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They turned everything they did into an art. The art of conversation. The art of taste, time-honored and newly acquired. The art of the body. The exploration and acceptance of the self and the other. The art of the night itself.

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kalaidekalou

I absolutely adore @anskapaints art 😍

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tamraspizz

1 Let's talk about the novel 'Baldur's Gate 3: Astarion' 🦇

- While we’re waiting for the official release, curious minds like mine are getting impatient, so let’s talk about what we know so far and take a look at some spoilers. Don’t worry, there will be a spoiler warning before we get to that part -

What Do We Know at this Point?

The book has already been written and is set to be released on September 29 this year.

It was written by a different author - not Astarion's creator, writer Stephen Rooney. The author of this novel is T. Kingfisher.

The story explores Astarion's backstory, covering his pre-vampire life and his slavery under Cazador.

The ARC is already available, and the first reviews, impressions, and, of course, spoilers have begun to appear.

Stephen Rooney served as a consultant on the book (although, based on what I've read, his role seems to have been significantly overstated).

The book is written in 3rd person.

An audiobook version will also be available, narrated by Neil Newbon, Astarion's voice actor.

I A Few Words About the Author I

Ursula Vernon, also known by her pen name T. Kingfisher, is an American author, artist, and illustrator. She began her career creating comics and illustrated works before moving on to write fantasy, horror, and dark fantasy novels.

You can find a list of the author's works on Goodreads. A brief overview of her works is provided in the screenshot below.

! Many of the author's works are retellings of classic stories, fairy tales and folklore ! On her social media profiles, T. Kingfisher describes herself with the concise phrase:

"Wrote some books, won some awards'.

Indeed, T. Kingfisher has received numerous awards for her works, including several major genre awards. Let us take a closer look at some of the most notable ones.

🏆 Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards, to give them their full title, are awards for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. The awards are organized and voted on by fans, specifically members of the World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”). To become a member, one simply needs to purchase a membership for that year’s Worldcon. Each person gets to nominate up to five entries in each category.

Source: https://www.thehugoawards.org/

Among the works by T. Kingfisher that have received Hugo Awards are:

Metal Like Blood in the Dark — Best Short Story (2021) Nettle & Bone — Best Novel (2023) Thornhedge — Best Novella (2024)

🏆 Dragon Awards

The Dragon Awards are a set of literary and media awards presented annually by Dragon Con. Voted on by fandom, the awards highlight excellence in the speculative categories of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and alternate history across various media.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Awards

The Twisted Ones — Best Horror Novel (2020) A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking — Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel (2021) A House with Good Bones — Best Horror Novel (2023)

🏆 Locus Awards

The Locus Awards are presented to winners of Locus Magazine's annual readers' poll, which was established in the early '70s specifically to provide recommendations and suggestions to Hugo Awards voters.

Source: https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards

What Moves the Dead — Best Horror Novel (2023) Thornhedge — Best Novella (2024) A House With Good Bones — Best Horror Novel (2024) A Sorceress Comes to Call — Best Fantasy Novel (2025) What Feasts at Night — Best Novella (2025)

Beyond the awards highlighted above, the author has received numerous additional nominations and accolades, which can be viewed at the following link: https://www.sfadb.com/T_Kingfisher_Chronology

T. Kingfisher's works have an overall rating of 3.96/5 on Goodreads.

So, T. Kingfisher has earned a dedicated following within her genre in recent years. An analysis of reviews on Goodreads shows that her work is mainly valued for the following aspects:

Clear, accessible, and easy-to-read prose.

A unique blend of horror and cozy atmosphere.

Dry humor, even in the darkest moments.

Relatable cute characters.

However, what some see as strengths, others see as weaknesses.

Predictability of the plot.

Weak writing style.

Use of clichés.

A specific sense of humor, which can sometimes feel inappropriate.

Poorly developed dynamics of romantic relationships between characters (regarding books that contain romance). For example, love at first sight, everything happens too quickly.

Fixation on unnecessary moments that some consider cute or funny details, while others may find irritating. For example, in one of the books, the author constantly emphasizes the characters' desire for each other. For example, the man all rhe time stares at his lover's breasts. Or, for example, the recurring gingerbread jokes haha.

What accounts for such contrasting impressions? One could attribute it to personal taste, but I believe the issue lies elsewhere. The reason lies in the target audience these books are written for.

It is no coincidence that T. Kingfisher notes on her website:

The author emphasizes that “adult” refers to the intended audience of her books, not to explicit content. However, I would argue otherwise: the author's works are better suited to a younger audience that appreciates accessible and easy-to-read fiction, from the writing style to the romantic and sometimes explicit elements.

Whether this approach is suitable for writing about such a complex and profound character as Astarion is something that can only be determined after reading the book. And now, let’s talk about it .

In a recent conversation between blogger poor_unfortunate_me and T. Kingfisher, the Astarion prequel was also discussed. Let’s take a look at the author’s comments on this topic.

