Con amigos como éstos... Los monstruosos vampiros del Sabbat pululan hacia el norte en cada vez mayor número y amenazan con doblegar Baltimore, el último bastión de poder de la Camarilla en la costa este de los Estados Unidos. Theo Bell, arconte del clan Brujah, es el Vástago que dirige la resistencia. Mientras los antiguos pontifican y compiten en busca de influencia, él mantiene unidas las defensas de la ciudad. Se halla falto de efectivos, superado en potencia de fuego, y, como si no bastara con eso, se ve obligado a esquivar las consecuencias derivadas de los asuntos e intrigas personales de sus aliados. ¿Está un espía filtrando información vital al Sabbat? ¿Quién se halla detrás de la conspiración contra el Príncipe Garlotte de Baltimore? ¿Cuánto saben en realidad los reservados Nosferatu? ¿Es de fiar el socio Ventrue de Theo, Jan Pieterzoon? Demasiadas injerencias, letales en potencia para Theo, y mientras tanto el Sabbat sigue llegando...
It's a fairly good book that's somewhat introspective, with intrigue, betrayal and all the wobbly throes of intense, back-stabbing vampire politics.
However, the format of the series itself is something I'm not certain if I love or hate. Of course nothing is black and white, yet I see (what I feel are) great flaws and some advantages to this style.
It's a series that does not belong to one author alone and or one set of characters, but rather what does remain is the hidden inner plot surrounding or even controlling all of these events.
While there are temporary main characters, it's safe to say never get too attached to them. First of all, the temporary lead characters are just that, in the spotlight as long as the appropriate clan book is until the next book with sometimes a different author and a possible small cameo by said characters later (if they aren't dead),.
Second of all, while I'm not that much of a fan of unrealistically happy tales alternatively I'm not fond of overtly pessimistic, dour stories, which I've found is the case a lot of the time in the clan books I've read.
But most of all under the surface strengths of roller-coaster horror and interesting chess-like political development, the characters leave something to be desired for me, having an almost latent emptiness and lifelessness that really down-plays the suspenseful parts in conjunction with an infectious pessimism that left me almost apathetic when something tragic happened.
To be fair, I haven't read the entire clan book series, but I think I've read enough to say that I like it, but I don't see it as the most memorable series, and it's flaws so far have left me wondering if getting the rest is something I want to do.
In general, I haven't been much impressed with this series, so it might be construed as "damning with faint praise" to say that this is the best of the series so far, but for what it's worth, it is. This is largely due to the fact that the primary character for this book, Brujah Archon Theo Bell, is easily the most interesting, most sympathetic character that we've seen in the series. Granted, we've seen him in earlier books, and had a definite impression that he was a likeable character (if not one that I'd necessarily want to meet in a dark alley)even then. But this book fleshes out the character quite well, and makes him even more worth knowing about in the process. Impressive, considering that I've never considered clan Brujah to be my favorite clan.
This book likely reads better in context of the series but I picked this book out of the series. The way the story and characters jumped around with little marker and the deep mix of V:tM language with no context or explanation of it made for a tedious read. There were several pages of repetitive feeling introspection that felt like word filler at times as well. It would also frequently jump into the perspective of seemingly random characters not established only so we could watch them be killed first person. The book also read like a massive chapter in a bigger story, with a weak ending with few resolutions or significant character development.
I will give that the action and emotional scenes were well written and i would maybe enjoy this more if i read every V:tM novel before it, but I was currently most interested in learning more about the Brujah.
Frequent typos in the kindle version also did not help the books case.
I really liked this one. The book moved the overall story-arch nicely along, but it did drag on a bit with many, more or less, pointless scenes of violence, or physical action; the overall story was more interesting. It's was also nice that we followed more characters, mainly Theo Bell, but also others. Not one to skip, if you are not reading them in series.
Me a gustado esta novela conrespecto a las otras. El clan Brujah y Theo el personaje principal son interesantes de seguir, en su enfrentamiento con el Sabath.
This book clearly illustrates the way that the Brujah clan thinks and operates. Just as importantly, it shows why by illustrating some of the lack of communication for the sake of political power exhibited by the Camarilla.
I really liked this installment in the series. Things are certainly coming to head, and I have to be honest when a certain someone showed up with a certain something at the end I couldn't help but cringe. It wasn't creepy at first but now, after the cave and the Gangrels, it's gotten really weird. Not to mention the Malk scrawl. I love it.
This is a fantastic series if you are a fan or player of the Vampire the Masquerade Table Top game. I gave it a 3 because I don't recomend this series to those who are not.