Walk Among Us

Compiled Edition

By: Cassandra Khaw, Genevieve Gornichec, Caitlin Starling

Narrated by: Neil Kaplan, Xe Sands, Erika Ishii

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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

BOOK 2 STARTS OFF SO FREAKING FUNNY

I cant help but freak out laughing during the worst period start day and painful day as well and still it actually was UNBELIEVABLE haliourious in such s genius and appreciative way!!!

Very good but uneven.

Look, I love the World of Darkness table top Role Playing Games. I like the lore of the Vampires, their clans, and their power struggles. But it has a tendency to take itself WAY too seriously at times. Walk among Us falls into that trap somewhat but manages to get out and become entertaining overall. Walk Among Us isn't really filled with lore from the games likeI want from these spin off novels but it's understandable when they don't do that. This seems like a new start for the games spin off novels. It gives you enough to get interested in the world of darkness to hopefully go pick up a rule book and learn more... and really that makes sense with the first in a new line of books.
The first tale is the best. Dealing with real mental illness and just giving you a taste of the deeper world of "The Masquerade". The second is far more like an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" mashed up with "Tales from the Crypt" and deals with becoming a Vampire with a nice subtext of food allergies, over eating and over confidence. Though that being said the main character, who is supposed to be a savvy tech world businessman, is really stupid (almost a caraciture) which takes away from the story somewhat.
The third is the weakest. It's frankly... boring. It does get interesting near the end but it's a long dry road of obvious sheep and wolf subtext that is so obvious I lost interest quickly.
The narration is top notch, so despite the uneven stories these actors will pull you through if you lose interest at any point. And you may in the third story.
So while I wanted a more pulpy world of Clan Wars and Vampire life this book was still well worth a credit, especially as it's the only "Vampire the Masquerade" available on Audible. with dozens of books available let's hope this changes soon.

The Long Night, Full of Terrors

These stories focus on the personal horror of the setting and give three different perspectives of the Kindred. A must read for fans, new and old alike.

Fantastic

I have been waiting for VtM novellas like this for a long time. They nailed it.

Really good!

Took a chance and was pleasantly surprised. All 3 stories were well put together and didn't seem too short or too long. Great characters, great narrators.

Just fantastic! 😍

great book as for newcomers and existing fans of World of Darkness.
Not too much information to be overwhelmed with the depth of the WoD and not to little to be lost if you have no knowledge about the world. If you need a reason to get into Vampire the Masquerade, this is the best way of entry and motivation to learn more.

2of 3 stories good

The middle one was overacted and weak story. The first story was my favorite. The Third is good too just very dark. Get if you like this universe. But would be hard to understand if you don’t know about the world setting

Generic YA novelettes wasting such a good setting

Although the World of Darkness has a vast amount of potential, these stories don't seem to sieze upon it in any meaningful way. I'm not sure if this is due to White Wolf meddling or if the authors simply weren't writing anything interesting.

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.