Clan Novel: Malkavian by Stewart Wieck

    CLAN NOVEL: MALKAVIAN by Stewart Wieck is the ninth novel of the Clan Novel series. The Clan Novel series of VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE and the larger World of Darkness was an attempt to do a round robin kind of story that illustrated each of the thirteen clans. Some of the books were great, others so-so, and others still have complicated feelings from me. This is one of the complicated ones as I think it’s a great book in some parts and downright incomprehensible in others.

    The premise is Anatole, the Prophet of Gehenna, is an eight hundred year old Kindred who is driven by his incomprehensible visions. His companion, who is unnamed in the book and may not even exist, follows him around as Anatole attempts to figure out how the current events fit into the larger road to the apocalypse. Meanwhile, Prince Benison of Atlanta awakens from torpor and plots his revenge against the Sabbat. Simultaneously, Victoria Ash returns to Atlanta with the goal of executing her former torturer.

    Anatole is one of my favorite characters in Vampire: The Masquerade but he’s barely recognizable here. He claims to have lost his faith but there’s no real reason given for this and he still largely acts as a religious person. While I could figure out most of the metaphors and how they related to the larger Clan Novels, I have to say the Anatole portions were the least enjoyable part of the story. Surprisingly, I most enjoyed the Benison portions even as he was a former Confederate general. Benison wanting to avenge his dead wife was the most coherent motivation throughout the book.

    Victoria Ash is almost always 100% entertaining in any book she appears in. Her narcissistic personality mixed with the fact she can almost back up all of her claims of being the loveliest creature on Earth (as well as a ruthless predator) are endlessly amusing. Sadly, the book seems unwilling to let her actually succeed in her plans. The story also engages in manipulative revelations, giving false information about her relationship to Leopold that just serves to try to obfuscate later twists in the story.

    When Crossroad Press was contracted to reprint all of the original World of Darkness fiction in 2023, the Clan Novels were the first of the books to come out. There was also the attempt to do audiobooks for all of them. As a guy who experienced the books when they first came out in paperback form, I am doing my reread with both the ebook and audiobook editions.

    Of the two, I think the book is best experienced in audiobook format. Michael T. Bradley does a good job of narrating the various sections of the Clan Novel as well as the many individual characters. I think this is the best way to enjoy the entirety of the Clan Novels and while I enjoyed the books in text form in the Nineties, I feel they’re something fantastic in listened form.

    In conclusion, Malkavian isn’t my favorite of the Clan Novels. It has a lot going for it but it tries a little too hard to make Anatole’s sections completely incomprehensible and full of metaphor versus actually giving him a personality to enjoy. Despite this, we’re almost to the end of the series and a lot of plot points are finally coming to a close. The clan novels were a fascinating experience in tabletop gaming fiction and one that I still recommend decades later.

Available