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Classic World of Darkness Fiction
Eternal Hearts
First Edition. First Edition bound in pictorial boards with no dust jacket as issued. A fine copy. Illustrated by John Bolton.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 1999
2 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Taylor
108 books139 followersLUCY TAYLOR was born in Richmond, VA, and never really got the South out of her system, as evidenced by the flavor of Southern Gothic in many of her works. She’s the author of seven novels, including Dancing with Demons, Spree, Nailed, Saving Souls, Eternal Hearts, and the Stoker-award winning The Safety of Unknown Cities. Her stories have appeared in over a hundred magazines and anthologies, including The Mammoth Book of Historical Erotica, The Best of Cemetery Dance, Twentieth Century Gothic, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and the Century’s Best Horror Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 9, 2018
TW: Rape, Incest, Graphic Violence
Stuck in a waiting room for 3+ hours, read this in a single sitting. I'm fine with dirty books and erotica. Hell, in the age where romances between women and fish win Oscars and BDSM movies are annual events, vampire erotica is practically blase nowadays. My point is, my issue with the book isn't the premise. Its how poorly its done.
There is no plot to this. There is no characterization. There's hardly any description of events that take place. "Well, this is erotica," you say, "Porn ain't known for its plot." I don't think "but its erotica!" is enough to hand-wave all basic fundamentals but whatever, fine. Then let's judge it on its erotic merit.
There's none. What sex there is has nothing erotic or titillating or sexy to it - its usually a case of telling over showing. "He fucked her." That is the entire scene. Most of the scenes are just that short and simple, maybe throwing in a single sentence of groping a boob, biting a neck, or an oddly-clinical mention of fingering. For something that was supposed to be about the vampire metaphor for sex, there's precious little sex, and the sex is largely vanilla with set dressing. They are fucking....but like, there's blood! They are fucking, but like, the sex swing is made from a pelvic bone.
There's a few parts that are graphically violent. The opening chapter features Later on someone is forced to . Its trying so hard to be edgy that it falls on its face because its just edgy to be edgy - there's no purpose to the violence in the narrative, there's no real purpose to the violence in the meta-narrative or symbolically, there's no depth. Its just "vampires are crazy blood drinking sadists" which isn't exactly ground-breaking.
There's a lot of rape. Nearly all the sex is rape. I know I was irritated with the rape in a recent book I read but this book is written so clumsily, so poorly I can't even be mad. There's a scene where a couple go to a park and gang members leap from the bushes to just start raping everybody. To the point where they are exclaiming, "Hey, I'm raping you." mid-act, as if the characters or the readers weren't sure. Thanks for clearing that up, gang dude. There's similar dialogue later - multiple characters let you know that "That's my dick" or "My dick is real."
The main villain of the book is a Tzimisce named Vykos. Tzimisce have a power called vicissitude - the power to shape flesh and bone to their will, nearly limitlessly. Vykos is presented as a spiky dude with a Prince Albert. Come the fuck on! You have a character that can essentially shape themselves into anything! Honestly the biggest issue I have with the book is the author had 0 imagination, hence the awkward violence and terrible dialogue. Vykos could do all sorts of weird shit only a vampire could - change genders during sex. Grow three dicks, each with 4 heads like an echidna. Have a vagina mouth. I don't know. Something. Anything! Would it be sexy? Scary? I have no clue! At least it'd be different. Similarly, there's Toreador vampires in the novel, whose primary powers involve art and seduction, and whom can fall under the spell of beauty. Why include these if you can't actually think of novel, beautiful things they could do with their preternatural speed, strength, and grace?
There's a million things this book could have been. It could have hit the plot and drama harder - VtM as a rpg system hinges on interpersonal relationships, manipulation, and drama more than any other system alive, and seeing layers of seduction and manipulation to that end would have been cool. It could have explored vampire powers more to display how freaky shit would be when you have hundreds of years to get bored with vanilla sex and can shape flesh to your will. The author could even have found out how humans had sex (or even just how humans interact) first, before trying to write an erotic novel. Ah, well.
Stuck in a waiting room for 3+ hours, read this in a single sitting. I'm fine with dirty books and erotica. Hell, in the age where romances between women and fish win Oscars and BDSM movies are annual events, vampire erotica is practically blase nowadays. My point is, my issue with the book isn't the premise. Its how poorly its done.
There is no plot to this. There is no characterization. There's hardly any description of events that take place. "Well, this is erotica," you say, "Porn ain't known for its plot." I don't think "but its erotica!" is enough to hand-wave all basic fundamentals but whatever, fine. Then let's judge it on its erotic merit.
