Elaine Bergstrom, and James Lowder. Others are a preview of talent yet-to-come: Gene DeWeese, Andria (Hayday) Cardarelle, William W. Connors, and Mark Anthony.

However, among these creme-de-la-creme, we also had stories from some newcomers who have yet to strut their stuff in an RL novel, but who have established track records in other worlds (Elaine Cunningham, Jeff Grubb, Roger E. Moore, and Kate Novak) and those whose first visit to Ravenloft has thus far been their only time in-print for a TSR world, some deservedly.

The collection is marvelous, with many of the newcomers showing they have what it takes, sometimes even making the senior authors' attempts pale in comparison. However, among all the gems in this book, we find those whose endings seem rushed or are just poor attempts. I won't name names, so as not to offend, but I can say that careful readers and devoted fans can pick out the good from the rushed.

The best examples from this book, IMNSHO, though, were "The Briar at the Window" (though the ending was a bit rushed), "The Freak", "Caretaker", "Objects d'Art", and "The Judgment of abd-al-Mamat". I highly recommend it.

These tales are great for telling scary stories late at night. Read some of these stories, tell the story to a friend in your own words, and that friend will never forget it. For any fans of Ravenloft, ADnD, or the horror genre, this book is for you. You might not like all of the tales, but you will like enough of them to be content with your purchase.

Tales of Ravenloft is the only anthology set in the Ravenloft setting, but its a good one. This is a classic and has a number of established fantasy, and Ravenloft, authors. The stories are all pretty good, some of course stand above the rest but every story in the book is worth reading. Fans of fantasy-horror and the gothic horror of Ravenloft will not be disappointed.