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

Eric Griffin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Griffin is the author of the best-selling Clan Novel: Tremere and Clan Novel: Tzimisce, and many more stories and novels set in the World of Darkness. Griffin was initiated into the bardic mysteries at their very source, Cork, Ireland. He is currently engaged in that most ancient of Irish literary traditions-that of the writer in exile. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his lovely wife Victoria and his three sons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (April 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2841881180
• ISBN-13: 978-2841881185
• ASIN: 1565049497
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,933,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A great case study in how to ignore genre., October 19, 2005

By 

Ryan Morrison (SF, CA, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Widow's Might (Clan Novel: Tremere Trilogy, Book 3) (Paperback)

It would be nice if the author for a clan novel would actually take the time to read the Clanbook before attempting a novel. They're not that long. One of my ST's put it best: clan novels are written by people who wanted to do something and the ST's told them 'no'. While I haven't read other clan novels -- that would certainly be the case with this trilogy.

The characters in the novel are not interesting enough to care much about. The liberties taken with the characters of Sturbridge and Dorfman are not only unbelieveable but out-of-genre. So far as I can tell, most of the Thaum the characters use aren't even recorded in WW VtM or MET books. As mentioned many times before the plots never actually end except for perhaps the one that is the least interesting.

The In-Genre Tremere Pyramid is replaced by a bunch of positions that don't exist in any version of the Clanbook I've seen. The Astors are less frightening than most of the characters in the story and mostly appear to be incompetent. Dorfman is called a Lord instead of a Pontifex. There's little-to-no emphasis on the seige mentality of the Tremere -- especially in a "War Chantry" that has been fighting the Sabbat for years. I probably could go on and on.

In short, it is a mistake to call this a Tremere clan novel. The author's made up inventions that he calls Tremere bear only a scant resemblence to the Tremere described by WW. I'm not sure if the author, the editors or both are to blame for such a horrible rendering. I wasn't expecting high fiction but this was a travesty.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No luck for the Tremere, April 13, 2004

By 

Silverwalker "Silverwalker" (Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Widow's Might (Clan Novel: Tremere Trilogy, Book 3) (Paperback)

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.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit of a letdown..., September 2, 2002

By 

Michael Nomad (Boston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Widow's Might (Clan Novel: Tremere Trilogy, Book 3) (Paperback)

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...