World Famous Comics: A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle Of The Dread Empire
A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle Of The Dread Empire
By: Glen Cook Publisher: Night Shade Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Night Shade Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 600 Publication Date: August 22, 2007
Product Description: Before there was Black Company, there was the Dread Empire, an omnibus collection the first three Dread Empire novels: A Shadow of All Night's Falling, October's Baby and All Darkness Met.
Not There Yet The Swordbearer (1982) was very bad. The Tower of Fear (1989) was very good. Presumably, somewhere between the two, Glen Cook learned his craft. Unfortunately (from the standpoint of this review), all three novels now collected into A Cruel Wind (1979-80) were written even before The Swordbearer. While actually not as bad as The Swordbearer, these novels suffer from the same shortcomings: a matter-of-fact "tell not show" narrative style, and very thin characters and relationships between characters.
Not one I'd put at the top of my recommended list Honestly, I'm not really sure where to go with a review of A Cruel Wind.
I am a long-time fan of Glen Cook's writing. From that perspective I can certainly see linkages between the story in this three volume collection and the author's other works. That is both good and bad, though. There is certainly the common soldier who rises in the ranks to prominence here that seems a hallmark of Cook's style. The Bragi character (which takes into the second book before really standing forth) doesn't quite have the depth of a Croaker, though. There is the broad scale of events, but it falls well short of the complexity of the Instrumentalities books.
During the whole collection the author bounces around through time in what can be a very disorienting fashion. In the third book it's least jarring, but in the other two it's gaps of centuries that are being jumped between at times, making things a little hard to mesh at points. Moreover, one can't help but be left wondering at the purpose of the first book. It offers the potential for some interesting things, but the story pretty quickly moves away from the characters and they become bit players (at best) for most of the rest of the way. It seems like maybe Cook started in one direction and then shifted to another either right at the end of the first book or early in the second.
And the ending is rather abrupt, but that's no doubt a function of it being a part of an ongoing series, and not a true stand alone effort.
Overall, I would say its a decent story, not great. There are a number of others I'd put ahead of this one.
Disappointing I've been a big Glen Cook fan for over 10 years. His Black Company, Garrett and later books have the power of characterization, environment, and suspense shown by the acknowledged greats of fantasy. When Cook tries, he can create a sense of dread that can be cut with a knife -- based simply on what might be if the heroes failed. For example, The Tower of Fear will have you absolutely at the edge of your seat. However, Cook sometimes gets lazy, and the plots get overly dependent on telepathy or foreknowledge.
Dread Empire falls down on this latter fault. The books are written with the chapters jumping back and forth in time. Thus, characters in the future seem to know what's coming, and characters in the past mostly give in to the preordained. The choppy chronology eliminates the grand climatic sweep of history, and the cynical style makes it hard to give a damn about the characters. So unless you're interested in military tactics in mapless worlds, these books are hard reading.
Undeveloped characters The Black Company series is one of my all-time favorites. I recently picked up A Cruel Wind. I haven't finished it yet and it is difficult to keep going. The characters have no depth at all; they are merely names attached to cardboard cutouts. I cannot become emotionally interested in them. I am very disappointed.
I also could not finish The Tyranny of the Night because it had too many characters and plots. Again, I could not become invested in the characters, but this time it's because there are too many to keep track of.
It would seem that Black Company is the only series by Glen Cook that I enjoy.
Early Glen Cook Having been recommended this book I was eager to get started reading it when it arrived. Now, I love most of what I have read by Glen Cook, especially the Black Company series (if you haven't tried it, check it out), but I must say that although this is unmistakably Glen Cook, I haven't quite managed to work up a great enthusiasm. By all means it is original, the characters are exiting, but the feeling that the rest of the world is just cardboard props for the main characters are a bit to dominating to make me feel totally happy about it. That said, it is easy to recognize the the distinct style that will make the Black Company books so good.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
