These are a few more examples:

What exactly is "The Dragon's Graveyard"? And who or what is "The Dragon"? I read the Transylvania Chronicles and I heard that "The Dragon" was Salout, but he isn't in New York City, right? The main Anteduvilian that was in NYC was Tzimisce, so is "The Dragon's Graveyard" just where Tzimisce rests?

I know this was a main part of the book but I still can't understand -- what is "the well"? Is it just something in the Tremere blood that allows them to use "magic" disciplines? Is it something that allows them to retreat inward and escape from the outer world? And, for God's sake, WHO are the Children? Souls of those that were killed? But why would they be inside of Aisling's well? Didn't make sense to me.

Another thing; was Maeve actually Aisling's mortal child, or just a metaphor for Aisling's "new life"? Because that's the only thing I could come up with after reading how Eva was "comsumed utterly" by the light -- whatever that light was.

Why did the Tremere all think that Aaron was a hero for allowing Foley to be killed? And why did Anwar (the Assamite who did the deed) keep refering to him as "Aaron-light bringer"?

Also, I would like to point out a typo. On page 258, it says, "Jacqueline let Sturbridge's hand drop." By this point, Jacqueline was ALREADY DEAD, and not only that, it was Eva and Sturbridge who were having a conversation; Jacqueline was not even in the conversation. The book was also never kind enough to tell us exactly WHY Jacqueline died, or who was responsible for the deed (after all, Kindred are immortal; if they die it's probably because they were murdered).

Lastly, what was the point of the stories that Talbott kept telling? They DID NOT have ANY relevance to the story at all! I didn't even know who the main character in those stories was, much less what they were supposed to be telling.

Overall, you will read this book only if you have to. It IS part of the series, therefore you may have to read it to understand a little bit more. In other words, to get you ready for book 13. Nonetheless, you will not enjoy reading it; and when you are done you will probably not know any more than you did before you started reading it; so there's really no reason to even spend six dollars on this.


The Magical Mystery Tour   July 30, 2000
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

This story is basically a murder mystery which, as it unfolds, provides a detailed look inside a Tremere chantry- the relationships between residents, their magical procedures, their politics etc. It's a pretty self-contained story with a strong focus on an interesting character- besieged New York chantry regent Aisling Sturbridge. Indeed, when it attempts to advance the CLAN NOVEL series plot, it tends toward arcane incidents which only raise more questions. Knowledge of the rest of the series doesn't seem as necessary to appreciate this book as knowledge of the VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE RPG setting (Tremere antitribu, the difference between Tremere vampires and True Mages etc.).

Unfortunately, Griffin's other contribution to the series, the more episodic TZIMISCE, better showed his strengths- imaginative individual scenes, telling detail. That's here, too but with all the intrigue, arcane practices, surreal visions and sudden surprise twists, I found the overall plot difficult to follow- especially toward the end where tremendous complexities were resolved very quickly. I wasn't sure at first what happened in the end and motives are still unclear. Some crucial things seemed only to receive perfunctory explanation without enough preparatory development. Adding to the confusion are distracting editorial problems like failing to identify the speakers often enough during important dialog.

Despite this, Griffin presents magical practices well and mostly avoids that subject's pitfalls. He provides enough necessary technical detail without bogging down in exotic minutia. In the process, he creates atmosphere, reveals character and maintains consistent logic throughout for how his magic functions. It's also faithful to the way the Tremere and their organization are presented in VtM. People who enjoy that will find much to enjoy here. You may not be entirely satisfied with where it ends up but at least it takes you on the scenic route with an engaging guide.


Tremere are vampires too   October 14, 2000
 6 out of 8 found this review helpful

I might have been in pain if this book hadn't made me sleepy.

I brought this book expecting it to advanced the story line of the whole series, which is the Camarilla vs the Sabbat. I brought this book expecting to read about the Tremere "holding the front line against the Sabbat". I was even hoping for some new insights into the Tremere magic of blood thamaturgy.

Sadly, the main plot was side lined for several other plots in this novel. These plots involve character backgrounds, power struggles, murders, dreams, and giantic magical plots.

On the surface these seem promising, but the author, Eric Griffin, can't deliver. He seemed to purposely muster his full resources to make these storylines as tedious and unreadable as possible. The best way to describe this is that the author used a 1000 words where 100 would have done AND he attempted at several points to match the mind numbing end scene of 2001 (Mr Astronaut flies through wierd colors for 20 minutes).

Avoid this book. Avoid Eric Griffin.


Not as impressive.   August 18, 2000
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Honestly, I would equivilance this book to the Clan Novel Toreodor. The bad side of it includes that the story is too vague to be truly enjoyed. Everything is in a dream state description. And most of all, I did not find any section of it pulling me to read it like some of the other Clan Novels. An example I would give is the beginning of it where Sturbridge is involved in a big ritual. How she got up there, the powers she used, the little component details were all lacking. The whole thing had little background and a lot of dream description. On the good side of the story, it did explain the Giovanni death. The author was really good about showing damn disciplined is the Tremere clan.

Not the best of the clan novels, that's for sure.


Nonexistent plot   August 23, 2000
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

Clan Novel: Tremere had no plot; it was simply a collection of scenes from previous stories as observed from the Tremere perspective, with several vignettes of Tremere chantry life added for flavor. At the end, the author contrives to explain the murky plot in a dialogue between the main characters, but the proffered explanation is weak.

After losing interest in the book, I only continued to see if any new elements would be added to the story, having read the previous 11 novels. I finished the book with the feeling that my time had been completely wasted.