The art of the front and inlay covers, as well as various digital pieces throughout have suffered from overt compression, as one of my fellow reviewers has mentioned. This is a pity, because the drawings and graphics of White Wolf have always been very appealing and the ones in this volume are inventively designed. White Wolf should have used the weaker compression method that they used for their future products.

However, the text and original artwork survives and makes the Requiem worth these unfortunate glitches. The information contained in this remake of Vampire reinvents the wheel impressively. The five clans and five covenants add new ideas, as well as reinstate original ones with great flare for the dramatic and intrigue. The Masquerade was more complex and much time is needed to absorb its many concepts, but the Requiem admirably takes the best it had to offer, reduce the overall content and added new organizations and names, to very pleasing effect.

The covenants are a thoughtful invention and help better unify the Vampire Clans. A reduction in the number of clans and bloodlines leads to a slightly narrower focus, which allows readers and writers alike to let the information soak in a little better. The writers preserve the Gothic mysticism and personality of the vampire well and introduce thoughtful new features, such as the Ordo Dracul, created by the legendary Count Dracula and maps of two select venues to place a Vampire chronicle.

Anything done with the intent of bettering a genre, and, or presenting new forms and ways for a society, group, or even an individual is a noteworthy deed. The Requiem writers did both and give the Vampire a new lease on life. Buy this book if you wish to explore new ways the Vampire takes to further his existence and those of his fellow kindred.