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Then I bothered to read the book and, despite my initial reservations, I’m more than happy I parted with my €24.95.
The first substantive chapter is a take on Victorian era secret societies, from the Freemasons to the Golden Dawn via the Hellfire Club. Before reading this chapter I felt that, between the Victorian core book and London by Night, we were in no danger of a lack of secret society material. However, once I began reading this chapter I fully appreciated the decision to revisit the topic. In my view the writing was excellent, combining an appreciation for the milieu with a strong element of invention, all supported by a foundation of solid knowledge and research on the secret societies of the era. This chapter was engagingly written, an enjoyable read but didn’t sacrifice facts to do so. There are some very, very useful organisations filling this first chapter, any one of which would grace a Victorian age chronicle. Good work, great stuff. Plus a novel approach to background sharing to permit collective PC influence in a secret society - a very good idea, particularly for STs who sometimes find it difficult to justify the coterie concept without reference to the bad guy of the week.
Next up, we have a geography chapter. Again, at first glance I wasn’t keen to see another chapter intent on revisiting what the core book had already given us. Then I read it. Again, this is a great piece of writing. OOC this time, unlike the core book. The approach taken was to cover discreet regions (such as the British Isles, Australia, South America etc) and within each regional section select a city or two that were not detailed in the core book. Cities like Dublin, Sevastapol, Rio, Buenos Aires, Strasbourg. New Orleans as well, which I know will be popular. The kind of cities in which chronicles are unlikely to be based, but coteries may well find themselves visiting. Eminently useful and again, a lot of information and fun to read, delivered with an authoritative voice. Capital work. Apart from the fact that somebody forgot to put India in. No excuse - jewel in the crown, and all that. One more thing - where are the laibon? African Kindred society apparently doesn't exist. It's the Brits against the Dutch in the Transvaal and Cape Town. Now there's a case to be made that this is an editorial choice, mirroring the contemporary view of a dark, empty continent, devoid of history and culture. But we all know the laibon are out there so how about a few details? Tsk tsk. Very inconsistent when one considers the later publication of Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, which was being worked on when the VA Companion was published.
Moving along to the next chapter, we have a varied and interesting mix of NPCs. A Czarist assassin, a Pinkerton Agency detective, a Giovanni and his ‘motorised man’, a middle-class female drug smuggler, an Oscar Wilde 'if he were an occultist', a Sumatran rat/psychic vampire, orphans and some delightful mould are all included. There are some altogether useful ideas here. I imagine that very few STs will appreciate everything in this chapter but at the same time everybody will find something of use. I do think the writer was potentially guilty of overstating the importance and size of the illegal narcotics trade in Victorian London and almost every character has a Firearms rating but there ya go. Small criticisms, overwhelmed, by a set of varied and interesting NPCs. There was one thing I really disliked about this chapter and that was the secret society detailed at the end of the chapter. Particularly poor, especially when compared to the content of Chapter 1. But let’s not end on a bad note - a useful chapter, although not quite up to the standard of the preceding two chapters.
Chapter 4 - Victorian Storytelling. Again, we’ve had material on this in the core book and in London by Night. But not so well done, nor as exhaustive. The author of this chapter deconstructs the Gothic and horror literature of the time; the conventions, tropes and templates, and then puts them back together again. This chapter is very well thought out, full of intriguing ideas for stories and is brilliantly articulated. Superb work - for those of us who don’t want to have the hassle of gaining an MA in Victorian Lit before we run our chronicles, we no longer have to because Chapter 4 does the hard work for us. Thanks very much, where do I get my diploma? Again, an enjoyable read coupled with authoritative detail and plenty of ideas. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the Victorian investigator which hits the nail squarely on the head. That’s what we want.
Chapter 5 is the PC chapter. Included is a treatment of the various bloodlines (Kiasyd, Caitiff, Salubri, Daughters of Cacophony, Samedi, Gargoyles) presented in the usual splat manner. One of the highlights of the Victorian core book was the treatment it gave the clans which was intimately related to the period. There isn’t space to do that here, so essentially we end up with a restatement of what we already know. Caitiff have it hard, Daughters are sexy bitches, Gargoyles have it really hard etc etc. There really was no need for this section, and if it had to be included, the splat format should have been abandoned to discuss the differences between then and now, and not simply restating what we largely know already. Particularly when upwards of 10 pages are swallowed. There’s also the Samedi Discipline set which seems to have changed as Necromancy is back in. If that was the intention, cool, but please give some textual treatment to explain why. If not, it may be an error. However, there’s more to the chapter. A few merits and flaws, a discussion of Victorian applications of some of the Disciplines (some of which is excellent, e.g. Dominate, most of which is repetitive), a bunch of character concepts and a treatment of some Talents. Largely speaking, this chapter was, for me, a disappointment. Very little was fresh, too much stuff I, or most other STs, would have already known. Interesting sections on cricket and etiquette though - had the chapter had more of these and less of what I view as formulaic padding, then it would have been a triumph.
Lastly, we have a short mechanics chapter. 4 pages on how to run a chase scene. A table on firearms. Yawn. This section is somewhat redeemed, in my eyes, by some interesting material on period modes of travel and communications, and is finished off with a few useful websites.
As I said, my first impressions would not be characterised as profound excitement. Now, I have no experience of deciding what goes into a book like this but I imagine there must be some debate. I would say it’s a fascinating conversation to listen to, hearing what developers think the loyal consumer wants. In many senses I felt that this book could have been a lot more inventive in terms of its choices of subject matter. Geography, Victorian literature and secret societies have already received treatment. The odd thing is, these are the best chapters. Indeed, these chapters are as good as any chapter WW have ever put out in the past (or those I have read, at least). Which means, oddly enough, that I was wrong. Shocking, I know.
Then again, I wish there had been a little more innovation at the design stage. A little more emphasis on the informative and entertaining vignettes (such as the piece on docks or cricket) would have been excellent - maybe tackling subjects such as Victorian households, servants, criminal law. All done, of course, in a very basic manner but giving an ST enough to run with. Oh, and those of you who hoped this book might address the Victorian Sabbat vacuum, well, ‘fraid not. There are also some pretty poor proofing errors - I counted 4 instances of what I assume are redlines in the text, several of which are actually questioning the prose. Needless to say, these are extremely jarring and there really is no excuse. Also, there is no such thing as Co Clavan, it’s Cavan. Not stylish - hence the 3 stars.
But let’s accentuate the positive. Several of the chapters are truly superb. Much of the remainder is useful. Very little is what I would deem to be 'bad'. Some of the people writing this book were clearly on very good terms with the subject matter and managed to deliver ideas in a voice that did not fail to hold my attention. A lot of this book has legs, and will be of use again and again to any ST running a Victorian chronicle. Therefore it does the job, and does it well. 4 out of 5. For those of you in the United States, that means the book is very good indeed. Not quite hysterical apoplexy, but endearing nonetheless. So, put down that copy of Burke's Peerage & Gentry, have the wife committed to a lunatic asylum, pour yourself a generous Pimms and get reading.
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