2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Blood Magic, September 11, 2005
This review is from: Tremere Dark Ages Clan Novel (Dark Ages Vampire, 11) (Paperback)
With Alexander destroyed in the Livonian campaign, Prince Jurgen can now pursue his own interests without the competition and intrigue that for which Alexander was noted. While much relieved he seizes an opportunity for revenge that will allow him to remove another thorn from his court, the Tremere mage Jervais.
It is easy to underestimate Jervais, who shows little taste for the hardships of the north of Europe. Even his masters in the enclave of Ceoris view him with doubt, but find the idea of having Jervais lead a punitive expedition back into the forests of Livonia attractive. Jurgen will get his revenge, the Tremere will strike back at Deverra, who deserted the Tremere to form her own band on the Northern Steppes. And just maybe, Jervais will undo himself in the process.
But Jervais is made of sterner and more devious stuff. His band of seven blood mages with the reinforcement of the Knights of the Black Cross keep surviving against the insurmountable odds of an alien magic in an alien land. Matching Deverra spell for spell shows an unexpected competence and an extraordinarily unpleasant personality.
Gervais is a closs tie with Alexander for most obnoxious vampire of this series. While this is the volume with the most action so far, The Tremere mages have no personality to hang on to. You keep hoping that Deverra and Qarakh will put Jervais down, but every time he manages to weasel through. It becomes easy to understand why the Tremere are as unpopular as they are - not even other Tremere like them.
I found the book a bit tedious. Deverra's appearances are brief, and looking over Jervais' shoulders too long makes the reader want to wash their hands. I was hoping that the increase in the use of magic would add interest, but it all comes down to who has the biggest fireball, and that only amuses for a short time. While Tremere doesn't become a didactic demonstration of vampire history, it also never quite lives up to its promise either.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
map needed, April 20, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Tremere Dark Ages Clan Novel (Dark Ages Vampire, 11) (Paperback)
Have a map of Eastern Europe handy when reading this book as it tends to jump around from locale to locale with few reference points. Why one wasn't included, as has been done with previous volumes in this series, is beyond me. The book is well-written but tends to leave out standard storytelling "glue" like "she walked over to" or "he went upstairs." If you're not careful, you'll often find yourself in a new paragraph unaware that the characters have done something, moved somewhere, or completed an interim action that drives what's happening now.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
so close, May 10, 2007
This review is from: Tremere Dark Ages Clan Novel (Dark Ages Vampire, 11) (Paperback)
We're almost there!! if we can just get through novels like this with the minimum of effort everything should be okay! I had a strange sence of forboding when i picked up this novel. I dont know why but tremere are one of my least faverate clans and i was hopeing that it wasnt going to be stiff and slow going. But it was! the first half of the book is rather slow and im bored but theres a few nice touches, like a sceane where the council of seven are still mortals and they are eating one of their prized apprentices for lunch cuz they have no other food...or maybe they just like the taste of human flesh. its easy to see now why they liked the idea of being vampires and feeding off of humans. Also you have a nice sceane with some gargoyles talking about the concept of master and servant and you see the first mutterings of the Gargoyle revolt. But other than that....not much happens till you get to Livonia where, truth be told, it does get better. I love the earth magic in this but in the end its not a great book.
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