A Fortress in Shadow

Dread Empire #4-5

by Glen Cook

Once a mighty kingdom reigned, but now all is chaos. In the vast reaches of the desert, a young heretic escapes certain death and embarks on a mission of madness and glory. He is El Murid - the Disciple - who vows to bring order, prosperity and righteousness to the desert people of Hammad al Nakir. El Murid incites rebellion against the godless kingdoms and tribes as he plots to execute the justice of the desert. After four long centuries, El Murid is the savior who is destined to build a new empire from the blood his enemies. Or so it seems. El Murid has victory in his grasp, the desert tribes of Hammad al Nakir are rallying around him, and the last remaining thread of the royal lineage wanders the desert with only Heathens to help him. But all is not as it seems, and the sinister forces pulling the strings of empire come into the light. Who and what lies behind El Murid's vision of a desert empire?

The Dread Empire, a gritty world of larger-than-life plots, nation-shattering conflict, maddening magic, strange creatures, and raw, flawed heroes, all shown through the filter of Glen Cook's inimitable war-correspondent prose. The Dread Empire, spanning from the highest peaks of the Dragon's Teeth to the endless desert lands of Hammad al Nakir, from besieged Kavelin to mighty Shinshan, the Empire Unacquainted with Defeat, with its fearless, masked soldiers, known as the Demon Guard... An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat collects all of Glen Cook's short fiction set in the vast world of the Dread Empire, from "The Nights of Dreadful Silence", featuring the first appearance of Bragi Ragnarson, Mocker, and Haroun bin Yousif, to the culture-clashing novella "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat"; from "Silverheels", Cook's first published work of fiction, to "Hell's Forge", a haunting tale of cursed pirates and strange lands, appearing here for the first time. Also including a detailed introduction and extensive story notes by Glen Cook, An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat charts the development of this influential American author and the massive, multifaceted world that he created.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Epic, Novels, War, Science Fiction Fantasy

432 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Glen Cook was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for 33 years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in 7th grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with malicious intent to publish in 1968, eventually producing 51 books and a number of short fiction pieces.
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Dread Empire omnibus collects The Fire in His Hands and With Mercy Toward None; two books that take place a couple of decades prior to the original Dread Empire trilogy and both provide backstory for major characters (Bragi, Mocker and Haroun) and tell the story of the El Murid wars, which were alluded to in the original trilogy as having had a major impact on the shape of the world.

These books are about the son of a desert salt merchant in a vaguely Arabian setting who has a religious revelation and leads a crusade into the outer world to spread the "true faith". They were written in the 1980's when such a story wouldn't have had quite as much baggage as it might now.

Structurally, I think these are more soundly constructed than the original trilogy; they also provide a much more sympathetic portrayal of El Murid (the prophet), who never actually appeared in the original trilogy although he was much discussed. Again, the prose is clean, the characterization is solid and the battles have real impact.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This well-produced tome contains two novels. They are~
1. The Fire in His Hands
2. With Mercy Towards None
They are not sword and sorcery tales. Neither are they the saga describing the quest of a protagonist for or towards something. They are military adventures borne out of real-life grittiness observed first hand, laid out against an Arabesque landscape.
Charm: None.
Characters: Too many.
Action: Not exactly of my type.
Humour: Absolutely none.
Those among you who prefer fantasy in shades of sand and sawdust would love this.
Me? I've had enough.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Glen Cook I've ever read. Seen his stuff on the shelves, looked interesting, but I was always turned off by the lack of a map.

Well, the edition of A Fortress in Shadow I read doesn't have a map either, but I perservered. And man was it worth it.

Maybe my endorsement will have a little more impact if I mention that I am not particularly a fan of the recent trend in fantasy literature that insists all morality is a smear of grey, existence is futile, everyone is kind of a huge jerk, etc. etc. etc. One of the things I find annoying in the work of authors such as Steven Erikson and R. Scott Bakker is their on-the-nose insistence about the dangers of philosophical certainty. It's a good lesson to learn, sure, but their writing often seems at cross-purposes with their message, and can come off rather preachy at times.

