I haven't read many game-related novels in the past few years, though I enjoyed quite a few of those produced by White Wolf authors such as Robert Weinberg and David Niall Wilson, among others. Not actively involved in gaming or simulation itself, I looked for strong, compelling characters, sweeping conflicts, and good, solid writing. The elements of a good story and style shouldn't be abandoned in the case of tie-in novels, but all too often it seems as though they are. I think the acid test is whether a tie-in novel is interesting or even comprehensible to non-gamers. If the book stands alone and entertains without deep, encyclopedic knowledge of a game system or universe, then the mission's accomplished.

Stefan Petrucha, author of Topp's X-FILES comics and also the recent KOLCHAK: THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS graphic novel, accomplishes his mission with commendable aplomb. Writing in White Wolf's Dark Ages series (of which this is the second volume), Petrucha delves into one of the Crusades and deftly weaves together the medieval and the Byzantine, the religious and the profane, and the ultimately feminist along with the brutally patriarchal, in a novel that manages to provide food for thought in these days of escalating Western-Islamic strife. Indeed, it's no surprise that Petrucha's subtext speaks to the present as much as it does to the past, and does so with subtly-proffered philosophy dexterously interlaced with adventure of cinematic proportions.

In 1204, as the Templar Sir Hugh of Clairvaux prepares to lead a Crusader force into the heart of Islam, his retinue is infiltrated by the exotic beauty Amala, a trained Assamite assassin charged with his termination. Aided by Sihr Haddad, a sorcerer who loathes civilization, and the inquisitive Fajr, Amala is the perfect double agent—a Muslim who claims to have converted to Christ and who can hold her own in theological ruminations is a tempting companion for a celibate but longing Templar such as Sir Hugh. Complicating matters, however, is Hugh's tendency to experience visions and fits he claims are caused by Mary, Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God, during which he quotes the Koran and she provides spiritual and political guidance ... to further conquest and conflict. Amala finds Sir Hugh more than a little attractive and can't bring herself to assassinate him while there's a chance he is doing Allah's will. She can't determine whether he is or not because he seems to be well-versed in both religions and their divergent aims for the embattled region. But how long can she withstand Sihr's and Islam's pressure to destroy the foreign interloper—the infidel—before his cause becomes widespread? And from whom does Sir Hugh's inspiration and guidance truly come, if not on high?

As if these currents weren't complex enough, layer in the fact that Sir Hugh and other Templars, Amala herself, Sihr, Fajr, and various other characters are vampires (Cainites, in White Wolf's world) who survive on the vitae of the common kine, and the story becomes an even more fascinating treatise on the meaning of piety and devoutness. While not a new concept, it is still certainly disconcerting to eavesdrop as vampires openly profess and discuss their allegiance to Christ or Allah, or the Queen of Heaven—when, after all, they'd empty a prisoner of all his blood in a second and barely blink an eye at the disposal of remains. The level of self-delusion involved in such foolery would be mind-boggling at best, yet these characters ooze conviction and crazed enthusiasm for their hidden role in human affairs. The background is so convincing, there's a tendency to think all Templars must have been blood-suckers (they were surely treated that way in the purge), involved in an invisible push-pull contest of wills with a quarter of the world as spoils.

A conflict so sweeping it's still ongoing, characters who face tough choices born of centuries-old conditioning (advancing causes humans cannot perceive or possibly understand...) and the intricate details of a world we must both recognize and cannot reconcile with history as we know it—these render Stefan Petrucha's DARK AGES: ASSAMITE convincing and serious. His knights and swords, political intrigue, romance and grotesque ghoul armies bring the novel on home, easily transcending any game-related limitation. Highly recommended to lovers of all things Templar.