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Clan Brujah Trilogy #3
The Puppet-Masters
Theo Bell's future hangs in the balance. Cut off from vampire society, his ranks and privileges as an archon revoked, Theo faces his most lethal task yet--identifying the forces behind the global slave ring he has pledged to destroy. But their power reaches further than even he can imagine, threatening the Camarilla itself. Time is running out.
288 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2003
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81 people want to read
About the author
Tim Dedopulos
203 books44 followersTim Dedopulos, a British writer, editor, publisher and game designer with nearly 100 works to his name in areas ranging from horror and sff, through music and art, to games, puzzles and jokes.
Tim lives in Spain with his wife and the ghost of his murdered bromeliad, grimly acclimatising to his new-found and unwelcome mid-40s. A shameless INFJ, he usually tries to avoid thinking in the third person.
Tim lives in Spain with his wife and the ghost of his murdered bromeliad, grimly acclimatising to his new-found and unwelcome mid-40s. A shameless INFJ, he usually tries to avoid thinking in the third person.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 6, 2019
I want more, i want to see more adventures with these characters, i really like theo and itio and parschek fucking badass, but i suppose the trilogy had a satisfying ending, kinda bittersweet, the writing was phenomenal, at least for me, the action was amazing, the description of the use of the powers was pretty in-depth,there was a little more lore about the final nights and again amazing characters, i think the twins should have been taken out of the history, they didn't do much and sometimes they felt just like plot-devices knowing stuff or having guesses that you wouldn't expecting from someone going to highschool, they are not idiots at least there is that, but the star of the show is definetly theo and itio best fucking characters.
February 14, 2024
THE PUPPET MASTERS is the third and finall installment of th CLAN BRUJAH TRILOGY that is a spin off of the CLAN NOVELS for VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE. The premise of the book is that Theo Bell, ex-slave turned vampire, has long served the Camarilla. Unfortunately, by trying to shut down a ring of slavers, he ends up stripped of his position as an archon and on the run from his former allies.
Theo Bell managed to kill the Overseer last book but ended up diablerizing him in the process, which results in him now carrying the poor man's soul in him now. Unfortunately, this has set the Overseer's demonic patron who has decided to call in every favor it has to get "his property" back. Worse, the slavers are sick of Bell's interferance and have decided to employ Karsh, the Warlord of the Camarilla, to assassinate Bell.
If you're a fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, you'll note Karsh is one of the toughest NPCs in the game and the equivalent of sending Darth Vader. Unfortunately, the conflict between the two lacks some panache and feels a bit anticlimatic. In the opening chapter, Karsh says he could just invite Theo Bell to visit him under his authority as Warlord and offer to clear his name. Theo would show up and Karsh would murder him. This plan gets rejected by the villains, probably because the author realizes that it would work and kill the protagonist. Which means the author probably shouldn't have lampshaded the simplest solution for the villains winning.
The book has some interesting guest stars in addition to Karsh as we have Talley the Hound, Inyanga (Chicago by Night), and Mark Decker (Milwaukee by Night) show up. The takedown of the slavers is also a bit too neat but I enjoyed the revelation of their ultimate agenda. The novel ties into THE TIME OF JUDGEMENT happening around this time and it works out well. Gehenna is on the rise and Theo's attempts to stop the slavers may just be pointless.
I also appreciate the development of Nathalie and Deliphine, the identical twins now separated by the Embrace. Delphine refuses to have Nathalie's memory erased of the past month and tries ghouldom as an alternative to Embracing her. This goes about as badly as it possibly could and is a source of some personal horror in a sea of action. Overall, I really liked this trilogy and think it's among the best of the V:TM novels.
Theo Bell managed to kill the Overseer last book but ended up diablerizing him in the process, which results in him now carrying the poor man's soul in him now. Unfortunately, this has set the Overseer's demonic patron who has decided to call in every favor it has to get "his property" back. Worse, the slavers are sick of Bell's interferance and have decided to employ Karsh, the Warlord of the Camarilla, to assassinate Bell.
If you're a fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, you'll note Karsh is one of the toughest NPCs in the game and the equivalent of sending Darth Vader. Unfortunately, the conflict between the two lacks some panache and feels a bit anticlimatic. In the opening chapter, Karsh says he could just invite Theo Bell to visit him under his authority as Warlord and offer to clear his name. Theo would show up and Karsh would murder him. This plan gets rejected by the villains, probably because the author realizes that it would work and kill the protagonist. Which means the author probably shouldn't have lampshaded the simplest solution for the villains winning.
The book has some interesting guest stars in addition to Karsh as we have Talley the Hound, Inyanga (Chicago by Night), and Mark Decker (Milwaukee by Night) show up. The takedown of the slavers is also a bit too neat but I enjoyed the revelation of their ultimate agenda. The novel ties into THE TIME OF JUDGEMENT happening around this time and it works out well. Gehenna is on the rise and Theo's attempts to stop the slavers may just be pointless.
I also appreciate the development of Nathalie and Deliphine, the identical twins now separated by the Embrace. Delphine refuses to have Nathalie's memory erased of the past month and tries ghouldom as an alternative to Embracing her. This goes about as badly as it possibly could and is a source of some personal horror in a sea of action. Overall, I really liked this trilogy and think it's among the best of the V:TM novels.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews