The Madness of Priests

Victorian Age: Vampire

by Philippe Boulle

The Madness of Priests ( Victorian Age, Book 2)

Genres: World Of Darkness, Vampires, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction

284 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 17, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note:
Some Spanish language edition has the Author's name mispelled as "Phillipe Boulle"

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unbidden, a fragment of Virgil came to her in those last, eternal moments before all went black. The Sybil's warning to Aeneas before entering Hades:

The way to the Underworld is easy;
Night and day lie open the gates of death's dark kingdom;
Butno retrace your steps, to make your way out of the upper air---
That is the task, the hard thing.

Central part of the Vampire Victorian Age novel trilogy based on White Wolf's late RPG (coming back soon!) Vampire the Masquerade was far better than first one.
Regina Blake's quest to find her (now undead) mother throws her downfall in a spiraling abyss of desire and horror, love and rage, and Victoria Ash, her immortal lover, is a Virgil-style guide in the hellish night society of the Kindred.
Good storyline and depiction of the historical period, vampire powers in the game are depicted for good here, and some gory end of male genitalia really horrified me! XD
Anatole, the iconic VTM Malkavian character, is added to the long list of guest stars here, and he is far more zealot and crazy than he was in the Vampire Dark Ages Clan Novels Saga.
Sadly sometimes the (lesbian) sex scenes seem just there to fill some plot hole or the pages count. Beckett and Hesha Ruhadze quest to find Kemintiri, the Thousand-Faced Daughter of Set, Mithras poisoning by Clan Tremere and the raising of Jack in Whitehapel have just a few stage-time here, but hopely all threads are going to connect in the final chapter of this sensual, bloody soaked, trilogy.
A must read if you are a fan of unsparkly vamps and Vampire the Masquerade Role-Playing-Game.

[Rosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still not bad for a commerce book. A bit worse than the first one, but that also may be on me, as I've had a loooong pause after I've read till the middle of the book.
We'll see how it'll end.

[Artur · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment. The first half was just a recap of the first book, while the second half was just very basic WTM lore, behind the authors need to talk about his special interest (paris during the Victorian age). The story itself was nearly absent and felt almost shoehorned in.

The setting is pretty interesting and the world is... dark, so I guess I will give this book a bonus star just for that.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE MADNESS OF PRIESTS is the second installment of the Victorian Age Vampire trilogy that is among the best books of the old World of Darkness novels from the Nineties and early Two Thousands. It is the story of Regina Blake, ghoul of Victoria Ash, as she goes on an elaborate quest to try to recover her mother from the hands of the treacherous Tremere clan. This story takes her to Paris and a mysterious prison run by the vampire priest Anatole. Lots of twists and turns in this one.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review here:

https://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/...

(Combined with a review of Book 3)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Victorian Age: Vampire trilogy. This one was probably my least favorite, because I feel like a lot of what happened to Regina and Victoria was a little unnecessary to the plot. But this novel branches out, and follows not just Regina, but her fiance, Malcolm; his sister, Joanna; and vampire Ann Bowsley, second to the vampire king of London. The things that happen with these other characters does further the plot, thankfully, but I was still happy to finish this one and move on to the third book. While Regina and Victoria are still tracking down leads for Regina's mother, Malcolm and Regina's father are following their trail to rescue Regina, while poor Joanna is drawn into the events worst possible way. Like the first, it is well written, the Gothic tone still strong, and the feel of the game is captured. But there are times that some of the characters act out of character, and again, the Regina/Victoria story line, the second half anyway, is severely lacking.

[Mathieu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story continues in a very entertaining way but is a little less intense because it falls into the seemingly inescapable trap of "done this, saw that" inherent to the genre and to the World of Darkness universe.