Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd

De: Delilah S. Dawson

Narrado por: Ellie Gossage

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.

©2025 Delilah S. Dawson (P)2025 Random House Audio

Interesting story

I bought this book as I love curse of strahd. the story is a bit scatterbrained due to the multiple viewpoints but a solid story.

The Narrator carries the Performance

As a fan of Barovia, this feels like a cash grab. it seems lazy and somehow manages to show so little of Barovia. You get the edge of the mists, a butcher shop and the castle. knowing how vast the castle is, it's only a pittance of what was possible. the only saving grace would be the Narrator. she was pleasant and could provide enough variety to manage to keep it entertaining enough.

Another Weak DnD Modern Novel

I didn’t like the narrator’s voice, found it distracting. I found the story to be weak and boring, it didn’t engage me. I didn’t find any connection to the characters, I didn’t care if they lived, died or completed their mission.

do you want to revisit Baravoia, yeah thats not going to happen.

If you dont know anything about the curse of strahd story, then this is a good dungeons and dragons story.

If you do, and wanted to revisit the places the tsar pool, Amber temple, Valkaki, the ominous Barovian country side. I also bet youre excited to see the characters, the hag, the burglemister, the fiesty Ireena, the brave Esemeralda, all the other locals.



Awesome, but none of thats going to happen, no madam Eva, no exploring Barovia, just no, its not happening.
but, Rudolph von-exposition is there to fill in story gaps and then be useless.

instead how about a entirely different demiplan? if thats not what you're looking for the street clear, this was badly written but it absolutely missed the heart of what made COS the powerhouse 5e adventure, its not that and wont scratch itch.

Fun characters

I wish we had more time with them exploring the mist (woods). I need the next book immediately!!!

Interesting characters, and good story pace

Very enjoyable story setting, the characters are the strongest element, the only negative is the conclusion to the story doesn’t share the excellent built pace of the first half of the tale.

that ending

The ending while kind of obvious it makes me really want another book, can't wait to see what else they do

A steller performance of a firmly adequate book.

Ellie is pleasant on the ears, and has enough range that I enjoyed the book(despite the book), and her performance of it.

Delilah meanwhile seems to have perused the 5th Ed source books for Curse of Strahd & Van Richten's guide, and attempted to make a novel of them, while ignoring the three previous novels Strahd has appeared in. OK, that's harsh, but I was violently ripped out of my immersion when Strahd claimed not to know of Waterdeep. The same Waterdeep in which Jander Sunstar met a fragment of Tatyana many, many moons ago in "Vampire of the Mists" by Christie Golden.

So, the book is adequate. If you are unfamiliar with Ravenloft, it might even be Good. If you enjoy watching others Game sessions this may be right up your alley, and fantastic. Unfortunately I am highly familiar with the setting, characters, and module, and thus the errors in characterization, and continuity stand out rather sharply to me. I should mention that I do not hold the imbecilic 5th ed changes against Mrs Dawson, I suspect most of my lore based complaints are due to WoTC and Hasbro dropping the bag. E.G. The domains are unconnected except for the mists. Having said that, the style of following 4 semi-cooperative characters through a CoS game is at the end of the day, I fear one of the few audible purchases I truly did not find to my liking.

The narrator did a good job.

Liked: the atmosphere, the character backstories, Dr. Mordenheim and her laboratory ( I actually really want a quest where the group does help find her lost lover)

Disliked: the huge about face that happens in the second half and the out of nowhere ending. I feel like the author jumped into this project with both feet, but not enough time to devote to drawing out the story to her desired conclusions. The penultimate chapter by Rudolph Van Richten especially felt like a cop out by someone trying to fit a longer story into a shorter one.

Overall it was a fun read and I can see myself picking up a sequel with these characters later, but I doubt I would read this one a second time, or strongly recommend it to anyone.

Great return to Ravenloft

Great story. I loved the first half the most, but the whole thing was great.

Ellie did an awesome job narrating!