Sacrifices is the third book in the Lasombra novel trilogy by Bruce Baugh, starring the infamous Lucita of the titular clan, who undergoes a rather significant change toward the middle of the novel. There will be some spoilers in this review, though I've done my best to keep from spoiling the more important bits.
I should say right now that this is a novel for those familiar with the Kindred of the World of Darkness, especially the Sabbat and its clans. This is not a novel for those with just a passing knowledge of the WoD, as the book regularly makes reference to ideas and concepts unique to White Wolf's mythology without explaining them to the reader. Even those familiar with the WoD may find themselves a bit lost at one or two points if they have not kept up with all the revelations and events in the world of the Kindred, particularly involving the Abyss, but it's relatively easy to gloss over any confusion the lack of knowledge might cause.
The beginning of the book follows Lucita and her Sabbat allies as they deal once and for all with the group of Lasombra attempting to raise their clan's founder from the Abyss. I was impressed that, while not summing up all that occurred in the previous novels in the series, Baugh managed to impart enough knowledge of what has come before so that those jumping into the series with this book can still follow along.
The time leading up to the final battle with the summoners and the battle itself are a fun read, delivering equal doses of the intrigue that the Kindred are known for along with some entertaining battles. Several tidbits are set up for future novels involving the characters featured in this book, some minor, and some are of the "oh, #$$@@!" level of set-ups. I was especially impressed by the way Lucita's opponents are characterized by Baugh; at times they were far more interesting and seemed more real to me than Lucita and her allies.
Of course there are some flaws in this section of the book. At times the writing becomes far too wordy, and (I can't avoid the word) pretentious, and at one point I even laughed out loud as it was revealed a character with the most pretentious dialogue was not a Malkavian as I suspected, but instead a Lasombra. Fortunately this flaw confines itself to the parts involving the Abyss and the aforementioned crazy Lasombra. Still, it brought back uncomfortable memories of some of White Wolf's early Vampire releases.
Also a problem is a moment where a powerful vampire wipes out a large number of fellow bloodsuckers who are his allies (in the loosest sense of the word), and it's unclear whether he misinterpreted their allegiance, or if he knew something the reader did not. This is never explained, and unfortunately later in the book it seems as though this slaughter occurs so that the author can give Sabbat members another reason to mistrust Lucita (like they need it).
The conflict with the summoners is resolved about halfway through the book, after which a big change in Lucita's unlife occurs---those afraid of spoilers should just quit reading now.
You see, after a bit of soul-searching, Lucita decides that the only way to stay sane is for her to renounce her humanity, take up a Path of Enlightenment, and join the Sabbat 100%.
One problem that the novel suffers from is the way Lucita renounces her humanity and takes up the Path of Night. It's always been my understanding that to take up and progress even a small amount along a path took a great deal of time, just as it takes a vampire a great while and much effort to increase his humanity. In this novel the conversion to the Path of Night by Lucita reminded me of any number of movies, where a character gains complete mastery of an ideal or skill after a three-minute training montage accompanied by a cool soundtrack. I might even have not minded this fact, except that rather than just having a period of time pass and saying "Okay, she's on the path now" we actually follow her as she becomes a follower of the path. What we witness comes off less as an acceptance of the darkness in the world and in Lucita's soul, and more as the kind of near-mindless slaughter that I'd expect from a feral vampire than a Kindred finding a way of (un)life to devote their existence to.
To the author's credit, he does have a character later on in the book comment on the sudden changeover by Lucita and how she can't possible have true faith in her path given how recent her conversion has been, but still it bugged me.
After her conversion to the Path and her acceptance by the Sabbat, Lucita takes control of a city she has unfortunate ties to. She quickly finds out that her rule is not be accepted easily, either by those in the area she rules or those in the area around her sphere of influence. The novel covers her several-month reign, and I have to admit being entertained by this chapter, though probably not for the same reason most people will like it. I enjoyed seeing the mighty Lucita being taken down a peg despite her best efforts, and the depiction of her lack of success is well-written and makes sense. This section of the book also has the best unintentional reference to a Simpsons episode I've ever seen, but I'll leave that up to the reader to find.
I should point out that the novel suffers from several grammar problems. Most notably several times the wrong words are used at certain places, and a few times I was left scratching my head as I was uncertain who was the subject of conversation in certain sentences. This is a minor point, but after the near-perfect editing of the last two Vampire novels I read, these tidbits stuck out like sore thumbs to me.
If you can overlook the problems I mentioned you will probably find this book an entertaining read, even if this is the only book of the trilogy you pick up.
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