Transcript from the video:

It's the Astarion backstory book. It covers a chunk of time when he is in service to the vampire Cazador and also a bit of his childhood. So we find out where he is from and all that. And there is a paladin in it because I was like, "Will they let me put a hot paladin in it?" And they would. It is not a romance, and because of the character, you know that it has to start in a terrible place. It's not really a happily ever after because the game comes after the book. But it was actually kind of a challenge to write because normally I like a happily ever after, and that was, you know, "Nope, you are still enthralled to an evil vampire lord. Sucks to be you." But it's a lot of fun. Astarion is being snarky and killing people and being snarky and killing people and getting lit, which is basically the whole character in a nutshell. And angst, there is also angst.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbBi0fKIF8d/

/ This excerpt is fully consistent with the book’s description, which has already sparked mixed reactions among many readers /

Source: https://bg3books.com/ I have no idea why the red underline kept getting thicker, lol. It did it by itself. Although what I highlighted really confused me.

Both the video and the book description place a clear emphasis on Astarion’s relationship with the 'hot paladin'. Whether there is a deeper artistic intent behind this choice remains an open question. However, this phrase at the very beginning of the author’s review, along with the spoilers from early readers, left me with the impression that some elements were added simply for fun. And I am not sure whether this approach fits the Astarion's backstory. By the way, a fun fact: T. Kingfisher has an entire series centered around paladins.

The book description left many readers with questions. Several of them were later asked to T. Kingfisher on Bluesky, and she was kind enough to answer some of them.

To begin with, a few words about the writing process.

In one of the discussions, the author confirmed that Rooney provided consultation during the writing process.

However, the term 'consulted' itself can be quite broad in meaning. And in another post, T. Kingfisher spoke about her collaboration with Rooney a little differently.

Still, I'm not sure Astarion's original writer could have had much influence over the plot, considering that Wizards of the Coast specifically selected T. Kingfisher to write the prequel and, according to her, gave her considerable creative freedom. Whether that proves to be a good or a bad thing remains to be seen.

Interestingly, T. Kingfisher also commented on the book's plot in the comments.

Next, T. Kingfisher clarifies whether the prequel contains a romance.

Following the mixed reaction from Astarion fans, the author wrote:

'Sometimes people just fuck' — that's simply a fact of life. But when it comes to Astarion's backstory, is there really a need to place such a strong emphasis on a romantic relationship? Sexuality is certainly an important part of Astarion's past, but so is the context in which it exists.

And then:

The only thing that can be noted is that, during those discussions, the author's responses gave a rather unclear impression of the upcoming novel and its romantic elements. However, the fact remains that the book does contain sex scenes.

As I mentioned before, the book’s synopsis caused quite a strong reaction. T. Kingfisher later explained in the comments that the synopsis was written by a different person and that it even contains some mistakes.

However, I don’t think this is something potential readers should have to worry about.

I don’t know, but from my perspective, the author’s own statements so far do not contradict the synopsis we were given.

Overall, the discussion raised many questions and mixed opinions. Everyone can draw their own conclusions. Now, a spoiler warning. ARC recently became available on Netgalley, and many readers have already shared their thoughts and spoilers.

At the moment, most reviews are positive. Many of them come from T. Kingfisher’s fans, while some are from readers who have never played BG3.

You can find the reviews here, but we are mainly interested in the spoilers.

⚠️Spoiler warning⚠️ Thanks to the Reddit's user, we can take a small peek into the book and get some interesting details.

About Astarion's childhood:

We did end up working out that it used the gravestone from the game as his birth but for the timeline in the book to make sense it would actually have to be following book of hunger timeline, so it was more than likely an error and I'm hoping we were able to catch it early enough to be changed with the publishers. ..we originally see him at age seven and its explained he grew up in Silver Marshes with parents deeply devoted to the vineyard for 100s of years and the biggest(and first he remembers) city we see him visit is Silverymoon.

..but he does learn to lock pick and all that as a child and admires rouges.

His mother is a druid.

Please tell me the druid doesn't turn into a wombat.

About Astarion's Turning into a Vampire Spawn

We see the night he was turned and the case that caused it.

About the gur's attack (Source: LINK)

Basically, three Gur were poachers. They killed a deer in a noble estate. They confessed, so they were 100% guilty. The law dictated that their punishment should be death. Astarion decided to show mercy and ruled that since it's their first time, their punishment will only be 1 year in prison. Basically very light sentence according to the laws of Baldur's Gate, but they just didnt care that he gave them a light sentence and beat him to death for it. They were also able to attack him at night because he went to comfort their defense lawyer who was on the verge of tears after the trial, so he invited her to get some drinks and let her "pour out her sorrows". He didn't just reduce their sentence, he voluntarily spent his own evening comforting a crying, "dull" defense lawyer at an expensive tavern.

