This list contains all of the printed books for the original "Ravenloft" fiction series. The Ravenloft books fall within the gothic horror and fantasy horror genres and were released throughout the 1990s. The books include magic, vampires, werewolves, bringing the dead back to life, mist with a mind of its own, and other familiar tropes of the genres.
The books are set in a land that is attached to the role-playing game (RPG) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), existing in a pocket dimension within the greater D&D worlds. However one does not need to know anything about D&D to understand or enjoy the titles as they are selfstanding works of fiction.
The works are stand alone with the exception of the Lord Soth series ("Knight of the Black Rose" by James Lowder and "Spectre of the Black Rose" by James Lowder and Voronica Whitney-Robinson), the Strahd series ("Vampire of the Mist" by Christie Golden, "I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire" by P.N. Elrod, and "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin" by P.N. Elrod), and the Azalin series ("King of the Dead" by Gene DeWeese, "Lord of the Necropolis" by Gene DeWeese, and "I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin" by P.N. Elrod). Some characters appear in several books but only the characters of Lord Soth, Azalin, and Strahd have specific sequels entirely dedicated to their respective stories. The remaining titles do not have to be read in any specific order or entirely to understand or enjoy a single title. Many of the titles were re-printed with new covers.
Authors include Laurell K. Hamilton (author of the popular "Anita Blake" series), Christie Golden (a prolific author who has written works for Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy, Angel, Warcraft and more), and P.N. Elrod (author of the "Vampire Files" series).
A revival of sorts was attempted in 2008 and contains 3 additional books. While these books were originally intended to be part of the Ravenloft realm the locales of the books were shifted to being those of our Earth and the works were mostly stripped of Ravenloft references (though not completely). One ("Black Crusade" by Ari Marmell) is an unpublished work and was shared on the Wizards of the Coast website (WotC are the owners of D&D). The remaining two were published but are out of print and increasingly difficult to obtain ("Heaven's Bones" by Samantha Henderson [this work is also alternatively titled "Clockwork Angels"] and "Mithras Court" by David A. Page). These three titles do not appear on this list due to the above information.
Please note that some readers may find the books upsetting. In addition to dated views the largest criticism of the entire Ravenloft series, which includes the RPG, are the characters known as Vistani. These characters are a group of people that are based on a very negative stereotype of the Romani people. WotC has very recently made attempts to remove this within its RPGs but it still exists within the books.
The titles in this list have been ordered to their original publication date. Editions shown below many not show original covers and may be re-prints as I was unable to locate the accurate edition through search bar.
#1 | 3.57 | |
#2 | 4.25 | |
#3 | 0 | |
#4 | 4 | |
#5 | 3 | |
#6 | 2.33 | |
#7 | 4 | |
#8 | 3 | |
#9 | Mordenheim Mordenheim
| 3 |
#10 | Tower of Doom Tower of Doom
| 0 |
#11 | 3 | |
#12 | 4 | |
#13 | 4 | |
#14 | 3 | |
#15 | 4 | |
#16 | 5 | |
#17 | 0 | |
#18 | Tales of Ravenloft Tales of Ravenloft
| 4 |
#19 | 4.5 | |
#20 | 4.67 |