Review

What is A Morbid Initiation?

A Gilded Age, A Gaslit Horror

Regina Blake believes her mother to be the victim of murder and conspiracy. Forgoing caution and propriety, she tries to uncover the truth and bring the culprits to justice. With every step, however, she uncovers more and more evidence of a secret world of danger, sensuality and sin. With the beautiful Victoria Ash as her guide, she peels back layer after layer of this benighted world, until the true horror of it all stands exposed.

Will discovering the truth be worth damning her soul?

A MORBID INITIATION by Philippe Boulle is the first of the Victorian Age: Vampire Trilogy books, which are fiction set in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. Tie-in fiction has a history of highs and lows with every Thrawn Trilogy and Dragonlance Legends matched by something incomprehensible if you’re not intimately familiar with the material. Those familiar with the World of Darkness tie-in fiction will note that sometimes this happened to the line sometimes within the same series.

Much to my surprise, I think the Victorian Age: Vampire Trilogy may actually be the best fiction ever produced by the World of Darkness line. It is a rare case where if you know absolutely nothing about the World of Darkness and it’s hidden world of undead pulling the strings, you’d still be able to understand what was going on as well as enjoy the story. Part of this may be due to the fact that there are very few things things that go together better than vampires and the Victorian Era.

Another element that makes this book worthwhile is the fact that it is from the perspective of Regina Blake, a queer young woman who has recently lost her mother to a mysterious ailment. Regina is barely out of her teen years but deeply in love with her cavalier boyfriend, the homage-named Lieutenant Malcolm Seward. Or so she thinks. In truth, Regina has found herself enamored by the beautiful Victoria Ash that wants to introduce Regina to the dark but alluring world of world of the Kindred.

Queerdom and vampires have long had a history since at least Carmilla (and probably before). While ostensibly negative as a correlation, vampires are nevertheless powerful, beautiful, alluring, and free from society’s control. It’s no wonder that they are figures of fantasy and allure. The predatory element adds a large amount of tension, though. Is Victoria Ash going to lead Regina to her doom, transformation, or both? Is Malcolm actually the stand-up guy that he appears to and if he is then is that what Regina wants?

The book is better if you have a knowledge of the setting and things like Toreador, the Camarilla, ghouls, and more. It’s even more so if you’re familiar with Mithras and the oddball politics of London by Night. However, A Morbid Initiation actually serves as an excellent introduction to the World of Darkness as a whole. Because Regina is so ignorant about the way the setting works, it makes every step fraught with tension.

Really, this book puts the Gothic back in the Gothic Punk setting and I love all the characters and how they react to the events going on. It’s a good read for Pride month as it is full of strong queer female characters, excellent storytelling, and characters who make a variety of decisions both good as well as bad but ones understandable given their circumstances. It’s an homage to classic Victorian storytelling but a good deal more R-rated. I’m very glad Crossroad Press has re-released this book on Kindle and in paperback format.

Highly recommended.

Available here

World of Darkness Books Re-Released by Crossroad Press (May)