Widow's Might (Clan Novel: Tremere Trilogy, Book 3)

Rating:
Summary: A bit of a letdown...
Review: For the most part I enjoyed the first two books, and was looking foward to how everything would tie together, but only one the the three subplots was really completed. Sorry, but if it's going to be continued in another series, then don't call it a trilogy. The story of who is behind things at the Fatherhouse is built up but never finished. The same goes to a lesser extent on the bomber of New York. Oh well...

Rating:
Summary: A bit of a letdown...
Review: For the most part I enjoyed the first two books, and was looking foward to how everything would tie together, but only one the the three subplots was really completed. Sorry, but if it's going to be continued in another series, then don't call it a trilogy. The story of who is behind things at the Fatherhouse is built up but never finished. The same goes to a lesser extent on the bomber of New York. Oh well...

Rating:
Summary: No luck for the Tremere
Review: I like the Tremere, with their dedication, pentagrams and toughness. Therefore, I don't like this trilogy, which does not do them justice in any way. In fact, it doesn't do justice to the kindred at all. How hard is it to remember the most basic aspects of undead life in the WoD? And yet, the author gives us vamps that drink beer, one kindred that wakes up in the middle of the day and watches television because he can't sleep, one kindred that stays up to watch over his wounded master all day with not as much as a hint to what a trial that would be, vamps that are afraid to drown, vamps being lovers, vamps that heal ordinary wounds just like regular humans do ... oh, how sad.

And really, who cares about the "children down the well"? The author but noone else. There are enough freakish monsters in the WoD as it is, and if you can't use those to fill a book but have to make up new ones, then you're not a good author. The children show up in the Tremere clannovel where no reader wants them and where they are never explained, and they show up here too, then disappear for no good reason. They just provide us with gross images of bloated body parts, again and again and again.

And when did Tremere become a sisterhood? Regent Sturbridge refers to her underlings as her "daughters" several times -- where are the men? Oh, some show up, but it is clear they are just an exception to the general rule, which is that this War Chantry is a Women's Chantry. How odd. How unrealistic. How unexplained. Perhaps it fulfills some fantasy of the author's, but I remain unimpressed.

As others have pointed out, the author fails to finish his plots. He is unable to make something out of Aisling Sturbridge's visit to Vienna, and he is unable to even give an explanation to the bombing! Incredible! The one thing you were dead sure had to be explained, and we get nothing! And the arch villain walks away, no bad guy is punished, and the heroine dies. Wow. Talk about a waste of our time and money.

Incredibly, the author is even sloppy enough to include the same dialogue twice: once in the U.S., and once in Vienna. Apparently he moved it from one part of the trilogy to another and forgot to delete it from its first spot. I have never seen that kind of ineptitude before, and I hope I'll never see it again.

In the beginning of the trilogy a computer reveals that the data about kindred arriving in NYC shows up as a complex Thaumaturgic symbol, which convinces two astute characters that some sneaky stuff is going on. Later on, the locale where the arrivals are greeted is blown up, and we eagerly await the unavoidable quest to reveal and punish the bad guys. And yet ... nothing. Then, the heroine is chased by the Inquisitors throughout the trilogy because ... what? She is surprised by seeing them the first time, jumps through a portal, and seals off the other end of it with a forbidden pentagram? Like, who cares? Is this a conflict worthy to build her story on? Shouldn't it be like, you know, something important instead?

Here's to hoping this author never writes for White Wolf again. God, how boring and primitive he makes his stories.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Widow's Might
Review: The third and final novel of the Clan Novel Trilogy: Tremere, Eric Griffin pulls the stories together in supernatural proportions. Having read the first two books of the trilogy (Widow's Walk and Widow's Weeds) I was eager to finish the series. The author pulls together his knowledge of vampiric lore as pertains to Vampire the Masquerade in concluding the trilogy.
Eric Griffin is well known as being an author for White Wolf Publications. Griffin goes into explicit detail when describing setting, character thought process, and character development. Interesting character dialogue, combat, and supernatural prowess came together to make this not only a descriptive, but interesting novel. Plot development is excellent, although all the character introductions happened in the two novels prior. Without reading those first, one would be lost starting into this novel without having read the other two.
Not a stranger to Vampire the Masquerade, I did notice several small inaccurate descriptions such as vampires that do not have to breathe, being afraid of drowning. Maybe that is being a bit picky, but it is nice when authors know the background about what they are writing about. When writing this series, the story began to split from one tale with all the characters together, into three separate stories. Griffin concludes two of the three, however leaves you hanging on the third, which I suspect, will come into play in another White Wolf novel.
In all, the novel was very descriptive, and concluded the series. Enough dialogue and action to keep the novel interesting as well as a fulfilled development in all areas made the novel well worth one's while.
James Collard