Mask of the Vampire is the second book in the Chronicles of Damage, Inc. The novel follows a group of adventurers attempting to destroy a mask belonging to an ancient vampire, or at least mitigate how much damage the magical presence housed within the mask can do. These adventurers are a diverse cast of characters, each with their own quirks, strengths, and flaws. The personalities of the protagonists makes it difficult to call some of them “heroes”, though some certainly are. All the main characters have history and character development that make them seem realistically human, even if they are actually something other than human, such as an elf or dragon.

The most engaging aspect of Mask of the Vampire is its rich world-building. The world of Gaia is a dark fantasy reflection of our own world. From the overarching, lofty pieces of the world such as politics and maps, to minutiae such as food choices and local customs, the setting is detailed in a way that makes an immersive reading experience.

Though the people in this book and the world they inhabit are rich with detail, the story itself is slow-paced. If feels like the characters spend much of the narrative either recounting things that have already happened, either earlier in this book or in the previous novel or discussing urgently how to prevent other things from happening. When there are action sequences, those sequences are well-written and easy to visualize, and are interesting. However, they are spread too thinly between long stretches of dialogue, much of which is repetitive. The story itself is a good one, but the way it is presented is less adventure fantasy and more intrigue and investigation, so it may not meet the expectations of the usual fantasy reader.

Review of an Advanced Reading Copy from Parlatheas Press, LLC.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 6 religious exclamations; 71 mild obscenities; 20 derogatory names; 24 scatological words; 13 anatomical terms; 36 f-word derivatives.

Note: The word “whore” is used to describe a profession (not tallied); “bastard” is used to define an illegitimate child (not tallied); a few British uses of the word “bloody” (not tallied).

Violence/Gore: Characters spar a few times; a few verbal threats; a character contemplates torturing someone; a few reports of deaths in battle; a few reports of murders, some of which are gory; a few reports of fights; report of a human sacrifice; report of a village slaughtered; a few reports of property damage; report of an accidental death; characters find dead bodies on a few occasions; report of animals killed; report of deaths in a fire; a few fights with magic or medieval weapons with minor injury; a man beats a helpless woman; a man hits an animal with a rock; a character is poisoned; a man is dragged behind a horse; a few buildings are destroyed by fire; a character is killed by monsters; a man’s throat is slit; a few fights with magic or medieval weapons in which characters are killed; gory wounds are described; a garment is made of body parts; a vision includes women and children being beaten and killed, including a beheading; an attempted rape.

Sex/Nudity: A comment is made on how desirable a woman’s figure is; man has a (clothed) vision of a woman he finds attractive; a man kisses a woman’s hand; a child is naked (not sexual); a few instances in which characters, including a teen girl and a man, are stripped naked, but the context is not sexual; a discussion of mating habits of magical beasts (not graphic); mention of “making love”; a joke uses mild sexual innuendo; mention of male strippers; mention of sex slavery; a woman caresses a man’s back; a report of prostitution; a character implies a few times that a man has had sex with a teenage girl; a man gropes a teenager; a man kisses a woman forcibly in an unwanted fashion; a man gropes a woman’s breast and beats her while attempting to rape her; a man forces a woman to remove her pants and start undressing him as part of an attempt to rape her.

Mature Subject Matter:

Murder; assassination; human sacrifice; kidnapping (reported); slavery (reported, including sex slavery); death (loved one, parent, child, friend); prostitution (reported); some characters are orphans; bullying; suicide (mentioned); torture (contemplated); rape (attempted).

Alcohol/Drug Use:

Adults drink alcohol; one character struggles with alcohol addiction; poison is used; characters user herbs medicinally.