Baroness of Blood

Ravenloft #12

by Elaine Bergstrom

To the people of Kislova, Baron Janosk was a tyrant, but to young Ilsabet, he was simply Father. When the baron was summarily executed, the people cheered, but Ilsabet wept… and plotted revenge. The benevolent new ruler could not have known that the blade stroke of an instant would open the wound of a lifetime. But Ilsabet knew, and she kept the wound festering. She worked her revenge slowly and sweetly, a revenge like the best of poisons….

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Vampires, Science Fiction Fantasy

309 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

Elaine Bergstrom is a Milwaukee-based novelist whose writing melds vampire, romance, mystery and, always, suspense.

Her first published piece of fiction was her first novel, Shattered Glass (1989). It introduced the character of the immortal Stephen Austra and artist Helen Wells, a victim of polio, along with Stephen's family of vampires who are “born not created and have an abhorrance for coffins, particulary their own.” The novel was a critical success, a consistent favorite with readers of adult-oriented vampire fiction. Bergstrom has written six novels in the Austra series, including Daughter of the Night, which featured Elizabeth Bathory as a half-breed Austra vampire. Beyond Sundown, the newest book in the Austra series, released early in 2011. The Violin, a novella, in 2012. Most are in print. All are available on Amazon kindle or through the author's website www.elainebergstrom.com

Using her grandmother's name, Marie Kiraly, Bergstrom wrote a sequel to Dracula called Mina ... The Dracula Story Continues, and its sequel, Blood to Blood ... The Dracula Story Continues, which both look at Mina Harker as a woman changed by her experience in Transylvania, struggling to find her way in the repressive Victorian society. Both were featured in the Science Fiction Book Club and Doubleday Book Club.

For the novel Madeline ... After the Fall of Usher, she adopted Poe’s journalistic style to tell a story in which the details of the last few months of Poe’s life are correct, with her own fictional story overlaid on them.


J. Gordon Melton (The Vampire Encyclopedia) notes that Shattered Glass contains "one of the most horrific scenes in vampire literature." (less)

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baroness of Blood is set in the Ravenloft setting. It is quite a good read.

The country of Kislev is ruled by a tyrant. Baron Janosk is a hard ruler and tolerates neither rebellion nor any form of dissent. The price for it is a horrible death. Yet, for all his faults he is beloved by his daughter-Ilsabet. When a disastrous invasion of Sundell goes all wrong and Kislev falls after Baron Janosk is killed, Ilsabet starts down her dark path.

Baroness Ilsabet, modeled after the Lucrezia Borgia, learns the art of poisoning. While Lucrezia's role as a femme fatale may be a result of negative propaganda, no such excuse covers Ilsabet. As she descends deeper down this dark path, a Seeress' warning begins to come true. Ilsabet's knowledge of the dark arts of poisons and the sheer pleasure she derives from the acts and the suffering cause her to become something of a psychic vampire. She becomes more beautiful and desirable with each kill and in time ensnares Baron Peto of Sundell.

A great story and an entertaining read. The prevalent darkness and Ilsabet's maneuvering for power make for a truly dark tale. Ilsabet's fall to the powers of the mists, and the damnation of her province, develops slowly. But it is a story that I appreciated, since you are able to see where Ilsabet's proclivities will eventually lead.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baroness of Blood by Elaine Bergstrom- This is the tenth book released in the Ravenloft line of novels that is based of the Ravenloft setting of the pen and paper role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. This is also a stand-alone novel and can be read without any prior knowledge of the setting or events. Elaine Bergstrom has written one other Ravenloft novel which is titled Tapestry of Dark Souls. She wrote the Austra Family series (Shattered Glass, Blood Alone, Blood Rites, Daughter of the Night, and Nocturne), two books that continue the Dracula story titled Mina and Blood to Blood, and wrote a novel titled The Door Through Washington Square. She wrote two novels under the name Marie Kiraly titled Leanna: Possession of a Woman and Madeline: After the Fall of User. She also contributed a few short stories to various anthologies. Baroness of Blood was originally released in March 1995 and published by TSR, Inc. However, this book is hard to find and you'll likely need to pick it up used.

