Gangrel

Dark Ages Clan Novels #10

by Tim Waggoner

About the Author
Tim Waggoner is the author of Necropolis, Temple of the Dragonslayer, and Defender: Hyperswarm. He teaches creative writing at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Genres: World Of Darkness, Vampires, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2004

About the author

Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s also the author of the award-winning guide to horror Writing in the Dark. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

White Wolf Publishing produced a vast series of interlinked books and games that included multiple series of novels from a wide range of writers in their Dark Ages/World of Darkness setting. Set is 1231, this is the tenth volume of a vampire/werewolf clans series. I enjoyed it as a good historical monster story... once I gave up on trying to figure out the world and how it was all supposed to fit together.

[Marcin Wronikowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in this series that actually tells the reader something about its eponymous vampire clan: powers, philosophies, quirks etc. The plot follows the confrontation between Qarakh, a Mongol vampire, and Alexander, the former ruler of Paris. It's a pretty by the numbers story without any plot twists or major surprises. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of padding in the form of backstory segments that actually add nothing to the overall narrative, as well as fragments dedicated to meaningless side characters who are killed anyway.

Nothing really jumped out at me as really good or really bad. It's a competently written book and the resolution makes it worth suffering through the melodrama of Toreador.

[Kevin Low · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd best describe this installment in the dark ages saga as a rollicking romp. Plenty of action as well as a very different type of protagonist to the scheming politicians of the preceding novels. Some very satisfying progression for a couple of the 'big' recurring characters as well. Just shy of 5 stars due to a half dozen or so jarring editing misses.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pagans fighting Christians

This book features pagan nomadic warrior vampires negotiating their way to and through a fight with vampires within the Christian army. Sounds strange, but in the context of the World of Darkness, it makes sense. That said, the story is a good, fairly quick read with good atmosphere, interesting magic, and well-defined characters.