Listen to Neil Newbon Narrate Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion in This Exclusive Excerpt of the Upcoming T. Kingfisher Prequel Novel
Vampire spawn, velvet menace, and fan-favorite rogue—Astarion is stepping from the screen to the page. A new prequel novel, Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion by T. Kingfisher, dives into his darkest years under the domination of the vampire lord Cazador Szarr, and an exclusive audio excerpt showcases Neil Newbon returning to the role that made him a breakout star.
Set before the events of Larian’s acclaimed RPG, the novel retraces the razor’s edge Astarion walked while bound to Cazador’s whims. Expect intrigue in the alleys and manors of Baldur’s Gate, whispered bargains at midnight, and the dangerous calculus of survival that shaped the sharp-tongued elf we meet in the game. To keep the story firmly anchored in established lore, one of Baldur’s Gate 3’s senior writers, Stephen Rooney, consulted on the project—an encouraging sign for readers who want the book to feel like a natural extension of the world they know.
The audiobook is narrated by Neil Newbon, who slips effortlessly back into Astarion’s velvet-lined menace and brittle charm. His delivery—by turns conspiratorial, cutting, and unexpectedly vulnerable—adds texture to the character’s interior life in a way fans will instantly recognize. Hearing him inhabit Astarion’s pre-game past is a reminder of how much of the character’s power lies in performance: a whispered threat, a brittle laugh, the mask slipping for just a heartbeat.
Author T. Kingfisher has described one of the highlighted scenes as among the earliest she drafted for the book—an anchor that helped pin down the city’s geography and the rhythms of Astarion’s nocturnal existence. After living with the tale for so long in her head, she says it’s a thrill to finally bring readers into those moonlit streets and shadowed doorways.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion is slated for publication by Random House Worlds on September 29, 2026, with print and audiobook editions launching in tandem. For fans hungry for more context around Astarion’s razor-edged wit and complicated morality, this prequel promises hard answers—and harder truths—about what it costs to survive centuries of cruelty.
What to expect
- A self-contained, lore-friendly prequel focused on Astarion’s life before the nautiloid.
- New insight into Cazador Szarr’s methods, court, and the brutal hierarchy that defined Astarion’s existence.
- Authenticity checks from a senior writer on the game to ensure tone and canon alignment.
- An audiobook performance by Neil Newbon that leans into Astarion’s biting humor and buried fear.
Whether you’re fresh off a playthrough or deep into your fourth romance run, this glimpse of Astarion’s origins aims to enrich every sly smile and barbed aside you remember from the game. The fangs were always sharp. Now we see what honed them.
