I don't think this book was QUITE as bad as Malkavian or Giovanni, but it's darned close. A couple of the characters are actually mildly interesting. which is what makes it better than Giovanni, and it isn't QUITE as inexplicable as Malkavian, although it's distressingly close considering that none of the characters are comlete, utter raving loony-tunes. But like Giovanni, and unlike Malkavian, it didn't seem to advance the overall plotline any, so all in all, it was pretty worthless. Certainly utterly worthless if you aren't trying to read the whole series, or if you aren't familiar with the White Wolf "World of Darkness" Vampire games. Anyone not familiar with the background coming in would be totally lost.