The tales do indeed shed light on some of the mysteries of the original volumes, especially the end game and the strangeness below New Your City. About a third of the stories cover the aftermath of the capture of New York, and make a bit of sense of events. All of the other stories are set elsewhere. Several cover events before the clan novels but most are also post-capture. Don't, however, expect everything to be made clear. The are still enough mysteries and opportunities for many more additions to the series.

I was surprised how much better these tales are written compared to the novels themselves. The shorter format seems more accessible for many of the writers. Don't expect true short stories, though, these are really little vignettes and pastiches and make little sense if read without the experience of the first thirteen volumes. I'm not a fan of short stories, but I found myself enjoying these. Readers of the clan novels with find that this volume brings the series into tighter focus.

I particularly enjoyed Kathleen Ryan's efforts ("Embarkation" and "Selfless") and Eric Griffen's "Flesh of my Flesh." For most readers, the final four stories, by Gherbod Fleming, Justin Achilli, and Stewart Wieck will be the gems of the collection. These are all set in and below New York City and go the furthest to explain the events in the novels.

If the original novels left you a bit unsatisfied, I think you will find the "Anthology" helps to close the gap. All Vampire: The Masquerade fans will find much to like.


How easy is it to get 5 stars?   February 21, 1999
 11 out of 13 found this review helpful

I find it amazingly depressing how easy it is for a book on Amazon.Com to get five stars. All too often these reviews aren't even reviews of the book, but simply 'I read another book by this guy, and it was really good, so I'm looking forward to this one.' (Disagree? Read the first eighty or so reviews of A Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan.) In the previous review of this book, one for five stars, the person didn't even read the whole book. My goodness. There's a trustworthy source.

Clan Novel Toreador was no _To Kill a Mockingbird_. It was no _The Catcher in the Rye_. It was no _Catch 22_. It was no _The Grapes of Wrath_. Now these are all books I'd give five stars. Hopefully at least one of them on the previous list is one that you would too.

Similarly, Clan Novel Toreador is not _Interview With the Vampire_, _Jurassic Park_ or _The Firm_. All books I would give three or four stars.

I am a fan of the Vampire role playing game, but I still recognize trash when I see it. Now and again there is an excuse for trash. Pulp fantasy. Romance novels. Still, having an excuse for trash does not make it anything more. Sadly, not having an excuse for trash makes it something much less.

With depressingly shoddy writing, a laughable plot (complete with annoying subplots and obvious plot-twists) and characters deserving of hate, this book deserves one star. Especially loathesome are the writer's sad attempts at erotica. The only thing that got hard while I was reading this book was attempting to continue reading this piddling example of literature.

I give it two stars because it is what it is. Game fiction. There isn't much out there in the genre of fiction based on RPGs (or television shows, really) that rises above the bottom half of any scale. So I give this a two, signifying that it is unadulterated mediocrity, but that such tripe is readily acceptable in a genre that is, itself, utterly mundane.


What's a Primogen between Enemies?   December 14, 2004
 8 out of 14 found this review helpful

Here begins a 13 volume essay on the world of The Masquerade, the vampires who are its denizens, the intensity of its politics, and the fragility of its architecture. Each of the books take a narrow slice of the events leading up to and surrounding the Sabbat's plans to steal Atlanta from the claws of the Masquerade. If you don't know, the Masquerade ore the clans who are determined to keep vampires out of public sight and notice, and the Sabbat, who want to be able to run wild and treat humans as walking snack bags.

We are introduced to two vampires of the Toreador, a clan best know for its focus on the artistic and sensual. Leopold is a struggling sculptor, and Victoria Ash is determined to rise to control of Atlanta. Both are struggling with their identity, but Leopold is trying to find out who he is, and Victoria's goal is to discover what she may become. When Victoria throws a party with her own surprises planned she discovers that the Sabbat has other plans entirely. Soon their primary goal is simple survival.

This is a fan book, by which I mean that it will be most meaningful to those who are players of the associated game and know much of the details of the background against which the story takes place. If you come in cold you will find this book too heavily detailed and fragmentary. In fact, until the series settles down in later volumes, this element of confusion is the norm.

Not that the story doesn't have juicy parts, but it is often more of a sourcebook than an action tale. In these tales much of what happens comes in tiny bites. If you are a fan of Masquerade's intricate gothic plots and unpredictable character behavior then this will suit you fine. There is material here for endless maneuvers and adventures. In no case, however, expect this to be a sex charged romance novel. The Masquerade was made for vampires, not their food.



Slow Start, but I think it gets better down the road.   November 29, 1999
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Well, I am a bit disappointed on how the Clan Toreador just comes out as completely weak. I could have sworn that white wolf clan book claimed the clan to be potentially the most dangerous clan of them all. However and on the bright side, the series does start with a very interesting plot, the book does not completely focus on the clan Toreador. Probably because the author wishes to introduce the series. I have read till Setite before I wrote the reviews, I think the book is good over all.


Clan Novel : Malkavian   May 14, 2000
 5 out of 7 found this review helpful

I am an avid reader of all things Vampire, I have read all the Clan novels as they are released. This latest entry into the series is the first one I felt was just not very good. I understand that Malkavians are all mad but this book is enough to drive you over the edge. The story line was not advanced in this piece except to kill off a few more characters. Perhaps I'm missing something but you could of told this story in two pages, the rest of the book was just a wordy jumble of confused prose written in the first person then switching over to dialog between an ego and his ulterego. I know this is fantasy but give me a break, this series has been so good what has happened? I hope the last four novels in the series are as good as the previous eight, I guess thirteen great novels was just too much to ask.