Sung In Blood by Glen Cook

Sung In Blood
Written by Glen Cook
Published by Night Shade Books
$14.99 trade/$10.79 Amazon

I've enjoyed Glen Cook's writing for years. His Black Company themes or dark fantasy have been incorporated into my Dungeons and Dragons games many times.

Seeing Night Shade Books come out with his older works, has allowed me to read more than just his popular works.

Alas I wish I hadn't read a few of the reviews of this one. They definately slanted my reading of it, in no small part because I tend to agree with it.

The blurb is fascinating: 

For centuries, the legendary Protector, Jehrke Victorious, has kept safe the Crossroad of the World—Shasesserre. The City is kept guarded and blanketed from smaller-scale threats to dark magical anomalies. All was calm and peaceful for generations under the peaceful wizardry—until one day, a mysterious stranger brutally murders the Protector.

And so starts the tale of Rider and his men including such characters as Preacher and Soup among others. A motley crew who are good at things, but none as good as Rider, the son of Jehrke, a man raised to be the ultimate protector of the city.

His skills vast, his ability to cross human limitations, ignored! In many ways, he is the ultimate fantasy hero in both sword and magic. In these areas, the reviews that compare him to Doc Savage cross my mind.

Because I've read Doc Savage! Doc is often portrayed as well beyond a normal man. His inhuman stamina and strength allowing him to overcome odds that most normal people couldn't hope to challenge in the first place.



So how do you challenge a magic using fantasy setting Doc Savage?

Why with a fantasy version of Fu Manchu!A villanious mastermind of numerous trades back in the day by Sax Rohmer. Those who are fans of Marvel comics might know him better as Shang Chi's father from the series 



In many ways, it's a win-win. We get to see Doc Samson with the serial numbers filled off battle Fu Manchu with the serial numbers filled off.

But the tale is a bit short in the telling. We are introduced to what I'm assuming is Fu Manchu's daughter but that's never resolved. We are barely introduced to the city as an entity in and of itself, but that's not really handled.

Even Rider's own strengths and weaknessess are heavily glossed over because it's a short book and it keeps moving. 

Which would be fine if there were say twenty or so volumes of this to follow up on the initial action. It's like the set up of a great graphic novel and the small print company went out of business before they could follow up.

For example, Glen Cook apparently loves the idea of a 'web' as he's used it in Dragons Never Sleep as well. Here it's like a quick description of ley lines that surround the city that Rider can use to watch over the city when anyone uses magic. But what else can it do? What are it's limits? Can it be expanded? 

If you're looking for a dark grim fantasy, Sung In Blood will not hit the spot. If you're looking for Glen Cook's traditionally odd named heroes like Soup, Preacher, and even Rider himself, then this book has you covered. 

The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook

The Dragon Never Sleeps
Published by Night Shade Books
Author: Glen Cook

Glen Cook is best known to fantasy fans for his grim and gritty series the Black Company. This book shares some of those elements but being a one-off science fiction piece, brings its own flavor to the reader.

The story takes place in a far off future where technology is advanced but also haphazard in that it doesn't seem evenly distributed nor even in all areas. Some things, like cloning, for example, are known but are not held by many even in this far off future.

Aging is still a thing even if slowed. But those aboard the 'Guardships' as they are known, have their minds and memories copied and benefit from being almost timeless. Those of the noble house use of cloning is odder. They allow 'Others' to be made of a 'Prime, ' but if that 'Prime' is killed, then the 'Others' are often put to death. There is an element of criminality to an 'Other' trying to pretend to be the 'Prime.'

Regarding mastery of the flesh, though, humanity has 'Artifacts.' These are 'not people' but are made by people. One of those we are introduced to is Midnight, a fairy style human whose purpose is to pleasure men and strangely enough, acts as a bit of conscious to those with far more weighty matters on their minds.

The Guardships themselves are fantastical ships that serve until destroyed. During that time frame, they can even grow sentience.

The navigation of vast distances is covered by 'The Web.' It's an ancient artifact so old that no one knows where it came from, but it continues to be discovered by more and more races.

Humanity is old here. They are a 'primary' race if not the primary race. Their mastery over much of the setting is rarely directly challenged in any meaningful way thanks to the Guardships. There are hints; however, that humanity is far from its prime. Humanity is spread so far that there are holes in its bureaucracy that will never be filled as long as they only use humans.

