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Finally got around to reading Dark War
by Richard Chilton 27 Jul '11

27 Jul '11

Just finished the Dark War trilogy... I can see why it didn't sell as well as his later books... A brief overview: There is a planet with Meth on it. The Meth are a bit cat like and matriarchal, mostly because the female of the species are larger and tougher than the males. Up in the north of the planet there are the barbarians, then the slightly more civilised folks who live in packsteads... Well, there are the log houses in the packstead... Well, there are your family in the log houses.... No, the Meth don't have much of a "we're all Meth together" outlook. There's you, your family, your log house, your packstead - and maybe the region where you live. That's it. The packstead next door is under attack by barbarians? Here's hoping they live. Us help them? Why? It's not us being attacked. But here's hoping they survive; we'll need their help in hunting next summer. In the series there are a number of battles, battles that fall into three broad categories. A) A well planned strategy where the battle could go either way. B) Something that starts off looking like A) but then becomes a "Um, will anyone survive this one?" situation (hint: don't fall in love with characters - any character!). C) Someone gets pissed off and everyone on the other side of the battle dies. The opposing army dies, then track down the settlement they come and kill everyone there. Then track down their supporters and kill them too. Dead, dead, dead - just smack, smack until everyone is dead. Type A) battles look like the training ground for the Dread Empire and Black Company novels. Type B) battles look like the training ground for the climatic battles in those books where few people walk away. The type C) ones... If Lady (at the height of her powers) ever cut loose, just said "Right, they are all going to die now" and went out and killed everyone in her way, then it would look like those "battles". Like if she had command of the Ten and every scrap of power from her empire when her daughter was taken and just cut loose - that's what I was thinking when I read about some of those "battles". But back to the Meth. The Meth are ruled by communities of Sisterhoods of Silth (also called witches). The sisterhoods look for psychic talents in the young. Girls with the talent are recruited (stolen) into the sisterhood. Any male with the talent is an abomination and destroyed. Later, as the girls grow into women, well you can't have Silth distracted by going into heat can you? And if they have litters they might put their own young ahead of the sisterhood, so all Silth are sterilised. Oddly enough, some of the most powerful Silth come from the edges of civilisation, where the communities don't have iron control and miss some of each generation. Now if a young one with talent isn't spotted and trained then odds are the talent will just fade away (but maybe her daughters might inherit it). While the sisterhoods sterilise the best of the females, there are the male Brotherhoods who handle tech and get their paws dirty. They do the work that is beneath that of the Silth and take the best and brightest males. Of course you can't have a member of the brotherhood putting his own family ahead of his brothers, so they are all sterilised when they join (or when they reach a certain rank)... Oddly enough, some their brightest and best come from areas where the brotherhoods don't really recruit much. Um, I seem to be talking about natural selection and how you shouldn't run a society... Now where was I? Oh yes - into this mix there's a young girl (named Marilka) born in one of the border areas (where it's family, log house, packstead) who has a bright future ahead of her. Her mother doesn't take her to see the witches when she should have and there's a couple of people in the long house who thinks that the girl might have witch powers, but their opinions don't matter. Her mother is the strongest warrior in the long house, just as her grandmother had been, and their people have a saying: "Strength goes". As in "You want trouble with my daughter - then maybe I should rip you into pieces" is how things can work. Oh, there's tradition and the Wise (old females) who advise, but a strong huntress can do what she wants - unless what she wants is to stay warm... For some reason the winters seem to be getting colder and summers shorter, but who really believes in global cooling? Anyway, rumours start flying that the barbarians have been united and as the packstead next door is attacked they send runners to the local community of Silth. It seems that they have been paying tribute for generations and now they need that promised protection... The good news is that Marilka gets recruited by the Silth and begins to make her way in a world where technology (ground effect vehicles, transport planes, etc) mix with magic (the Silth use magic to power their spacecraft). The bad news? Well, the battle doesn't go exactly as planned. Now here is why I don't think it sold as well as it could have. Are the below points flaws? Maybe, maybe not, but I can see them hurting sales. 1) It's hard to get the readers to identify with your hero when you're also using her to explain just how different the Meth are. 2) The names. Marilka, Meth, Skiljan, Upper Ponath - I'm not saying that aliens have to good Anglo-Saxon names, but after a while the weird names became a blur. 3) This point is a continuation of point 2: Silths who can use the Dark Side. While writing this I tried to find out if Vader was called "Dark Lord of the Sith" in the first series of movies, but couldn't (google failed me!). The Dark Side was there, and reading about Silths who tap the Dark Side... Well it broke me out of the world of the Meth and got me thinking how a Marilka / Vader battle would go. 4) The powers that be on the Meth world are very, very short sighted. As in "We won this battle! Well, that's it, the war is over, let's get back to our infighting and... Oh, we're being attacked again? Well it's the same faction using the same weapons that almost killed us last time, but obviously they aren't a real threat. Let's keep fighting among ourselves until they make us fight them. After all, they are only males so they can't be a threat THIS TIME" - I capitalised THIS TIME because it happens time and time again and every other time they've proven a threat, but why should we worry about them THIS TIME? 5) There's "We look after ourselves first" then there's fighting over who has the coldest places to sleep as the house burns down around... or looking for the warmest spot to sleep as Global Cooling grips the world. You'd think that threat of global extinction would get everyone working to work together - but see point 4. 6) The ending. As I neared the end of the last book I was wondering where it would go. I mean, this was the last book, right? So how would things work out and ... Oh.... Then I started to think about a certain type of joke - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaggy_dog_story for details. Not that this series is like that, but it did have an empty feeling at the end. 7) Lots of unanswered questions. Lots and lots. 8) Was it sci-fi or fantasy? I've read it and I still don't know. That can be the sign of a good series, but it can also be confusing. Now there were some great spots in the books - I still laugh when I think of someone broadcasting: "Look, you were boring so we'll leaving your world whether or not you say we can leave. Please stop shooting at us or... Now you've done it. We're sorry we have to defend ourselves and kill the people who were shooting... and those people who just started shooting. And those people who were moving into position to shoot. Sorry about having to defend ourselves this way - we didn't plan on killing all those people. Maybe we can be friends later?", and there were other highpoints. It was gripping, it was... It was Glen Cook. An early Glen Cook but still Cook. If he was to rewrite it I'm sure the series would be different - he has improved his craft as a writer. If you're looking for something like the Black Company then this isn't what you're looking for. If you're looking for a good tale written by Cook in his early style then this what you're looking for - warts and all. Richard

