Dark Ages: Cappadocian

Dark Ages Clan Novels #3

by Andrew Bates

: The chaotic winds of fate have swept away the mighty Byzantine Empire. Now they threaten to eradicate the Cappadocians, one of the ancient clans of vampires. Constancia, high priestess of the clan, leaves her mountain monastery to seek out Markus Giovanni, the one vampire who holds the key to the dark future she has foreseen. Markus, however, has plans of his own. Fleeing the destruction of Constantinople, he sets out for the deserts of Egypt in a quest for glory.

When the two come together, the dead rise to fight their battles for them. But will it be enough to save either of them from the force that has lured them there?

Genres: World Of Darkness, Vampires, Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Role Playing Games

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 28, 2002

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the 13 great vampiric clans, Cappadocians are pale scholars obsessed with studying the secrets of death and human soul.

The third Dark Ages Clan novel involves many interesting characters, some of them already introduced in the previous novels of the saga.

The Graverobbers
The scholar Markus, bad-ass vampire of the Giovanni bloodline, a venetian family of merchants and necromancers recently inducted into the Cappadocian clan, with his retinue of enslaved ghosts and his two bodyguards Falsinar and Beltramose, two living ghouls, mortals empowered by vampire blood, wich friendship and loyalty to their Signore are so strong to go on beyond death...; high priestess of bones Constancia, vampire elder with the gift of prophecy, and her bodyguard Qalhara, vampire warrior of Lamiah bloodline and deadly plague bearer; Lady Alexia Theusa, noble byzantine vampire getting more and more deranged in her quest for her kong dead lover Andreas; ancient Lazarus, faithless son of Cappadocius, with the same desire of godhood of his sire and struggling to supplant him in this by unlocking the secrets of the Sargon Fragments, mystical knowledge tome written by Cappadocius himself.
Cappadocian vampires are so interesting and overpowered: in this novel you can see them turning enemies into dust with their blood and rise armies of zombie knights to fight for them.

It's a shame they are going to be (apparently) exterminated by the Giovanni in the future...
It's great looking how all of these characters quests are intersected until the bloody page-turner climax at the end.
Andrew Bates gave us the most action filled book of the saga for now, still a difficult read if you not know at all the World of Darkness rpg setting, but really deserving a try if you like vampire stories and wanna read a really good one.

[Marcin Wronikowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marginally better than the preceding two books in this series. It begins strongly with an interesting protagonist - Markus Musa Giovanni - belonging to one of the more intriguing vampire clans, as well as his supportive cast of two eternally bickering ghouls and a bunch of enslaved wraiths. However, after the good start, the book unfortunately dedicates a fifth of its page count to retelling the events of the preceding two books from the perspective of Markus and the oracle who had an episodic role in the first book. This is where this novel takes a nose-dive from which it never really recovers, because instead of sticking to Markus, who is a much more interesting character than the oracle, it jumps between the two points of view, and also adds a few chapters from the point of view of Alexia Theusa, a side character from the first novel. Watered down in this way, the book has no legs to stand on, and completely loses focus, which is unfortunate.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Context is key

While there isn't as strong as the previous two books, there's one thing that this book does really well. Through the expanded world, this book starts really building the context for the conflict.

[Welther · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. Very much rushed at the end. Andrew Bates is a mediocre writer at best.

[Pedro Espada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mucha acción,buen ritmo y los poderes de este clan son muy interesantes, muy buena lectura.

[Anders Haywood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best so far!

This is easily the best of the series so far (which is saying something, considering how strong the series has been so far).
It follows two primary p.o.vs, a Cappadocian Oracle and a young Giovanni.
I won't spoil anything, but the inclusion of the Lazarus branch was particularly thrilling.
It was tense, well done and exciting.