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Khalil Ravanna, a neonate of the Ravnos clan, is under orders to pursue Hesha, a Setite who has duped Khalil ever since he arrived in Calcutta. Khalil seeks revenge, but dares not anger his master, the great Hazimel, who has plans for his Eye now that it surveys the World of Darkness.
One Million Words of Terror.
It began with Clan Novel: Toreador. This book, Clan Novel: Ravnos, is the seventh of a 13-book series concerning the Kindred the hugest event ever in the World of Darkness.From small details to grand spectacles, this epic series of over one million words reveals the secrets of this hidden world through the eyes of individuals on both sides of a great conflict. The continued existence of all Kindred, from the youngest neonate to the eldest Methuselah, hangs in the balance.
One Million Words of Terror.
It began with Clan Novel: Toreador. This book, Clan Novel: Ravnos, is the seventh of a 13-book series concerning the Kindred the hugest event ever in the World of Darkness.From small details to grand spectacles, this epic series of over one million words reveals the secrets of this hidden world through the eyes of individuals on both sides of a great conflict. The continued existence of all Kindred, from the youngest neonate to the eldest Methuselah, hangs in the balance.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 20, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 14, 2024
CLAN NOVEL: RAVNOS is the eighth novel in the Clan Novel series for the Vampire: The Masquerade line of tabletop RPGs. I've been re-reading the series for the past couple of years and enjoying the world of conspiracies, action, and interlocking plotlines. The series is not without its flaws and wildly changes tones as well as themes depending on the characters. However, it is still something that I think to be quite fun. I also note that the twelve book series has its own smaller series within the books, effectively following authors continuing their own stories when they do two or more books. In this case, Ravnos is a sequel to the Setite novel.
The premise is that Hesha Ruhadze, Follower of Set high priest, has managed to finally acquire the Eye of Hazimel. The Eye is effectively the One Ring of Sauron (or Eye of Vecna) in that it bestows fantastic powers to its wielder but eventually warps your mind into a parody of itself. It also attracts the attention of Hazimel himself, who is restricted to using Khail Ravana as a minion in order to retrieve it. Khail finds himself stumbling on the erstwhile childe of Hesha, Elizabeth Dimitrios, and the Gangrel Ramona, who all have their own stake in the quest.
The biggest flaw of this novel is Khalil Ravana himself. He is, deliberately, a complete scumbag. He's a thieving, scheming, snivelling, cowardly irredeemable piece of ****. You can be a bad person as well as a protagonistin Vampire: The Masquerade, it's almost mandatory, but Khalil is closer to Gollum rather than, say, Saruman. This is a book written by a woman but there's a scene where Khalil waits in a woman's apartment, watches her undress, then forcibly restrains her before draining her dry in a scene deliberately meant to remind you of what it does.
Indeed, the fact that Khalil gets away with so much awful evil crap is something that makes the book a chore. Vampire novels almost inevitably work best when their condition is a curse and Khalil doesn't have enough self-awareness to be cursed by it. He's a living argument for why Paths of Enlightenment aren't really appropriate for a vampire game or, at least, would be if he cared enough about the Path of Paradox to be anything more than "the path of what I was going to do anyway." Indeed, the best part of Khalil's story is when he chides Ramona for racism against Romani people, saying, yes, HE is a murderous thief but that's just him. His family is rightfully ashamed of him.
The best parts of the books are Hesha, Ramona, and Elizabeth's sections. Hesha may be every bit as evil as Khalil, being a literal priest of a god of evil (which Set wasn't in RL but is in V:TM) but he has far more depth as a person. Ramona is a vampire who wants to be "good" but is rather easily led astray by Khalil's transparent lies. Elizabeth seems to have fallen in from another genre of horror entirely and is as terrified of Khalil as she is of Hesha despite the former being more Buffy vampire than Dracula in terms of intelligence.