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Updates!
by Marc Rikmenspoel 25 Jul '11

25 Jul '11

Nightshade finally posted the cover to their reprint of An Ill Fate Marshalling, I added it to my blog, but here's a link to just the image http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-znx5kHUlytY/Ti3oEcZ-95I/AAAAAAAABI4/KBu_SdTuX9o/s… It's one of Raymond Swanland's best pics yet! Nightshade also have posted the full cover to Reap the East Wind, another fine Swanland effort http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RiQEPLBkTvY/Ti3p6EUdTHI/AAAAAAAABJA/Wdjdv-XCxAg/s… Finally, many of you will have heard that Borders is closing its American stores (the British ones closed some time ago). I stopped by the one at Madison Square Garden in NYC over the weekend, and they already had the first Garrett omnibus on the shelves! Introducing Garrett, P.I. doesn't officially come out till August 2, but I'm guessing Borders wanted to clear inventory out of their warehouses, and forwarded everything they had, just to get it all sold, if possible.

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Desperate for Sequel to Gilded LAtten Bones!
by c01demp＠aol.com 27 Jun '11

27 Jun '11

I don't know about anyone else, but I am desperate for a sequel to Gillded Latten Bones! As is the case with Garret, Dean, The Dead Man, Morley, and even Singe, Strata has claimed my heart and allegiance! And the possibilities for a really wild adventure featuring a very pregnant as well as very capable and deadly dangerous Strata seem endless! I suspect the first challenge will be with Strata's impatience, even annoyance, at the efforts of all and sundry (including the Dead Man) to protect her during her pregnancy. I rather suspect she will be a bit snappish ( and from her demeanour to date fairly kind) in reminding people that she is not very breakable... Dear Mr. Cook, are you listening??? Doc D

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Electronic Versions
by Matt Cutter 15 Jun '11

15 Jun '11

Just a note: if anybody ordered ebooks of the Nightshade editions from Baen Books Webscription program, there has apparently been a licensing problem. You'll need to contact Baen customer service for a workaround. But Swordbearer and A Cruel Wind are both available, so it looks like they're working it out.

