The Legend of Vox Machina: The Whitestone Chronicles Volume 3--The Briarwoods

by Marieke Nijkamp, Aviv Or (Illustrator), Diana Sousa (Illustrator)

Fans of The Legend of Vox Machina, the record-breaking Prime Video animated series from Critical Role and Amazon Studios, won’t want to miss the third volume of the interconnected prequel stories!

Written by Marieke Nijkamp, with art by Aviv Or, colors by Diana Sousa, and letters by Comicraft, all in collaboration with the cast of Critical Role, this original graphic novel shines light on the off-screen storylines of the show!

How did Delilah Briarwood come to be known as a powerful necromancer?

As a student at the Alabaster Lyceum, Delilah was a strategic and cunning mage with deadly ambitions. Her tactical elegance and cold confidence eventually led her to a position at the Soltryce Academy, which provided her a place to conduct her research as well as the opportunity to rub elbows with the rich and powerful of the Dwendalian Empire. With her unwavering focus, everything was going to plan…that is, until she met Sylas Briarwood.

They quickly fell in love and were married, but the two's life of wedded bliss is tragically upended when Sylas falls ill, succumbing to his rare disease before Delilah can find a cure. Heartbroken and beyond desperate, Delilah turns to a powerful being that ultimately reunites her with her soulmate…with a few monstrous caveats.

Though they can pretend that their life together is back to the way it once was, Delilah and Sylus must now walk down the path of no return. What obstacles will befall the Briarwoods as they attempt to resurrect the Whispered One?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy

80 pages, Hardcover

Published June 30, 2026

About the author

Marieke Nijkamp a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, geek.

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Please note I don't respond to friend requests or messages on GR, but you're always welcome to tweet or email me. :)

Reviews

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love the characters and it was nice to see more of their back story
I just wish this vol didnt constantly go back and forth in the time line i felt they should have just chosen a time line , for a 80 pg vol

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

The third comic in the Whitestone Chronicles, set in the world of Vox Machina, provides a backstory of the main villain, the Briarwoods. While the story is quite short, I do like getting a glimpse into how things came to be. From the show, my impression of the Lord and Lady of Whitestone was mostly that of typical mustache-twirling villains. Here, we see Delilah as a person of huge ambition, desperation, and a desire to protect those she loves.

In the story, we see her past as a young mage, rising through the ranks, eventually meeting her husband and the event that led her to commit to a dark path to save him. In this her character becomes more well rounded and interesting, though we have little to no understanding of her husband. It is mostly separate from the story presented in the series.

The art in the comic is good and enjoyable. The characters look the part and I especially enjoyed the depictions of the academy. It's not quite up to the level of the wonderful first installment, but it's far beyond what we got in part two.

Overall, this returns to the high quality seen in the first installment of the Whitestone Chronicles. It's not quite at that high a bar but it's much better than the subpar second installment. If you're a fan of the series, you'll want to pick this up. If you read the other two, definitely pick this one up as well. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the best of these three prequel stories, but that's not really saying very much. I still feel like they're too insubstantial, without any new context or story beats we haven't already been given or at least had heavily hinted by the cartoon itself.

I did enjoy the tie-in to the Mighty Nein's part of the world with the Cerberus Assembly - it's nice that all the assholes in Exandria know each other. But aside from that and a few little tidbits about the Whispered One, this just kind of felt blah.

The art's nice though, probably the best of the three too.

[DaniLanglie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly enjoyed this as a little curio for my Critical Role shelf, although I do like the creativity of the design around Delilah and Sylas's descent into dark necromatic (emphasis on the ROMANTIC) magics. Some cool visuals of the Whispered One lingering in the shadows as he entices Delilah to his mission. I did think it was funny in the sketches in the back, one of the pages that we were seeing the line art for had the artist's scrawled note about how to draw the Whispered One, and the note called him "Vecna". I'm kind of amused they let that go to print that way.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This final volume hits the heights of the first volume and was a welcome return after the disappointment of the second volume ( as I say this, it was still pretty amazing, just not as good as the other two). The story was very well done and filled in blanks I’ve wanted since the first season of the animated series.

Special Thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Katheryn Haskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this! It's one thing to be told Delilah was in and booted from the Cerberus Assembly, it's another to see it. I also feel that it's a good tie between Vox Machina and Mighty Nein, with overlapping characters, it really drives home that they're intrinsically connected.

I really enjoyed this volume. I think it adds depth that we get a bit in the show, but is elaborated on a lot here well. The art is much more my style than the second volume too.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Sylas Briarwood didn't get tuberculosis, Vox Machina would never have formed.

Head cannon aside, this was my favourite out of the three tie-in comics (no surprise). One of my favourite things about the Briarwoods is their love for each other and this comic did a really good job illustrating that.

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Briarwoods were the best and most terrifying villains of campaign one. And it was there firm belief that they were doing what was right that made them so terrifying. This comic further is their motivation.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delilah is everything i want to be.
badass necromancer with a hot vampire husband, it doesn’t get better than that really

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the TV show prequel books so far, it focuses on the most interesting character and actually tells a story instead of just pieces of one

[Izzy Iz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best out of this series so far, but I wish we found out more about Sylas and their love story? Lots of showing and not telling.