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Diablo: Tales from the Horadric Library
Horror’s darkest authors throw open the doors to the Horadric Library, inviting Diablo fans a glimpse into the terrors that lurk beneath the world of Sanctuary.
While the Eternal Conflict rages forever onward, horror and superstition of a purely Sanctuary variety still prey on the hearts of its people. In a time long since forgotten, the Horadric Order was tasked with recording local legends, cautionary tales, and stories of the most twisted horror, in the hope that some innocents might be saved by their knowledge. Now, the vaults are open. Direct from the Diablo development team and horror’s preeminent minds comes Tales from the Horadric Library, a short story collection exploring the deepest, darkest corners of Sanctuary, and the evils that lurk there.
While the Eternal Conflict rages forever onward, horror and superstition of a purely Sanctuary variety still prey on the hearts of its people. In a time long since forgotten, the Horadric Order was tasked with recording local legends, cautionary tales, and stories of the most twisted horror, in the hope that some innocents might be saved by their knowledge. Now, the vaults are open. Direct from the Diablo development team and horror’s preeminent minds comes Tales from the Horadric Library, a short story collection exploring the deepest, darkest corners of Sanctuary, and the evils that lurk there.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2022
17 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Courtney Alameda
19 books618 followersA veteran bookseller and librarian, Courtney Alameda now spends her days writing thriller and horror novels for young people. Her debut novel, SHUTTER, was nominated for a Bram Stoker award and hailed as a "standout in the genre" by School Library Journal. Her forthcoming novel, PITCH DARK (Spring 2017), is a genre-blending science fiction/horror novel in the vein of Ridley Scott's 1979 film ALIEN.
Courtney holds a B.A. in English literature with an emphasis in creative writing. She is represented by the talented John M. Cusick of Folio Literary. A Northern California native, she now resides in Utah with her husband, a legion of books, and a tiny five pound cat with a giant personality.
Courtney holds a B.A. in English literature with an emphasis in creative writing. She is represented by the talented John M. Cusick of Folio Literary. A Northern California native, she now resides in Utah with her husband, a legion of books, and a tiny five pound cat with a giant personality.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 29, 2023
So much potential, with only a couple stories that really left a lasting impression. Reading about Tal Rasha and the Countess were definitely the highlights.
August 13, 2025
This is a collection of Diablo short stories. In terms of timeframe, they span across the entire range of the timeline, from the days of the nephalem, to roughly the period of Diablo IV. In terms of tone, it's mostly horror, though there's a few divergences. For instance, in one story, Baal is attacked by demonic cows (it makes sense in the context, trust me), whereas the final story is actually quite heartwarming. For those of you who read the D3 tie-in short stories, this takes a very different approach - whereas most of those stories tied in with classes, and mostly occurred in close proximity to the D3 timeframe, these are far more esoteric, along with the writing styles - for instance, the last story I mentioned is a case of a story told within a story that may not even be true.
Anyway, giving it a 4/5 - some stories are better than others, but as far as overall quality goes, this is the best ranking. Also, the art is appropriately macabre. Like, bathing in blood, baby ripped out of a womb macabre (yep, it went there). To give my thoughts on some of the individual stories:
-The Gospel of Death: This is presented in the style of a myth - of the first nephalem discovering death (as in, one of their companions dies, whereas previously, they had no concept of it), and how they react to it (spoilers: not well). There's some horror throughout, but really, the main focus is on the mythological side of things. Basically a story that may not necessarily be literally true. I thought this was okay, if nothing too special.
-The Rose of Khanduras: This story details the life of the Countess, right up to the night before her first death, as recounted by one of her servants. I'll be honest, I've never really understood the infatuation with the Countess by so many fans, but then, I don't really get the infatuation with D2, period (it's good, just not my thing, even if it's probably the #2 game in the series by default). Regardless, this story was mostly decent. It takes clear inspiration from vampire fiction, even if certain characters aren't vampires themselves. What it mostly succeeds in is atmosphere - the overall sense of dread.