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Reap the East Wind reprint coming
by Marc Rikmenspoel 09 Jun '11

09 Jun '11

On Amazon <http://www.amazon.com/Reap-East-Wind-Glen-Cook/dp/1597803189/ref=sr_1_4?s=b…>and Nightshade's site<http://www.nightshadebooks.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=216>it is confirmed that a trade paperback of Reap the East Wind is coming in October! From the wording, it will be followed by a reprint of An Ill Fate Marshaling, and then the final Dread Empire book, once and for all! The blurb reads: "This volume marks the beginning of the end. Reap the East Wind is the first step on the road to the long-delayed final chapter of Glen Cook's legendary dread empire series."

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Gilded Latten Bones (Spoilers)
by Alan Rimes 29 May '11

29 May '11

Hi All New member to the mailing list but I've been a Glen Cook fan for close to 20 years now. Not long ago I finished the latest Garrett Book and I got the distinct feeling that it may be the last as Garrett appeared to finally settle down. I also fel Glen may have taken the character and the City of Tunfaire as far as he can and may be running out of ideas. I can only think that the return of Glory Mooncalled may be the only thing to liven them up now. Many thanks Alan

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Red Iron Nights reprint
by John Middleton 14 Mar '11

14 Mar '11

Hi all, I have ordered a reprint of Red Iron Nights through QBD here in Australia - a 31 December 2010 date, which they missed. I followed up, and today got an email the order had been updated: "Publisher advises that this title has a release date of 20th June 2011" Who knows, but at least it hopefully means Red Iron nights will get a reprint, and then maybe DQL in 2012...

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Re: [Glencook-fans] SPOILERS Gilded Latten Bones
by ryan young 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / I thought GLB was one of the better books of the Garrett series because Garret is doing the work and the thinking. The first few Garrett books he and the dead man solve mysteries, but then it became the dead man show with everyone disrespecting Garrett. I was glad that he solved the mystery even though it was incomplete because he the dead man didn't do it. As for his relationships, Garrett is a people pleaser that doesn't want to break a girl's heart. Yes, it would be much better if he faced her, but he is not a perfect person. Plus I have dated girls that I thought I liked but then after dating them it became torture. It is called dating someone and it doesn't always work out. I connected more personally with this book than his previous 7 or 8, and it lived up to its name as the Garrett series not the dead man series.

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Black Company audio
by Michele Riccio 26 Jan '11

26 Jan '11

For those of you who enjoy audio books - the Black Company Series is available for download from Audible.com. They're doing a special on first books in a series, so book 1 is only $4.50 (reg $24.00). I am pretty sure this price is good for non-members as well as members of audible. Michele

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Gilden Latten Bones: the end?
by Jerry Kalayjian 05 Dec '10

05 Dec '10

Forgive me for not having begun the book by the time others were already chatting. I enjoyed the book. It delivered, even if I don't think it was the best in the Garret series. I was caught a few times by what I thought was repetitive phrasing, clunky writing if you will; and I was surprised by the crude language. I don't mind it, and often use it far more than my wife would like. I have everything Cook has written, like many on this listing so correct me if I err, but I don't recall there being a lot of F-bombs, etc. especially in Garret. I was melancholy at the end of the book: I can't help but think that Cook was/is drawing Garret to a close. There was considerably more reminiscing than usual by Garret, Morley, Singe, and Dean, with references to just about every major character and not a few past adventures from past novels. The references to aging and time having passed also leads me to that conclusion. 12 books and there hasn't been any of that. Just Garret and co. running around, cavorting, playing, solving problems, etc. I'm reminded of Robert B. Parker's Spenser series where for many novels through the years he continually aged and grew the character through time. But the last several novels he stopped aging the character because clearly Spenser couldn't be a Korean War veteran who had fought Jersey Joe Walcott and still be kicking ass. He had to be ageless, timeless. Why else age Garret? Why else have him resolve the perennial sexual angst with Tinnie? Why else fall in love - with the prospect of kids? Dean makes it clear that he expects Garret to move in with Fearless and be popping out puppies within a year. Think of any PI character in literature or film: they're not happy, sedentary, family men. I'd be interested in your thoughts, Jerry Kalayjian

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