Robert Anton Wilson almost defines a new genre with this series. The Chronicles series are part conspiracy, part satire, part historical fiction, part philosophical, and completely mind altering. As a sequel to 'The Earth Will Shake', The Widow's Son brings the reader further into the strange world of the Illuminated Seers, the Rosicrucians and renaissance time Italy through the eyes of protagonist Sigismundo Celine.

In this book, Wilson's eccentricities creep in and the reader is bombarded with crazy footnotes that offer historical insights, personal comments, and suppositions about which historical figures and writers were in an `altered state' (that is, smoking dope). Wilson's drug induced paranoia isn't quite as annoying as Hunter S. Thompson, but it does get to be a bit much at times and detracts from the narrative. Still, the writing is competent and the conspiracy is more plausible than the fluffy Dan Brown novels. This book is far better than Dan Brown but not as competent as Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. ( )