Wicked Bronze Ambition

Garrett Files #14

by Glen Cook

Garrett is a human detective in the fantastical city of TunFaire. And now he’s getting tangled up in the worst sort of laws...

In-laws.
 
Garrett is set to stow his wandering heart with his fiancée, Strafa Algarda. But for Garrett, even true love comes with its share of headaches—namely, the Algarda family.

Strafa’s family needs Garrett’s unique skills in the worst way. Rumors are spreading that someone is organizing a Tournament of Swords—a brutal contest that magically compels the children of sorcerers to battle until only one is left alive. The winner will absorb the power from those he has killed and thus become a demigod.

Strafa and her family want to protect her daughter, Kevans, from being forced to take part in the lethal contest...and they’ve asked Garrett to find out who is organizing the tournament and nip it in the bud. The only problem is that finding the culprit is most likely impossible. But the Algardas are used to getting what they want....
 

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Detective, Humor, Noir

485 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 2, 2013

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

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feb. 22, 2022 update: I just found out that my bloody Kindle edition is missing the last four bloody sentences in the bloody book. WHICH DRAMATICALLY CHANGES THE ENDING. What the bloody fish of the stinking shrimp, Amazon??!!



P.S. You might think that, having now read the last four bloody sentences in the bloody book, I'd want to change my rating to a slightly less despicable one, but I won't. Because the actual ending is even worse than the truncated one reasons and stuff.
P.P.S. The more I think of this book, the more disappointed I am and the more I consider lowering my rating. The main plot is one big pointless mess, there are way too many pointless subplots and the (very extended) cast of characters has a combined I.Q. of 1.23659 (and the detecting skills of juvenile dinoflagellates on codeine). But don't tell Glen Cook anyone I said that.
P.P.P.S.S.S. What the fish happened to the real star of this series, aka The Goddam Parrot, Mr. Cook?! I demand you bring him back in the next installment you will never write, or else...





[Feb. 21, 2022]

A pace so slow even an anemic barnacle would find it sleep-inducing, the series' trademark HAHAHAHAHAHA nowhere to be found, 100 pages too many, convoluted as shrimp subplots, and a disappointing-meets-depressing-as-fish ending/conclusion to this series. WHY, OH WHY, Glen Cook?!



What, you've never seen a crying shrimp before? Well now you have. You're welcome and stuff.

· Book 1: Sweet Silver Blues ★★★★
· Book 2: Bitter Gold Hearts ★★★★
· Book 3: Cold Copper Tears ★★★★
· Book 4: Old Tin Sorrows ★★★★★
· Book 5: Dread Brass Shadows ★★★★
· Book 6: Red Iron Nights ★★★★★
· Book 7: Deadly Quicksilver Lies ★★★★★
· Book 8: Petty Pewter Gods ★★★
· Book 9: Faded Steel Heat ★★★
· Book 10: Angry Lead Skies ★★★★
· Book 11: Whispering Nickel Idols ★★★★
· Book 12: Cruel Zinc Melodies ★★★★
· Book 13: Gilded Latten Bones ★★★★

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me preface by saying that I love the Garrett series. I liked him when he was a head-thumping alcoholic, and I still like him as he’s becoming less of a smartass and more of an adult. I liked his riotous, 12-book affair with Tinnie Tate, and I like that he’s moved on, left her behind and gotten engaged.

...and this book was almost a complete disappointment.

Here's why:

First of all, ‘P.I.’ in this book didn’t stand for ‘Private Investigator.’ It stood, instead, for ‘Public Investigation.’ Historically, Garrett has relied on his friends for assistance in his investigations. In this book, Garrett starts the investigation, and then everyone else takes it from there.

Garrett makes a total of zero connections, solves zero mysteries, is saved by his friends and/or the Guard every fifteen-to-twenty pages, and wanders around in a daze from one place to another for most of the book.

