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Vampire: The Masquerade: Clan Novel Saga #1
Clan Novel Saga, Volume 1: The Fall of Atlanta
A Best-Selling Saga Returns
Vivid writing and a gripping plot' -- Jonathan Fesmire, SF Site
The Vampire Clan Novel series broke all records for World of Darkness fiction when, throughout 1999 and 2000, it told an epic story through cross-cutting novels and carefully time-stamped chapters. Now, the entire epic is represented in four beautiful trade-format volumes. The Clan Novel Saga reorganizes the chapters from all 13 novels (and the Clan Novel Anthology) in strict chronological order, showing the progress of the epic night by night and minute by minute.
The Fall of Atlanta
Volume One features a variety of prologue material and the dramatic events of June 1999. The vampires of the Sabbat move into the Camarilla city of Atlanta, and the dreaded relic called the Eye of Hazimel makes its appearance on the scene.
With a Foreword by Stewart Wieck and an All-New Story by Philippe Boulle
Vivid writing and a gripping plot' -- Jonathan Fesmire, SF Site
The Vampire Clan Novel series broke all records for World of Darkness fiction when, throughout 1999 and 2000, it told an epic story through cross-cutting novels and carefully time-stamped chapters. Now, the entire epic is represented in four beautiful trade-format volumes. The Clan Novel Saga reorganizes the chapters from all 13 novels (and the Clan Novel Anthology) in strict chronological order, showing the progress of the epic night by night and minute by minute.
The Fall of Atlanta
Volume One features a variety of prologue material and the dramatic events of June 1999. The vampires of the Sabbat move into the Camarilla city of Atlanta, and the dreaded relic called the Eye of Hazimel makes its appearance on the scene.
With a Foreword by Stewart Wieck and an All-New Story by Philippe Boulle
592 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
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268 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 20, 2021
Okay, so I went back and did it: I read the WHOLE DAMN THING. This is such a cool experiment. I don't think it exactly WORKS, but I love it for the insanity of it. I feel like the only way this would really work well is if I'd already read all the clan novels individually, and this would thus provide a new perspective on things.
I think the most frustrating thing is that I, as a reader, crave SOME sort of conclusion, and that's just ... not here. Even the "climax" of the book, the fall of Atlanta, involves MOST of our main characters escaping in some form or another, although the one I was most interested in (Leopold) then disappears for the rest of THIS book (assumedly he shows up later, but for all I know he disappears till book four!).
I also want connection to characters, and it was annoying that the few I actually felt some connection with either disappeared or got killed (or appeared to). There were also some chapters thrown in here that probably worked well as a prologue or interlude in their own tales, but just seemed so long and annoying when shoved in the middle of this sprawling tale (I remember one chapter, for instance, being a long, drawn out scene in which someone goes to beg for sanctuary and one of the bad guys ends up killing everyone, but it's like obvious from page 2 of the chapter that SOMETHING'S up, and it just takes ... forever ... to get where it's going).
Oh, also, there's the fact that the "fall of Atlanta" takes FOREVER, and seeing things from 18 different perspectives doesn't really "enhance" the scene so much as "draw it out like taffy to the point of wanting to kill yourself." As difficult as it was to get through at times, the REAL frustration is that it is, if nothing else, a climax. Then the book just ... keeps going for another hundred fifty pages or so, just ... rolling along with SOME characters who survived, but mostly switching to the rest of the Eastern seaboard and, randomly, Vegas.
I think I'll leave my frustrations with V:tM till later volumes, assuming I make it there. For now I'll just leave it with ... overall a frustrating experience, but I honestly do enjoy it for the grand experiment that it is.
I think the most frustrating thing is that I, as a reader, crave SOME sort of conclusion, and that's just ... not here. Even the "climax" of the book, the fall of Atlanta, involves MOST of our main characters escaping in some form or another, although the one I was most interested in (Leopold) then disappears for the rest of THIS book (assumedly he shows up later, but for all I know he disappears till book four!).
I also want connection to characters, and it was annoying that the few I actually felt some connection with either disappeared or got killed (or appeared to). There were also some chapters thrown in here that probably worked well as a prologue or interlude in their own tales, but just seemed so long and annoying when shoved in the middle of this sprawling tale (I remember one chapter, for instance, being a long, drawn out scene in which someone goes to beg for sanctuary and one of the bad guys ends up killing everyone, but it's like obvious from page 2 of the chapter that SOMETHING'S up, and it just takes ... forever ... to get where it's going).
