• Dance of the Dead

  • A Ravenloft Novel
  • By: Christie Golden
  • Narrated by: Marisa Vitali
  • Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (109 ratings)

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Dance of the Dead  By  cover art

Dance of the Dead

By: Christie Golden
Narrated by: Marisa Vitali
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Publisher's summary

When the riverboat on which she works as a dancer docks at a zombie-plagued island known as Sourange, Larissa Snowmane must rely on the help of the swamp creatures to save her soul.

©1992 TSR, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Dance of the Dead

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Story
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good gothic horror gaming story, abysmal reader

I loved this book in my late high school and early college years, when I was deeply involved in gaming in the same setting where the story takes place. It was then and is still my favorite of the Ravenloft novels of the time; Christie Golden does a nice job. Like most gaming-based fiction, it's not especially deep, sort of a Creole riverboat horror version of what would otherwise be termed a "fun romp." If that kind of accessible story is your cup of tea, I would recommend this one... in print form.

The reader is simply dreadful. On the positive side, she sounds as if she is enjoying the story herself, which is nice, but half the cast of characters come out sounding like Tiffany from Daria--slow and somehow breathy, but monotone and distracted.

A spark of talent shows when the reader gives a bit-part a rich French accent, but for some reason in this tale set against a Louisiana style Cajun/Creole backdrop this is the only time she makes use of this skill. I was left wishing repeatedly that a voice like that would return, and chuckling inappropriately whenever the Tiffany voice would return.

I was able to complete my listen because I knew the story and was looking forward to the poignantly satisfying big finish. If you are new to this story, I don't know how you take it seriously with this reader.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

mixed feelings

I love this book! I read it before a long time ago! I am finding it hard to get through this version because the narrators voice is so off putting

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Skip this One

Nothing to do with Ravenloft setting. Bad Story, bad narater. Skip this one, it dosnt even have anything to do with the DnD settings or classes or how magic works.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

What were they thinking?

First of all, this book has nothing to do with Strahd. I don’t believe it even mentions his name. I remember one passing statement that some peripheral character is from Barovia, and there are magical mists involved (that don’t even behave as Barovia’s mists) but those are the only connections to the Ravenloft setting.

The story itself has a few relatively cool elements, but overall it feels like a goofy fairy tale with a few horror elements thrown in.

But, in all honesty, the fairy tale feel may actually have more to do with the narrator than the story itself. I’ve listened to many dozens of audiobooks before, and this was by far the hardest one to listen to. Her voice is pleasant enough when she speaks normally, but for some reason she tries to use the most annoying, grating, nasally, drawn-out, monotone voices for a handful of the characters. It almost feels like she was trying to mock the story with those voices! I found myself continually wondering what in the world she was thinking, and what her producer was thinking for approving them!

I still gave her performance two stars because, as I said, she’s actually quite pleasant to listen to outside those few “special” voices.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Just wow

So, I'm listening to the Ravenloft books for nostalgia's sake as I had all of them when I was a teenager. I'm only part of the way through this one so I can't attest much to the story. I'm guessing from the fact that I don't remember anything about the book and the reviews that it could be rated as "meh" None of that matters though because the narrator is just god awful. While voice acting the characters it honestly sounds like she's slow I don't know how "PC" that is but it's as near as I can describe it in this review. I feel compelled to warn possible listeners but I don't want to be dramatic about it just know that I physically cringe as she acts out the voices of Dumount and Dragon Eyes or thus far any character that has a French ascent. That being said I don't really like to disrespect people and I'm sure Marisa is a nice lady IRL but I feel obligated to save people from making a poor decision in purchasing this audio book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not bad but doesn't feel like Ravenloft

It might be just me but it doesn't have the same tone as the other Ravenloft novels I've listened to. Not a bad story but it's just hard for me to connect it to the other stories like Strad, Soth, and the others.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Reader is painfully bad

I read this book decades ago as part of the Ravenloft series. Was interested to see them in audio, so I have been listening to the series again while I work.

This title is one of the weakest in the Ravenloft series. The story drags on and the author focuses on unnecessary details that don’t move the story at all.

What makes this nearly unbearable is the reader. When she just reads in her own voice, she’s okay. However, she does voices for different characters and it’s just terribad. The choices in characterization are so grating that I almost stopped listening. It was painful.

The performance killed my rating of this book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Got about 30 minutes in...

I really wanted to listen to this, but as the other reviews stated, the narrator was excruciating to listen to. Ended up having to return.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Voice Actor Ruined It

it felt like the voice actor wasn't even trying in many places. The sentence would say "and she bellowed in anguish" and the voice actor would just continue on in a dreary quiet voice. The story isn't as well written as other Ravenloft books either. Save your money. this is the first bad review I've ever given on Audible.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

So so

So so,

it was a interesting look at a I'd hero. The second half was the better half.

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1 person found this helpful