Walk Among Us

Compiled Edition

De: Cassandra Khaw, Genevieve Gornichec, Caitlin Starling

Narrado por: Neil Kaplan, Xe Sands, Erika Ishii

One of the most popular role-playing properties in the world gets new life with this trio of horror novellas set in Vampire: The Masquerade's World of Darkness by three brilliant talents: Genevieve Gornichec, Cassandra Khaw, and Caitlin Starling

The subtle horror and infernal politics of the World of Darkness are shown in a new light in Vampire: The Masquerade: Walk Among Us, an audio-first collection of three novellas that show the terror, hunger, and power of the Kindred as you've never seen them before.

In Genevieve Gornichec's A Sheep Among Wolves, performed by Erika Ishii, depression and radicalization go hand in hand as a young woman finds companionship in the darkness....

In Cassandra Khaw's Fine Print, performed by Neil Kaplan, an arrogant tech bro learns the importance of reading the fine print in the contract for immortality....

And in Caitlin Starling's The Land of Milk and Honey, performed by Xe Sands, ideals and ethics bump heads with appetite on a blood farm.

Three very different stories from three amazing, distinct voices, but all with one thing in common: The hunger never stops, and for someone to experience power, many others are going to have to feel pain.

©2020 Cassandra Khaw, Genevieve Gornichec, and Caitlin Starling (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Incredible

Don’t be discouraged by the first story. The other two are simply incredible! So creative and the narrator’s performance are stunning.

Mostly for WoD fans. Others will also enjoy.

This audiobook is good, the performances are good. Not mind-blowing, but solid on all counts. Themes include mental health, interpersonal manipulation, sexual discovery, LGBTQ+ representation, domestic terror radicalization, (warning: a couple scenes that may trigger someone who's suffered sexual or relationship violence), as well as tropes of the genre. Previous reviews have complained that they learned nothing about the WoD (World of Darkness) after having listened to all three stories in Walk Among Us. This is demonstrably untrue. Listeners who missed out on the subtext of WoD lore were either looking for something WoD doesn't provide or weren't expecting the methodical (slow burn) nature of stories designed to pull you in to the mental state of the protagonist (as opposed to dazzling you with sparkly skin and happy romance).

After listening to all three stories, listeners uninitiated with WoD will have an understanding of the following points. WoD is not Stephanie Meyer or Charlaine Harris. These vampires don't sparkle. WoD vampires are tortured by mental health, self-aware consternations (largely struggling with who they were and what they now are), and a beast within whose blood lust becomes all consuming unless either sated or held at bay with great psychological and physical effort. These three stories are not happy. They are dark and, at times, difficult to listen to. They are realistic (in the fantasy sense). And they serve more as warnings to those who would be vampires, rather than romanticized ideals of blissful immortality. Lastly, the uninitiated would also get a sense of a larger political structure within the Kindred (vamps). That you can't exist as a lone wolf or even a small coterie without outside interference from larger, more powerful groups that will destroy or sweep you out of the way without a second thought. There are factions at war. And instead of this making you want to leave a bad review, it should make you want to dig deeper into the lore, but you'll have to work for it. WoD media isn't mass market and readily available (as much as others are), so you'll have to work to learn the deeper, inner workings of the Camarilla, the struggle of the Anarchs, and the impossibility of maintaining the Masquerade.

For the initiated: If you enjoyed the previous WoD fiction (e.g. Clan Novels) and/or if you've just been craving for new WoD VtM material, this is worth your time and money. It's good. These stories aren't going to knock your socks off, but if we support this effort, publishers will push for more. Some of us don't like VtM fiction, preferring to live our unlives in the Minds Eye Theatre, but I look at all WoD material as an interrelated whole. If a publisher sees success in an IP, then the IP will find success in other areas as well (e.g. visual media, LARP material, TTRPG material, more fiction for those who want it, etc). Let's support the IP.

World of Darkness A+

It delivers what it promised, it remained accurate and true to the systems that we know where in place. Three lovely short stories.

2 good stories and 1 stinker

The 1st and 3rd stories in this collection are both imagitive and unique. They have a well managed and believable story that crescendos at the end.

The 2nd story however has a unbelievable and unrelalistoc main character. His motivations and the things that he thinks about and says don't really seem to match up with who the character is.

Despite a weak middle, I would still recommend the book for the other 2 stories because they are very entertaining and the narration on all 3 very good as well.

a great addition to the world of darkness!

could not stop once I started. we need more like this, perfect execution and gripping stories.

Really very, very good. A nice surprise!

Honestly, this sort of role playing game crossover novel-thing sure seems isn’t usually my cup of tea. Let’s say that the bar isn’t that high, usually, but these stories are all excellent in their own way. Surprisingly deep and fleshed out characters, with just enough very subtle reference to The Masquerade to keep the old fans happy. I was genuinely pleased and hope to find more.

Story 1 weak, 2 and 3 were great

Overall good but definitely not happy. 1st: bland, 2nd, brutal, 3rd captivating, tragic, and really interesting.

The 1st story, A Sheep Among Wolves focuses on a freshman college student struggling with depression, loneliness, and a ton of gaslighting from the vampires in the story. Personally, it wasn't my cup of tea, I found the protagonist boring and a bit unlikable.

The 2nd story, Fine Print is about a wealthy, privileged man who extorted vampires into embracing him and then does everything he can to find loopholes to escape the contract he signed with them and the reality of his new unlife. This did a great job of showing exactly how vicious and unyielding the Camarilla can be.

The 3rd revolves around a vampire that runs a farm/ commune and her constant struggle with the ethics of keeping a Herd of humans happy, healthy while also delivering them as a product as well as her growing love/ obsession with a mortal woman that joins the community. This one does a great job of displaying how Disciplines can be used to manipulate Kindred and kine alike. This one was definitely my favorite!

amazing

if you love vampire the masquerade you'll love this book finished it in 3days

I enjoyed it

It's was good. It made me want to play Masquerade again. The 3rd story was definitely my favorite out of them. They were written well and were fun.

Great performance for some good stories.

1st story was the best with a story and complete arc and character progress. The last 2 though had the main characters feeling 1 dimensional and without any growth. I will not post spoilers as I believe if you are a VtM fan, then this story worth sinking your fangs in. If you're not a VtM fan the end of the whole thing will make feel as empty as a broken vessel. The voice actors get 5 stars from me and I will be looking for more from them.