Oh, also, there's the fact that the "fall of Atlanta" takes FOREVER, and seeing things from 18 different perspectives doesn't really "enhance" the scene so much as "draw it out like taffy to the point of wanting to kill yourself." As difficult as it was to get through at times, the REAL frustration is that it is, if nothing else, a climax. Then the book just ... keeps going for another hundred fifty pages or so, just ... rolling along with SOME characters who survived, but mostly switching to the rest of the Eastern seaboard and, randomly, Vegas.
I think I'll leave my frustrations with V:tM till later volumes, assuming I make it there. For now I'll just leave it with ... overall a frustrating experience, but I honestly do enjoy it for the grand experiment that it is.
December 29, 2021
A very interesting read, like most WoD-related material that concerns itself with storytelling. Compiling every Clan Novel into chronological order is indeed a great idea, however, perhaps this first release could've been either divided into two or given a different name. As it stands, the episodes involving the eponymous Fall of Atlanta and its immediate sociopolitical fallout constitute about 60% of the book and are, by far, the most engaging parts of it, describing a brutal and uncharacteristically organized invasion by the Sabbat which lays waste to the Camarilla's strongholds in the Eastern Seaboard of the US, sending the few survivors on a mad scramble to organize a defence before it's too late. The action is quite competent and lore hounds will have a blast seeing classic WoD characters like Sascha Vykos and Hesha Ruhadze taking prominent roles, not to mention the skill with which the writers incorporate the use of vampiric Disciplines into the story without actually naming them; a smart decision that allows this world to become a tad less inscrutable to readers in general. Hardcore fans will immediately get it, and newcomers will go "Holy crap!".
The rest of the book concerns itself with parallel tales that, while mostly interesting on their own, serve story arcs beyond the main one and could maybe have been set aside (or trimmed) in order to improve the overall pacing. Anatole's chapters are particularly jarring in that regard, and the whole Giovanni storyline following the kidnapping of one of their members feels bloated, anti-climatic and frankly aimless, with the "character sheet" located at the end of the book pretty much admitting some characters were following a dead lead.
In summary, "The Fall of Atlanta" really gets going when it remembers what it's about. The parts that drag are not numerous or aggravating enough to mar the whole story, which is very enjoyable and guaranteed to put a fangy smile on the face of WoD aficionados worldwide.
The rest of the book concerns itself with parallel tales that, while mostly interesting on their own, serve story arcs beyond the main one and could maybe have been set aside (or trimmed) in order to improve the overall pacing. Anatole's chapters are particularly jarring in that regard, and the whole Giovanni storyline following the kidnapping of one of their members feels bloated, anti-climatic and frankly aimless, with the "character sheet" located at the end of the book pretty much admitting some characters were following a dead lead.
In summary, "The Fall of Atlanta" really gets going when it remembers what it's about. The parts that drag are not numerous or aggravating enough to mar the whole story, which is very enjoyable and guaranteed to put a fangy smile on the face of WoD aficionados worldwide.
October 25, 2024
Third read-through, more than 12 years after the second one. It remains a really enjoyable work, a page turner in most parts, though it does require some VtM lore knowledge to not get lost (the glossary helps a little). It has all the flows of its source, namely the '90s vampire existential angst that Achilli so loved to shout about, as well as some brooding, but the plot is very interesting and flows nicely (though I do hate the mafia Giovanni parts). This one also includes one of the most memorable scenes I've read (how a Giovanni lady manages to persuade her ancestor's ghost to give her some information). All in all, a great start, 3 more to go.
PS: As I remembered, the Malkavian/Anatole parts are unreadable and ought to be skipped. Seriously, it's not easy to write POVs of demented characters.
PS: As I remembered, the Malkavian/Anatole parts are unreadable and ought to be skipped. Seriously, it's not easy to write POVs of demented characters.
August 23, 2018
I originally collected and read the original single volumes in this collection and when the four anthology volumes came out I traded the singles in for the four. The first one flowed smoothly in chronological order and made for a better read. I love this set so much!
