Customer Reviews

Gehenna: The Final Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read most (if not all) of the narrative fiction produced for the Vampire line and this is another well-written addition to my collection.

Cainite society begins to unravel as elders grow weak and begin to feed on neonates, while thin-bloods rise to power in cities once held by the Sabbat and Camarilla. Ancient powers awaken and stalk the night, leaving behind piles of dust and stories of a scourging desert wind and a roaming darkness from the Abyss.

Certain signature characters from previous stories are brought back to face the coming Apocalypse together. Beckett, Theo Bell, Lucita, and even Anatole figure prominently throughout the book. Other notable characters are given cameos, which help to further the plot and add a bit of flavour. The rise of the Thin-bloods is interesting, in that they provide hope that there could possibly be a remnant that survives Gehenna to rebuild from the ashes of the old. This is something spoken of by Beckett, to Jenna Cross, the Last Daughter - leader of the Thinbloods.

There is one character that is introduced early in the story, who is unfamiliar, but ultimately someone very important. The process of this discovery is executed well, so it isn't until you're close to the end that the realization hits you between the eyes!

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers, in that I too, wish the story could've been expanded on and potentially stretched out into a trilogy or series (like the Eastcoast Camarilla/Sabbat War).

I recently finished reading the Brujah Trilogy, which appeared to be a prelude to this book - so I half expected to see some of the plotline and characters from the end of that story to carry over to this one - but that did not happen. It left at least ONE question left unanswered for me. That isn't necessarily bad.

Certain characters from other Gehenna-Prophecy novels were noticeably absent here too. The Nosferatu, Kli Kodesh would've been an interesting character to have at end. The Cappadocian Archmage, Lameth would've been another enjoyable tie-in as well.

Anyhow, like I've often said before about these novels - the well-written stories can easily be taken out of the "vampire" context and dropped in the middle of a mundane, blunted world of normalcy and still pack just as much relevancy and interest. This is one of those stories. In truth, it's a collection of numerous short stories, all bound within the larger story about a mythical individual who travels in the company of one of his own descendants and learns that there are still redeemable qualities within his line and there is still more to learn and live through.

I loved this book. The action is exciting, the characterizations are engaging and plausible, and the air of tragedy and of struggle for some final meaning is palpable. The story here fully captures Vampires' great themes of individuals caught in schemes altogether beyond their control, attempting to justify an existence anchored in ancient evil and requiring fresh harm to the world every time they feed, and no longer tolerated by the God whose anger made them in the first place. I finished the last section profoundly moved, just as I'd hoped for.

The overall story of Gehenna is beyond the scope of any novel. That's what the game book is for. What fiction can do, and what this book does particularly well, is show what the big picture means to selected individuals. The vignettes give us a good compact sense of Gehenna's meaning to a wide range of Vampire characters, and then the main story targets in with the depth necessary to do justice to an individual's terminal struggle.

This is an altogether elegant and suitable last act, and I highly recommend it.

This novelization of the end of White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade was far better than I expected and I must say I put the book down with a "wow" on my lips. Mr. Marmell combined characters we know and love, with seat-of-your-pants action, to provide a gripping and moving story of The End. I'm almost tempted to buy the other two books in the series, despite my only being a VTM fan....
The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that it did not provide what everybody wants/expects at "end of the world" scenarios: Answers. Come on, if White Wolf and its crew are the true "gods" of this world they made, they could at least provide us some answers to the myths and half-truths they've hinted at over the years. Yes, the book allows us a taste of Caine, gives us at least one (possibly two) Antedeluvians, and hints at a couple more, but that's it. Just crumbs. I personally wanted to know just which Antedeluvians were "real" and which were myths. What about the Second Generation of Caine? Who officially sired which clan, who's behind the Jyhad, what caused Caine to curse his childer, and so on (and, yes, I'm terribly PO'd over the "official" answer concerning the truth about the Antedeluvians given in Vampire: Gehenna). I would've preferred just a tad more clarification...but still a damn fine story.

I, too, have read every White Wolf novel published since 1996 (since 1994, truth be told), and I was positively blown away by Gehenna, the Final Night -- which was written, I might add, by MR. Ari Marmell. It satisfies on so many levels, I hardly know where to begin. Not only does it wrap up the nearly 13-year story arc established in the roleplaying game, but it also gives some much-needed insight into the motives and methods of some of the line's most enduring signature characters in these, the final nights. As a piece of gaming fiction, Gehenna, the Final Night is superlative. As a first novel, it's a remarkable achievement. Even those whose taste for the game runs tepid are sure to get a thrill out of this wonderful story.

I just finished reading Gehenna. This is the first Vampire novel I've actually read. Having read as much as I can about the metaplot from the roleplaying books, I was a bit disappointed in the ending.

Like a previous reviewer, I wanted more questions answered. I wanted concrete answers to all of the "myths" about kindred society.

That doesn't take away from the fact the author, in my opinion, did a great job with writing the novel. The descriptions he used, especially describing the beast and how it reacted to stressful situations, was great.

First, I try to use a realistic rating system. Three stars is not bad it is average. If every book gets five stars, then there is no constructive rating.

I gave this book three stars because the writing is adequate and the story is engaging ... to a point. The author may have been given too momentous of a task. To handle all of Gehenna in one novel is ridiculous. Each clan deserves its own novel. Many of the characters that we have read about over the years are not even mentioned in this book. And some of the big ones who are mentioned are little more than foot notes (see Jan Pieterzoon and Victoria Ash). Even if we accept the premise that this is the end of the world and that all of these vampires are propably dead, it would be nice to read about their final deaths and more importantly how each character reacted to their fate. Did they accept their fate with grace, disdain, despair etc. ?

Finally, though the book tries to give a glimpse as to how the end of the world begins and more importantly the final truth about being a vampire, the length of the novel prohibits the writer from ever generating enough momentum to draw the reader into caring about the characters. Even the final revelation seems to be a little lackluster and succinct. I would have preferred to have waited another year or so and had more material to digest with an in depth look at those characters who have captured the imagination in former WOD books.

This first volume of the "Time of Judgment" is an interesting book about the World of Darkness. If it depicted a ordinary story, would be very good. However, it is about Gehenna and the book fails to accomplish a true end-of-the-world story. Some characters are interesting and some are clichés. Berkett, for instance, uses only Protean, Animalism and Fortitude, as a good Gangrel archetype would. Since he is an elder (with some degree of Thaumaturgy, to say the least), he should have something else. Anyway, he is a nice "Indiana Jones" and the most in-depth character. Theo Bell, Lucita, Fatima, Haderstad and others are simply shallow archetypes of their clans. Kapaneus should be a nice fourth generation, maybe an antedilluvian, if well explained. But Caim... disappointing. Why tame with so much power if there is not a good explanation? Come on, if that cave was sealed by Caim, Beckett could summon a Nexus Crawler and nothing would happen. Not even in the final night itself, Red Star or no Red Star.

Okulos is a good choice to the villain and the final explanations worked very well. I also liked the Assamite Antedilluvian (provided he was the "killing wind"). This is how it should be: he is so powerful that no one could even see him, no matter what elder status. However, most of the battles were not so good, particularly when the Lasombra Antedilluvian was involved. An interesting exception was Becket vs Assamites in Hungary.

All things considered, it is a worth reading volume, it provides for hours of entertainment, but it is not up to the mammoth task of depicting the World of Darkness final night.

First things first, this is my first exposure to Vampire: the Masquerade (VtM), so if you don't want a noob's opinion skip this review. On the other hand I've been reading fantasy for about 15 years; I just happened to see this particular book in a used book store and grabbed it. In a way I'm sorry since it's basically the beginning of a re-birth of the VtM world, and I never experienced that world before this (plus now I know the fate of many characters whom I suspect are regulars in the world).

At any rate, this book was surprisingly well written. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to bad writing, but Marmell was able to weave a tale that kept me truly interested. The main character (Beckett) was a sort of morally grey character that I genuinely liked. None of the characters were over the top, the dialogue flowed, I was never left wondering what in the nine hells the author was talking about - in short, this book avoided all of the major problems I've run into in other similar books. The plot was fast-paced and jumped around a lot, but the layout of the book made it fluid and easy to follow.

All in all I really enjoyed this book and can't think of anything bad to say about it (which is in itself a testament to its quality). I simply wish I had read some other stuff in the VtM world first.

*EDIT*
Almost 3 years later to the day I just finished re-reading this book after having read all 13 clan novels, the Red Death trilogy, the Grail trilogy and the Blood Curse trilogy. I feel now that Ari is either tied with Fleming as the most talented writer in the V:tM world, or even slightly better. Another reviewer was correct to point out that Gehenna is waaaay too big a topic to tackle in a single book, but Ari did a stand-up job, even weaving in several sub-plots that enhanced rather than detracted from the main story.

My impression of the V:tM novels overall is that World of Darkness doesn't particularly care about this arm of its products, as most of the books are mediocre to poor; I'm thinking particularly about the Tremere clan novel and the Red Death trilogy, but probably more than half of the clan novels were a disjointed mess. This author should be given far more assignments in the new RPG novel world, if they bother to expand it beyond the few novels that currently exist.

I love this book, mostly because I love the slick, clever characteristics Marmell applies to the characters. In truth, this is the first V:tM novel I've read, being a fan of the game. Anyhow, the story and its end were satisfying and the plot shifts were less-than-subtle which also helped in alot of the action scenes. The one thing that itched at the back of my mind was how much Marmell alludes to the fact that they're vampires, comparing them more than once in a chapter to the mortals. I'm not going to make examples and it was the VERY least of problems I found in the book. Great book, plot, characters, and action sequences. A must-read for those who love the Dark Fantasy genre or players of V:tM or ToJ!

I think this book will satisfy the curious who are fans of White Wolf's novel series. Who survives, who doesn't, what's left? I really enjoyed the directions that Ari Marmell took familiar characters, though it left me asking about other individual who were sadly, not mentioned. Though it was somewhat predictable, "Gehenna, The Final Night" was a very entertaining read and fun to curl up with on a cold winter night.