Tribe Novel: Children of Gaia & Uktena is the fifth novel in White Wolf’s series of Werewolf novels, each book containing two stories, with each tale focusing on a member of a particular Garou tribe. These stories are part of a larger tale being told throughout the series. When I first learned this I was a bit apprehensive, as previous experience had taught me that White Wolf has a problem with making series books that can be read as stand-alone novels. I was pleased to discover that problem does not exist with this book.
I’ll start my review with the front and back cover art of the book, which was done by Steve Prescott. Normally I’m not a fan of Mr. Prescott’s work. However, it seems that he’s put a greater amount of detail on his work here than he normally does. This, combined with the excellent coloring done on the pieces, made me feel it was worth mentioning how the good the artwork is.
The first tale in this book is written by Richard Lee Byers, an author whose work I’d previously read in the “Inherit the Earth” Hunter anthology, where he contributed one of the two best stories found in that volume. I must say that his storytelling ability has grown considerably since his Hunter story, producing a well-rounded, entertaining werewolf tale.
The focus of Byers’ story is Cries Havoc, a Child of Gaia Galliard who has lost some of both his memory and soul to a Wyrm creature. With the help of his packmates Havoc goes on a quest to recover what he has lost. A simple premise, but one that Byers’ has breathed new life into. Most worthy of praise is his ability to avoid the stereotypes that plagued Werewolf books back when I used to buy them on a regular basis. In other words:
1. There are no tirades on werewolf superiority to humans, nor Garou going on about how they love to trick/cheat/rut with humans and then leave them without a second thought.
2. The Red Talon of the tale has a personality beyond “Humans must die!”
3. When a character has to face horrible moments from his past, the author doesn’t turn it into a piece of melodrama where the character expounds on his guilt/melancholy/angst/whatever for multiple pages before buckling down and doing the right thing. Nor does he feel bad, do the wrong thing for countless pages, only to come to his senses or get killed by his fellow Garou. Instead he realizes what happened in the past, accepts it, and keeps on going, just like that. I really loved that aspect, and hope to see more of that attitude in future White Wolf releases.
The story’s not perfect, of course. The major flaw is that on some occasions certain things unique to the World of Darkness are expounded upon, making longtime fans go “yeah, we know this stuff already,” while other times WoD-specific things are named but not explained, leaving newbie readers to say “what are they talking about?” It’s not a gaping problem, and it’s something regularly encountered in gaming fiction sold in mass-market outlets where non-gamers may purchase it. But since White Wolf seemed to be trying to strike a balance between both ideas and came up short I thought I should mention it.
The only other shortcomings worth mentioning are a contradiction that pops up concerning one character, and two places where the author is supposed to be writing in a third-person, omniscient style, only to write the text as though he shares the exact opinions of the character he is writing about at the time. Also, worth mentioning for laughs, is a segment where a Garou is in Crinos form and speaking in the Garou High Tongue of barks and howls and we’re informed that her British accent comes through in her speaking!
Byers’ story is an excellent read, and while it won’t make converts out of those who don’t like Werewolf, it will provide an entertaining read for those already fans.
The second story of the book also has a Galliard as its focus, in this case one of the Uktena breed. I must admit that when it came time to write this portion of the review I was a bit hesitant to begin. I should say right now that it was the author of this tale, Stefan Petrucha, who sent me the copy of the novel to review. It was not because of that fact that caused me trouble in writing my thoughts; it’s a standard of mine to not allow personal opinion to influence the writing of my reviews, and I point to the fact that I quit the very first (and best paying) review job I ever had because the editor felt I should write only glowing reviews of books his friends had written as proof of that. My problems writing the review came from the way the quality level of the story jumps up and down drastically. The parts that I dislike are so bad to me that I wanted to put the book down and never look at it again, while the parts I enjoy are so good I wanted to hunt down certain White Wolf editors and force them to read them, so they could learn a few things about good storytelling. I’m not used to a tale that jumps around so much on the quality-meter, so it was hard to put my opinions down on paper. Or glowing computer screen. You know what I mean.