And Humanity was never alone. There are others races like the Hu. One of the brilliant war masterminds of the Hu, known initially to readers as 'The Turtle' is one such individual. His race scattered by their defeat at the hands of humans so long ago that the Turtle's emergency into larger schemes is seen as a noteworthy thing by those who man the Guardships.

Others are not as detailed as the Hu, who are not that detailed, to begin with. There are numerous bits we glance at but never get any deeper details.

Glen's writing style here is crisp and to the point. Chapters can range from a paragraph to a few pages but rarely longer. The cast of characters is so huge that you may find yourself flipping back and forth to determine which group of characters is acting at the time.

The groups also move among each other. The Hu Turtle, for example, starts off in a bad part of town but by the end, has encountered all the major players. The author doesn't mind skipping chunks of time either. When you're dealing with long-lived races and others who can clone themselves or are effectively immortal, the scale of how far reaching the action is, is not measured in days, or weeks, but in years.

One gets the feeling reading it that Glen could easily have expanded the setting with more details but as it stands, it's a solid one book entry in Glen's writing.

Black Company Sale that's not really a sale

Tor does some great books.

Recently they put on "sale" the first volume of the Black Company for $2.99.

Okay...

Chronicles of the Black Company is $7.99 It contains the first three books.

There are no other volumes of the Black Company available in their individual format.

I believe the term "horseshit" can be applied to the term "sale" or "special" in regards to selling one volume of the Black Company at that price.

I get that on one hand if you're never heard of the Black Company spending the $2.99 isn't necessarily that bad a deal but then what? You can't buy the other volumes in individual format. You have to buy the big book and unless I'm mistaken, they aren't going to comp you that costs.

A real sale would be putting the Chronicles on sale itself and letting people get a better taste of it that way.

Powerful Artifacts? Why Not? Glen Cook's The Swordbearer

It's been a while since I've read the first novel in the Elric series. I recall Elric having to do quite a bit of questing in order to secure his artifact black blade, Stormbringer.

Here, the main character Gathrid is essentially handed an artifact level blade.

Should you do such a thing for your own campaign? The immediate response many people may have would be no, but its possible to have the players have powerful items and still not be undefeatable.

Gathrid stopped. He was surprised at himself. "Oh. Yes. All right." He felt a moment of shame. He was becoming arrogant behind his despair. He was getting too confident of his immunity from every peril but Rogala's dagger." (p.135)

Rogala is the one who presents Gahtrid the sword. He's also the one who usually ends the life of the sword bearer. As the old saying goes, "I brought you into the world and I'll take you out." Having a specific individual that can claim responsibility for the artifact that isn't the player can quickly qell certain types of player behavior common to those mad with power.

"Nieroda picked up a javelin. She bounced it in her hand like an athlete getting its feel. She cast it too quickly to follow. Gathrid brought Daubendiek round to deflect it.... He was not its target. It slammed through his mount's breastplate. The animal dropped instantly. It never made a sound." (p. 157)

Say the character is very difficult to handle. He's still got to get places. If using standard modes of transportation, those themselves can easily come under attack. Even in several of the Elric stories, despite the pale prince's sorcerous abilities and his black blade, he's found himself in dire situations. The oceans aren't impressed with a powerful sword.

"Gathrid reflected on the Mindak and grew cold. Ahlert was as much Choosen as he. They were pawns of the Great Old Ones." (p.197)

As powerful as the characters may become through their items, they are not the only ones in the world that may have such powerful items. And generally, items of such a nature tend not to work too well together, although they are notable exceptions (such as the old Hand and Eye of Vecna).

"On the narrow veranda surrounding the Raftery the remaining Toal were assembling ballistae and training them down the Hundred Steps. One salvo would end the threat of the Swordbearer. He might deflect a shaft or two, but not an entire flight." (p. 219)

It's mentioned at several points in the book, that as powerful as his sword is, the swordbearer isn't invulnerable. Mind you, characters in a role playing game tend to be a little... I don't want to say sharper, but have a lot of options, especially in terms of outside powers and abilities that characters in literature are never meant to have.

Be that as it may though, next time you see a powerful weapon and think it's not for your campaign, think about it again!