June 14, 2023
Something different. I'm in general not a fan of franchise literature, but as the second book's foreword also explains, the 13 clan books was a feverish, crazy project, and this rehash of those works is possibly even weirder.
The difference in writers and the independence of the plot lines was felt all the way through, but knowing what I hold in my hands, it didn't take away from the enjoyment.
Lots of characters, most of them decently written. Lots of events, most of them decently written. The vampires are not overly mystified, you can feel the hardish magic system under it all, but not to the point you can hear the dice rolling.
I particularly like how the writers (or writer, I don't know how many people wrote those parts) could make the Sabbat work, as a chaotic, but still organized entity.
Also, the Tzimisce going crazy and making all the Lasombra uncomfortable, then going positively frenzied at some point was really funny to me. Not how I imagine the clan, but I had a hearty chuckle at the scene of a dozen of the little creeps building a flesh throne for their lady.
The difference in writers and the independence of the plot lines was felt all the way through, but knowing what I hold in my hands, it didn't take away from the enjoyment.
Lots of characters, most of them decently written. Lots of events, most of them decently written. The vampires are not overly mystified, you can feel the hardish magic system under it all, but not to the point you can hear the dice rolling.
I particularly like how the writers (or writer, I don't know how many people wrote those parts) could make the Sabbat work, as a chaotic, but still organized entity.
Also, the Tzimisce going crazy and making all the Lasombra uncomfortable, then going positively frenzied at some point was really funny to me. Not how I imagine the clan, but I had a hearty chuckle at the scene of a dozen of the little creeps building a flesh throne for their lady.
August 4, 2024
I realize this was an amalgamation of different volumes all set at the same time. The approach doesn't work well. The introduction was too long and parts of it aren't addressed in this volume. There are a lot of characters and numerous plot-lines. I'm honestly not sure which is the central plotline.
The timing doesn't work on Hannah. I hope this is explained later.
The timing doesn't work on Hannah. I hope this is explained later.
Read
May 20, 2024I was pretty excited to read a novel about the WoD but, I found this book confusing and frustrating. Too many separate stories and characters to follow. I hate not finishing books, but it's just not grabbing me in the way I hoped it would.
August 16, 2019
Wide reaching, terrifying and delicious, this is great fun.
August 4, 2024
The idea is intriguing— pull together a thirteen book series into 4 volumes. However the multiple plot lines and myriad characters are hard to follow.
April 12, 2014
A fun little book that chronicles the progression of an event through the POV of various characters related to it (perhaps tangentially).
On it's own, it's a fun book with a few flaws: first, since it's a reordering of a different series of novels it has several chapters that don't fit into the narrative now--instead setting up later plots that aren't resolved until other books if at all. It has a large cast of characters, though fortunately they have distinct names. It also leaves undefined a lot of terms that someone might know from the related RPG--personally I thought this gave a nice sense of mystery to the novels the first time I read them, but it can be confusing sometimes. (like, why do these Tzimisce and Tremere folks hate eachother so much?)
As an RPG supplement, it falls flat for the same reason white wolf's novels so often fall flat: it just flat-out ignores the rules. However, familiarity with the RPG materials certainly helps keep the story straight, and creates a very strong sense of tension beyond that of the novel.
I recommend it, but only if you like looking at stories-as-events-that-happen, period, because if you approach it from the perspective of stories-as-events-that-happen-to-and-are-driven-by-characters, you'll feel very disappointed with how often characters appear and then vanish never to return.
On it's own, it's a fun book with a few flaws: first, since it's a reordering of a different series of novels it has several chapters that don't fit into the narrative now--instead setting up later plots that aren't resolved until other books if at all. It has a large cast of characters, though fortunately they have distinct names. It also leaves undefined a lot of terms that someone might know from the related RPG--personally I thought this gave a nice sense of mystery to the novels the first time I read them, but it can be confusing sometimes. (like, why do these Tzimisce and Tremere folks hate eachother so much?)
As an RPG supplement, it falls flat for the same reason white wolf's novels so often fall flat: it just flat-out ignores the rules. However, familiarity with the RPG materials certainly helps keep the story straight, and creates a very strong sense of tension beyond that of the novel.
