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Tanya Huff's take on gloomy adventure in D&D's Ravenloft setting really hits the mark. It's bleak, but has fascinating characters and a plot that moves at a satisfying pace.

This is a fun urban fantasy that has all the hallmarks of Huff's writing. The presence of incest and issues of consent should definitely be flagged, as those have an oversized role in the novel. It's not Huff's best, but it's executed well.

This new Ravenloft novel is true to the D&D experience in delightful ways; the characters and scenarios feel like they are taken straight from a well-played game. The setting and antagonist, Stradt, are disturbing, of course, but they never strip the colour and fun from this story. Readers who love Stradt and Ravenloft will relish the chance to experience them but the adventuring party here has enough novelty and approachability to make this a great gateway into Dungeons & Dragons, even if it's a bit more unhinged than most novels.

My mother had Flowers in the Attic and many other V.C. Andrews books on her shelves when I was growing up and got new books every year. Unlike all the speculative fiction books on my father's shelves, I never cracked the covers of these books, though the covers were fascinating to me. I had a good sense of the book's reputation before starting to read it last month. There are so many traumas, abuses, and deeply unsettling elements in this novel, and I'm not sure I could recommend it to someone who wasn't braced for and comfortable with all of that. It's a troubling story with plenty of complications and twists to make it gripping.

This collection of short stories showcases a lot of Huff's range. There's good variety here and the stories are generally strong.