Well, Cook is where they all got it in the first place.

And I love him anyway.

It's fairly amazing, actually, how much of Cook's voice infuses Erikson's writing. You've got the hard-bitten, laconic military guys. You've got the loquacious, slippery rogues. You've got wizards who manage both to intimidate and amuse. And you've got characters who aren't easily classified as 'hero' or 'villain'.

Cook did all this decades ago, and in some ways he did it better. His books are a damn sight shorter, for one thing, which helps make his moments of surprise and poignancy stand out the stronger. His philosophical musings are a little less strident, a bit less forced. He knows, in other words, when to turn down the volume, and when to shut up altogether.

I found some challenges working through these novels, though. With no map, it was impossible to get a clear sense of the geography - which is too bad, since Cook drops the names of kingdoms, rivers, mountain ranges, and deserts all the time.

Sometimes I felt he was *too* laconic. Whole battles and campaigns are glossed over in a few sentences. Erikson writes some mean fights, and I found myself wishing for a bit more of that.

And all of Cook's characters talk the same. No matter that one character is from a totally different culture hundreds or thousands of miles away - put them in the same tent, and they'll be dropping the same wisecracks and using the same slang.

These are minor quibbles. For clarity of language, uniqueness of style, and - I'll just go ahead and say it - pure grittiness, Cook pummels so many authors out there.

Off to find the next book in the series...

[Anthony Giordano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before The Black Company, there was the Dread Empire.

So the blurbs often go; however, there are precious few parallels between Glen Cook's early dark fantasy series and his iconic mercenary series.

Reviewing the Dread Empire series is a bit of a tough job; I actually read the first three installments (bundled together in the A Cruel Wind omni) a few years back, but was never able to pen a proper review. I liked them; quite a bit in fact, but yeah, they're kind of odd. As early works, there're issues with pacing, direction, and cohesion of narrative.

However, before getting into the two installments included here (which, by the way, are actually prequel books to the original three), we should touch base a little with the series so far.

Apologizing in advance; I've forgotten a lot of what's transpired already. A lot. Ugh, sorry. Bear with me.

With the Dread Empire series, Cook did something he really seems to enjoy doing; basing stories off of areas from different historical points, and adding influences such as magic, and/or deities into the mix. From this template, he extrudes a compelling narrative. The titular Dread Empire serves as a stand-in for Eastern Asian expansion, while the Western kingdoms are our Europe proxy. Smack dab in the middle (or thereabouts, remember Cook eschews the inclusion of maps) lays the series' version of the Middle East, Hammad al Nakir (or is that just one of the regions? I can never remember, the name onslaught never ends...).

The first trilogy details geopolitical tumult and power moves in the Western Regions as the Dread Empire amasses power and prepares for conquering moves in the East. At the center of this is a trio of friends; Bragi (a Trolledyngjan, the series' Norse equivalent), Mocker, a scheming thief/trickster, and Haroun bin Yousif, the King Without a Throne, the vagabond king of al Nakir, and victor of the El Murid Wars. This trio are former friends and adventurers, and their paths continually cross, overlap, and intertwine as events unfold.

While that sounds pretty straightforward; as I mentioned, the first book of the series, A Shadow of All Night Falling, seems to have trouble figuring out where it wants to go. A large portion of the narrative focuses on the history and current plight of the wizard Varthlokkur, and that's great. But then, along the way, Bragi gets introduced; and in a fairly minor capacity. This is odd as he is, overall, the central character in the series. Hell, in this book, Mocker gets much more page time than him; and that doesn't really work, as Mocker is an extremely annoying character (at first, he gets better as Cook's writing got better). Haroun features barely at all.

The second book, October's Baby, was mostly battle reports (excellently done). And the third book, All Darkness Met, sees the series really hitting its stride; with the battles and intrigue intensifying, the stakes continually getting raised, and the espionage/spy angles really being played up.

