Baldur's Gate 3: AstarionT. Kingfisher || Publication Date - 29.09.2026
The legendary charlatan Astarion... beaten, enslaved and Hell's bent on revenge.
Fantasy | LGBTQIA+
Astarion was a smart mouthed, impeccably styled magistrate in the Faerûn city of Baldur's Gate. His duties mostly involved the lowlife scum of city criminals, and sentencing them when found guilty of their crimes... which usually involved death.
Little did Astarion know that his own sentence was closer than he would have liked. A severe beating, a lucky stranger and a gift that would last forever became his new reality. Along with this gift came new duties, enduring hours of torture and perpetual slavery.
What he also didn't know, was what his slaver Cazador had planned for one of his children. If they could bring him a vial of the most exclusive blood he'd tasted, he would provide the winner true freedom. To become a true vampire.
The Review (may contain spoilers)
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this eARC for an honest review!
For those of you who may not have played 'Baldur's Gate 3', I do believe this novel is perfectly readable without having played it. I feel this would be a perfect starting statement as a lot of people may think it a requirement. As someone who is a massive fan of the developer (Larian Studios) and thoroughly enjoyed BG3, I am incredibly biased to already love this book. Pair it with T. Kingfisher as the writer and honestly I couldn't pick a better author to have penned Astarion's back story.
The writing captures his snarky personality perfectly. Everything that makes Astarion the man beloved by the community is there, and if there was one thing which could have gone wrong when writing this novel, it would have been conveying his particular style and demeanor. Safe to say, T. Kingfisher nailed it. It has a lot of elements within the writing as easter eggs to BG3 and Dungeons & Dragons too, so if you have played either, there will be a few times you will find yourself laughing over the dialogue or situations. I love the thought and detail which has gone into the novel, to me it was a feast for my hungry nerd heart.
As for the story and writing, removing my bias as best as I can, ultimately this is a work of T. Kingfisher. I love their writing, and their novels have always been a good time for me. It's witty, adventurous and funny without being overdone. The characters are fleshed out enough they feel unique to the plot, and those who are more established like Astarion and Cazador, have been written with the context of BG3 in mind. The lore of Dungeon's & Dragon's, and more specifically The Sword Coast, is vast to say the least. With city's including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter and Waterdeep, each featuring various TTRPG campaigns, video games and source books there is a lot of material to draw from. Despite this, I do believe Kingfisher has done a great job of grabbing bits and pieces to set the tone for the novel and surrounding events.
Overall Thoughts
I loved this novel. Hands down. I am aware I am biased as a fan of T. Kingfisher, BG3 and D&D. With that being said however, if you like queer main characters with questionable morality being forced into high stakes situations which could possibly leave them killed by either a cult worshipping a dead God or by each other, this would be for you!
I would highly recommend this book if you are also a fan of T. Kingfisher, BG3 or D&D as well. It was a great read, which didn't overstay its welcome and allowed us to gain more content for this beloved game and its characters. All I can hope is that each of the other main companions get their own novels too, because I know for a fact I will be reading and buying every single one of them.
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