Transylvania by Night is the key setting book for the Transylvania Chronicles , and as such I’m starting off with a read through of this work. It’s one of the more ambitious and well-regarded of the “by Night” series, covering one of the most iconic settings for vampire stories, myths and legends. This “read through” will inherently be less critical than my take on the Chronicles themselves, but should provide essential background on the locations, people, monsters, and lore of the land. Chapter 1 is an incredibly short chapter, being more of a brief overview of what follows. Indeed, it’s less than 2 pages all told. However, it does give an evocative yet straightforward explanation of the Themes, Mood, and general concept of a Chronicle set in the lands of Easter Europe. It describes the region as a brutal and harsh land, where only the thinnest masks of civility conceal the Beast. It is a land riven by religious conflict as the adherent of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy ...