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i have heard that Glen Cook is a prioneer in many respects to the fantasy genre...howvwer i don't know any of his books and i don't know where to start...what book should i start with first?

[Lowlander]

In the late 70's/early 80's when Cook started writing fantasy the field was filled with Tolkien imitators, books about elves, quests, evil overlords, magical objects etc... His novels were different : darker in tone, more political, no real "pure white" heroes, lots of intrigues and betrayal.

Of course in modern fantasy you have countless of these novels (Bakker, Erikson, Martin, Keyes etc...). If you're a fan of these writers you will probably like Glen Cook. However do not expect too much. Cook is just a good writer, not a great one. When you start reading his novels do not expect a timeless fantasy masterwork, just a well written intelligent adventure/war story.

The best place to start is probably the original Black Company trilogy : Black Company/Shadows Linger/White Rose. These books are easy to find and if you like/dislike them you know where you stand with him.
If you want to try a Glen Cook standalone I recommend "Tower of Fear", my favorite Cook novel. It has all the Cook elements and a wonderful middle-eastern background.

[tracyt1800]

If you want to try a Glen Cook standalone I recommend "Tower of Fear", my favorite Cook novel. It has all the Cook elements and a wonderful middle-eastern background.

I really enjoyed the Black Company books. But I loved "Tower of Fear".

[KatG]

Cook basically offers two ways to go -- comic adventure and noir military fantasy. He's done a number of trilogies and stand alones, but he's best known for his Black Company novels, about a band of mercenaries, and his Garrett P.I. series, satiric novels about a Sam Spade-like detective in a hard-boiled city.

The first Black Company novel is "The Black Company," which is a pretty good story. Some of the novels in the series get a bit experimental in terms of structure and focus, and may not gel; some of the later books are considered the best in the series. They have a strong vein of dark humor.

For me, Erkison borrowed heavily from Cook and doesn't do characterization and scene structure as well as Cook, though he is creative. And Cook's books are shorter, which may be partly why he hasn't gotten as much attention as some other epic writers. :)

The Garrett books are "lighter," but have a deep undercurrent of drama. It's one of my favorite comic fantasy series. The first book is "Sweet Silver Blues," and I've found that the earlier novels were better than some of the later ones so far. I find Cook to be an excellent writer who excels at characters and takes chances. And I'll have to try and get ahold of "Tower of Fear."

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i have reserached and all i could dig up was book 1 in the darwar trilogy....i thought that this would be a good place to start.
thank you for all your help!

[estranghero]

Did someone say Tower of Fear? One of my favorite Cook books, too. And the lovelorn assassin (forgot his name) is one of my favorite characters, someone Cook should a sequel around.

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is it a hard book to come by? because im having trouble finding it!

[Lowlander]

Tower of Fear is out of print so you'll have to find a used copy. There are 2 editions : in the US it was published by Tor and in the UK by Grafton. It's not that difficult to find if you're familiar with buying used books online. You find copies from time to time on Ebay but if you want to be sure you can always try www.abebooks.com (or for the UK abebooks.co.uk). I think they have some copies of Tower of Fear for 1-2 $.

However this advice : if you try abebooks and you're not from the USA avoid their direct order system. They calculate shipping costs automatically for 1 kg. If you contact the bookseller directly with e-mail you can get normal shipping prices for small paperbacks.

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thank you very much...you have been very helpful!

[Rob B]

Night Shade Books is reprinting (http://jlassen.livejournal.com/408197.html) a great deal of Cook's non-Black Company and non-Garrett books. So far, they have released A Cruel Wind (http://www.nightshadebooks.com/book.aspx?bookid=141), which is an omnibus of the first three books in his Dread Empire series.

It is a beautiful looking book.

Anybody familiar with the Dread Empire books?