Tomes of Other Realms: Tapestry of Dark Souls

Tomes of Other Realms

Welcome to the lands of swords and sorcery, where people live and die by the sword and only the bravest of souls stand between the common folk and the forces of darkness. Join me as I wander different planes and hear the stories of their greatest defenders and the sagas of their worthiest warriors.

W A R N I N G !

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Title: Tapestry of Dark Souls
Author: Elaine Bergstrom
Publisher: TSR, Inc.
Format: Paperback
Copyright Date: 1993

Trapped within the folds of the Gathering Cloth are dark souls of varying degrees of evil. Some are simply human. Others are something more. And one in particular is powerful enough to reach beyond the substance of the Cloth to affect the external world with his powers. And he does so, impregnating an innocent women with his seed, determined to see to it that his offspring would one day arrive and free him from the Cloth. That child is Jonathan, a youth whose powers are nothing like the monks who raised him have ever seen. But while they had the raising of him, there was another who wormed his way into Jonathan's thoughts and gradually turned him against the monks. Now it's a struggle for survival as Jonathan struggles to be free of the destiny his father has in mind for him. Because failure means the destruction of everything Jonathan has ever known, from the monastery/fortress he was born in to the village he has come to hate to the maiden who has consented to be his wife. Can Jonathan triumph and prevent the the forces trapped in the Gathering Cloth from emerging to devastate the world?

Tapestry of Dark Souls is the fifth in the open-ended Ravenloft series, and like its predecessors is a stand-alone novel that requires little or no knowledge of the others to understand and enjoy it. It's true that Gundarak and Kartakass both receive mention in this book, but the primary land--with the exception of the fortress over the border in Markovia--is Tepest, a land that is mostly beautiful but, like all the Dark Domains, has a darker side to it. I won't tell you exactly what that dark side is, but knowing the realms of Ravenloft, do you really have to ask?

I'm hard pressed to decide exactly what I liked best about this book. Was it the apparent sentience of the Gathering Cloth? Was it the struggle for independence evinced by Jonathan's mother, Leith, as the virulence of a Kartakan vixen/werewolf threatened to enslave her forever to another's will? I wish I could say there was a specific part to the book that was most enjoyable, but I enjoyed the whole thing. Overall, though, I found the book to be tedious in some places but fast-pace--maybe too fast-paced--in others. Naturally there were long sections of exposition that made me yawn--you can only do so much with flashbacks and reflections--but the action scenes were very disturbing and very nerve-racking; in other words, terrific!

Tapestry of Dark Souls might not be suitable for younger readers--perhaps not even older readers--but it is still a terrific addition to the Ravenloft series. If you don't believe me, then you'll just have to read it and see for yourself!

Rating: Thumbs up! Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men...or the folds of a magical cloth?

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