| Title | : | Slave Ring (Clan Brujah Trilogy, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1588468143 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781588468147 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 285 |
| Publication | : | First published April 28, 2003 |
Immortal vampires lurk in the nights of the modern world, hidden from the eyes of mortals by an elaborate masquerade and the traditions of their sect, the Camarilla. But for every blood-drinker towing the line, six others forget their place and revel in the power of undeath. Heretics and anarchs press in on every side, and the whole of undead society teeters on the edge of collapse.
Standing in the way of this chaos is the strong arm of the Camarilla, Theo Bell, archon, enforcer and executioner among the undead. He is quick on the draw, potent in the blood, and those who'd challenge the traditions have reason to fear him.
But Theo has his own problems. In the Midwest, he discovers evidence of a new breed of slavery in which mortal criminals and vampiric degenerates collect human specimens to suit particular tastes. Bound by his own sense of honor, and obligations going back to the Victorian Age, Theo begins a hunt that will ultimately shake the foundations of the Camarilla itself—and may cost him his own freedom.
Slave Ring (Clan Brujah Trilogy, #1) Reviews
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DON'T YOU JUDGE ME
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Oh boy, OH BOY, this was something else, i had read some of the world of darkness books before because i really liked the politics and the different clans and stuff, but they were usually lacking the more supernatural side of things like the powers, but this one, oh this one, this have everything the characters are great Theophilos Motherfucking Bell is a badass and the secondary characters are awesome as well Itio being my favorite, the girl was also very well written she is what i would say is a strong female character, but this book has some stuff that may irk some people, because of the past of the main character that was a slave and some parts that are set in the 1850 that has people using racist language against him and there is metion of rape but just mention it never goes out of the way to describe it, there is some torture as well, but then again this a vampire book it is suppose to have some of these darker themes, and the plot runs around a slavery scheme between kindred and humans, again might irk some people, but for me this can be easily looked aside for the amazing writing and characters this is a 5 stars.
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THE SLAVE RING by Tim Pedopulos is the first book of the CLAN NOVEL TRILOGY: BRUJAH: series. This is one of three trilogies that serve as loose sequels to the CLAN Novel series from 1999. These were the last books to be released before the TIME OF JUDGEMENT series ended the Old World of Darkness until its reboot. The series stars Theo Bell, archon of the Camarilla, and the setting's rough equivalent to Blade.
The premise for this volume is Theo Bell has been assigned to a seemingly routine mission in Minneapolis: eliminate a rogue vampire guilty of several murders. During the process, he encounters a desperate father out to rescue his twin teenage daughters by any means necessary. Theo Bell finds himself fangs deep in a conspiracy to traffic human beings across the glove to Kindred masters.
I have a few issues with this premise, such as the fact that I'm pretty sure that vampires are almost axiomatically probably involved in human trafficking to begin with. Indeed, one of the earliest adventure hooks for the original FORGED IN STEEL setting was the player characters having to stop slave trafficking through Gary, Indiana. Even so, I accept that Theo Bell is the sort of vampire who has a less than positive reaction to finding vampires involved in the slave trade due to his past as a survivor of the Antebellum South.
Theo proceeds to rescue one of the twins from the slavers but not before they end up Embraced as a member of Clan Brujah themselves. A naive newcomer sidekick is a fairly effective means of humanizing a cold blooded butt kicker like Theo as Wolverine and Kitty Pryde or Joel and Ellie prove. Delphine is new to the vampire business and Theo ends up serving as her substitute sire while he tries to negotiate for her survival despite her Embrace being a violation of the Traditions.
There's a lot to like in this book and part of why it works is Theo is capable of great evil but he's mostly an honorable decent man that has forgotten how to be such. Despite its incredibly dark subject matter, it is considerably lighter than a lot of VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE books and it is very easy to root for Theo Bell given the people he's up against. The book also benefits from the flashbacks to Theo dealing with his time in the British Empire, which is much more interesting to examine than his time among the Proto-Confederacy.
Most of the book is about Theo and Delphine with the other vampire characters being somewhat stock versions of the same sorts of characters we've seen for many years prior. The scheming Tremere Primogen, the aloof but corrupt Prince, and the establishment figures who don't care about Theo's current case. That doesn't mean they're not entertaining, though, and there's quite a few places where the story goes in odd directions. Like when Theo's attack on a slaver base is interrupted by a grieving father with a bunch of C4.
There's some very unfortunate bits in the book like the fact Theo undergoes sexual assault from a woman who doesn't take no for an answer and can have him killed in the 19th century. Also, allusions to the kind of treatment that human trafficking victims suffer to break their spirits. This is, however, really just TAKEN with vampires and I am all there for that. It is a solid and entertaining book and I'm interested in picking up the remaining volumes of the series. -
Please note this review is based on the entirety of vampire fiction published by White Wolf. Most of it is ugh RPG fiction. Take it as it is. The Clan Brujah trilogy, however, is far more artful than the rest. Following Archon Theo Bell, who appears in previous books, the story tracks his past with a conspiracy involving humans and vampires connected with human trafficking towards infernal rites. Far more action and suspense in this one though certain characters are developed in an unclear fashion, notably the twins. It's good to note previous books in the series are largely all interconnected in some way though there's no necessity in reading the rest. In comparison to what else White Wolf released prior, this book, and its sequels, are a breath of fresh air.
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The only interesting parts were the 2 or 3 chapters flashing back to Theo Bell's origins in Victorian era London. The rest of the book was a mix of game session novelisation and some pretty cringey rescue-the-girl questing. A lot of the conversation and dialogue, at least in the contemporary setting, didn't feel natural, i.e. this is not how people normally talk in a given situation, and is mainly used to serve plot exposition or reveal information about a location or POI. Overall, rather functional and bland storytelling. I guess you can only expect so much from someone who wrote it in their early-30s.
