The first two things to note about this book are that it's the 4th in the series of tribe novels, and that, like others, it's 2 novellas in 1 book. In the series, the story lines are interconnected and follow through the books, but the books are written by different authors.
The next 2 points to make are related to the book's context. The first novella: Bone Gnawers is readable without having read any of the earlier 3 books in the Tribe Novels series. The second novella may leave you questioning a few things if you haven't read The Silver Crown, by Bill Bridges. Both novellas, however, would probably leave a reader completely lost if they have no familiarity with the game. I expect the target audience are those with experience in the World of Darkness.
The text is in a clear font. The pages are fine. As for the artwork, I've always felt the Wizards of the Coast artwork, be it for Vampire the Masquerade, or Werewolf the Apocalypse, is pretty cheesy. I wasn't proven wrong by the artwork here, as it's the same as all the rest. There is no real internal artwork, except black & white rerenderings of the front and back covers as cover pages for each novella. There are 2 pages of advertising for other books that have some black and white artwork on them too. Of course, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and artwork, unless it's a coffee table book.
The first part of the book, Bone Gnawers, is writter by Bill Bridges & Justin Achilli. It starts off with the pack on a plane to Europe. During the flight, there are flashbacks to fill in the history of the heroine, Big Sis aka Carlita. This mechanic works for getting information across, but it felt like more turbulence then the pack experienced on the plane. It's after they land that the story really takes off.
I'm not going to give away any plot spoilers. The pack are sent on a mission. There's big evil afoot! Random encounters! Personal strife! It's a fast read that I couldn't put down. The story reads like the first part of a module. So it kept me reading to see what was going to happen next, just like a good game does. Did they succeed or fail at the mission?
The second novella, Stargazers, was just written by Bill Bridges. It's a story about Antonine Teardrop. The plot picks up with the return of the pack from the first novella, but seen in fast forward. Once again, there is a series of flashbacks necessary to get background information to the reader. And once again, they felt a little disjointed to me. This novella is more the story of a single traveller, than a group working through a module. It was a good change of pace from the first one, as it slowed me down, and had me reading more deeply. Of course, that means that the story was intriguing and thus caught my interest. This novel gives good insight into what it means to be a Stargazer.
Overall, the book was a good read. It's also a fast and light read, resulting in an entertaining time. The combination of novellas works really well with the game-paced story followed by the deeper insightful one. It's the rush - pause combination, I find works well for whetting the appetite for the next story.
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