Christie Golden’s Vampire of the Mists is an excellent vampire novel that kicks off the Ravenloft series of books. Fans of the vampire genre will surely eat this one up thanks to its rich characterizations and nicely developed plotlines. It’s hard to believe this was the author’s debut novel. It was originally published in 1991, then re-released in 2006.

Ravenloft is a unique horror world that came about as part of the Dungeons & Dragons world, though it is many centuries ahead of the time period in which most people play D&D. Rather than a medieval flavor typical of D&D, Ravenloft is a bit more Victorian. Either way you look at it, this is a unique world that the author turns into her playground. Golden had the duty of introducing readers to Ravenloft and she really sunk her teeth into the job.

The mists, as referred to in the title of the book, surround Ravenloft and provide a sort of barrier between its inhabitants and the outside world. In a sense, the mists trap everyone inside. The protagonist of this story is a vampire elf named Jander who happened upon Ravenloft after getting lost in these mists. Being that he is an elf, Jander lets the author tie the new world of Ravenloft in with the basic D&D world of which so many books have been written.

The first few chapters detail how Jander has lived in seclusion and how he keeps himself alive by feeding upon people in the local prison/asylum. Vampires have an insatiable hunger for blood that must be satisfied on occasion, so Jander chose the prison since most people wouldn’t notice or much even care what happened to the people inside. Upon his visits to the prison, he discovers a beautiful young woman who appears to be in a trance-like state.

This woman, Anna, becomes the focus of the vampire’s visits, and he falls in love with her. As time goes by, Jander realizes that she is under the influence of a powerful spell, but he doesn’t know how to break it. As a last ditch effort, he tries to turn her into a vampire by biting her, then letting her drink from his blood. She refuses and dies shortly thereafter. Jander is so racked with anger and guilt that he sets out to find who put her in that place to begin with.

Jander’s search leads him to befriend a group of gypsies from which Anna’s ancestors had lived, and this eventually leads him to meet with the main vampire who more or less owns and runs that part of Ravenloft. This big undead honcho is named Strahd, and he’s like the evil Bond villain of vampires with his huge castle, endless wealth, and total disregard for human life. Strahd is interested in Jander because the elf is so much older and could possibly teach Strahd more about being a vampire. Jander wants to learn more about the history of Ravenloft and Strahd is definitely the best source of that information.

What makes this story work so well is how the characters are fleshed out in a way that gives them nicely developed backgrounds and distinctive personalities. Strahd is a completely evil vampire in the Dracula sense, but as the story goes on we hind that he does have some rather human qualities about him - villainous qualities, but still human. From the moment they meet, there is plenty of tension between these two creatures of the night as they form a bond based more on what they can gain from each other, as opposed to any real friendship.

I found it really impressive the way Jander’s conflictions are portrayed. He’s still sort of a good guy, but he also has to feed off humans to stay alive. He has several cold dashes of evil, especially when he sincerely explains to a young prisoner of Strahd’s castle that she simply can’t even leave. This book was written several years before Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out and we were introduced to the idea of a vampire being more than just a bloodthirsty villain.

A story like this needs plenty of action to go along with the characters and setting, and the author delivers. There are no elaborate fight sequences since this is not really a sword and sorcery type setting, but there are plenty of little skirmishes and stand-offs. The vampires in this book also have the ability to take on wolf form, and I loved how the author would casually describe the vampires converting to wolf or mist or even into bat form. The visuals just jumped off the page and into my imagination.

The Ravenloft series of books contains more than a dozen titles, and this is the first of them. For that reason, this book may seem a bit anti-climatic in that it serves both to introduce the world as well as Strahd. I know that Strahd is a recurring character in these books, and he even has a book entirely of his own. I’m not sure if Jander has ever appeared in any other stories, but he’s an incredibly interesting character that might deserve a back story of his own, if one does not already exist.

Vampire of the Mists is the perfect blend of mystery, romance, and horror. It has more than wetted my appetite for more books in the Ravenloft world. The author, Christie Golden, also wrote two more books in this series.


Recommended: Yes