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Rating: 
Summary: Finally!
Review: At long last! Finally some WtA writing. I have been starving for some decent fiction since Call to Battle, Silver Crown and Breathe Deeply. Although I am not much of a shadow lord fan it was good writing, and I really liked the Get of Fenris. Can't wait to see what the next books will be like.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Blessing
Review: Eric Griffin did a great job on the Get of Fenris. Gherbod Fleming MUST BE STOPPED before he writes again--unfortunately he's scheduled to do Wendigo *and* Uktena. Once again, the American Indians suffer. But the Silver Fangs get him too, so it's not a culture-bias. I enjoyed GOF tribe novel--it was witty, fast-paced, occasionally thoughtful, and once or twice laugh-out-loud funny. Some of White Wolf's best fiction! Gherbod Fleming, unfortunately, writes like a high school creative writing student--dull and uninteresting, thick with adjectives and cliche'd phrases, painfully pretentious and charmed with his own style--bleah. What more can I say than "Mountain-like in their midst was Dawntreader, his platinum hair reflecting the red flames, whipping hither and yon as he danced" (p35)? If anybody can figure out a way to give White Wolf money for Get of Fenris and *not* for Shadow Lords, drop me an e-mail. The pattern persists in Silent Striders/Black Furies.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: I simply cannot accurately say how terrible this book is. I am a big fan of the Werewolf: The Apocalypse/Rage franchise and I have read 4 books previous to this but I am sorry to say this one is bad, bad, bad. It's like the author knew loads about the World of Darkness and went into crazy, over-description on this to make up for the fact that there is simply no story or decent dialogue. I am surprised I even managed to make this much out as it is so badly written little sense can be made from every single page. No plot or story really kicked in at all. If you have read the 'When Will You Rage' book you will be able to understand how good short stories with likeable characters work. None of that is present here. It's simply an absolute mess. I was considering reading the rest of the books in this series but now I will really have to reconsider if this is the going to be the typical standard. If you like this franchise then read 'The Silver Crown' or 'Breathe Deeply' for cool Rage stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally--Some New W:tA Fiction
Review: It's been a while since White Wolf has released any new Werewolf: The Apocalypse fiction, so I eagerly snatched this one up. It's the first in a series of 7 books, each containing two novellas that focus on a different tribe (14 tribes in all--the 13 regulars, plus the tainted Black Spiral Dancers). The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the whole thing, while it does contain some nice action and political setup, is more or less exposition for the bigger epic storyline that is the entire Tribe Novel series. I'm not going to get much into plot here, because most of what does actually happen can probably be considered spoilers, but suffice it to say that by the time the Concolation (the largest gathering of Garou--werewolves--that can be called) is called, there are enough problems to worry about as to make future entries of this series interesting. The writing is pretty good, though, because both halves are in novella form, it does sort of lack in terms of detail. But don't let that fool you, the writing is not BAD, and sometimes is quite good. It's just that, like I said, the real meat of the whole Tribe Novel story hasn't actually picked up at this point in the series. I look forward to the rest of the series, but am disappointed that they will only be coming out seasonally, meaning book 7 won't be out until winter.......of next year..... I would think that anyone who is a fan of Werewolf: The Apocalypse would want to check this series out.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for WtA fans
Review: This is a great book. It is intelligently written and quite fascinating. This is the first book (novel or game book) that I dabbled in for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and I must say it was quite confusing at first, but I caught on quickly and was soon absorbed by it. For those unfamiliar with the concepts and terminology of Apocalypse, I recommend downloading a lexicon from a fansite for the most enjoyable reading.
I have read preceding novels for WtA, and I must say this is better. Breathe Deeply is written well, but I didn't like the fact that the Crinos form was merely an unthinking monster capable of solely a 10-word, monosyllabic vocabulary. The Silver Crown fixed the whole "unthinking monster" problem, but the writing was childish and sub-par. The advent of the Trive Novels series is a blessed occurrence for WtA fans, because it is about what WtA has grown into, not exactly what it started as. The Crinos form is literate and speech-capable, and the writing is excellent.
I rate this five stars because it accomplishes its purpose. It is the introduction to the series, and as such, I would not diminish its value as a good book, because it's an introduction that draws you in. I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes WtA or werewolves in general.
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