A great piece of music starts out slowly, the pulse of the music soft, yet captivating. As the song unfolds, it begins to tell its story, toying with our thoughts and our emotions. But the pulse of the rhythm is always there, leading us on…

Dark Ages: Lasombra by David Niall Wilson is like a great piece of music. It begins quietly, setting the stage with a prologue that introduces the Lasombra Bishop Alfonso and identifies the themes of the story: power, politics, and darkness. As the story begins, we can feel the stirrings of power and the warm embrace of the darkness. The Lasombra are the masters of that darkness. They excel at Vampire politics, and bend pawns and living darkness to their will.

The pulse of the song moves us forward…

We are introduced to Lucita of Aragon. She is smart, beautiful, and deadly, qualities any man would love to have in daughter—but never in a lover. They are also all the qualities her sire, Archbishop Moncada in Madrid, values. Lucita is traveling with the Ashen Priest Anatole, a childe of Malkav. Caine has cursed him with madness, but through that madness comes clarity, and a devotion to Latin Christianity.

These two strange companions travel to Constantinople to move the remaining forces of the night to finally claim control over the fallen city. As the first movement comes to a close, the rhythm is gaining momentum. We are caught in its web of intrigue. The players are all set on stage, but we do not know what they will do.

The next movement begins as the webs thicken and expand. The dark melodies of the beginning of the book merge with a mysterious new harmony: Bishop Alfonso seeks to claim the city as his own, but he can feel danger in the very shadows that give him succor. The characters choose sides, create alliances, and rekindle hatreds from ages past.

Both melody and harmony accelerate to a racing pace at the climax of the story. Our blood burns as we are caught in the tide of a great battle between the two leading candidates for control of the city. And as dawn begins to rise, our victor stares out of the battlements of the castle…and the music stops, leaving us crying out for more.

I give this story 4 out of 5 doors. It started a little slower than I would have liked, but there were just enough small conflicts and resolutions to keep the reader's interest. It was very tastefully done, and in the end, I was not disappointed. Although the final chapter resolves all of the subplots at a feverish pace, it was finished off with a masterful stroke.

Johann says he'd pick the locks on   doors to read this book.