If it sounds like I'm insulting the book, I'm not, well, not entirely. None of this is due to bad writing. Kathleen Ryan is fully capable of writing fantastic vampire fiction. I know, because she's the author of Setite and that's one of my favorite V:TM books. However, the protagonist is someone she tries to contrast against all of the others and he's just not a great place to be in the headspace of. Despite this, I found myself still interested in the plotline between them. The Eye of Hazimel is the most D&D-like artifact in V:TM but it's very strangeness is one of the reasons the plot works. No one else really looks for magical artifacts in the setting, so the one-eyed man is king.
The premise is that Hesha Ruhadze, Follower of Set high priest, has managed to finally acquire the Eye of Hazimel. The Eye is effectively the One Ring of Sauron (or Eye of Vecna) in that it bestows fantastic powers to its wielder but eventually warps your mind into a parody of itself. It also attracts the attention of Hazimel himself, who is restricted to using Khail Ravana as a minion in order to retrieve it. Khail finds himself stumbling on the erstwhile childe of Hesha, Elizabeth Dimitrios, and the Gangrel Ramona, who all have their own stake in the quest.
The biggest flaw of this novel is Khalil Ravana himself. He is, deliberately, a complete scumbag. He's a thieving, scheming, snivelling, cowardly irredeemable piece of ****. You can be a bad person as well as a protagonistin Vampire: The Masquerade, it's almost mandatory, but Khalil is closer to Gollum rather than, say, Saruman. This is a book written by a woman but there's a scene where Khalil waits in a woman's apartment, watches her undress, then forcibly restrains her before draining her dry in a scene deliberately meant to remind you of what it does.
Indeed, the fact that Khalil gets away with so much awful evil crap is something that makes the book a chore. Vampire novels almost inevitably work best when their condition is a curse and Khalil doesn't have enough self-awareness to be cursed by it. He's a living argument for why Paths of Enlightenment aren't really appropriate for a vampire game or, at least, would be if he cared enough about the Path of Paradox to be anything more than "the path of what I was going to do anyway." Indeed, the best part of Khalil's story is when he chides Ramona for racism against Romani people, saying, yes, HE is a murderous thief but that's just him. His family is rightfully ashamed of him.
The best parts of the books are Hesha, Ramona, and Elizabeth's sections. Hesha may be every bit as evil as Khalil, being a literal priest of a god of evil (which Set wasn't in RL but is in V:TM) but he has far more depth as a person. Ramona is a vampire who wants to be "good" but is rather easily led astray by Khalil's transparent lies. Elizabeth seems to have fallen in from another genre of horror entirely and is as terrified of Khalil as she is of Hesha despite the former being more Buffy vampire than Dracula in terms of intelligence.
If it sounds like I'm insulting the book, I'm not, well, not entirely. None of this is due to bad writing. Kathleen Ryan is fully capable of writing fantastic vampire fiction. I know, because she's the author of Setite and that's one of my favorite V:TM books. However, the protagonist is someone she tries to contrast against all of the others and he's just not a great place to be in the headspace of. Despite this, I found myself still interested in the plotline between them. The Eye of Hazimel is the most D&D-like artifact in V:TM but it's very strangeness is one of the reasons the plot works. No one else really looks for magical artifacts in the setting, so the one-eyed man is king.
July 4, 2015
Halil's parts were brilliant, the main mythos parts a bit weak
December 29, 2018
I am blogging the reviews to this whole series.
It starts here: http://pseudopod.org/2018/10/25/the-c...
And for this book:
http://pseudopod.org/2018/12/27/the-c...
It starts here: http://pseudopod.org/2018/10/25/the-c...
And for this book:
http://pseudopod.org/2018/12/27/the-c...
July 5, 2013
A great book, in continuation of the events in Setite. Khalil Ravana both exemplifies and subverts the merry pickpocket Ravnos archetype. He really is a merry thief, but he is also one of the most monstrous vampires I have ever had the pleasure of reading about.
Kathleen Ryan is a good author, and I feel it is a pity that she did not write more for White Wolf during her time there.
July 4, 2018
Full review here:
http://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/2...
A word to those trying to read these in release order: Although it says this book follows Lasombra at the end of Lasombra, Assamite actually got released prior to Ravnos, and there's a really big spoiler for Assamite in the ad copy at the end.
http://jamesgenrebooks.blogspot.com/2...
A word to those trying to read these in release order: Although it says this book follows Lasombra at the end of Lasombra, Assamite actually got released prior to Ravnos, and there's a really big spoiler for Assamite in the ad copy at the end.
September 11, 2014
Reseña en proceso
March 4, 2026
Alright... so I did really enjoy the previous entry in this series by this author, Kathleen Ryan--and this one was also quite enjoyable as well. Not as much as the Setite one--which I'm going to compare this one to that in this series more than the others
Where as the Setite Clan Novel was like a blockbuster summer movie. With travel to different locations, several costume changes and all that excitement. Ravnos' Clan Novel comes across like an Independent Film Festival darling--a slice of life about a small group of someway fscked up people. Acting as a bit of a flipping of the script for what to expect with these books
This one seems like it is not sticking to the gimmick of the clan novels of a different clan being the primary focus of each book... until you get the last set of statements from Hazimel himself. Indicating the Ravnos you were focusing on was never actually Khalil
I will note, that for a clan that is known for being quick talking shysters charming everything from you that they cannot just steal--like an Adventure Game Protagonist... Hazimel kind of sucks at charming Khalil and seems to constantly be saying the wrong thing throughout the book--like an Adventure Game Protagonist. Though the last statement kind of shows that no, Hazimel just doesn't like Khalil, and kind of wants to see Khalil end himself in order to spit Hazimel
Not certain that me mentioning the last statement should count as a spoiler, as it doesn't really reveal anything that was not already shown in this novel. It recontextualises the stuff present--sure, but nothing new is really revealed by this statement at the end. If anything, you could argue it as more a RetCon than a Spoiler
Fairly decent entry into this series--and we seem to have a core group of "heroes" to go and do stuff with the Eye of Hazimel. Cannot wait to see how this does not actually happen in the next few novels
I'm enjoying myself with this series--buuuuuut... I can see people arguing this series as Vampire Slop. Tasty delicious Vampire Slop that I am enjoying... but I also occasionally will purchase and eat fast food of my own volition and free will. At least a human made this tasty slop
Where as the Setite Clan Novel was like a blockbuster summer movie. With travel to different locations, several costume changes and all that excitement. Ravnos' Clan Novel comes across like an Independent Film Festival darling--a slice of life about a small group of someway fscked up people. Acting as a bit of a flipping of the script for what to expect with these books
This one seems like it is not sticking to the gimmick of the clan novels of a different clan being the primary focus of each book... until you get the last set of statements from Hazimel himself. Indicating the Ravnos you were focusing on was never actually Khalil
I will note, that for a clan that is known for being quick talking shysters charming everything from you that they cannot just steal--like an Adventure Game Protagonist... Hazimel kind of sucks at charming Khalil and seems to constantly be saying the wrong thing throughout the book--like an Adventure Game Protagonist. Though the last statement kind of shows that no, Hazimel just doesn't like Khalil, and kind of wants to see Khalil end himself in order to spit Hazimel
Not certain that me mentioning the last statement should count as a spoiler, as it doesn't really reveal anything that was not already shown in this novel. It recontextualises the stuff present--sure, but nothing new is really revealed by this statement at the end. If anything, you could argue it as more a RetCon than a Spoiler
Fairly decent entry into this series--and we seem to have a core group of "heroes" to go and do stuff with the Eye of Hazimel. Cannot wait to see how this does not actually happen in the next few novels
I'm enjoying myself with this series--buuuuuut... I can see people arguing this series as Vampire Slop. Tasty delicious Vampire Slop that I am enjoying... but I also occasionally will purchase and eat fast food of my own volition and free will. At least a human made this tasty slop
November 19, 2019
Me gustó el libro, finalmente se pueden ver varios de los personajes de los otros libros en un mismo libro.
November 1, 2022
my least favourite of the clan novels so far, i don't think this one aged well at all. however the characters were interesting and quite complex.
September 14, 2024
CLAN NOVEL: RAVNOS is the eighth novel in the Clan Novel series for the Vampire: The Masquerade line of tabletop RPGs. I've been re-reading the series for the past couple of years and enjoying the world of conspiracies, action, and interlocking plotlines. The series is not without its flaws and wildly changes tones as well as themes depending on the characters. However, it is still something that I think to be quite fun. I also note that the twelve book series has its own smaller series within the books, effectively following authors continuing their own stories when they do two or more books. In this case, Ravnos is a sequel to the Setite novel.
The premise is that Hesha Ruhadze, Follower of Set high priest, has managed to finally acquire the Eye of Hazimel. The Eye is effectively the One Ring of Sauron (or Eye of Vecna) in that it bestows fantastic powers to its wielder but eventually warps your mind into a parody of itself. It also attracts the attention of Hazimel himself, who is restricted to using Khail Ravana as a minion in order to retrieve it. Khail finds himself stumbling on the erstwhile childe of Hesha, Elizabeth Dimitrios, and the Gangrel Ramona, who all have their own stake in the quest.
The biggest flaw of this novel is Khalil Ravana himself. He is, deliberately, a complete scumbag. He's a thieving, scheming, snivelling, cowardly irredeemable piece of ****. You can be a bad person as well as a protagonistin Vampire: The Masquerade, it's almost mandatory, but Khalil is closer to Gollum rather than, say, Saruman. This is a book written by a woman but there's a scene where Khalil waits in a woman's apartment, watches her undress, then forcibly restrains her before draining her dry in a scene deliberately meant to remind you of what it does.
Indeed, the fact that Khalil gets away with so much awful evil crap is something that makes the book a chore. Vampire novels almost inevitably work best when their condition is a curse and Khalil doesn't have enough self-awareness to be cursed by it. He's a living argument for why Paths of Enlightenment aren't really appropriate for a vampire game or, at least, would be if he cared enough about the Path of Paradox to be anything more than "the path of what I was going to do anyway." Indeed, the best part of Khalil's story is when he chides Ramona for racism against Romani people, saying, yes, HE is a murderous thief but that's just him. His family is rightfully ashamed of him.
The best parts of the books are Hesha, Ramona, and Elizabeth's sections. Hesha may be every bit as evil as Khalil, being a literal priest of a god of evil (which Set wasn't in RL but is in V:TM) but he has far more depth as a person. Ramona is a vampire who wants to be "good" but is rather easily led astray by Khalil's transparent lies. Elizabeth seems to have fallen in from another genre of horror entirely and is as terrified of Khalil as she is of Hesha despite the former being more Buffy vampire than Dracula in terms of intelligence.
If it sounds like I'm insulting the book, I'm not, well, not entirely. None of this is due to bad writing. Kathleen Ryan is fully capable of writing fantastic vampire fiction. I know, because she's the author of Setite and that's one of my favorite V:TM books. However, the protagonist is someone she tries to contrast against all of the others and he's just not a great place to be in the headspace of. Despite this, I found myself still interested in the plotline between them. The Eye of Hazimel is the most D&D-like artifact in V:TM but it's very strangeness is one of the reasons the plot works. No one else really looks for magical artifacts in the setting, so the one-eyed man is king.
The premise is that Hesha Ruhadze, Follower of Set high priest, has managed to finally acquire the Eye of Hazimel. The Eye is effectively the One Ring of Sauron (or Eye of Vecna) in that it bestows fantastic powers to its wielder but eventually warps your mind into a parody of itself. It also attracts the attention of Hazimel himself, who is restricted to using Khail Ravana as a minion in order to retrieve it. Khail finds himself stumbling on the erstwhile childe of Hesha, Elizabeth Dimitrios, and the Gangrel Ramona, who all have their own stake in the quest.
