I’ve been looking for more reading material lately and I’ve considered a foray into fiction (I typically read non-fiction). Walking up and down the fantasy and science fiction isle of my local bookstore, I noticed an entire section taken up by a collection of thick, very handsome-looking books all written by Glen Cook. I can’t recall which novels in particular caught my eye but, well, the books were handsome-looking. Nothing makes me feel better than a bunch of beautiful hardback books on my shelf.
Wikipedia has this to say, which I found intriguing:
What’s the word on Glen Cook and his Black Company books?
What about A Game of Thrones? I’ve heard good things but figured I might as well ask you all while I’m here.
Any good Warhammer books (I play both 40k and Fantasy and love the lore of both but there’s just so many books to choose from in each setting that I really wouldn’t know where to start)?
Any other fantasy works that you recommend? I dig both traditional fantasy and speculative fiction settings.
I really enjoyed the first 6 of the Black Company. Well, the first one was a little tough to start, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. After that he should have let the series end.
I also enjoy his Garret PI books, but they are a different genre altogether. Much lighter and less serious.
Yes, Cook is pretty good; I have most of his books I think.
Another one you might try is Simon R. Green, who also goes in for the dark-and-gritty feel. I like his Hawk and Fisher books ( tough cops in a fantasy world, basically ), and his Nightside books ( a PI in the Nightside, the square mile of London where it’s always night ). Or his Drinking Midnight Wine, another favorite.
Another favorite on the board is Jim Butcher and his Harry Dresden series; very good, although it takes a book or two to find its stride.
the Vorkosiverse, centering on a world in the future -
The Sharing Knife [also known as the Wide Green World] is set in a sort of semi alternate universe [bearing an amazing resemblence to the midwest of the US, it includes a trip in a flatboat down a river that is similar to the Mississippi] where something went drastically wrong with a magic using advanced culture so that areas of the countryside are abandoned, and patrolled by a seminomadic cultural group that kills ‘demons’ that spawn in the ground. They are in a semi-symbiotic treaty with ‘farmers’ who want to move into the empty areas and settle them. Not exactly cowboys vs indians, much deeper.
Universe of the 5 gods - sort of called the Chalionverse, after the first book in the series. It is about a total fantasy universe where the gods actually do exist, though miracles do happen it is very unsimilar to any other magic universe you may think of. Just as an example, one man is a Saint for a specific god, and he is a judge. His ‘miracle’ is that occasionally he can tell which of the people in the case is telling the truth and which one is lying. As he puts it, it is a very ambiguous and not entirely useful miracle, despite his profession.
Lois has a talent for making her characters real, and the worlds seem real. [And yes, I actually have met her and we hang out in the same email list and have for probably 7 or 8 years. She is fun to go to dinner with.]
[my recommendations are to read The Curse of Chalion, and The Borders of Infinity [which is available for free at webscriptions.net as an ebook.]
The first six? How many novels are there? Are the stories episodic or is there one overarching storyline? I don’t want to read a series and find that it starts sucking halfway through before things have been resolved.
It started as a trilogy. And you really can stop right there. The first trilogy was very good and I did not need more.
But if you just *must *have more, read the second trilogy. But then leave it alone. For my money, Cook did not bring the series to a satisfactory conclusion with the rest. I am not sure how many there ended up being.
I’ll take exception to that. I read, oh, at least a dozen or so of the Black Company books a few years back. From the ending I remember, I’m pretty sure it was all of them, though I never checked to confirm. I thought it was one of the most unique series I’ve ever read. It’s not just that major characters die constantly, though they do. It’s not just that bad guys become good guys, and vice versa, though they do. It’s that the entire setting and background - practically the entire world - changes drastically many times. I’ve never read anything else like it, and I thought it was well worth reading through the whole thing just for that experience. I also found the writing and the story solidly entertaining, though of course that’s open to opinion.
I enjoy most of what I’ve read from Glen Cook, but some of his early stuff that’s been reprinted isn’t the best. Even in the early stuff, his ability to create interesting characters comes through. I recommend the Black Company series (at least the first three to six). I believe I read them all. There are a few that fall flat, but some of the later ones aren’t bad either. I also just have to mention that any book series with a character (of sorts) named Toadkiller Dog can’t be all bad. ;p
I also like the Garret PI series from Cook.
Game of Thrones had an excellent start. For the first two or three books it ranks up with the very best fantasy out there. It’s complex and like Cook’s works, has interesting and detailed characters. Also like Cook, it’s not uncommon for these interesting characters to meet abrupt ends. The biggest problem with this series is the increasing possibility of it never being completed.
I’m a fan of Cook’s Garrett PI series. They’re episodic, although the cast of characters can get confusing without having read the earlier books. Unfortunately, it seemed like the quality was going downhill for a while, but then the last few books have gotten a lot better, IMO, and have reminded me of the earlier ones.
Apparently, it’s actually going to follow the books storyline.
Most everyone expects it’ll get Rome’d, anyway, so whether GRRM finishes the series may well be moot – the series will probably have to rush through its storylines to end at… well, I’m not sure what the equivalent of Octavian’s ascension would be. Maybe a happy occasion, or something.
I fucking LOVE Rome. It’s one of my all-time favorite shows. Just wanted to make everyone aware of that. I wish they had done what they planned and made the Egypt-arch its own season, but alas…
Amazon keeps recommending the First Law trilogy to me because I LOVED The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I highly recommend this book, I first encounter Rothfuss in one of the Writers of the Future anthologies.
I haven’t read anything after the second trilogy, but from the summaries and whatnot I’ve read online—plus the, ah, stylistic direction it seemed to be taking in trilogy two, yeah. It seemed to turning a bit over-depressing for my tastes. And for the Black Company, that’s saying something.
Interestingly enough, I first heard about the series years ago when I was first playing Myth; a strategy game by Bungie Software (who would go on to make Halo), which had a setting heavily inspired by Cook’s work. It had more explosives, though.
Nothing makes me feel better than a bunch of beautiful hardback books on my shelf.