-A Collar of Thorns: The story that has the womb-tearing I mentioned earlier. That aside, this is pretty nifty. Takes inspiration from Gothic horror, of a woman married to a lord in the Fractured Peaks who has to deal with physical and psychological torment. For instance, she knows that she's his tenth wife, but both he and all the servants act like she's out of her mind, and it gets to the point where she, and the reader, wonder what version of reality is true. There's other twists and turns, but overall, pretty solid.
-The Caravan: This is probably the weakest story in the anthology. A necromancer (or a guy with necromancy) comes to town, shannanigans, throats being cut, a talking head bursting out of someone's stomach...yeah, I really didn't care for this one. I can barely even remember key plot details.
-A Whiff of Salt: The second-weakest story in the anthology. A thief travels to the far north of Sanctuary (technically the northeast of the eastern continent, but whatever) where a series of events leads to him learning about the Drowned. Of all the stories thus far, this has the clearest D4 links, but most of the story is pretty basic. The one stand-out is actually the last few lines, which hit hard. I should also specify that per what we learn about the Drowned, they (or at least this story) is taking heavy inspriation from C'thulu, and while that's neither good nor bad in of itself, it did strike me as a bit iffy in a series that's primarily taken inspiration from Abrahamic religions (angels, demons, Hell, etc.). How not!Cthu'lu fits in with that is unclear. But that's a minor gripe.
-The Tomb of Tal Rasha: This is a weird one. The premise is sound enough, as it details Tal Rasha's struggle with Baal after volunteering as a living vessel for his essence, after the shattering of the soulstone meant for him. About 80% of the story is psychological duelling between Tal Rasha and Baal, paragraphs spanning centuries in real-time, minutes or hours by Tal Rasha's perception. Slowly, surely, Baal grinds Tal Rasha down. Then, for the last 20%, things...well, what I've said technically remains true, but as part of the duel, Tal Rasha basically trolls Baal. I'm being glib, but it actually works really well. It's a weird segway from horror into humour, and actually pulls it off. Doesn't detract from Tal Rasha's condition, and anyone familiar with Diablo knows how Tal Rasha's story ends, but in the here and now? Neat job.
-When the Dark Seeps In: This one is a bit hard to quantify. Tying in with D4, if not to the extent of Whiff of Salt, it takes place in Scosglen, where things are shit. Crops are dying, animals are mutating, people are killing each other, protagonist is a boy whose brother leaves to join the Druids, whose parents die, so by 12, he's running the farm itself. His brother returns, but things don't seem quite right. In a sense, the story is pretty basic, but there's something about it that works. The sense that something is fundamentally wrong with the land itself, and its people are paying the price.
-Beyond That Door There Lies No Light: The final and, IMO, best short story of the bunch. Honestly, I can't even really give its premise without spoiling things, so I'll say that this is a case of an author taking a single piece of item flavour lore in D3, making a whole story about it that's part mythology, part tragedy, and has an ending that's both heartwarming and tragic. Again, really can't say much more without spoiling plot twists, and given how much I liked this story, I really don't want to. What I WILL say however is that it has two shit-talking ravens in it, so if that doesn't sell you, I don't know what will.
So, yeah. Pretty neat overall.
Anyway, giving it a 4/5 - some stories are better than others, but as far as overall quality goes, this is the best ranking. Also, the art is appropriately macabre. Like, bathing in blood, baby ripped out of a womb macabre (yep, it went there). To give my thoughts on some of the individual stories:
-The Gospel of Death: This is presented in the style of a myth - of the first nephalem discovering death (as in, one of their companions dies, whereas previously, they had no concept of it), and how they react to it (spoilers: not well). There's some horror throughout, but really, the main focus is on the mythological side of things. Basically a story that may not necessarily be literally true. I thought this was okay, if nothing too special.
-The Rose of Khanduras: This story details the life of the Countess, right up to the night before her first death, as recounted by one of her servants. I'll be honest, I've never really understood the infatuation with the Countess by so many fans, but then, I don't really get the infatuation with D2, period (it's good, just not my thing, even if it's probably the #2 game in the series by default). Regardless, this story was mostly decent. It takes clear inspiration from vampire fiction, even if certain characters aren't vampires themselves. What it mostly succeeds in is atmosphere - the overall sense of dread.
-A Collar of Thorns: The story that has the womb-tearing I mentioned earlier. That aside, this is pretty nifty. Takes inspiration from Gothic horror, of a woman married to a lord in the Fractured Peaks who has to deal with physical and psychological torment. For instance, she knows that she's his tenth wife, but both he and all the servants act like she's out of her mind, and it gets to the point where she, and the reader, wonder what version of reality is true. There's other twists and turns, but overall, pretty solid.
-The Caravan: This is probably the weakest story in the anthology. A necromancer (or a guy with necromancy) comes to town, shannanigans, throats being cut, a talking head bursting out of someone's stomach...yeah, I really didn't care for this one. I can barely even remember key plot details.
-A Whiff of Salt: The second-weakest story in the anthology. A thief travels to the far north of Sanctuary (technically the northeast of the eastern continent, but whatever) where a series of events leads to him learning about the Drowned. Of all the stories thus far, this has the clearest D4 links, but most of the story is pretty basic. The one stand-out is actually the last few lines, which hit hard. I should also specify that per what we learn about the Drowned, they (or at least this story) is taking heavy inspriation from C'thulu, and while that's neither good nor bad in of itself, it did strike me as a bit iffy in a series that's primarily taken inspiration from Abrahamic religions (angels, demons, Hell, etc.). How not!Cthu'lu fits in with that is unclear. But that's a minor gripe.
-The Tomb of Tal Rasha: This is a weird one. The premise is sound enough, as it details Tal Rasha's struggle with Baal after volunteering as a living vessel for his essence, after the shattering of the soulstone meant for him. About 80% of the story is psychological duelling between Tal Rasha and Baal, paragraphs spanning centuries in real-time, minutes or hours by Tal Rasha's perception. Slowly, surely, Baal grinds Tal Rasha down. Then, for the last 20%, things...well, what I've said technically remains true, but as part of the duel, Tal Rasha basically trolls Baal. I'm being glib, but it actually works really well. It's a weird segway from horror into humour, and actually pulls it off. Doesn't detract from Tal Rasha's condition, and anyone familiar with Diablo knows how Tal Rasha's story ends, but in the here and now? Neat job.
-When the Dark Seeps In: This one is a bit hard to quantify. Tying in with D4, if not to the extent of Whiff of Salt, it takes place in Scosglen, where things are shit. Crops are dying, animals are mutating, people are killing each other, protagonist is a boy whose brother leaves to join the Druids, whose parents die, so by 12, he's running the farm itself. His brother returns, but things don't seem quite right. In a sense, the story is pretty basic, but there's something about it that works. The sense that something is fundamentally wrong with the land itself, and its people are paying the price.
-Beyond That Door There Lies No Light: The final and, IMO, best short story of the bunch. Honestly, I can't even really give its premise without spoiling things, so I'll say that this is a case of an author taking a single piece of item flavour lore in D3, making a whole story about it that's part mythology, part tragedy, and has an ending that's both heartwarming and tragic. Again, really can't say much more without spoiling plot twists, and given how much I liked this story, I really don't want to. What I WILL say however is that it has two shit-talking ravens in it, so if that doesn't sell you, I don't know what will.
So, yeah. Pretty neat overall.
April 25, 2023
This is a solid Diablo lore book. Some of the stories are very good and prop up the mediocre stories within the book. I'd say this is closer to the 3.75 overall but If you are a fan of the series you will for sure find value in this.
February 16, 2025
Great collection of grimdark fantasy stories with beautiful illustrations. My main complaint is there really isn’t a lot of new lore about characters from the game. Most of the stories could easily be set in any fantasy universe. Still, I recommend this book if you like dark fantasy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews