Customer Reviews

The Generals

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am an unabashed W.E.B. Griffin fan, having read all of the Corps series as well as some of his other novels. I finally took the plunge a couple of months ago and bought the entire Brotherhood of War series. I am the first to admit that the themes Griffin tends to use are predictable--obscenely rich characters who manage to enjoy all of the finer things in life while still being "regular guys" to all of their comrades, officers who are grossly disrespected or mistreated by others in the military until they are "put in their place" by superiors, etc.--but I enjoy the books nonetheless. As another reviewed has alluded, they are probably more aptly described as historically-based soap operas than "war novels."

All that being said, I have in the past few months made a substantial investment of time in reading through the Brotherhood of War series, and was enjoying the journey. Reaching the end of "The Generals" yesterday was, however, one of the two or three most unsatisfactory, disappointing, and even depressing literary moments I have ever experienced.

To begin with, the book ends abruptly, with the briefest of epilogues that winds up the lives of all of the main characters in a paragraph or two. These are characters, mind you, that the reader has come to know intimately and love or hate over the last six books and 2,400-odd pages. To have the last ten or more years of their lives suddenly abridged into a few sentences is incredibly unacceptable.

Moreover, there are distressing conflicts that are left completely unresolved. Just before the final scenes in the book, which take place in Vietnam, the main character of the entire series is involved in a scandal that results in EVERY one of his closest friends essentially terminating their relationship with him. That conflict is never alluded to in the final scenes of the book, never addressed in the epilogue, and is simply left hanging in the air for the reader to guess at. I can analogize it to having a terminal spat with a best friend and then having that person die before there is any ability to reconciliation. It is extremely unfair for anyone who has pored over these books for weeks or months.

Last, this book--number six in the series of nine--is apparently the last book, chronologically. I say "apparently" because I am so darned mad about the ending that I have not read books 7 - 9. I have, however, skimmed them, and it is pretty clear from the dates in those books that they are actually PREQUELS to this book. What kind of a numbering system is that? Now that I've read the last book, chronologically speaking, in the series and know what happens to every character for the rest of their lives, whether they live or die, not to mention about the horrible unresolved conflict that this book ends with, why in the world would I want to go back and read about events that took place earlier in their lives?

This book should either be renumbered as the last in the series or labeled with a warning that the reader ought to consider reading books 7 - 9 before tackling it, and should also have the ending either rewritten in more detail or have another warning stating that the reader is likely to be left incredibly angry after turning the last page...

Did I mention that I am unhappy with this book?

This book was a nice ride -- right up until the sudden ending. I enjoyed the book completely, but you get the impression at the end of the book that Mr. Griffin simply wanted to end the series.

The book ends with a multi-page epilogue that discusses what happens to the main players in later years (hint: the "New Breed" is a "prequel" to this book). I can't tell you how let down I was to see the series come to an abrupt end like this. I've really enjoyed the series and I'd looked forward to seeing players who'd become old friends move onto higher and higher levels of rank in the military.

Enjoy the book, but be prepared for the sudden end. It's like a cold splash in the face.

This book is the beginning of the disappointment in the Brotherhood of War series... In 'Part 1' which seems to have been written at a different time and mind set than 'Part 2' a senior officer demands to know why Colonel Lowell was not given a command position in the new Air Cavalry they've developed. He is apparently given one but that's ALL we get to hear on the subject except for in... 'Part 2' which feels altogether different from the first part. We hear a couple sentence rumor of Lowell's exploits in 'nam where he's supposedly insulted a superior and challenged him to court martial him. That's it. Lowell's service as a commander (something he's good at. Something we're told repeatedly throughout the story that's he's good at) is concluded in less than a paragraph and will now and forever be left a mystery. I sort of feel that by now in the series that Craig Lowell would have learned not to have affairs with married women seeing the trouble it's gotten him into in the past but this brilliant, intelligent, rich man once again is written into the stupidity of sleeping not only with a married woman but a fellow officer's wife. This foil got old several novels ago and it was disappointing to see it raised again as a plot device. We also finally see the return of Lowell's son who's in and out of the novel in a short time. He's grown up to be not a very nice person. The ending, as others have stated is abrupt, confusing and very disappointing. The mission in 'Part 2' is interesting (if not historically accurate) and well done but sadly kills off a long time character for no apparent reason. This book begins the decline of the series and should have been the last as it was planned to be. Worth reading but not as good as past novels in the series. Long time readers will be disappointed.

This book was a nice ride -- right up until the sudden ending. I enjoyed the book completely, but you get the impression at the end of the book that Mr. Griffin simply wanted to end the series.

The book ends with a multi-page epilogue that discusses what happens to the main players in later years (hint: the "New Breed" is a "prequel" to this book). I can't tell you how let down I was to see the series come to an abrupt end like this. I've really enjoyed the series and I'd looked forward to seeing players who'd become old friends move onto higher and higher levels of rank in the military.

Enjoy the book, but be prepared for the sudden end. It's like a cold splash in the face.

The rest of the books in this series are very good. This one ends with loose ends and essentially not much character growth or connection among the characters. Like some of the other reviewers I felt let down and discouraged. I wish I had skipped this one and moved on to the prequels.

I did like the entire series of these books, but the ending was very disappointing. I know that the Author put a lot of work and soul into them but he could of ended it on a better note instead of terminating the entire crew in a couple of pages.

The best in the Brotherhood of War series. I generally like more mainstream war novels like THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY than Griffin's books, which are more tightly focused on the military life, but they are still great. Griffin is still the best at what he does!

I've read this series several times over the last 20 years or so, and just started it again after a 5+ year layoff. Reading it again I've forgotten how good of a storyteller Griffin was before writing with his son in his last few books. While this one sets the stage for each of his other series (i.e., Corps, Vigilantes, Philadelphia police series) with a rich guy who always bucks the system to beat up the bad guy, with this one you have good character developmet and dialogue, and get a history of the Army from WWII through Vietnam - Korea, tank development, army aviation, Green Berets, you name it.

This one continues the Lowell saga with a very quick and abrupt ending - it's as if he got tired of writing and said "I'm done." You would think a little bit of closure wouldn't be out of order for as much as we've come to know / love / hate some of the characters vs. a few pages at the end.

If you, like me, read these books 30 years ago, I encourage you to re-read them. You'll be amazed at how much of the back story you;ve forgotten and how much you enjoy becoming reacquainted with the characters.

They were great in the 80s and they are great now!

Man, does this guy HATE the Air Force. That's okay, because after reading the last chapter of his last book, we hate him, too. Rewriting the Son-Toy raid to glorify the Army? Please. That was a USAF op, Mr. Griffinth, accept it, admit defeat, or take your fantasy revisionist history and go home. The retired Maryland insurance salesman will keep you company.

Other than that, I actually loved his first 5 3/4 books. After reading those last ten pages, however, I took everything from WEB and tossed it in the trash or gave it away.

Really.