The Dread Empire series by Glen Cook is one of the series that I have been following since the early nineties, when I first discovered the author and his work. I am particularly fond of Cook's ability to write about immense worlds while honing in on the particulars of even small characters, giving his writing a gritty and realistic feel, even if the themes and subjects are as magical as they can be.

This book continues where 'Reap the east wind' left off, with Bragi in captivity. Without going too much into detail, this book shows off many of the powers and influences that were hinted at or referred to in the earlier books. Unfortunately because of all those powers, the specialty wears off soon. Describing age old and very complicated characters in a few well chosen words is difficult. That for me is what is missing in this book. It is as if Cook tried to tell the high-level story, while his other books showed life from the gutter.

Still, the book answers many questions, so from that perspective I consider it a book worth reading more than once. Also, the end is still open in my opinion, so I'm not sure that this is really the last book in the series.

If you liked the previous books, you'll like this one as well. ( )

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Title: A Path to Coldness of Heart
Series: Last Chronicle of the Dread Empire #3
Author: Glen Cooke
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 445
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The world has come as close as it ever has to having some peace, so obviously the Star Rider will stir things up. However, due to him having been so visible in the last 50 years, the main characters on the stage all know about him, from The Dread Empire to the King without a Throne to Bragi to Varthlokkur.

Mist, queen of the Dread Empire, secretly assembles a cast of people all presumed to be dead who have had interactions with the Star Rider. They begin a massive plot to take him down, all along parallel tracks not connected so that if one plot fails, another may get through.

This involves a whole new generation of people and we get hints of horrible things the Star Rider has actually been keeping contained for the world's safety. The plotters succeed and the tale peters out.

My Thoughts:

While there is a book of short stories still left in the Dread Empire saga, this was pretty much the wrapup to the overall story. Except it didn't really wrap anything up, it just “ended” while introducing the vague new threats the world would have to face and vaguely introducing the next set of people to face those threats. Cook seems to revel in showing the heroes growing old and failing in one way or another.

And here's my biggest caveat about this book. We are introduced to a minor wizard who is, for all intents and purposes, a pedophile. He's into pre-pubescent girls and while its made clear nothing is done against their will, the whole idea is abhorrent and Cook makes it out to be “just another thing”. I don't think I've seen that before in any of his books and if I do come across it again, that'll be it. The wizard is a major side character in this novel, so that keeps popping up.

Overall, it is apparent that Steven Erikson, of Malazan fame, stole much more from Cook's Dread Empire than from his Black Company series. When I finished this book, I just felt “ehhh”. Between the pedo-wizard and the non-closure of an ending, I had to ask myself “What did I get out of this”and the answer is “not much”.

The writing is at the same level as all the previous books, so without pedo-wizard this probably would have been a 3 ½ star book, but that inclusion dropped things pretty hard. I do plan on reading the collection of short stories to truly wrap up the Dread Empire series and then I have to decide what of Cook's writings I want to read next. I've got one or two trilogies/short series and then his much longer Garrett, PI urban fantasy series. I'm thinking of holding off on Garrett just because me and Urban Fantasy don't get along for the most part. Ahh well, that is months away, plenty of time to make up my mind and change it several times too!

★★☆☆☆ ( )

Glen Cook's Dread Empire series was almost completely written in the period 1979-1988, and the early Black Company novels were already in print when he wrote the Dread Empire conclusion. but that mss was stolen. the Dread Empire series had an interesting world and great characters, but there's no doubt the Black Company stuff in general was far more ambitious. so there's a gap of 24 years between the second book in the trilogy and this one, the final installment in the concluding trilogy. and there's a chasm in writing skills and general complexity - and possibly worldview, who can say - between #2 and this one too. so faithful readers of the series may be inclined to howl. but in fact the sea change is rather wonderful. it's very loosely written in the best sense, taking all the time it needs to tell the story right, meandering in point of view between all the principal players, digs deeply into their psyches as their ideas and objectives change across time, and ends up with everyone in a radically different place than they started out from, that seems completely organic. i liked it a lot in the end. i'm glad it took so long (though i feel for the writer, doomed to start again - come to think of it, that's kind of how it takes the characters, too). and along the way it has quite a lot to say about the nature and the limitations of power. ( )