The Setting
This is the Victorian Age; the original setting of horror classics that need no introduction, and thus, it is only a surprise that White Wolf took this long to print novels and roleplaying products for the time period dealing with the exploits of everyone's favourite monsters that stalk the nights.
The Book
When I first received a copy of A Morbid Initiation I must admit it did not take first priority in my queue of books to read; while other material had been much more promoted and talked about, both online and local gaming groups (such as Demon: the Fallen for instance), the victorian age despite its obvious lure did not seem to hold an immediate attractiveness that demanded to be sated. So I put it off for several days, resting at the middle of my pile of novels; a big mistake, as it turned out.
The Plot
In even the first chapter, the reader is thrust into the world of a troubled young lady; Regina Blake is the daughter of a former military man and country British lord, having somewhat recently returned from a rather free life in Egypt where her father had been commissioned back to the much stricter land of her ancestors. The social setting and Regina's life is the protagonist of those first pages. There is a hint of superstition here and there, but the young lady's hopes for marriage with a man she has feelings for - ones which confuse and excite her - as well as her worries for her ill mother, and her own restricted freedoms.
The Real Plot
Phillippe Boule had set this up nicely; for just when the rules of the setting had been sufficiently established, Regina's life suddenly spins out of control.
Strange black-clad relatives from her mother's side that suddenly show up at the mansion, having long and often secret conversations with her; then something else happens I would not wish to spoil for anyone, and the young lady's life descends further into madness as hints of witchcraft and paganism, the strange arrival of an old, terrible aunt who seems to confront a usually strong-willed Lord Blake and boss him around, the revelation of an entire "family" on Regina's mother's side that are as strange as they are often grotesque... and her fiance's arrival itself.
As the reader flips the pages, Ms Blake's carefully constructed, ordered world crumbles around her and glimpses of another darker one begin to become visible with increasing regularity. The problems that used to trouble her become truly insignificant compared to the nightmare that slowly consumes and draws her into it.
Other Characters
Fans of Vampire will certainly find some familiar characters guest starring; there is no spoiler in revealing that both Victoria Ash and Beckett make appearences here, since the former's name is on the back of the book and the latter's its very first word. There are more surprises in there for the readers to have glimpses on those that will later be protagonists in their own tales.
The Atmosphere
This is where the real meat of the novel will be found, no question about it. There are many books written for Vampire: the Masquerade and Dark Ages: Vampire, and they all seem to mainly focus on some very specific themes - it's either the politics played by Cainites in their Jyhad, or the physical confrontations and battles between them, or sometimes the revelation of some dark mystery that surrounds their origins.
However, A Morbid Initiation did not take any of these roots; it puts the emphasis on horror and subtlety, the impact that Vampires and their servants have on the mortals, and their horror as they discover horrible truths. There are no clashes of powerful undead here where they strut their respective powers - or actually, there are, but that's not what the book is about. It is about horror and atmosphere, which most of the novels in the same genre neglect to convey.
More About The Atmosphere
Why is this even an accomplishment for products that are based on what is called "a game of personal horror" ? Consider this fact; while for the mortals in any given story opening a dark velvet corner to see the sign of a serpent eating its own tale might be puzzling, the vast majority of the audience who will read A Morbid Initiation has read the game manual.
The average reader is likely to have seen every power, sign, evidence or term catalogued and explained in detail in more than one other product or gaming session. There are no mysteries about what the Tzimisce or the Toreador can do; it's all there, in black and white. However, the book somehow still works. It takes characters into a certain world that can still deliver shivers despite everything.
That is quite the accomplishment, and it is a rather unique one - I must have read near thirty novels based on Vampire: the Masquerade, and it is the first that manages to deliver horror - not gore, or mystery, or action, but horror.
Overall
This is a rare gem among its kind, and the reason game fiction still has a chance of surprising us instead of becoming cliche and lacking in originality and scope. If the rest of products based on Victorian Age Vampire continue along these lines, we might be in for a treat.
I give it a 10/10. Bloody good work.
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