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Clan Novel: Ventrue

Clan Novel: Ventrue

List Price: $5.99
Your Price: $5.39
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good Stand alone Novel, HORRIBLE as series Big Finish
Review: The one star is my review of the clan novel series as a whole first of all.

Gherbod Fleming is a great Author, and his novels in the series are by far the best, and nosferatu is a good book, though I bought these books thinking that they were a SET, and I expected some sort of closure after this Thirteen book "Epic", and I was sorely dissapointed.

The fact that they left open so many loose ends in itself earns a one star rating, showing again white wolf's eagerness to get it's hand in my pocket yet unwillingness to write a decent, even PARTIALLY fulfilling Clan novel set. As an avid fan of Vtm it saddens me that they can't tie up even MOST of the loose ends they created over the span of 13 books, and the very anticlimactic (And I barely can even call it that)ending and typical "See what happens in our new products" closure left me feeling robbed and cheated. This set is nothing more than a nice shiny bag of hype with no substance, a few good stand alone novels, but also hundreds of pages of wasted space, where they introduced players who had no further roles in the story when they could instead be filling at least some of the craters in the "Plot". And now they need more money, and are releasing the clan novel anthology, along with a Tremere AND Lasombra Trilogy. Give me a break white wolf, you can't finish a story in 13 books, so instead of apologising like you should the company instead drags it on through more wallet eating novels that will be equally cryptic, uncomplete and dolled up. Don't listen to the hype, and don't expect closure. Take the money and buy the trilogy of the blood curse (Fleming did that too, and even though the third book dropped the ball a bit it's still a very good series and annihilates this putrid excuse for a clan novel series "Epic").

When I read "The outcome of these novels will effect everyone in the world of Darkness", I expect something more than a commercial for further white wolf garbage.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Guess you have to like Gangrel.
Review: The third in the clan novel series, this book does not even come close to being as good as the first two books in the series, Toreador and Tzimisce. It does center much more so around one vampire than the first two books, the Gangrel Ramona. She is trying to figure out who she is and what she has become.

The main plot of the series, with the Eye of Hazimel, continues to develop. Leopold, the Torry, has gone completely insane. Other elements of the New York vampires are showing up, namely the Tremere.

I didn't like this novel nearly as much as the first two. Maybe Ramona will develop as the novels progress, but for now, I could care less to read anymore about her. WHERE IS SASHA? Now she was interesting!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Setting Up The Middle Game
Review: The Ventrue are the politicians of the Camarilla. They can be glib, polite, and socially conscious, by never forget that down deep it is power, and the glory that attends it that draws them to the flame. Many have a considerable talent for this and have become the primogens and princes of vampire establishments. They are not, characteristically, experimenters or iconoclasts. They are committed to the laws of the Camarilla and the increase of their personal power. They are stodgy - so much so that even Fleming, who is a traditionally oriented writer, can't resist some humor at their expense.

Jan Pieterzoon is the novel's central character, come to Baltimore to help the Camarilla reeling form the attack of the Sabbat in Atlanta find a functional defense before US vampires fall into complete lawlessness. Powerful in his own right and scion of the Ventrue justicar Pieterzoon is best at keeping the panic within limits and keeping the Camarilla from dissolving.

He is balanced by Victoria Ash, Toreador, who will continue to play a major part in these novels. She is a vampire who uses her own seductiveness to control at a subtler level than Pieterzoon, who is a 'bottom line' sort of vampire. And lurking in the background is Colchester, a Nosferatu, and the character who persistently steal the show. Flemings characters are usually strong, and Clan Venture is no exception.

This is not a heavily plotted book. The focus is on the Camarilla's efforts to regroup after the Sabbat uprising and is more of a panarama of tidbits that move the larger picture along. Most of the action serves for character development and the setting of the themes to come, but there is nothing like a Camarilla turn around, and a great deal of breast beating by the losing side.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gangrel are Hard Core
Review: This book defines it well. Goes into what it takes to become a Gangrel. Excellent book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very nice
Review: This book finally gives this clan justice. Not only do you get the feel of what it is like to see the World of Darkness from an outsider's point of view (and that is what the Gangrel are), but it deals with the soul. The other books, while good, focused so much on power that it left me asking for more. This book had emotion, and all the other series books I have read make me cheer for Gherbod, the best author yet in the series!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More an extended chapter than a book
Review: This book is more of a transitional interlude than a stand alone story. It shows results of things that happened in previous books and sets up things that will happen in later books. Specifically, it deals with the Camarilla trying to regroup and manage the refugee situation in Baltimore after the successful Sabbat seiges in Atlanta and D. C. They have a lot of meetings, discuss a lot of strategy, scheme and manipulate. It has a much more panoramic approach to its story than Fleming's other contribution to the series CLAN NOVEL: GANGREL. Although these proceedings are very well presented with a lot of fine, small details, it probably will not hold your interest well if you are not following the whole series.

Unless, that is, you are really interested in watching the Ventrue at work.

What saves the book and makes it more than a manditory exercise is Fleming's ability to develope his Ventrue characters and the intrigues involving them- much of it also involving the seductive Victoria Ash and Nosferatu who play all sides against each other. Although he's giving you the big picture of the Camarilla's situation, Fleming's lens is not so wide that the reader can't get involved in the dealings of two very important Ventrue. First there is the still all too human Camarilla star strategist, Jan Pieterzoon. (Jan's sire is Hardestadt, one of the Camarilla's legendary founders. He appears, too.) Then there is Garlotte, the smarmy Prince of Baltimore, a classic pompous Ventrue bully with a dysfunctional brood of childer apparently sired simply to feed his ego. And just so that virtuous Jan doesn't get to be too much of a white knight, Fleming does some horribly twisted things with the Ventue prey exclusion.

As in GANGREL, Fleming also doesn't shrink from showing the more harsh realities of vampiric existence- whether it's the issues raised by feeding or the cruelties involved in the inforcement of the Masquerade. Even though the book may not have much of a plot on its own, the subplots are dark gems and really flesh out the Ventrue and the special responsibities they feel they carry.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More an extended chapter than a book
Review: This book is more of a transitional interlude than a stand alone story. It shows results of things that happened in previous books and sets up things that will happen in later books. Specifically, it deals with the Camarilla trying to regroup and manage the refugee situation in Baltimore after the successful Sabbat seiges in Atlanta and D. C. They have a lot of meetings, discuss a lot of strategy, scheme and manipulate. It has a much more panoramic approach to its story than Fleming's other contribution to the series CLAN NOVEL: GANGREL. Although these proceedings are very well presented with a lot of fine, small details, it probably will not hold your interest well if you are not following the whole series.

Unless, that is, you are really interested in watching the Ventrue at work.

What saves the book and makes it more than a manditory exercise is Fleming's ability to develope his Ventrue characters and the intrigues involving them- much of it also involving the seductive Victoria Ash and Nosferatu who play all sides against each other. Although he's giving you the big picture of the Camarilla's situation, Fleming's lens is not so wide that the reader can't get involved in the dealings of two very important Ventrue. First there is the still all too human Camarilla star strategist, Jan Pieterzoon. (Jan's sire is Hardestadt, one of the Camarilla's legendary founders. He appears, too.) Then there is Garlotte, the smarmy Prince of Baltimore, a classic pompous Ventrue bully with a dysfunctional brood of childer apparently sired simply to feed his ego. And just so that virtuous Jan doesn't get to be too much of a white knight, Fleming does some horribly twisted things with the Ventue prey exclusion.

As in GANGREL, Fleming also doesn't shrink from showing the more harsh realities of vampiric existence- whether it's the issues raised by feeding or the cruelties involved in the inforcement of the Masquerade. Even though the book may not have much of a plot on its own, the subplots are dark gems and really flesh out the Ventrue and the special responsibities they feel they carry.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good but not Great
Review: This book showed Gangrel society like I always imagined it to be. I liked the character of Romona, but I thought that it didn't show why she had such a connection with Zhavon. The fight scene with Leopold was detailed and exciting, albeit a tad cheesy. All in all the book was good, but not as good as Fleming in the Blood Curse Trilogy.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Poor Book in a Great Series
Review: This book was dreadful. Not only were the main characters a bunch of simpering idiots, but the whole book lacked plot. Where was the cohesion from Books 1+2? Leopold sucks now as well

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Assamite
Review: This is a fantastic book and a true credit to the entire clan novels. The entire series gives a great different viewpoint of vampires and this book does a great job of getting into the mind of one of those vampires. The only book at this time better in the series if number 4 Seitte. It also has a fantastic ability to put the reader into the story as a participate and not just as a reader. Both are a must read.


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