There's none. What sex there is has nothing erotic or titillating or sexy to it - its usually a case of telling over showing. "He fucked her." That is the entire scene. Most of the scenes are just that short and simple, maybe throwing in a single sentence of groping a boob, biting a neck, or an oddly-clinical mention of fingering. For something that was supposed to be about the vampire metaphor for sex, there's precious little sex, and the sex is largely vanilla with set dressing. They are fucking....but like, there's blood! They are fucking, but like, the sex swing is made from a pelvic bone.
There's a few parts that are graphically violent. The opening chapter features Later on someone is forced to . Its trying so hard to be edgy that it falls on its face because its just edgy to be edgy - there's no purpose to the violence in the narrative, there's no real purpose to the violence in the meta-narrative or symbolically, there's no depth. Its just "vampires are crazy blood drinking sadists" which isn't exactly ground-breaking.
There's a lot of rape. Nearly all the sex is rape. I know I was irritated with the rape in a recent book I read but this book is written so clumsily, so poorly I can't even be mad. There's a scene where a couple go to a park and gang members leap from the bushes to just start raping everybody. To the point where they are exclaiming, "Hey, I'm raping you." mid-act, as if the characters or the readers weren't sure. Thanks for clearing that up, gang dude. There's similar dialogue later - multiple characters let you know that "That's my dick" or "My dick is real."
The main villain of the book is a Tzimisce named Vykos. Tzimisce have a power called vicissitude - the power to shape flesh and bone to their will, nearly limitlessly. Vykos is presented as a spiky dude with a Prince Albert. Come the fuck on! You have a character that can essentially shape themselves into anything! Honestly the biggest issue I have with the book is the author had 0 imagination, hence the awkward violence and terrible dialogue. Vykos could do all sorts of weird shit only a vampire could - change genders during sex. Grow three dicks, each with 4 heads like an echidna. Have a vagina mouth. I don't know. Something. Anything! Would it be sexy? Scary? I have no clue! At least it'd be different. Similarly, there's Toreador vampires in the novel, whose primary powers involve art and seduction, and whom can fall under the spell of beauty. Why include these if you can't actually think of novel, beautiful things they could do with their preternatural speed, strength, and grace?
There's a million things this book could have been. It could have hit the plot and drama harder - VtM as a rpg system hinges on interpersonal relationships, manipulation, and drama more than any other system alive, and seeing layers of seduction and manipulation to that end would have been cool. It could have explored vampire powers more to display how freaky shit would be when you have hundreds of years to get bored with vanilla sex and can shape flesh to your will. The author could even have found out how humans had sex (or even just how humans interact) first, before trying to write an erotic novel. Ah, well.
July 13, 2017
I've never read a book by an adolescent, horny psychopath but I assume that this is what it would read like.
August 23, 2012
This book is usually presented as erotic. It's not. Some might find it tittilating, but it's mostly gore. And no, not "erotic-blood-sucking" vampire porn-gore. We're talking decapitated corpses and mutilation here. Sascha Vykos on the cover should be telling enough.
That said, it's not nearly as explicit as one might anticipate. Illustrations are way more suggestive than most of the text. (And Lucita's fanboys rejoiced.) The first chapter is quite shocking, but it mostly mellows down soon after. Mellows down by WoD standards, that is.
However, beneath all the gorefest, for some reason this novel felt better written than the norm for WW novels. Not sure why. Maybe it's pacing. Maybe it's the way elements slowly fit together, with a lot of twists and revelations that come gradually (even though they are hinted from the start). If you can stomach Tzimisce-level depravity, it's an entertaining read and even has not-entirely-unhappy ending.
That said, it's not nearly as explicit as one might anticipate. Illustrations are way more suggestive than most of the text. (And Lucita's fanboys rejoiced.) The first chapter is quite shocking, but it mostly mellows down soon after. Mellows down by WoD standards, that is.
However, beneath all the gorefest, for some reason this novel felt better written than the norm for WW novels. Not sure why. Maybe it's pacing. Maybe it's the way elements slowly fit together, with a lot of twists and revelations that come gradually (even though they are hinted from the start). If you can stomach Tzimisce-level depravity, it's an entertaining read and even has not-entirely-unhappy ending.
June 19, 2023
One of the worst books I've ever read, even for the edgy era of world of darkness.
But the art is actually really good quality, even if it can get pretty gross, so props to the artists 😂
But the art is actually really good quality, even if it can get pretty gross, so props to the artists 😂
April 12, 2020
There is a special place in hell saved for people who make depravity boring.
