“An Epic Begins,” reads the back cover of Dark Ages: Nosferatu, the first book in White Wolf’s thirteen volume novel series, each one focusing on a member of a particular clan. I’d already read the second and third volumes of the series before I read this one, and I had come to expect a higher level of quality than I found in DA: Nosferatu; if this is to be an epic series, it starts out with whimper, not a bang.
The focus of the novel is the Nosferatu Malachite, who is in Constantinople as it falls to invaders both mortal and Kindred. Malachite was a favorite of the Toreador Michael, who led the city’s Kindred and who saw Constantinople as a place to build a utopia on Earth, an ideal he knows as the Dream. Prior to the attacks upon the city Michael had fallen into a malaise, seeming to have given up on much of the Dream. As the story opens Malachite seeks out the Toreador, hoping he will stop the chaos that reigns in the city, but as the book progresses Malachite’s goals become far more than that.
Malachite is an interesting character, whose total devotion to the Dream has left him little in life outside that obsession. His religious faith and the responsibility he feels towards mortals was also interesting and refreshing. The author also impressed me with the likening of a Nosferatu’s hideous countenance with the trials Job was tested with. Unfortunately, that was about all of the book that I enjoyed.
I had problems with this book on a number of levels, not the least of which was the overblown writing which fills the book. “He was the weeping Madonna, mourning; he was the crucified Lord, struck down by his own” and “The cries of the dying beckoned him like a gilded promise of immortality–a lie, just as the gilded domes of the city, now collapsed, burning, were lies, broken promises, fleeting visions of eternity unattainable” are just two examples of the multitude of pretentious passages to be found in this volume. My dislike for the writing style only increased by the number of “Hey, I’m paid by the word!” sections, where multiple paragraphs are used to describe things that could easily be summed up in one or two sentences.
Malachite also has in his care a child Kindred, one of three brothers he Embraced. All of the brothers suffer from some sort of affliction or curse (it’s true nature is not explained in this book; perhaps we’ll discover more about it in a later volume) that is fatal, but the way Malachite is portrayed in his alleged intense love and concern for the boy didn’t ring true for me. Perhaps the author just didn’t have enough space to devote to it, or maybe he was trying to contrast how Malachite’s obsession with the Dream made him unable to give the boy the attention he deserved. Regardless, the child and his problems came off like a minor subplot that was thrown in on a whim.
Also, Malachite is portrayed inconsistently at points compared to how he acted in earlier parts of the book. At many times he is shown to have respect for Elder vampires because of how long they’ve been around and all the knowledge they’ve accumulated in that time. However, when a vampire he encounters reveals her true, ancient age, Malachite reaction is less one of reverence for all that she may have learned and more one of “Wow, you’re really old! That’s so KEWL!” At another point Malachite suddenly remembers a long-forgotten memory that involves perhaps the biggest plot point in this novel, and which seems to set up things for a later novel. Among the things of importance in this recalled memory is evidence that someone that Malachite seeks out for assistance was aware centuries earlier of all that is happening in Constantinople at the time of the novel, and apparently not only did nothing to stop it, but could even be seen as taking a (somewhat minor) step in allowing it to happen.
Does the previously portrayed as intelligent Malachite take this as a sign that he can’t trust the Kindred he quests for, and that he should stop his search or perhaps change his goal to killing this Kindred? No, he simply IGNORES ALL THE INFORMATION IN HIS MEMORY THAT POINTS TO THE ELDER KINDRED AS A BAD GUY!
What was almost as amazing to me is that after the memory recollection Malachite does not slip into a frenzy, as throughout the book the Nosferatu’s battle with the Beast is chronicled at every available opportunity, for things that were trivial compared to this.
In a related matter, Malachite does finally encounter the Kindred he seeks, but the tired cliche of “Ancient master does not reveal his true identity to protagonist when they first meet, forcing protagonist to later go on quest to again meet ancient master” rears its head.
I had some other problems with the book, but I think you get the picture. If you’re a person who has to read every book in a series or are a Nosferatu fanboy you’d do well to read this book. Otherwise you’ll be okay in starting with the second volume of the series and just reading the “What has come before” page within it to get you up to date.
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