Short take: once the series really gets rolling, it's amazing. Lovers of The Black Company will of course miss the laconic, sardonic wit of a narrator like Croaker. However, they'll also be amazed by Cook's ability to turn extremely bare bones, sparse descriptions and dialogue into compelling scenes and characters. Huge battles are resolved in mere sentences. Major characters die off-screen. There is very little time spent in their heads, and yet, you still get to know these characters well. But that's why he's such a great author.

Now, back to these prequel books. These were released around the time the first Black Company book came out. Safe to say, this is when Cook was at the top of his game, and it really shows. The writing here is top-notch Cook, and he has a clear vision for how he wants these books to play out.

The two books contained in this omni are The Fire in His Hands (1985) and With Mercy Toward None (1985), keeping up his tradition of absolutely amazing book titles. As was fairly typical of the mid-80's, these books are fairly short; coming in at about 180 pages each, making this omnibus about the size of a normal, modern book at about 370 pages.

The core thesis of the duology is as a chronicle of the El Murid Wars mentioned earlier in the series; and which forged our core trio of characters into the men they are. The primary focus is on El Murid himself; born Micah, the son of a salt merchant (whose caravan was slaughtered by bandits), who is charged by the Star Rider (that shadowy, omnipresent interloper seen in the first books) with becoming a true Disciple of the Lord. He gifts Micah with the name El Murid, as well as a magic wrist amulet which can literally call down the power of the Heavens.

El Murid soon finds, however, that entrenched power structures are quite adverse to usurpation. El Murid must secure and grow his base of followers; then raise armies and take lands. The "Lord" has charged him with taking the religion to the lands of the non-believers, but he finds it hard going just unifying the lands of his own people. The majority of the first book deals with these actions/battles.

Also interspersed throughout the first book are the introductory backstories for Bragi (and his brother Haaken), and Haroun (which gives us an invaluable insight into the Royalists, who support the establishment over the upstart El Murid).

The second book focuses on the actual taking of the Word to the lands of the infidels. By this point, El Murid has amassed a massive army, with the Royalists reduced to a few scattered bands. By rules of lineage, Haroun is technically king, but he is stranded, on the run.

On the Western front, we see the moves, maneuvers, and power grabs/consolidations which transpire in the wake of the invading forces. There are countless battles, and positions of power shift at the drop of a hat.

Book 2 also introduces Mocker into the mix; showing him as an invaluable asset as a spy an covert ops specialist.

There isn't much else to say on this prequel duology. As already stated, even within the sparse prose; the myriad landscapes are richly envisioned and detailed. The battles effectively convey their horror, magnitude, and significance. And the characters are rich and real. El Murid, the eye of the storm in corporeal form; is an immensely deep, and tragically flawed character. He is no zealot of iron resolve. He has desires; personal desires, sexual desires, desires for power, for revenge, and even desires to grow his Empire into a verdant utopia, rather than subjugate infidels by the sword.

But life does not bend to accommodate our desires. Few authors hammer that sobering message home better than Cook.

So, are there any problems? With the story we get, not really. It's solid. Cook obviously had a vision, and he served it up. There are some questions, though. The main question is....why? Why do we have/need a prequel duology focusing on the El Murid Wars? The Dread Empire, you know that massive evil institution that serves as the primary antagonist for the series, as well as giving it its name? Yeah, them. They don't figure in these two books....at all. El Murid's jihad does not take his forces to their lands.We don't get snippets of what is transpiring in these lands when the forces of the Disciple hit the Western kingdoms (and, we know well from the first books, they're always watching).

Also, although you may have liked Haroun in the first books, and may have grown to like (tolerate) Mocker, perhaps we didn't need to see so much focus on them, especially Haroun. Compelling as his tale is; if you're reading these books, you likely remember that Haroun's tale came to a close in the third book. Mocker's too.

As you can see, the "why?"'s are no deterrent, and these books are great. You also get the added bonus of a heartfelt introduction by Steven Erikson, telling his history with Glen Cook's books. Jeff Vandermeer penned an intimate intro for the first, Cruel Wind omnibus.