John Stretch’s ratmen do more investigating than Garrett does in this book. Not to be racist, (ratmen are people too!) but we expect more from you than that, Garrett.

Second:

You were warned twice that it was a spoiler. Don’t blame me if this ruins the book for you.

In the first couple of chapters, Strafa dies. Garrett’s response to this: Be briefly angry. Initiate investigation. Walk around woolgathering while the mysteries are cleared up by other people. The end.

Seriously, Garrett's fiancee/wife is murdered and the emotional fallout is less than when he broke up with Tinnie Tate. I kept waiting for some kind of emotional breakdown, but ol’ Garrett just plods on. He does have a single night’s drinking, but even that doesn’t hurt; magical hangover medicince mitigated the effects.

(Which, honestly, was a bit of a disappointment in itself. I mean, hung-over Garrett is a delightful common theme in these books. What is the world coming to when hangovers are just medicated away?)

Given that lack of response, I expected that Strafa would be resurrected by the end of the book.

My expectations were not disappointed.



Third:

The whole Hagekagome subplot.

Was. Pointless. It was only peripherally tied to the plot by three or four points where Garrett reminisced about his brother.

I mean, it was nice for Garrett, given his absent-mindedness in this book, to have a stray dog bodyguard squad. But do I really want get emotionally invested in Garrett’s dead brother’s dog-turned-loli? I think not. Couldn’t that space have been used more effectively to have Garrett actually investigating something?

I think that this subplot actually detracted from the end of the book. I mean, having one girl die in Garrett’s arms would make a decent, emotional ending. Having two girls die in his arms, one after the other, seemed a little like overkill. Especially when the main emotional blow of Hagekagome’s death was something along the lines of: ‘What? His dead brother’s dog? Uh, that’s... sweet? I guess?’

It was just another thing that Garrett was clueless about, and everyone else knew.


And finally:

Best of all, after that mother of all stunners with Hagekagome, Strafa came back to life. Which was not a surprise because:

1) only Garrett’s friends reacted to her death in any way; Garrett and Strafa's family sort of shrugged it off.

2) Her corpse was completely undamaged by the whole death process and ready to be re-inhabited.

3) Strafa's family pushed the wedding paperwork through after she was 'dead.'

4) She was buried in a glass-fronted coffin. Would you really do that to someone who was actually dead? Imagine going back to visit the grave in a year and having a peek in the crypt. You would get to see your former loved one in a state of mummified putrescence! Yum.

Okay, Okay. I realize that none of those things meant that Strafa was going to be resurrected... but I just had that feeling. When she was killed outside of Garrett's vision, my very first thought was: 'It's a trick! She'll come back!' aaaand she did.

It's uncharitable of me to complain about this. I just like being surprised, and this bit of plot was not surprising. I'm kind of happy about the whole deal, actually. It just means that the next book can expound on their relationship a little more. I mean, now that they're married, and everything.





So yeah. I bought this book. I even enjoyed it, to some extent. It was interesting to see the continuing political changes in Tun-Faire, and to meet some of the Hill folk, and see Garrett grow up a little more. But I can’t recommend it. To any new reader, I would say this: Definitely, definitely don’t start on this book. Start at book one and get to know Garrett before you read this. It’ll give you something to do while you wait for book 15.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last of a fantasy mystery series. I recommend reading at least the previous two books before this one.

I am so torn about this book. I am a romantic at heart and I love Strafa Algarda and her relationship with Garrett is fantastic. She dies early enough in the story that I'm not going to spoiler tag it. And I spent the majority of this story in a cloud of denial that mirrors Garrett's. I wanted all the bad guys to die horribly and had no patience with anything that gets in Garrett's way.

Also, I kept wanting to connect any new character to Strafa in some way that would deny that central tragedy.

