Rating:

Ravenloft’s Take on Jekyll and Hyde

Author: Christie Golden

In a true case of wrong time / wrong place, Sir Tristan Hiregaard, a nobleman and ruler of Nova Vaasa, does the right thing and yet is blamed for a terrible crime he did not commit. Ravenloft’s forever formidable Vistani clear him of the crime through mystical means, but a rouge in their order, Rozalia, is sure that he remains guilty. Already dabbling in the blackest of magics, Rozalia cooks up a curse even she cannot quite handle, and a new dark lord is born.

Soon, a mysterious figure named Malken takes over Nova Vaasa, claiming that he is the liege of the powerful cat god Sekma. Before long, Malken’s cult has taken over the city, but is this new religious order merely a cover for something else?

Meanwhile, quite a few Jack-the-Ripper style murders are plaguing the once peaceful city, and Malken’s priests are seen, going from door to door, collecting money. Even Sir Tristan’s son has joined the cult. What only Tristan knows, though, is that he has awoken at the scene of some of these murders, covered in blood, with no memory. . .

It’s obvious from the cover and from the back cover blurb that this is Ravenloft’s take on the Jekyll and Hyde story. It’s unfortunate that this spoiler is literally given on the cover, but the story still manages to captive with its gothic, grisly nature.

The story starts slow, setting up the place and people, even dabbling into the political turmoil caused by the passing of the king and the takeover of his inept son. Tristian is one of the four nobles who are supposed to guide the new ruler until he is twenty-five. Already experiencing the pressure and grief, Tristian’s home life is little better. His wife, who was quite insane, has died, but legend says that her unhappy spirit haunts the castle. His son is distant and determined to rebel. All Tristian needed was trouble with the Vistani.

When Tristian starts waking at murder scenes, he instantly realizes what is happening, although it takes quite a while before he tracks the curse back to its source. Working in secret, Tristian tries to understand and unwind the curse. Meanwhile, he is also using all his resources to track Malken’s cult and subvert Sekma’s underground criminal network. Eventually, both goals will become one.

The story is smart, and in many ways grittier than other Ravenloft tales. Tristian, our protagonist, is mostly good, and makes intelligent decisions and conclusions. He works to investigate, and we have many scenes where the supernatural blends with a detective story as Tristian begins to put the pieces together, understanding both his alter-ego and Maleken’s ultimate intent.

Image by Çiğdem Onur from Pixabay

Tristian, of course, blows it with his secrecy, and as with all Ravenloft books, the ending leaves him desperate and not quite sane. Nova Vaasa has already slipped into the dark domains, but Tristian’s final desperate actions cement his sentence, although he is more beleaguered anti-hero than true dark lord/villain.

Where the story falters some is in the character of Malken. For one thing – how has Malken been able to create his evil empire seemingly overnight, with underground orgies, torture chambers, and enough money making/laundering/extorting schemes to fill an entire true crime series? This empire has arrived with little to no build-up or preparation, and Malken himself is, as Hyde, only able to exist a few hours each day. Yet he has set all this in motion, seemingly in the span of a few weeks? It COULD happen, but only with time and precision; this insta-cult / massive crime ring would be the work of years, maybe decades, even with a full-time devoted villain.

Likewise, while Tristain is more multifaceted, Malken is the stereotype of an evil mob boss crossed with a serial killer. This takes away his edge, because unlike our other Ravenloft villains (Strahd and Azalin for example) he is a caricature with no human qualities. Strahd and Azalin are undoubtedly evil, but they have just enough humanity, perverted though it is, to make them believable. Malken is an outline of what someone thinks is evil, and his very outrageousness makes him ridiculous. This is our villain? No . . . no, not scary. Not real.

I also admit, as a dyed-in-the-wool crazy cat lady (with nine of my own babies), I didn’t appreciate the entire “cats are evil” theme, nor the abuse of the domestic and plains cats. I get that it’s fiction. It’s supernatural. It’s Ravenloft. But still . . . cats are good creatures, and I think it does a lot of harm to represent animals in this manner, even in fiction.

Still, despite the criticisms, I enjoyed The Enemy Within. It was a solid and entertaining story, and I never wanted to put the book down. I just wanted the villain to be more real and the ramp-up of his empire more adequately explained. It’s still a fun story, though, with a slightly gritter feel than the other Ravenloft novels, and I rooted for Tristan even though I knew he was doomed once the mist closed. Recommended.

 

– Frances Carden

Follow my reviews on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/xombie_mistress

Follow my reviews on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/FrancesReviews

 

Ravenloft Series

Frances Carden
Latest posts by Frances Carden (see all)