I recommend it, but only if you like looking at stories-as-events-that-happen, period, because if you approach it from the perspective of stories-as-events-that-happen-to-and-are-driven-by-characters, you'll feel very disappointed with how often characters appear and then vanish never to return.
June 27, 2007
its actaully been a long time since I read this and probibly should reread it. for those that are a fan of the genre of vampire the masquarade its allot of fun. they sue cannon charecters and show the fate of some of the most important names in the genre. for those that are not familiar allot of time and background is given to allow you to get a good view of it.
April 19, 2017
(Review forthcoming)
January 1, 2020
What a great book!!
Lots of characters in this series (and a great set of characters they are!!)
Lots of characters in this series (and a great set of characters they are!!)
December 30, 2009
Great series. Especially if you ever followed the rpg from White Wolf
March 29, 2017
Vampire: The Masquerade (Clan Novel Saga #1) is a compilation of the thirteen Clan Novels, arranged chronologically (night-by-night, and occasionally minute-by-minute), detailing the events leading to (and several nights after) "The Fall of Atlanta" through the eyes of thirteen, or more, protagonists and point-of-view characters.
The vampires in this story do not sparkle in sunlight. Sunlight is fearsome and deadly to vampires of this canon, and at most, they can tolerate a few seconds of exposure before perishing. These vampires believe that their condition originated from the Biblical Caine. Caine was said to have been cursed by God with the vampiric state for murdering his brother. It is said that Caine was able to pass on his cursed state to others, thereby, making them like himself only somewhat weaker. In turn, each vampire that begets another passes on a weaker version of the curse — thus the concept of generations.
These vampires engage in what they call "The Jyhad" — the secret, self-destructive war waged between the generations. Elder vampires manipulate their lessers, using them as pawns in a terrible game whose rules defy comprehension — and the greatest of these elders are called Antediluvians. In this story, you will witness the patterns of action and reaction that such an unfathomably powerful being puts into motion when it senses a course of events that threatens its survival — all without truly stirring from its deep slumber. That’s the central plot of the Clan Novel Series: the shrug of an Antediluvian.
As per Stewart Wieck (the Clan Novel Series Editor), interweaving the events of thirteen novels was no small task, and it shows. Several chapters needed to be changed from the present tense and first person to the third-person, past-tense style of the rest of the novels... but there were some that fell through the cracks and remained unchanged. There were also a lot of punctuation/spacing errors, and although that could be annoying, the one thing that really bothered me was the inconsistency of interpreting how vampirism worked between the authors. One author had vampires turn to dust when they meet their final death à la Blade, however another author allowed the Kindred's head to be taken as a war trophy. We then have another instance wherein an author allowed a vampire to heal themselves to full functionality (albeit being mangled and broken), yet another author required a vampire to "set" the broken bones properly lest they heal incorrectly and render the Kindred an invalid for the rest of eternity.
The novel is geared towards turning the players into fiction readers, but that does not prevent the non-player from enjoying the story as well. To help them get up to speed, the publisher has included a lexicon, character info, author's bio, and some notes in the appendices.
The vampires in this story do not sparkle in sunlight. Sunlight is fearsome and deadly to vampires of this canon, and at most, they can tolerate a few seconds of exposure before perishing. These vampires believe that their condition originated from the Biblical Caine. Caine was said to have been cursed by God with the vampiric state for murdering his brother. It is said that Caine was able to pass on his cursed state to others, thereby, making them like himself only somewhat weaker. In turn, each vampire that begets another passes on a weaker version of the curse — thus the concept of generations.
These vampires engage in what they call "The Jyhad" — the secret, self-destructive war waged between the generations. Elder vampires manipulate their lessers, using them as pawns in a terrible game whose rules defy comprehension — and the greatest of these elders are called Antediluvians. In this story, you will witness the patterns of action and reaction that such an unfathomably powerful being puts into motion when it senses a course of events that threatens its survival — all without truly stirring from its deep slumber. That’s the central plot of the Clan Novel Series: the shrug of an Antediluvian.