So there you have it. Grab these first two omnibus volumes and enjoy some early Cook. See what a brilliant mind this natural strategist has. I'll be moving on to the final book in the series soon, hopefully.

Cover:

Night Shade has always gotten Raymond Swanland to do some of his best work ever for the Cook releases. This one is no exception. What an eye-catching cover, look at that dynamic posing.

You can read my full review here:
https://hachisnaxreads.blogspot.com/2...

[Elizabeth Graham-Richter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Glen cook. Thoroughly enjoyable.

As always the story telling is tight, the writing superb. Characters are well written and fleshed out. One of the best 'war' novels I've read in a long time.

[Claudette Gabbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was enjoyable. Nice to learn how Haroun, Bragi and Mocker met each other. Also, who Horoun's secret wife was. It explained the Holy wars. It didn't drag too much. Lots of action, fighting and deaths. All in all, a good read.

[Jessica Fulk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this prequel but had trouble following the politics and keeping track of names, lol.

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cook's "A Fortress in Shadow" is an omnibus containing the two prequels to the "Dread Empire" main trilogy. As it's an omnibus, I'm rating it at the average of the two component books (an overall Pretty Good 4 stars out of 5 (actually 3.5 out of 5)). The following are my reviews for those individual books:

- Fire in His Hands is the first of the two prequels to Cook's "Dread Empire" series.... It covers the very beginning of Bragi, Haroun, and El Murid. Normally, when I read series, I read them in order of their in-book chronology. But, in this case, since there's so much time between this prequel and the main trilogy, I'd say it's more fun to read the prequel afterward. Regardless of the reading order, this book is better written than any of the main trilogy: the pacing is better, the dialog is better, and there's less of the cornucopia of place names that the main trilogy throws at you. So, I'm rating it at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

- With Mercy Toward None is the second of the two prequels to Cook's "Dread Empire" series.... This book picks up just about where the previous book leaves off. For fans of the series, this is the book where Cook introduces Mocker. Even though these two prequels were written fairly close to each other and are tied very closely together, I found this book to be slightly less enjoyable than the previous. I think the reason is that this book (like some in the main trilogy) throws too many place names around where battles occur. After a while, I just had trouble keeping track of where things were. So, I'm rating this book at merely an OK 3 stars out of 5.

[F.F. White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pros: This pair of military adventure stories contains the essence of Cook's signature style. It covers a lot of characters and action in a short amount of time, and can be impressive sometimes with its detailed scenes and tension.

Cons: On the other hand, there are so many characters and so few details to distinguish them that it is at times difficult to pick up a plot-line where it left off. I found myself attached to characters that died early on or that were not featured very much. Particularly, the seminal force of both stories, the disciple El Murid, receives less than 1/4 of the narrative, as you follow his less interesting general, some mercenaries from the north, and his opponents of the moment all over the place. Also, the exotic setting is a little unbalanced, unlike his later novels, where forests, mountains, badlands, swamps, and even wizard-spawned alternate dimensions are detailed enough to anchor the narrative in a visceral environment.

Conclusion: As I loved Cook's Black Company through all nine books, I was looking forward to reading this one. The subject was fertile, but it seemed to lack enough detail and the character focus of his later books.

[Luke Coury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would give it a little more than a 3 but not enough to round it up to 4. That being said, it was a great book! I think a lot of my complaint has to do with its relative weakness compared to the other novels surrounding it. It was, however, great to finally understand Haroun's motives and the beginning of Bragi and his brother. Not to mention to finally understand the conflict of the El Murid wars that were so often referenced in the previous 3 books. Obviously, with prequels, you tend to know the general outcome of the book (who lives and wins, etc) but definitely worth the read if you were interested enough in finishing the first 3 books in the series. I almost wish he had written a book like this for the beginning of the Old Man, Star Rider, and the Nawami Wars. I feel like those would have been much more interesting then El Murid.

