Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd
Hardcover | Kindle Edition | Audiobook
By Delilah S. Dawson
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Release Date: May 13, 2025

All things come full circle. This was a saying when I was younger and I can attest that it holds true even to this day. I was ever a fan of the Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft setting, loving that it was able to bridge worlds thanks to the ever-changing Mists. The original source material for the Ravenloft campaign was one that I consumed again and again, as well as the novels that followed. That said, I was happy to see a 5e release for the game that I have always loved. I was not prepared for a follow-up book that whisked me back to Barovia and Castle Ravenloft, but Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd did just that. Here are my thoughts on the book itself, keeping in mind I am a diehard fan of the setting, and this is just my take on the book release itself.

The Domains of Dread are myriad, but the lands of Strahd are, at best, a poorly kept secret. Nonetheless, when a handful of beings find themselves transported through the Mists to this dire land, they are lost and bewildered. Kenku, orc, tiefling, human, and even a drow with a hairless tressym companion named Murder, a name most fitting. (Quick side note: Murder is my favorite character in this book.) This ragtag bunch magically appears altogether, though none knew the others prior, other than the Drow and tressym, that is. It is almost like someone is taking notes as they run a campaign, you might say. As I was reading it, I was reminded of the first book of The Guardians of the Flame series from the 1980s. The banter and arguing seem reminiscent of any group of teens playing this game, especially with such a widely diverse party. Granted, I understand they were thrown together, but still. Within the first few chapters, I can see that this book is set in the darkness that is Ravenloft, but is unlike previous novels, which presented an almost modern gothic feel.

I will admit, the beginning leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but when they first meet Strahd himself, I feel like everything is back on track. Strahd is almost ethereal, beguiling, and you can tell he is planning evil things. But I still was not feeling any fear for the protagonists. Not that they did not have a multitude of combat scenes throughout the book, just that it never felt dire. I guess the buildup was not there for me. I know it must be horribly difficult to do justice to an arch-villain like Strahd; however, outside of his use of persuasion and illusions, he felt exceedingly two-dimensional. The party of would-be adventurers still had not engaged me enough for me to feel anything, at this point.

As the story continues and we watch as other side quests occur, all in hopes of finding a way home, the group starts to behave like a team and less like strangers. As stories are told, we see a bit more to flesh these heroes out, luckily. I probably became more engaged in the story by the halfway point, about 150 pages in, I would guess. But just as that happens, a bit more campiness finds its way into the book. As if the gothic trope of a vampire seeking the thing that drove him to be what he is, we are introduced to a doctor who reanimates corpses as his help is needed to save someone. I mean, I saw the movie Van Helsing, too. The plot begins to become more transparent as we get towards the end, and by the last 75 or 100 pages, I have correctly guessed how it will turn out, including the plot twists. My biggest disappointment in the whole book is that there are parts of the final battle that are missing; the reader is supposed to just infer what gets the scene to a certain point without getting to read it. I found this utterly frustrating because after 250-plus pages, I felt robbed.

Was the book a failure? No, it was decently written with some fun scenes. Was it a worthy sequel to the previous Ravenloft books? Also no. This was more like a young adult gothic novel that wanted to showcase as many creatures as possible in 298 pages. I would give it to a teen to read, but no one who read the previous books by Elrod, Golden, or Lowder will ever find it comparable. That is my opinion, at least. Less internal strife in the party and more suspense and creepiness would have gone a long way. Random encounters should be just that, random. Not every single chapter. I did like the way the author wrote different chapters from the perspective of individual characters, allowing their internal voices/thoughts to give us insight into who they were or wanted to be. All in all, though, I was disappointed because I was expecting one thing and received something entirely different. If you take a chance with this, I urge you to go in blindly. If you have not read the old TSR Ravenloft novels, hold off until after this one, it will keep you from having any expectations for this release.

A party of adventurers must brave the horrors of Ravenloft in this official Dungeons & Dragons novel!

Five strangers armed with steel and magic awaken in a mist-shrouded land, with no memory of how they arrived: Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a sardonic drow barbarian; Alishai, an embittered tiefling paladin; Kah, a skittish kenku cleric; and Fielle, a sunny human artificer.

After they barely survive a nightmarish welcome to the realm of Barovia, a carriage arrives bearing an invitation:

Fairest Friends,

I pray you accept my humble Hospitality and dine with me tonight at Castle Ravenloft. It is rare we receive Visitors, and I do so Endeavor to Make your Acquaintance. The Carriage shall bear you to the Castle safely, and I await your Arrival with Pleasure.

Your host,
Strahd von Zarovich

With no alternative, and determined to find their way home, the strangers accept the summons and travel to the forbidding manor of the mysterious count. But all is not well at Castle Ravenloft. To survive the twisted enigmas of Strahd and his haunted home, the adventurers must confront the dark secrets in their own hearts and find a way to shift from strangers to comrades—before the mists of Barovia claim them forever.