This scene is written from the POV of Astarion who was already attacked by the Gur, he is like: "It was a light sentence! Light! What did they want me to do, pat them on the head and say, "Good job, here's a copper, go buy some candy"?".

Why a deer? :)

Life as Cazador's Spawn

They still technically weren't allowed to do things outside of a means to an end for Cazador, but it is still possible for them to leave the palace on their own (this is shown directly in the book when astarion goes on an errand not for cazador). In the beginning they were allowed to take a tenday or so to get to know and 'woo' the victims before needing to bring them back to him so there was potentually time.

There are mentions of some prior (sex) that I honestly don't know the outcome of but there is mention of 3 specific ones that we do know that ended iup for cazador. out of the 3 the woman was allowed to live because she was a diplomat and Astarion convinced him it would cause a political crisis to kidnap her, the other 2 weren't that lucky. We do see him (Cazador) a few times for the story and we see him interact 'normally' with everyone as well as see an instance of his psychological torture method (on top of the physical torture) that i dont recall is mentioned in the game but he isnt really explored more than that.

There is on page sexual assult as expected, it's not fade to black but it is not overly detailed

Yousen is claimed to be the most recent spawn and had been turned 'a few years ago' at the start of the competition, but at the begining of the book it mentions that both Yousen and Dalyria were both 'not even 3 decades old/dead' on the same page so based on this section, this takes place around the 1460s since we know Yousen's turndate by his quote, but then this doesn't really follow Dalyria's suspected turn date, she is turned prior to yousen.

About Sebastian

Sebastion is mentioned and it's explained that Astarion wasn't in love with him so much as what Sebastian represented. "He’d felt that if he could save this one foolish child, he could somehow save himself".

Hmm, now I'm confused. I actually thought Sebastian and 'darling boy' were completely different characters.

Relationships with a hot paladin, etc.

They meet at alomst exactly 50% in and Within a few moments of them meeting, they do flirt some and Astarion does mention being attacted to him and lists multiple others he was attracted to but it's very clear that Astarion isn't in love with him.

The consensual sex is more detailed and lasts about a page or so.

They only have 1 encounter together and astarion left the 'morning' after, he does briefly think about going back to spend a bit more time with him but decided against it.

There is also a second relationship that we see unfold during his past, he does claim to love her but it is more a crush that is never reciprocated.

Some quotes shared by ARC's readers:

'It was terrible to be a sadist’s plaything. It was infinitely worse to be their only plaything'.

'It was astonishing the things you would do of your own free will simply to avoid being forced to do them'.

'Astarion had used sex as a weapon for so long that actually being attracted to someone was both delightful and mildly annoying. Like having a favorite outfit and seeing someone else wearing it. And making it look good, too' — this quote reflects Astarion's internal thoughts about the paladin after they first meet.

'It was good. And if it wasn’t quite what Astarion wanted, it was still all he knew how to do' — after having sex with the paladin.

'When I am finally made a true vampire, I shall keep a tame doppelganger on staff to mimic me so that I know precisely how good I look'.

'The Rat’s Run was a dreadful place, but it was a place where he was welcome. It was far too grubby to feel like home, but it at least felt like something you might scrape off your shoe at home.'

Will we ever find out what color Astarion's eyes were before his turning into a spawn? Apparently not.

I would also like to note that the early reader mentioned some inconsistencies regarding the timeline of Astarion’s story, the other vampire spawn characters, his place of birth, and the situation with Sebastian. To be honest, this is somewhat concerning.

For example, Astarion's Book of Hunger states that he was born in Baldur's Gate.

You can find a more detailed discussion of the timeline issues and other related topics on Reddit via the link provided. A quick reminder that the following spoilers are based on these sources:

The roguish charlatan Astarion will free himself from a…

So, this is the information we have as of today. For now, everything new I have learned has only strengthened my doubts about this book. However, I will wait for the official release, read it myself, and then make a full assessment and review.

And the main thing I would like to say is this: even if we end up disliking the book or feeling disappointed by it, we always have the opportunity to share our thoughts on our blogs, leave a review on Goodreads, discuss it in fan communities, or simply talk about it with friends. However, going directly to the author's personal social media and telling them how they should write, what kind of character should be paired with Astarion, and so on, is simply inappropriate.

At this point, I want to reiterate that I still have serious doubts about this book. I believe that such a strong focus on the romantic aspect and the inclusion of sexual scenes were unnecessary if they are not supported by the story itself or serve a clear artistic purpose, but instead exist simply because they are considered 'hot'. Of course, I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I also have many questions regarding the way Astarion’s backstory is presented, as well as a number of other aspects of the book.

That’s all for now. ཐི ₍^.ˬˬ.^₎ ཋྀ

kalaidekalou

I'm hyper focused on the revelation that Astarion grew up in the Silver Marches which has high concentration of Moon Elves. 🥹