The biggest flaw of this novel is Khalil Ravana himself. He is, deliberately, a complete scumbag. He's a thieving, scheming, snivelling, cowardly irredeemable piece of ****. You can be a bad person as well as a protagonistin Vampire: The Masquerade, it's almost mandatory, but Khalil is closer to Gollum rather than, say, Saruman. This is a book written by a woman but there's a scene where Khalil waits in a woman's apartment, watches her undress, then forcibly restrains her before draining her dry in a scene deliberately meant to remind you of what it does.
Indeed, the fact that Khalil gets away with so much awful evil crap is something that makes the book a chore. Vampire novels almost inevitably work best when their condition is a curse and Khalil doesn't have enough self-awareness to be cursed by it. He's a living argument for why Paths of Enlightenment aren't really appropriate for a vampire game or, at least, would be if he cared enough about the Path of Paradox to be anything more than "the path of what I was going to do anyway." Indeed, the best part of Khalil's story is when he chides Ramona for racism against Romani people, saying, yes, HE is a murderous thief but that's just him. His family is rightfully ashamed of him.
The best parts of the books are Hesha, Ramona, and Elizabeth's sections. Hesha may be every bit as evil as Khalil, being a literal priest of a god of evil (which Set wasn't in RL but is in V:TM) but he has far more depth as a person. Ramona is a vampire who wants to be "good" but is rather easily led astray by Khalil's transparent lies. Elizabeth seems to have fallen in from another genre of horror entirely and is as terrified of Khalil as she is of Hesha despite the former being more Buffy vampire than Dracula in terms of intelligence.
If it sounds like I'm insulting the book, I'm not, well, not entirely. None of this is due to bad writing. Kathleen Ryan is fully capable of writing fantastic vampire fiction. I know, because she's the author of Setite and that's one of my favorite V:TM books. However, the protagonist is someone she tries to contrast against all of the others and he's just not a great place to be in the headspace of. Despite this, I found myself still interested in the plotline between them. The Eye of Hazimel is the most D&D-like artifact in V:TM but it's very strangeness is one of the reasons the plot works. No one else really looks for magical artifacts in the setting, so the one-eyed man is king.
October 9, 2020
Great characters and intrigue
This book brings back Ramona and Jesus while introducing the Ravnos in a clearer light. One thing that was pretty great was seeing was how "The Beast" was illustrated.
This book brings back Ramona and Jesus while introducing the Ravnos in a clearer light. One thing that was pretty great was seeing was how "The Beast" was illustrated.
January 23, 2010
This was one of my favorite of the Clan Novel series, although I did not read them all. Twinned with the Setite clan novel (also by the same author), I would recommend you read it before you read this one, as I read them around the other way, I'm sorry to say.
The main characters are great and the plot does well in setting a Ravnos story. Khalil Ravanna is by far a great example of his clan, clever and conniving and always having to work his way out of his own misfortune.
A great book in the vampire series, and a 1st class example of the Ravnos world.
The main characters are great and the plot does well in setting a Ravnos story. Khalil Ravanna is by far a great example of his clan, clever and conniving and always having to work his way out of his own misfortune.
A great book in the vampire series, and a 1st class example of the Ravnos world.
February 8, 2012
The read was just okay for me. I think I may have enjoyed this more if I had read it at the height of my Vampire: the Masquerade craze. Or maybe if I'd read all the other volumes in the series before this one. So far, I'd only read Gangrel, and Ravnos is already the seventh in the series of Clan Novels. It's also been a long time since I'd read anything VtM (except Clan Novel: Anthology a couple or so months back), so I can't remember much of it anymore. Overall okay, but not a particularly memorable read for me.
February 14, 2011
This is a fantastic series if you are a fan or player of the Vampire the Masquerade Table Top game. I gave it a 3 because I don't recomend this series to those who are not.
February 22, 2019
A little of a down note, but still moving the story along
June 21, 2013
Better then expected.
I'm really not a Ravnos fan, but it is a good book.
I'm really not a Ravnos fan, but it is a good book.
March 2, 2014
Deception and trickery are the ways of the coward. Even among monsters there should be honor.
May 24, 2020
Muito bom.
February 24, 2015
Aburrido.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews