Book of Lost Houses: The Second Coming

Rating:
Summary: Winter's Here!!!
Review: At last, the juicy tidbits about what happened in Arcadia, the Exile and the very unseelie folks who come back to the Tellurian through in the second Resurgence. Not to be missed by St's wishing to spice things a bit for politically minded Changeling players...great book, and a reminder to WW... keep this level up and you'll keep us as loyal customers...

Rating:
Summary: A Great Changeling Supplement
Review: The Book of Lost Houses is a supplement for Changeling the Dreaming, one of White Wolfs roleplaying games.

Overall I found Book of Lost Houses an excellent read, it more than made up for the disappointment of War In Concordia (a book that I personally loathed). It is to the same high standards of the other Houses books, in fact more so since there wasn't any single house that I would not wish to play.

The gist of the book is the remaining Arcadian Sidhe Houses have returned to the Autumn realm, their motives for doing so and details on each house is included within the pages. Five houses in total, Beaumayn, (French) Aesin, (Scandanavian) Daireann, (Celtic) Varich (Russian) and Scathach (Celtic). There's new merits and flaws, details on the house birthrights and various oaths among the pages as well as a complete new fighting ability for the Scathach.

House Beaumayn are French in origin, and the one remaining seelie house (the other houses listed here save for the Scathach are unseelie) all members have gifts of prophecy, imprisoned in Arcadia for crimes by some of their house, finally they have been released. Dreadfully seelie at times (by no means assume seelie means 'good') some of the members have very interesting views on the use of cold iron. They were in the words of another changeling player, written the way House Liam should have been. They're undoubtedly the best house in the book.

Aesin are Scandinavian and being written by someone from that area of the world we can hope that the information has a few grains of truth to it. They're certainly not the looting Vikings I imagined we'd be getting (thankfully). Descended from the Nordic gods, with strong ties to nature, both genders have their own separate roles to play.

The Daireann are yet another group of celtic warriors (as if we needed anymore), they struck me as the most bland of the houses, save for small section that turn to poisoning instead of blades.

The Varich are Russian, have ties with the inanimae and seem rather upright and proper, with an interest in patterns of one sort or another, given enough time they can use this to their benefit, be it in combat or otherwise.

Scathach (as you might remember from Nobles: The Shining Host) have finally been made playable, further details given into their house flaw and boon, as well as (thankfully) a more detailed description between how the Scathach differ from other sidhe. Now they're the second best house in the book. For those unaware the Scathach are yet more Celtic warriors, the one Sidhe House to have remained behind and undergone the changeling way, no longer truly sidhe they share souls with mortals like the commoners do. Though, as the book reveals, not all of the Scathach remained behind after all. They were powered down a lot from their original incarnation I think and portrayed in such a way that I might actually play one, which is saying a lot because before they were my second least favourite house.

My one main criticism of the book is the art, which I personally did not like and I did not think did the sidhe any justice at all. A lot of it seemed like doodles in the margins and made me long for the days of coloured pages and where the true fantasy feel came through in the pictures. However we buy the book for the content not the pretty pictures I hope.

I also believe that the houses could have been given more space, and some of the text has been truncated from the Scathach section ...

If you've read the other house books and liked them then this one is definitely a must, ditto for if you're keeping up on the metaplot. If you plan to run a chronicle with Sidhe in it, I'd definitely recommend this book too. With houses from diverse cultures it's an enjoyable read and would make a great addition to any Changeling Collection.

Four stars; despite the bad art and the missing content I still feel there's a lot of good information in here. The merits and flaws, oaths, and house boons/frailties and the scathach combat techniques and treasures, are worth it alone and throw in all the background information and you've got a book that's one of the best Changeling releases ever.

Rating:
Summary: The Lighter Side of the World of Darkness
Review: The consummate daydreamers... White Wolf's Changelings are complex creatures who exist in a world seemingly designed to destroy them. Their fragility makes them touching while their ferocity makes them intriguing. And The Book of Lost Houses only furthers the mystique of these complex creatures: Beautiful, sad, horrific, lascivious, mirthful, stunning, trapped. If the standard books just aren't enough for you - if questions keep bubbling to the surface the more you read and play these whimsical creatures - then The Book of Lost Houses might just be what you're looking for. Questions you may not even have had are answered herein, and it's all presented in such a way as to make it an enjoyable read. I cannot recommend beginning your Changeling experience with this book (try Changeling: The Dreaming, instead), but this is a must for those who are already familiar with The Dreaming.