Tzimisce

As you may already know conveying cruelty, malignant insight, torture methods and other Tzimisce characteristics is quite hard to do in a chronicle, but this book does such things with style: the characters are awesome, the story is balanced and for those with a Sabbat agenda the book reveals the ''I'm your best friend but I still have the right to flesh-craft you whenever I want'' relationship between the Tzimisce and Lasombra. A must have for those who want to read something ''different''.

If you read this book expecting that Sascha Vykos is going to be the main character, you may be disappointed. Vykos sort of is, but the book isn't really strongly focused on any particular character. It's a panoramic look at the entire Sabbat campaign in the southeast. It shifts focus between several different characters and moves quickly between many different episodes and subplots. Vykos is clearly a standout and very well drawn (as female rather than androgynous) but here the supporting cast has a very expanded role.Because of its broad focus, this book also isn't really about any particular Sabbat clan. In its large cast of characters, I counted 8 named Tzimisce to 6 named Lasombra (plus one important ductus whose clan apparently isn't indicated.) The Tzimisce do some graphically sick stuff with their vicissitude discipline but a Lasombra ductus does some equally disturbing things with the help of obtenebration. Get the idea? The balance is slightly tilted toward Vykos and the Tzimisce but the book really deals with the whole Sabbat and its methods.Still, not surprisingly, it does a somewhat better job of depicting the Tzimisce. For example, it captures the rivalries between the Tzimisce and the Lasombra well but misses little things like just how the Lasombra (especially those who work with Cardinal Moncada) tend to regard Catholicism. There's also a grotesque carnival atmosphere to the proceedings that is pure Tzimisce. This book is not, as they say, suited for younger or more sensitive readers. It is, however, both good source material for the game and, despite its scattered focus, an entertaining story in itself especially for those who enjoy the Sabbat. It establishes fascinating villians and anti-heros for the series. (The more conventionally heroic characters don't show up until later books.) Although it stresses the larger campaign over individual characters, it's also early enough in the series that you should be able to follow it without reading what came before. (Incidents from TOREADOR are retold from other points of view here, though, and you'll miss that fun if you haven't read it.)

I have only read up to the Setite clan book and honestly I still think this book is the best, maybe by a small margin but the cruelty displayed by the clan and the way it functions gives you a live feeling for the clan. Sadly the book is short but hey the series is a long one.

This is the first of the Clan Novel series I read, and at first I wasnt sure if I was going to like it or not. All my doubts desolved mere moments after I began reading it. The characters are most entertaining, and they seemed to be good examples of the clans and/or factions they represented of the many there were. She was an exelent example of the Tzimisce mind-set (except for her political manuverings). She actually made me sick to my stomach at one point, which is NOT something that happens to me (I watch shows on Canabalism, gore movies, and the like over dinner frequently). All in all, the only things that dissapointed me were the ending (to an extent, anyway) and the fact that the series will be contenued by different authors (something that has ruined many a good series of books). But dispite it all, I would highly recomend this book, to any who are in to the World Of Darkness role playing games, or anyone who would be interested in a story which involves it. One thing, though, is that the author assumes that the reader will have at least a minimal understanding of the World Of Darkness, and he only offers minimal explainations of the different clans, factions, and powers (disciplines) of the Kindred; Not to say that you couldnt follow the plot without said knoledge, just that it would help to know something before you read it

THOSE THAT ENJOY THESE CLAN BOOKS WILL LIKE THIS ONE. THERE IS A DEFINITE, WELL-WRITTEN STORYLINE AND A HIDDEN PLOT TO BE UNCOVERED LATER. I ENJOYED THIS BOOK TREMENDOUSLY.