E L James is going there.
The editors of this book are as well as is the writer.
E L James is going there.
The editors of this book are as well as is the writer.
June 17, 2012
I only read the first chapter of this. Necrophilic porn.
May 27, 2021
I went into this with the expectation that it would maybe be some Dollar General clearance bin worthy material. Or, if it were not, that it was just be a dumb, bumbling excuse for some vampires to bone, or something. If it were edgier, I'd accept that as well; it's VtM, for the love of God.
I saw the ratings for it and that they were bad. I went, "What the hell, I like reading bad literature." I was hoping it was just bad writing - bad euphemisms like "love stick" and "cream" or whatever, and it was unfortunately not that.
Are you familiar with CW's Riverdale, or the Paramount production of Heathers? The writing feels like that, only without any of the charm.
To put it in other terms, there are five characters that don't rape or sexually assault anyone on-screen. Jan Pieterzoon, who appears in two chapters and has about three lines of dialogue, Charley, who appears in two chapters and immediately gets killed off, Tony, who appears in two chapters and immediately gets killed off, Reiko, who appears in one chapter and doesn't have a single line of dialogue, and dubiously Becca, the closest thing we have to a main character, the closest thing we have to a likeable character, and she still masturbates at the sight of two people fucking in another room (in public), so I don't know if she counts.
No one in this book is a good person, which is fine. It's VtM. The issue is that none of them are likeable, either. Lucita's personality can be summed up as "girlboss" and she spends her time being an awful person and being shirtless and pantsless at most opportunities. Isabel is there for one chapter and she has the same personality as Lucita, with just a little more incest. Sascha is the antagonist, sort of; they're okay, but I'm also biased because I like them. I still couldn't describe their personality to you as written within the novel. Victoria's personality is "abusive ex girlfriend", so she's got that going for her. Becca's personality is "girl" and maybe "rape victim". I couldn't tell you anything else about any of the characters.
David is the other antagonist. He has a personality, but it's shallow. All the characters are shallow. He spends most of his time getting his dick sucked, as opposed to Becca who spends most of her time getting raped and Lucita who spends most of her time getting raped.
The plot is very basic. Jan went missing, Lucita has to find him. Becca's dad runs a church. Sascha wants to take over the church to enslave the masses, and they kidnapped Jan. David wants to rape his sister. It's basic.
There's a lot of rape scenes. Had I alcohol in my possession, I could've done a shot every time there was a rape scene and I'd be dead by the end of the book, thank God. As it stands, that did not happen.
I will say that the illustrations are nice from a technical standpoint, although I can't say I was delighted to see Sascha's bruise-hued wang. If you feel like reading the book, the illustrations are probably the only good part.
Victoria's entire presence in the novel wasn't needed. Neither was Isabel's, but if they weren't there, they wouldn't have an excuse to draw more boobs, I guess.
It's not shockingly horrifying, or anything. I was expecting either trashy sex scenes in that over the top way or maybe an erotic horror. I got neither of those - it seeks to shock the read with gratuitous rape, but it loses its effect past the first scene because it's just a lot of the same. It's a boring read once you get used to it, because there's nothing new. It's the same gorey descriptions of sex and amoral actions and all the characters act the same, for the most part. I didn't like the characters, the plot was boring, the sex scenes felt like something from 2009-era FFN mixed with what people think the dark web has, and the only thing that kept me reading was the fact it'd eat at me if I didn't finish reading it, in hopes it maybe got better, or something. The ending felt cheap and rushed; Jan embraces Becca and David dies and Sascha anticlimatically falls on a spike and gets carried away by birds. The good guys win and they can live happily ever after, and I still don't know what Isabel or Victoria were doing or why they were in this book at all, but I don't care. I'm never reading this again.
I saw the ratings for it and that they were bad. I went, "What the hell, I like reading bad literature." I was hoping it was just bad writing - bad euphemisms like "love stick" and "cream" or whatever, and it was unfortunately not that.
Are you familiar with CW's Riverdale, or the Paramount production of Heathers? The writing feels like that, only without any of the charm.
To put it in other terms, there are five characters that don't rape or sexually assault anyone on-screen. Jan Pieterzoon, who appears in two chapters and has about three lines of dialogue, Charley, who appears in two chapters and immediately gets killed off, Tony, who appears in two chapters and immediately gets killed off, Reiko, who appears in one chapter and doesn't have a single line of dialogue, and dubiously Becca, the closest thing we have to a main character, the closest thing we have to a likeable character, and she still masturbates at the sight of two people fucking in another room (in public), so I don't know if she counts.
