Customer Reviews

Knight of the Black Rose

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What can I say, the book made me want to keep reading!

I have only read a couple other fantasy horror books but NOTHING like this one. I would have to say that this is a start of a new bookcase for me. If your interested in anything related to D&D, magic, or death (lol) you will absolutely love the Ravenloft series. The story is fantastic, it never slows down. It is seamless and easy to follow. I felt like I acctually knew the charicters by the end of the book(thats how good the charicter development is!). And the way Lowder(the writer) describes all of the spells and the way everyone looks and sometimes just the absolute terror written on someones face... oh man you feel like you're there! well this is a fantastic book with many others before and after it. (if your trying to read the whole serise in order good luck!) I greatly recomend this book to ALL people who are interested in this topic.
-§mee

This is a good dark fantasy novel. It is more or less an original story, except that it is based on the "Dungeons and Dragons" role playing game. If you don't know anything about the games, that's fine; reading this book will not need any prior knowledge. Lord Soth is a corrupt knight who gets transported from Kyryan to Barovia, a place of gothic evil and demons. His adventure is a lot of fun to read. Lord Soth himself is actually an interesting charactor, he's conflicted with actually tring to do the right thing; or more correctly, the less wrong thing. This is a light read that you'll enjoy and finish pretty quickly.

Knight of the Black Rose is a very well written book by James Lowder. It chronicles the events of Lord Soth's life after his disappearance from Krynn. The black knight finds himself ripped from the famed lands of the Dragonlance and deposited into the world of Strad in Ravenloft. This book is full of great dark characters, and the reader gets to know more about the famed death knight along the way. The book has it all. The excitement and superb storytelling make it a fun read. The characters are richly portrayed and find themselves in exciting fights and difficult situations. Soth is forced to confront his past. As his future is left hanging in the balance, the death knight has amazing encounters with every sort of denizen and the confrontations he has with the vampric Lord Strad are the thing of fantasy legend. All in all this is an excellent read.

Lord Soth. You're never quite sure what to make of him. Is he a good guy, or a bad guy? But one thing that is for certain, he rocks! If you liked "Vampire of the Mists", you will like this book too, guranteed. Strahd is back in this book but this time he has a new foe. How do you root for the good guy when there isn't one? This is Ravenloft in all it's wonderful splendor!

Pretty good book with an evil protagonist. The story is engaging, but the ending is a let-down. Soth is a very cool character; I don't know why the author doesn't say anything about why Soth turns evil; pride?. A refreshing change from normal fantasy books of good vs evil.

The cover art is very eye-catching, but as the title of the review says, you should never judge a book by it's cover. As usual, Mr. Lowder's use of the English language is extremely sub-standard, as is the writing in general. He also proves himself unable to expand upon someone else's work, as the main characters go completely against all previously established personalities. I love this type of novel, and have understood the characters since their first appearance in both gaming and literature, and this novel made me truly nauseous. It's flat, dry, and poorly written. There is little in the way of character development and virtually no resolution. Even the "gothic" feel Mr. Lowder tries to evoke comes off as fake, as though written by someone describing it after a single exposure. My general opinion is that this is one of the worst novels of all time.

I don;t really think of this as a Ravenloft book. It's a Dragonlance book that stumbled into Ravenloft. Now, since I like BOTH, I was prepared to love this book. The problem comes when Soth turns from a Death Knight into a kind of weak spellcaster. Not to mention that everybody involved acts out of character.
And what in the heck is that DRAGON doing in Strahd's castle?

This book was excellent. I entered Borders looking for any sort of RPG book to read and eventually chose this one. The beginning of the book can make you confused but it is definately worth getting. At the end a few points are left out, but if you ever want a Dark RPG get this. It is worth every penny. Lord Soth becomes my new favorite dark character.

Pitting cursed evil against cursed evil, both beings manipulating pawns that are available, and one roaming the lands in search for what he wants. A book that has had a lot of work put into it. We see accurate accounts from Soth's life on Krynn and his attitude in (un)life. He stays true to his persona and never changes it, even when it's the cause of his curse and when he is faced with a chance at salvation. This story, while having little in the way of a 'stirring' plot, is masterfully produced in terms of action and a dark theme. I cannot rate it any less than a full 5 stars.