Lastly, my biggest complaint was how much the religion resembled those of this world (I'm not knocking anyone's belief) but it was too similar to the Jewish/Christian/Muslim thing that it was almost annoying. That being said, I would have found it hard not to resemble their likeliness, but still.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

An epic fantasy set against the beginnings of religious empire spawned by a single believer from a desert people. It's obviously inspired by the beginnings of Islam, but I don't know that period of history well enough to say how much Cook borrowed from real events. Not completely, since there is magic and wizards (though it's very much a low magic setting).

The book (actually two prequels to the Dread Empire trilogy) does jump around between characters, sometimes quite abruptly. Additionally there are times when Cook skips forward in time, sometimes as much as a year, often leaving seemingly important matters untold.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glen Cook has experimented with a lot of different forms, genre's and styles over his long career - some I love, some I like, some leave me a bit cold.

I like the sweeping history and the focus on the role of individuals in setting the course of events (both deliberately and otherwise).

However I struggle to get on with the style of this series; its terse to the point of feeling more like an outline than the finished work.

Its not often I think a fantasy book could have been improved by being longer but in this case some more meat on the bones probably would have made a more engaging read.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very encompassing fantasy novel by Glen Cook. It is written with the usual grittiness and humanity that accompanies all of Glen Cook's stories. A Fortress in Shadow is a collection of the two prequal novels in the Dread Empire series. It includes "The Fire in His Hands" and "With Mercy Toward None". I have not read the other books in the series yet so I do not know how they tie in but what is covered in this book seems to be some very key ground work for the later stories. I am looking forward to the other books in the series. Glen Cook is a master of fantasy and science fiction and I love everything of his I have read so far.

[Larry Kenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again a solid effort by Glen Cook. It's easy to see how he became so influential to the current crop of "hard" fantasy writers. He has made a very expansive and defined world. I found the middle eastern influence really interesting. In typical Cook fashion, however, the book swings wildly from extended bouts of character development to what I call Cook's "narrated outline" format. Towards the end, events happen fast with little to no exposition, almost just a stating of facts. Sometimes it works great for him, some times, like in this instance, I would have really liked to have seen these sections in more detail, and from a characters POV. Overall, looking forward to the next one.

[Morgan Rowe-Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This omnibus volume includes both of the prequels to Cook's Dread Empire series. Like most of Cook's work the writing is crisp, the characters rich and human and the fantasy both dark and epic.

In many ways Dread Empire is what George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire promised it would be through the first three books, a compelling well written fantasy epic in which the characters are human and heroism has consequences.

The entire Dread Empire series should be on any fantasy readers list, and these omnibus editions are cheap and readily available.

[Joshua Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written some years after the books that make up "The Cruel Wind" Omnibus, this prequel is a big step up to that first collection of Dread Empire stories. It is a great story about how all of the main players from the first Omnibus came together. Cook's writing style has improved significantly since his earlier efforts and he is able to tell a much tighter story while also creating additional layers to some of your favorite characters.

[Jason W Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have missed these books when I read through Dread Empire years ago. If you’re a fan of the rest of the series you will love these. Glen Cook is amazing at telling stories from both sides. There’s no Aragorn versus Sauron here, this is all shades of gray.

The most important function these books serve in my opinion is to explain Haroun, his motivations, his fierce loyalty and his war. This omnibus gives you insight in to one of the most mysterious characters in the series.

[Len Egan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pre-quel to the first trilogy of the Dread Empire series. It is not as good as the second part of the series (chronologically) however you get a lot of the back story and see how some characters came to be as they are. Recommended if you are a fan of Cook and have read the first trilogy in the Dread Empire Series.

[Kendra]

2-in-1, The Fire in His Hands, With Mercy Towards None

[Clint Bowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I good batch of stories. Sometimes boring in little bits, but altogether interesting and entertaining. Nothing compared to the Black Company though.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fantasy retelling of the birth of Islam with Cook's touch and a back story to the Dread Empire novels. A nice read.