*I apologize in advance for the length of this, but I felt the need to set down some ideas swirling around in my head. I first read the Dread Empire original trilogy and two sequels 20 years ago. I didn't read any Black Company books until later, though I had seen them in stores. In fact, I had seen a number of Glen Cook books, and recall the Dark War ones in particular. * * * *I noticed Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling in early 1988 because of the Ken Kelly cover art. I became a big fan of Kelly's work by around 1985, when I realized that the guy who painted the KISS Destroyer and Love Gun covers was the same guy who was doing the recent Gor book covers, was the same guy who did the Berkely Robert E. Howard covers, and was the same guy who was doing the Robert Adams Horseclans covers (and later, in 1987, he started doing the majority of Tor Conan pastiche covers). So I noticed his Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshalling covers right away. Both were labelled "The New Dread Empire Novel," yet I wasn't aware of any "old" Dread Empire novels!* * * *Perusing the books showed them to be fascinating, in large part because of hints of backstory such as frequent mentions of some horrific battle at Palmisano. I started looking around all the used bookstores in the **Albany* *, **New York** area, and finally found All Darkness Met. This was a few weeks before I headed to **Fort Collins**, **Colorado**, to become a freshman at **Colorado** **State** **University**. In **Fort Collins** I finally found A Shadow of All Night Falling and October's Baby (I then realized I had seen the latter in stores some years earlier, but iy had meant nothing to me then). * * * *At last I could read my way through the five books in order. I've thought back on that experience as I now, in A Cruel Wind, reread the original trilogy for the first time in its entirety. I've reread bits and pieces over the years, but this is the first thorough rereading. Just as two decades ago, I find A Shadow of All Night Falling to be fairly good, but only of real interest in how it sets up what comes later. October's Baby is where the story really kicks in for me, and it only gets better in the complex events of All Darkness Met. * * * *I've enjoyed reading these stories in a nice new volume, instead of in beat up old mass market paperbacks. I had wondered if the context would matter, and I think it does (I also suspect the Black Company original trilogy makes a better impression in the attractive omnibus than in the curious covers of the original mass market editions). Still, first impressions are usually strong, and thus I have always pictured Bragi Ragnarson as looking like Ken Kelly's depiction! (anyone who has seen the original version of All Darkness Met probably shares my amusement at Kinuko Kraft's in-joke of depicting Bragi with Glen Cook's face!).* * * *I've read online comments by people who are surprised that Steven Erikson and Jeff Vandermeer found the Dread Empire books so influential. I suppose they don't stand out in this era as much as they did 20 years ago. However, I can assure you all that they made a profound impact on me then! I know just what those guys mean when they write that these books helped them to realize that stories didn't have to be clichéd accounts of farm boys with hidden royal blood going on quests with unlikely, mismatched groups of "good guys." I may never write a fantasy novel, but I have the plots for some in my head, and the mode of their telling was strongly influenced by reading Cook's Dread Empire novels. I'm enjoying them now almost as much the second time around! If we ever do get "Wrath of Kings Recovered" it might be worth the 20 year wait! *