The star of the story, Amy-Hundred-Voices, is the kind of White Wolf character that I usually hate with a passion. She’s a Garou who speaks dozens of languages, is of Asian racial descent but belongs to a predominately Native American Garou tribe (allowing for some of that “I just don’t belong” angst), possesses both a Master’s degree (in Occidental Culture) and a Bachelor’s (in Native American Mystic Traditions), is proficient in the use of explosives, and is the survivor of a rape attempt, during which she shifted to Crinos form for the first time. Of course, none of her accomplishments matter when it comes down to it, because she can’t present the kind of evocative & mesmerizing tales that are the hallmark of being a Galliard. In short, she’s the kind of uber-achieving, politically correct, looking-for-pity White Wolf character that I want to be fed into a meat grinder while they’re still alive.
Amazingly enough, she’s the least offensive example of this type of character that I’ve ever seen in a White Wolf book. The reason for that is because the author doesn’t just throw out all these facts at once and then proceed to beat the reader over the head with them for the remainder of the tale. Instead they come out gradually during the course of the story, at a nice pace which doesn’t seem forced. If White Wolf can’t learn to stop littering their books with this type of character, then they least they can do is learn from this story on how to present such characters.
The story opens after Amy and two other Garou have returned from a disastrous expedition to Alaska, and Amy has been summoned to report to a Garou sept for reasons unknown. As the story unfolds we follow the Garou trio’s trek to the sept, learn of the events that occurred in Alaska and their connection to an ancient Wyrm-foe, and of course Amy connects with her Galliard heritage.
I’ll start by singing the praises of the story. One of the best things about Mr. Petrucha’s writing in this story is that he accepts the mortality of his characters. Almost every Garou appearance I’ve read in White Wolf fiction releases has portrayed werewolves as being a hundred times more powerful than their description in the RPG books, regenerating or shrugging off all attacks against them with no problem while dealing out damage as though they were living atomic bombs. In short, they came off as unstoppable warriors who fall in combat only when it’s a plot device the author has decided is necessary.
There’s none of that in this story. As written it feels as though the Garou are actually exerting themselves to win their battles, and there is no sense their victory is preordained. Two entities show up who come off as nigh-invulnerable, but their combat prowess is explained, and in a manner that is consistent with the WoD. The defeat of said entities also makes sense, and does not feel like a cop-out “I’m running out of pages and have to wrap this up” event. Given that I’ve encountered a lot of that in fiction I’ve read recently I was very appreciative of that fact.
Another nice bit about this story is that, like the first tale of the book, there isn’t a bunch of human bashing. Those of you who have read my Hunter reviews for rpg.net know I’m a vehement pro-human, anti-supernatural kind of guy, a feeling fueled in part by the supernatural denizens of the WoD tendency to treat humans as distractions, foodstuffs, or living toys. Naturally I was impressed by the lack of anti-human sentiment in this novella. I was even more impressed when, after the mandatory Garou raid on a human farm, one of the werewolves actually throws out the idea that raiding the farm might actually be a morally wrong thing to do.
Wow. A Garou who is willing to admit (albeit in a roundabout way) that maybe humans have a right to exist. You know, a few years worth of White Wolf releases where the supernaturals actually comprehend humanity has a right to exist, and I may have to rethink my policy of feeding all the mystical inhabitants of the World of Darkness into God’s Woodchipper.
Maybe.
Finally, I mentioned earlier how the author fell into the trap of having a main character whose an over-achiever and reeks of political correctness. While that is true, it’s also true that he avoided the trap of making the eldest Garou a self-hating madman or silent, all-knowing-but-sharing-nothing type, descriptions which pretty much cover all the Garou elders that have shown up in the books I’ve read. Instead we’re treated to a zany, perhaps over-the-top character, with a very unique personality. I must admit, the portions of the tale where he sends Amy off to breed with one of his Kinfolk brought out some very loud and honest laughter in me, and the humor was done in such a fashion that it did not break the tone of feeling of the story.
Okay, now comes the part of the review where I cover what disturbed me about the story. Spoilers abound, so consider yourself warned.
My first problem came from the elements of the story that could best be described as “camp.” Let me go on the record as saying that I can enjoy a bit of humor in a story that pushes my suspension of disbelief to its limit for a moment. But when these tidbits fly in the face of established continuity, or are so melodramatic that I feel like I’m watching a really bad soap opera, they leave a bad taste in my mouth that can last for a while.
In the case of this story I thought it cute that “Werewolves on the Loose” was playing on the radio as the Garou fled from a battle. I was more than a little disturbed by the revelation that Garou use personal ads to find Kinfolk to mate with. But I half expected Rex Reed of “As the Planet Revolves” to appear as Amy drops a knickknack given to her by an esteemed mentor while infiltrating a Pentex base, only to have it discovered by one of the dozens of Pentex operatives at said base. Amy then happens to encounter the operative, maiming him before escaping the base, which then explodes courtesy of some demolition work Amy performed. The explosion devastates the base and opens a sinkhole while swallows the remains of the base beneath the earth. Later, hundreds of miles away, Amy finds the knickknack again, having been dropped by someone. Shortly after she discovers the random goon she tried to eviscerate at the Pentex base was/is (drum roll, please) her mentor who gave her the knickknack in the first place, though now he shows a bit of Wyrm-taint. Perhaps even more disturbing to me, Amy never thinks to ask exactly how he survived the holocaust that destroyed the Alaskan base; perhaps she assumed he used the same trick Schwartzenegger used at the end of “Predator” to escape the mini-nuke. All that was a bit much for a Werewolf story for me, though it if had been a Feng Shui/Shadowfist tale I’d be applauding profusely.
There’s also a bit regarding Wyrm-taint & cigarettes that will cause readers to burst out into laughter and dream up all sorts of outlandish takes on Wyrm-corruption. At the very least, you’ll be amused by the alcohol-swilling Garou commenting on the evils of cigarettes. Still, you’ll be laughing at the story, not with it.
My other big problem revolves around the end of the story. A Garou is cut off while performing a necessary ritual, which means evil will triumph. Not to worry, though, as the brain-damaged metis Garou of the story is able to mimic the voice of the uninterrupted Garou perfectly, and the mimicry allows the ritual to be completed perfectly.
Excuse me?
Okay, I can see several arguments as to why this duplication would result in the ritual succeeding, even as many reasons why it shouldn’t work spring to mind. The biggest reasoning against this argument is how much it cheapens mystical power in the World of Darkness, and how it seems to me that if such mimicry were possible in the WoD the world would be dominated by munchkins. Take this example:
Garou Elder: Let me get this straight. You want me to chant the rite to summon up a Wyld spirit and bind it, so you can record it?
Young Garou: Exactly! That way, we can rewind and play the tape whenever we want to summon a Wyld spirit to kick ass for us!
Or:
Black Fury Elder (Having summoned a Wyld spirit): Now, spirit of the Wyld, I command you to---
Fomori (imitating Black Fury Elder’s voice): Castrate me in the graphic manner described in Delta Green: Countdown!
Black Fury Elder: Aaiiieee!
Fomori: Finally, those voice lessons paid off!
My best argument for why the mimicry should not have worked comes from pages 269 & 272 of the book. Page 269 reads:
“ [The Garou Elder performing the ritual]’s lips formed to utter the last syllable of the healing invocation that would seal the bleeding wound between worlds. He would have to say it four times, and then he was done:
“ ‘Ah’n!’ he shouted.”
At that point the Wyrm-Beast interrupts the ritual, dragging the Garou elder into the Umbra away from the place the ritual needs to be completed at. All seems lost, until page 272, when the metis Garou repeats the final syllable uttered by the Garou elder, intoning:
“an...an...an...”
Um...I’m not seeing an “Ah’n,” there, just “an.” No “h.” I guess the eternal power that is Gaia and the spirit world has become hard of hearing in these final days of the Apocalypse. I’m no editor, but even I noticed that little discrepancy. Oh, well....
Despite my complaints about this tale I still recommend it, as the good portions do outweigh the bad. The book’s certainly worth its cover price, and would be a good addition to any Werewolf fan’s collection.
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