Baroness Ilsabet Obour thirsts for revenge. Her country, Kislova, has been dealing with a rebellion and her father, Janosk, is seen as a tyrant and oppressor. After dealing with the rebellion, Janosk decides to try to invade neighboring Sundell, but Baron Peto Casse hears about the invasion and surprises the Kislova forces. Following the force back to Kislova's Nimbus Castle, Peto meets Janosk and executes him after seeing that Janosk has a mortal wound to his side. However, young Ilsabet sees this act and swears revenge on Peto and those who swore allegiance to him. She needs a way to take vengeance, without linking her to it. It just so happens that Ilsabet was learning how to use poisons. She experiments with more subtle ways of administering it, to have it not be traced back to her. As time passes she becomes more obsessed with revenge, but how far will she go?

Criticisms:
1) Storytelling. Baroness of Blood did have an annoying tendency to switch writing styles towards the middle and end of the novel. For a good portion of the novel, the story is told with a third person perspective and switches character viewpoints during breaks in a chapter. So it's pretty much reads like a 'normal' third person novel would. However, during the middle we have a sudden shift to reading Ilsabet diary at random times in various chapters. In other words, we have a chapter starting with a third person perspective for a scene or two, then suddenly it becomes something from Ilsabet's diary, and then returns back to a third person viewpoint. It's was off-putting and sudden. I would have understood if the entry was just inside of a scene (that does happen once) without stopping the scene, like an excerpt. However, this diary switching gets more prominent towards the end of the novel. In fact, it felt as through the novel should have been written from the perspective of just Ilsabet. The switch of storytelling did become annoying and at times took away from the enjoyment.

Praises:
1) Descent. Throughout the story we see Ilsabet's slow descent into evil, and it was great. When we first meet the young baroness, she seemed to be little more than a frail girl. But as the story progresses, we see her cruel and disturbing streak she has. Seeing this girl do increasingly horrific things is disturbing and frightening at times. Her blind quest for revenge really does blind her from what's right and what's wrong. The descent into evil is also intensified due to the supporting characters. The characters around her are all likeable and sympathetic, making her descent all the more noticeable. It seemed like no one compared to her, no one really matched her actions. However, her actions never really seemed to be tragic. Ilsabet's story only felt tragic at the beginning, but I could never really identify with her. It was shocking about how much you came to loathe her as a character.
2) Ending. The ending of Baroness of Blood was simply fantastic. We see everything that the story was building up to coming to a head, and the pay off was just great. Seeing Ilsabet's mental state slowly crumble and all her actions in the last few chapters seemed desperate. Plus seeing what the outcome of everything was really satisfying. However, I really can't spoil to much of what happens, but needless to say it was great.
3) Atmosphere. The atmosphere didn't really feel like a horror story until near the middle of the story. Instead, until that point, the atmosphere was of a war-torn land with hope of the future. This does help the atmosphere of the last half of the novel, making it a stark and obvious contrast. The second half of the novel the atmosphere seems more like a 'regular' Ravenloft novel. The feeling of doom and fear is almost palpable. In fact, there were times when it seemed like the atmosphere around Ilsabet seemed to want her to stop what she's doing. It really did feel like the atmosphere was another character in the novel.

Side Notes:
1) Title. Baroness of Blood should not have been the title of the novel. When I see a title like that I almost suspect it being more gory. However, there is little actual blood shed, or at least not enough to warrant such a title. Sure, there's a high body count, but it's not 'bloody'. Instead, a more appropriate title could have been Baroness of Poison or something along those lines.
2) First Third. The first third of the novel doesn't really feel like a Ravenloft novel. Instead it feels like something that belongs in Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance, albeit darker.
3) Cover Art. The cover art work for Baroness of Blood is generic. It seems that all the Ravenloft novels have a character staring out at you with a plain background, and this novel is no different. Ilsabet looks okay. Her eyes are kind of creepy, but other than that she's just okay. Nothing really stands out for her. It doesn't help that the colors are so bland and plain. Nothing really stands out and would be very easily overlooked.

Overall: 5/5
Final Thoughts:
Baroness of Blood is a really look into someone's fall into evil and what revenge can do to a person. There isn't much wrong with the novel. I did find that the change in writing styles between the 'regular' style to a diary style was a little awkward and annoying at times. However, everything else was wonderful. Seeing Ilsabet's fall was exciting and different. When the story first started, she never really felt all that menacing or evil, but you see how twisted she becomes, and it was great. The ending was superb, it was fitting and left me very satisfied. Finally, the atmosphere was just great. At times the atmosphere felt like another character in the story. All in all, Baroness of Blood is certainly worth the read and I highly recommend tracking down a copy, if only to see how revenge can corrupt a person.

[J.L. Lamastus · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Ravenloft novels.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

My, what a nasty piece of work is Baroness Ilsabet Obour. But she's a complex and well-rounded nasty piece of work, which elevates her character in this novel well above the popcorn level you usually find in this kind of work. Shame everyone else around her is a mindless cipher.

More than most Ravenloft novels I've read, this one ascribes to many classic Gothic traditions, yet Ilsabet is imperilled not by a man, but by herself and her own courses of action. She is haunted - internally and externally, and throughout the length of the novel she vacillates and questions if what she's doing is the wisest way, and in the conclusion, things get resolved in the poetic justice sense of resolution.

The novel is dark, make no mistake. There's no light, joy or laughter anywhere here. It's only the dumb and clueless secondary characters in this novel which stop me from awarding this five stars. Ilsabet is surrounded by idiots when her character cries out for effective foils and counters.

Still, this is one of the better Ravenloft outings.

[Scott McCloskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps my favorite in the Ravenloft series. Ilsabet's cunning is an intriguing read, and watching her plans unfold keeps you on the edge of her seat. That fact that she is not entirely committed to what she's doing is interesting, as well.

[DaNela · Rating 5 out of 5]

*BIO*

[Mickey]

I didn't know that this was book 10, I just remember it being a good book, with a decent plot.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to go back and read (and find) all of the Ravenloft novels I missed. I enjoyed them so.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good Gothic horror very lite on the D&D.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

To get to the point, know that Bergstrom pens a compelling, but flawed, account of a young princess’ campaign to avenge her father’s death at the hands of a neighboring kingdom.

However well written, I found Ilsabet to be evil the very start of the novel, showing a clear, and developed propensity for cruelty and sadism from nearly the outset. We are never really told why Ilsabet has such a violent inclination towards dissent to such a refined degree other than seeing her father’s iron-fisted approach to governance. This hardly would account for the vicious creativity of a punishment she renders on a rebel leader early on in the book.

I remember thinking how much more compelling she would have been as a character had she been introduced as less cruel, only gradually ramping up her savagery like a slow boil as the story went on in response to the oppression she, her family, and her people were subjected to after they had been conquered.

Her story reminded me vividly of the childhood of Ivan the Terrible, and his struggle against the boyars. After hearing of how they bullied and tormented him as a youth, it becomes easier to understand his need to destroy them later when they were at his mercy.

With Ilzabet, we never really see this with the neighboring kingdom, as they don’t treat her family or people with disrespect, despite her tyrannical father’s actions against them. You will often find yourself in accord with the rebels of her kingdom, her siblings, or her mentor more than you will with Ilsabet.

There are several other things that I felt that didn’t quite make Ilsabet’s thirst for vengeance beyond her being a vicious, sadistic, spoiled princess. Her fate as a Darklord of Ravenloft is a fitting punishment, and I found myself smiling like a tiger when I closed the book for the last time.

That said, Bergstrom’s prose and skill are what saves this novel, and she gives enough of a hint to the reader that makes them silent witness to Ilsabet’s machinations - and being unable to warn the objects of her wrath adds a neat level of participation that I don’t often find in novels I’ve read so far, much less a fantasy novel.

[MV · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine overall, and I loved the gothic castle setting and the superstitions and legends of Kislova as well as the information on poisons and medicinal plants.

The back cover had me thinking this was a story of how Ilsabet became evil, but it's soon very clear she has always been evil. I wasn't sold on the idea that she could get away with this much for so long. The murders and other deaths eventually became repetitive, and at that point I began to find it easier to put the book down. Some characters didn't have much of a purpose. Others definitely had a purpose but got on my nerves. While I enjoyed much of the horror, I found the ending disappointing and anti-climactic. But if you're a fan of other Ravenloft books, you likely won't want to miss this one.

[Sugarpop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for this book for a long time and finally got my hands on it.
I enjoyed this entry a lot. The story is a bit slow but it feels kinda Shakespearean in the way the story plays out. I liked the vibe and the characters. The poisoner plot was new for this series and refreshing.
It is not my favorite part in the series but it is definitely in the top 3.

[Julian Spergel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best in the Ravenloft novel series I've read so far.

[Kas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 but I'm feeling kind today

[Mikaël · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a few interesting bits, but most of the book is just characters making idle threats and never actually acting up on 'em, so the story ends up being a dull tease

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wanting power is 😈

[Chris Di Vitto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shoutout to goth girls