As per Stewart Wieck (the Clan Novel Series Editor), interweaving the events of thirteen novels was no small task, and it shows. Several chapters needed to be changed from the present tense and first person to the third-person, past-tense style of the rest of the novels... but there were some that fell through the cracks and remained unchanged. There were also a lot of punctuation/spacing errors, and although that could be annoying, the one thing that really bothered me was the inconsistency of interpreting how vampirism worked between the authors. One author had vampires turn to dust when they meet their final death à la Blade, however another author allowed the Kindred's head to be taken as a war trophy. We then have another instance wherein an author allowed a vampire to heal themselves to full functionality (albeit being mangled and broken), yet another author required a vampire to "set" the broken bones properly lest they heal incorrectly and render the Kindred an invalid for the rest of eternity.
The novel is geared towards turning the players into fiction readers, but that does not prevent the non-player from enjoying the story as well. To help them get up to speed, the publisher has included a lexicon, character info, author's bio, and some notes in the appendices.
May 1, 2017
Before I proceed any further I have to point out The Fall of Atlanta is the first volume of a quartet and it puts together releases that were [already] anthology novels that I sadly never read when they were originally published. To make things even more complicated, publisher decided to re-arrange stories from said novels in chronological order AND add new pieces of prologue material.
Right off the bat it has to be said that you don't really need to be familiar with World of Darkness at large to really understand or enjoy this one, but it certainly helps if you want to get some deeper meaning because all the works therein, and lots of important characters, are set during the canonical events of the setting. Pretty big events, mind you. I won't go into a primer for the material, but let's just say there are vampires out there, they're divided in different clans and they like to politic all the time for power and influence. Two major sects vampires divided themselves into are Camarilla and Sabbat – former learning from the past and deciding to enact the Masquerade aka law that enforces vampires have to stay hidden lest, despite their singular superiority, they be wiped out by humanity at large, and latter which wants vampires to claim their monstrous heritage and not kowtow before ignorant and inferior humans which are basically walking Happy Meals to them. Needles to say these two sides don't exactly see eye-to-eye.
With the basic premise out of the way, which the book itself does inform the reader about in the early pages albeit in a very flavorful tone, it doesn't take long to really spot the major problem of The Fall of Atlanta and that's the fact the entire collection is a fragmented mess and takes about a quarter or so for story proper to kick in. Prior to that you get what appear to be completely unrelated stories about characters you never again see or are unrelated to anything that follows... until you actually realize some of the players in Modern Nights, and by that I mean year 1999 book is set in and where things go down, played a part in all that prologue material. I suppose those were the added parts? Any other day I would welcome those, but the problem is you can really tell based on the pace that there are distinctly standout parts.
Before I forget and start another rambling paragraph I should, you know, actually tell you what the story is ABOUT. Already mentioned two factions are in a sort of cold war in North America more than anywhere else and all the buildup you get results in all that tension finally erupting into concrete conflict between Camarilla and Sabbat. If you looked at the title of the book you can tell where that is going. I do like how we get various POVs for the characters on both sides and even independents with their own take on things. There is also a certain mysterious artifact involved with its own mysterious story hook and I really liked how that was intervowen.
Speaking of characters and such there's a vast number of of them even if not necessarily all are directly involved or last to make a sufficient impact on the story. I liked how authors managed to throw couple of curve balls and do away with characters you'd expect to stick around for much longer or how they go from “this is my show” to just being seemingly a side character in other stories. I would point to pay attention to dates and time because when action heats up, and considering vampires can operate only at night, it can lead to some confusion reading how character X was doing something two pages ago and now you're reading about his head decapitated head being presented to a Tzimisce war leader, for example. It's a bit jarring and once again portrays they put together works from three different novels. If nothing else they really got a varied cast; various Toreador artists, surprisingly sane Malkavian General, adventurer archaeologist Setite whom we get to see in his younger days, even a Ravnos couple. So many characters in fact I'll forgive them way too much artistry faffing about due to Toreador (over)representation, but that's a pet peeve of mine.
With all that said I have yet to comment on the writing itself and that's because it never stood out for my in any significant way. Like I mentioned above it can get a bit overbearing, like the entire Elysium part when get lectured on certain art pieces for good half dozen pages, but this is usually balanced by brusque and concise style in general. Vampires tend to overindulge in their flowery eloquence, but considering it's all part of political backstabbing and judging the other guy it's made engaging. One oddity that stuck with me was the highly regular chapter length and some, like Anatole's mad/visionary/whatever ramblings which dragged on and on in what must have been a dare of some sort for the writer, I couldn't wait to get over with. It also works the other way when, for example, we get insight into a Tremere chantry and how such a place would work in modern day. These could be reversed for you, though.