No one in this book is a good person, which is fine. It's VtM. The issue is that none of them are likeable, either. Lucita's personality can be summed up as "girlboss" and she spends her time being an awful person and being shirtless and pantsless at most opportunities. Isabel is there for one chapter and she has the same personality as Lucita, with just a little more incest. Sascha is the antagonist, sort of; they're okay, but I'm also biased because I like them. I still couldn't describe their personality to you as written within the novel. Victoria's personality is "abusive ex girlfriend", so she's got that going for her. Becca's personality is "girl" and maybe "rape victim". I couldn't tell you anything else about any of the characters.
David is the other antagonist. He has a personality, but it's shallow. All the characters are shallow. He spends most of his time getting his dick sucked, as opposed to Becca who spends most of her time getting raped and Lucita who spends most of her time getting raped.
The plot is very basic. Jan went missing, Lucita has to find him. Becca's dad runs a church. Sascha wants to take over the church to enslave the masses, and they kidnapped Jan. David wants to rape his sister. It's basic.
There's a lot of rape scenes. Had I alcohol in my possession, I could've done a shot every time there was a rape scene and I'd be dead by the end of the book, thank God. As it stands, that did not happen.
I will say that the illustrations are nice from a technical standpoint, although I can't say I was delighted to see Sascha's bruise-hued wang. If you feel like reading the book, the illustrations are probably the only good part.
Victoria's entire presence in the novel wasn't needed. Neither was Isabel's, but if they weren't there, they wouldn't have an excuse to draw more boobs, I guess.
It's not shockingly horrifying, or anything. I was expecting either trashy sex scenes in that over the top way or maybe an erotic horror. I got neither of those - it seeks to shock the read with gratuitous rape, but it loses its effect past the first scene because it's just a lot of the same. It's a boring read once you get used to it, because there's nothing new. It's the same gorey descriptions of sex and amoral actions and all the characters act the same, for the most part. I didn't like the characters, the plot was boring, the sex scenes felt like something from 2009-era FFN mixed with what people think the dark web has, and the only thing that kept me reading was the fact it'd eat at me if I didn't finish reading it, in hopes it maybe got better, or something. The ending felt cheap and rushed; Jan embraces Becca and David dies and Sascha anticlimatically falls on a spike and gets carried away by birds. The good guys win and they can live happily ever after, and I still don't know what Isabel or Victoria were doing or why they were in this book at all, but I don't care. I'm never reading this again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2024
The rarest of the Vampire the Masquerade novels the sole intent of this was to take a typical VtM plot with intrigue, horrir, and action and REALLY increase the sexual component when it appears. It definitely crosses some lines but comes nicely hardbound and with internal artwork as well. Considering it contains characters from other books such as Sascha Vykos it can be considered a companion story of sorts happening among other events. Sexually extreme? Sure, but this isn't the primary focus and it's a rather quick and enjoyable read for what it is.
February 27, 2024
As a young teenager I discovered Vampire the Masquerade RPG games. I was then fortunate enough to meet other like-minded ppl and VTM took over many of my youthful weekends. Eternal Hearts was a casualty of my VTM obsession. I simply loved EVERYTHING about this book! The flow, the characters, and the horror are stained in my mind. This is a perfect book for any Vampire the Masquerade fan.
December 21, 2020
NOPE NOPE NOPE.
February 16, 2025
Would have given it zero stars if not for the fact Vykos and Lucita were duking it out.
I see why the fandom refuses to acknowledge this book
I see why the fandom refuses to acknowledge this book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2016
***************Mature Content***************
An erotic x-rated vampire book? Sounds great! But oh no! This book disapointed me on many levels. I loved the graphic details and the naughty pics and could get past almost all of the situations. Like a vamp letting herself be gang raped in a park, or adults that still practice incest. What I didn't like is the style of writing. I don't like books that give me one person to learn about and then switch to a different story about different people who are not connected in any way. Overall some of the sex scenes were hot but not worth reading again.
An erotic x-rated vampire book? Sounds great! But oh no! This book disapointed me on many levels. I loved the graphic details and the naughty pics and could get past almost all of the situations. Like a vamp letting herself be gang raped in a park, or adults that still practice incest. What I didn't like is the style of writing. I don't like books that give me one person to learn about and then switch to a different story about different people who are not connected in any way. Overall some of the sex scenes were hot but not worth reading again.
December 9, 2013
The dirtiest thing I've ever read.
September 18, 2022
I am speechless.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews