Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold | Review

As part of its ongoing tenth anniversary celebration, Critical Role released it’s newest story collection: Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold and we had the opportunity to check it out ahead of its release.

*Warning: minor plot spoilers below for Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold*

2025 sees the juggernaut that is Critical Role celebrating its tenth anniversary. As part of these celebrations that are scheduled to last all year, Critical Role has published Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold, a collection of ten stories that pay homage to some of the most iconic characters to have appeared in Critical Role’s legendary first campaign.

This collection of short stories features the talents of: Jess Barber, Martin Cahill, Rebecca Coffindaffer, Aabria Iyengar, Sam Maggs, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Rory Power, Nibedita Sen, Izzy Wasserstein and Kendra Wells. Each devotes their pages to a story featuring a secondary character well known for being friend, or foe as the case may be, to the heroes known as Vox Machina.

Each story is relatively short (about thirty pages give or take a few), but packed into these pages is a wealth of storytelling fans of Exandria, new and old, will deeply appreciate. There are inside jokes that fans from the beginning will recognize and love, but they’re included in such a way that not catching the reference doesn’t affect the overall story.

I enjoyed reading through all of the stories in this collection, but the ones that particularly stood out to me were the ones that fleshed out or provided further context to an existing moment. For instance, “Shaun”, which focuses on the fabulous shopkeeper Shaun Gilmore, seems like a touching character study of how the character is faring in the wake of his ongoing flirtation with Vax’ildan coming to an end. That is, until his assistant comes in and reminds Gilmore he has things to complete before the sovereign gives a speech that evening and it hits the reader that all of this takes place shortly before the city is attacked by dragons and Shaun is nearly killed.

It’s not just a glimpse into Gilmore’s state of mind, it almost forces the reader to go back to that scene, be it in the original campaign or The Legend of Vox Machina and re-examine the moment, to see it all in a new light in the wake of what we’ve learned.

There are several stories that add further context in this fashion, and it’s refreshing to get a view of the story from the perspective of someone other than the heroes. While the story of Vox Machina has never been boring, seeing things from someone else’s point of view adds a perspective that might never be gained otherwise. One of Critical Role‘s greatest strengths is the vast array of characters woven throughout the narrative and each story contains a reminder that everyone is important and has their part to play, even if they don’t realize it yet.

It’s not all deep introspection in these stories, it wouldn’t be a proper Critical Role book if there weren’t at least one story devoted to pure silliness and this is provided in spades in a story that focuses on Craven Edge, the infamous magical sword that briefly belongs to Grog Strongjaw. To avoid spoilers I won’t go into detail but I have to say it perfectly describes the lopsided relationship between a sword of almost pure evil and the unfathomably strong and almost equally not-smart Grog. It’s a moment of levity that fans will want to reread over and over again.

Perhaps the most important thing I took from this book is that each entry feels like a proper look into the world of Exandria. None of the stories feel forced or shoehorned in. You can tell the authors did their homework and made everything feel like it belongs with the story we already know.

In conclusion, Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold is a touching collection of stories about everything that makes the world of Exandria great; there’s the camaraderie of friends and found family, the forces of magic put to use for good and evil, and of course the endless thrill that can come from traveling across the lands of Exandria. Fans of Critical Role new and old will love everything about this collection of stories and it’s the perfect way to kick the tenth anniversary celebrations into high gear.