# Anyone here like Glen Cook? Other fantasy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 20, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113 "2010-03-20T05:01:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/1 "2010-03-20T05:01:20Z")
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:
> [@Wikipedia](#):
>
> In the series, Cook mixes fantasy with military fiction in gritty, down-to-earth portrayals of the Company‘s chief personalities and its struggles.
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.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/2 "2010-03-20T11:45:47Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/3 "2010-03-20T11:54:27Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/4 "2010-03-20T12:56:40Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#):
>
> Any other fantasy works that you recommend? I dig both traditional fantasy and speculative fiction settings.
Lois McMaster Bujold has 3 worlds:
the [Vorkosiverse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Vorkosigan), centering on a world in the future -
> [@](#):
>
> In the course of what is already a lengthy series, Miles has been allowed to grow and evolve in ways most action heroes never do. While Miles grows, the series background does as well. The large supporting cast of characters that populate the Vorkosigan novels are well developed. The cultures of the various worlds and locations where the action takes place — Barrayar, Beta Colony, Cetaganda, Komarr, Kline Station, Athos, Jackson’s Whole, Graf Station (Quaddiespace) — are distinct and skillfully worked out. Variety also appears in the stories themselves: Miles’s challenges are varied from one episode to another, not just a new space battle in each book.
>
> These strengths explain why the Vorkosigan series is among the most popular with readers and critics in current science fiction. Works with Miles Vorkosigan in them have won four Hugo awards and Two Nebula awards.
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](http://webscriptions.net) as an ebook.]
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/5 "2010-03-20T23:22:50Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/6 "2010-03-21T00:00:01Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/7 "2010-03-21T00:38:57Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> 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 keep that in mind.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/8 "2010-03-21T00:50:49Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/9 "2010-03-21T01:12:25Z")
Maybe I missed one. Smeghead I’ve PMed you to ask a question.
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### Author:  [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/10 "2010-03-22T21:03:31Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Heller\_Highwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heller_Highwater)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/11 "2010-03-23T16:44:26Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/12 "2010-03-23T21:06:50Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> 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.
Agreed. The first 3 are great. The other 7 are fine but not as good as the first 3.
I enjoyed the \*\*\* of the Night books. More complicated to follow, and good.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/13 "2010-03-24T01:35:54Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#):
>
> What about _A Game of Thrones_? I’ve heard good things but figured I might as well ask you all while I’m here.
It’s awesome, and it’s gonna be an HBO miniseries. Dragons!!! 😃
I haven’t read Cook, but a lot of folks who read him also like The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The first book is _The Blade Itself_.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/14 "2010-03-24T01:39:51Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> It’s awesome, and it’s gonna be an HBO miniseries. Dragons!!! 😃
Are they just setting it in the _Game of Thrones_ universe or is it actually going to be a summary of the story? What if the author never finishes it!
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/15 "2010-03-24T02:30:42Z")
_The Black Company_ series rocks. I always thought that it should be a multi-season HBO series, like _The Wire._
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/16 "2010-03-24T02:50:54Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#):
>
> Are they just setting it in the _Game of Thrones_ universe or is it actually going to be a summary of the story? What if the author never finishes it!
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.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/17 "2010-03-24T02:54:52Z")
> [@Lightray](#):
>
> 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…
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/18 "2010-03-24T02:55:53Z")
It’s settled! Once I get the money I will buy the first of these very handsome books… maybe I’ll use my tax return…
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/19 "2010-03-24T07:12:26Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> It’s awesome, and it’s gonna be an HBO miniseries. Dragons!!! 😃
>
> I haven’t read Cook, but a lot of folks who read him also like The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The first book is _The Blade Itself_.
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.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2010, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-like-glen-cook-other-fantasy/533113/20 "2010-03-24T09:47:49Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> 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 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](http://myth.bungie.org/legends/relics/blackcompany.html). It had more explosives, though.
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