No thumbs up for this one because it doesn't exactly read well due to fragmented nature, but also no thumbs down because I rather liked the final product. It provides a good night-to-night insight into World of Darkness from a vampire's perspective more so than it tackles some grand story. Worth a read, recommended if you're familiar with the game and want some fiction to go along with that.
Right off the bat it has to be said that you don't really need to be familiar with World of Darkness at large to really understand or enjoy this one, but it certainly helps if you want to get some deeper meaning because all the works therein, and lots of important characters, are set during the canonical events of the setting. Pretty big events, mind you. I won't go into a primer for the material, but let's just say there are vampires out there, they're divided in different clans and they like to politic all the time for power and influence. Two major sects vampires divided themselves into are Camarilla and Sabbat – former learning from the past and deciding to enact the Masquerade aka law that enforces vampires have to stay hidden lest, despite their singular superiority, they be wiped out by humanity at large, and latter which wants vampires to claim their monstrous heritage and not kowtow before ignorant and inferior humans which are basically walking Happy Meals to them. Needles to say these two sides don't exactly see eye-to-eye.
With the basic premise out of the way, which the book itself does inform the reader about in the early pages albeit in a very flavorful tone, it doesn't take long to really spot the major problem of The Fall of Atlanta and that's the fact the entire collection is a fragmented mess and takes about a quarter or so for story proper to kick in. Prior to that you get what appear to be completely unrelated stories about characters you never again see or are unrelated to anything that follows... until you actually realize some of the players in Modern Nights, and by that I mean year 1999 book is set in and where things go down, played a part in all that prologue material. I suppose those were the added parts? Any other day I would welcome those, but the problem is you can really tell based on the pace that there are distinctly standout parts.
Before I forget and start another rambling paragraph I should, you know, actually tell you what the story is ABOUT. Already mentioned two factions are in a sort of cold war in North America more than anywhere else and all the buildup you get results in all that tension finally erupting into concrete conflict between Camarilla and Sabbat. If you looked at the title of the book you can tell where that is going. I do like how we get various POVs for the characters on both sides and even independents with their own take on things. There is also a certain mysterious artifact involved with its own mysterious story hook and I really liked how that was intervowen.
Speaking of characters and such there's a vast number of of them even if not necessarily all are directly involved or last to make a sufficient impact on the story. I liked how authors managed to throw couple of curve balls and do away with characters you'd expect to stick around for much longer or how they go from “this is my show” to just being seemingly a side character in other stories. I would point to pay attention to dates and time because when action heats up, and considering vampires can operate only at night, it can lead to some confusion reading how character X was doing something two pages ago and now you're reading about his head decapitated head being presented to a Tzimisce war leader, for example. It's a bit jarring and once again portrays they put together works from three different novels. If nothing else they really got a varied cast; various Toreador artists, surprisingly sane Malkavian General, adventurer archaeologist Setite whom we get to see in his younger days, even a Ravnos couple. So many characters in fact I'll forgive them way too much artistry faffing about due to Toreador (over)representation, but that's a pet peeve of mine.
With all that said I have yet to comment on the writing itself and that's because it never stood out for my in any significant way. Like I mentioned above it can get a bit overbearing, like the entire Elysium part when get lectured on certain art pieces for good half dozen pages, but this is usually balanced by brusque and concise style in general. Vampires tend to overindulge in their flowery eloquence, but considering it's all part of political backstabbing and judging the other guy it's made engaging. One oddity that stuck with me was the highly regular chapter length and some, like Anatole's mad/visionary/whatever ramblings which dragged on and on in what must have been a dare of some sort for the writer, I couldn't wait to get over with. It also works the other way when, for example, we get insight into a Tremere chantry and how such a place would work in modern day. These could be reversed for you, though.
No thumbs up for this one because it doesn't exactly read well due to fragmented nature, but also no thumbs down because I rather liked the final product. It provides a good night-to-night insight into World of Darkness from a vampire's perspective more so than it tackles some grand story. Worth a read, recommended if you're familiar with the game and want some fiction to go along with that.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews