Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9781565048270
ISBN number: 156504827X
Label: White Wolf Publishing
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 283
Printing Date: July 06, 2000
Publishing house: White Wolf Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 292873
Studio: White Wolf Publishing
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Rated by buyers 
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The whole series is very good in my opinion. Lots of twists. You can't put them down.
Rated by buyers 
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For some inexplicable reason, the Tremere, who should be one of the most interesting of clans, seem to always wind up embroiled in tedium. Part of this is the nature of the tribe itself - tightly organized, perfectionist, and ritual bound. To many of the mainstream clan members are more focused on didactic interests and true action. Such is Johnston Foley, Regent Secundus or the Five Boroughs Chantry. He is irritating, vindictive, and foolish enough to assay things without consultation. A burden to his Primus, Aisling Sturbridge.
Foley's future is neither mysterious not unwelcome, and it falls to Aisling to seek the truth of it. Unfortunately author Eric Griffen allows the story to become distracted by its own details. Instead of a fully satisfying conclusion with are greeted by several counterplots that can only increase the number of question. This close to the end of the series one has to wonder if there ever really will be a conclusion.
The Tremere of much of their power as thaumaturges to the practice if diablerie - drinking the blood of more ancient undead. This makes others wary of them, and has convinced the Assamites to hunt them out as abominations. As a result a Tremere is always in danger when outside the chantry. In this case though the danger is from within, and Aisling is distracted by the challenges of her own past.
If only Griffen had allowed himself to craft a focused plot instead of indulged himself in an orgy of details that do not further the story. There are Clan books for that sort of thing, and a fair number of peripheral novels that delve into the Tremere (see the Victorian Vampire series, among others. This book comes excruciatingly close to being a good novel only to render itself into a useful textbook. Sometimes I think that the Eye of Hazimel gets to have all the fun.
Rated by buyers 
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I was never a fan of the Tremere. All that blood magic and stuff; it just caught me as boring. Nevertheless, I have, in the past, enjoyed reading about the Tremere. The history of that clan, along with the unique discipline of Thaumaturgy (well, if you don't count Assamite Sorcery, Setite Sorcery, Koldunic Sorcery, or any of the other "magical" disciplines), usually made the Tremere (and the material they appeared in) at least worth a look. I was disappointed, then, after reading this book. To be blunt; it's not well written. Sometimes, when you're reading it, you'll wonder just what is going on, especially when one of the characters is engaging in an otherwise normal activity, then suddenly is transported to a place "in the ocean". I mean, it was distracting enough to want to just put the book down and quit reading it. Not only that, but none of the main concepts of the book were explained well enough. The book will give you a little bit of information, but then not expand on just what that information means. A good example of this would be when Aisling learned that Vitel knew a Tremere named Dorfman. What WAS the significance of this? Don't presume that we already know -- at least tell us; it really wouldn't take that much more work, after all.
These are a few more examples:
What exactly is "The Dragon's Graveyard"? And who or what is "The Dragon"? I read the Transylvania Chronicles and I heard that "The Dragon" was Salout, but he isn't in New York City, right? The main Anteduvilian that was in NYC was Tzimisce, so is "The Dragon's Graveyard" just where Tzimisce rests?
I know this was a main part of the book but I still can't understand -- what is "the well"? Is it just something in the Tremere blood that allows them to use "magic" disciplines? Is it something that allows them to retreat inward and escape from the outer world? And, for God's sake, WHO are the Children? Souls of those that were killed? But why would they be inside of Aisling's well? Didn't make sense to me.
Another thing; was Maeve actually Aisling's mortal child, or just a metaphor for Aisling's "new life"? Because that's the only thing I could come up with after reading how Eva was "comsumed utterly" by the light -- whatever that light was.
Why did the Tremere all think that Aaron was a hero for allowing Foley to be killed? And why did Anwar (the Assamite who did the deed) keep refering to him as "Aaron-light bringer"?
Also, I would like to point out a typo. On page 258, it says, "Jacqueline let Sturbridge's hand drop." By this point, Jacqueline was ALREADY DEAD, and not only that, it was Eva and Sturbridge who were having a conversation; Jacqueline was not even in the conversation. The book was also never kind enough to tell us exactly WHY Jacqueline died, or who was responsible for the deed (after all, Kindred are immortal; if they die it's probably because they were murdered).
Lastly, what was the point of the stories that Talbott kept telling? They DID NOT have ANY relevance to the story at all! I didn't even know who the main character in those stories was, much less what they were supposed to be telling.
Overall, you will read this book only if you have to. It IS part of the series, therefore you may have to read it to understand a little bit more. In other words, to get you ready for book 13. Nonetheless, you will not enjoy reading it; and when you are done you will probably not know any more than you did before you started reading it; so there's really no reason to even spend six dollars on this.
Rated by buyers -
Although hard to believe a book in the series could be worse then Malkavian, this takes the trophy. I've never seen an author try to use so many words to discribe the irrelevant. The chantry seems to be run like a one room school house, complete with crying children and story hour. Trying to pull some meaning from the events is further confused from the chapters needlessly jumping back and forth in the story line. This is the single worst book I've read and is greatly over-rated at one star.
Rated by buyers -
I wish you could enter 0 stars! This book was terrible! It has nothing to do with vampires, blood drinking, intrigue...! The best chapter in the book you already got to read in a previous book. The vampires in this book acted nothing like vampires (they cried like babies because they hated all the deceit surrounding them?). If it were not for the cover I would't even believe it was the same series. I spent my time reading the ten previous books and am terribly disappointed. "Malkavian" was bad, but compared to this book it should be an american classic! I have not yet read the last book, I hope Fleming doesn't let me down. I hope this helps someone. Don't even read this one, you don't have to.
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