''Knight of the Black Rose'' is the second novel in the

Ravenloft Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a ''Demiplane, pocket dimension'' or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of la ...

books

gothic horror Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

series. Written by

James Lowder James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963 in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American author and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular ...

, it is set both in

Krynn ''Dragonlance'' is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived ''Dragonlance'' while driving in t ...

and more prominently, the

Demiplane of Dread Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a ''pocket dimension'' or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land pieces c ...

, location of the Ravenloft campaign setting.

Plot summary

On the fabled world of Krynn,

Lord Soth Lord Soth, the Knight of the Black Rose, is a fictional character appearing in the fantasy realms of ''Dragonlance'' and later ''Ravenloft''. He is depicted as a death knight and fallen Knight of Solamnia from the world of Krynn. Development Ac ...

finally learns that there is a price to pay for his long history of evil deeds, a price even an undead warrior might find horrifying. Dark powers transport Soth to Barovia, and there the death knight must face the dread minions of Count Strahd Von Zarovich, the vampire lord of the nightmare land. But with only a captive Vistani woman and an untrustworthy ghost for allies, Lord Soth soon discovers that he may have to join forces with the powerful vampire if he is ever to escape the realm of terror. Knight of the Black Rose is the second in an open-ended series of Gothic horror tales dealing with the masters and monsters of the Ravenloft dark fantasy setting.

Reception

Reviews

*''

Magia i Miecz ''Magia i Miecz'' (Polish language, Polish for: ''Magic and Sword'') was the first Role-playing game, RPG-oriented magazine in Poland. Started in 1993, it ceased publishing in 2002 after 103 issues. The publisher was Wydawnictwo MAG. Tomasz Kołod ...

'' #54 (June 1998) (Polish) *''

Kliatt ''Kliatt'' (stylized as ''KLIATT'') was a bimonthly magazine that published reviews of young adult literature. It also published reviews of related media, such as educational software, that was designed for teachers and librarians interested in ...

'' *''

Science Fiction Chronicle DNA Publications was an American publishing company that existed from 1993 to 2007 and was run by the husband-and-wife team of Warren Lapine and Angela Kessler. Initially based in Massachusetts, DNA Publications relocated to Radford, Virginia. A ...

References

1991 American novels Ravenloft novels {{1990s-horror-novel-stub