This pall on the story really killed me. I mean, it makes it a powerful story and a great emotional journey. If there had been even a little more closure with the ending, I'm pretty sure I'd be giving this five stars. I was ready for at least another chapter when (take this seriously as a spoiler) Strafa walks out of the mausoleum after the pieces of her life force were recovered. I wanted to see the reunion. I wanted to see them happy and settled. I wanted more. I want to penalize the rating for my emotional pain by giving this three stars. I mean, I was devastated for this whole story. I'll compromise with taking this to four stars. And at least a little of that is the recognition that this really is the last story and that makes me so sad. It has been twelve years and the largest previous gap was three. Cook is over eighty now, so I'm thinking a new book just isn't possible at this point. I so want another I can taste it.

Maybe that desire is enough that I'll rethink that rating and bump it back to five stars. I have to admit this was a fantastic story and a reasonable capstone even if it leaves me wanting, even expecting, more.

A note about Chaste: While they are at it like a happy, committed couple living in their own space, there's nothing on page. So this is pretty chaste.

[Caleb · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seriously, WTF!

This was a rambling mess. Cook seemed to feel the need to parade every single secondary in the series in front of us for their two minutes of fame. The plot was a long meandering string of gibberish that didn't even make any sense during the big reveal. This is a classic example of what happens when an author continues to write a story well past its natural end.

I was a fan of this series. Now I'm not sure if I will even read the next one.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is going to be one of my favorite Garrett novels once I read it for the second time. It was so stressful the first time that I kept having to put it down to catch my breath. Good interaction between our old favorite characters, an interesting story and more of Garrett bulling through all problems to a solution. So why was it stressful?

Okay, so I really love Strafa Algarda. A lot. I love how she came into Garrett's life. I love how perfect they are for each other. So the moment when some policeman gets a report saying, "Oh no. Furious Tide of Light has been killed" and just goes on, it took me a minute. And then I didn't believe it. And then, like Garrett, I kept on not believing it and expecting Glen Cook to pull a miracle out of somewhere so Strafa would not be dead. It was devastating and it made it so hard to read the book. The moment when Little Strafa disappears and adult, no-longer-dead Strafa gets pulled out of the coffin was a huge, beautiful relief. I seriously wish I'd read the last page first. It would have spared me a lot of heartache.

The best thing about this book is that the ending virtually guarantees there will be another. Go for it, Glen Cook.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Garrett, P.I. series has always been a fun one, and this latest book is no exception to that standing. At the same time, the action is a little off from previous volumes and the novel ends with an emotional sucker-punch that I'm not used to from Glen Cook.

On the plus side: this is a Garrett novel. It's funny, fast-paced, full of interesting characters and odd quirks and the vibrant, so-weird-I-want-to-go-there city of Tunfaire. I mean, if you liked the previous Garrett books, you're going to read this one and you're probably going to enjoy it.

On the down side: it's a little plodding. Most of the book seems to be different sets of characters walking around stumbling over clues while they try to meet up to exchange information. There are a few threads that are drawn throughout the story that are left unresolved when the novel closes.

On the middle (?!) side: There are some, er, inventive language choices that I don't think worked all that well. (Mad skills? Really?) and there are some intriguing new mysteries and characters that are only teased at. But there is also quite a bit of character growth; Cook has obviously given some attention to each of the main supporting casts' roles and growth and it plays well.

(As a side note: this recent trend of closing a novel as soon as the action finishes is really tiresome. I get the idea behind it - close on an emotional high point where the story is finished - but in practice, well, I read these novels because I love the characters. I have loved them for over twenty years at this point and I've read each novel multiple times. Give me the dammed epilogue that fulfills the emotional connections beyond those served up in the narrative action. Editors at Tor and Roc, I'm looking at you.)

Unrelated to the action of the story is the idea that this is a second re-positioning novel for Garrett. Cruel Zinc Melodies (#12) seemed like it was putting the final touches on the Garrett series. Its conclusion had Garrett and Tinnie Tate moving in together. At the same time, Garrett had recurring, steady work that didn't involve him getting beaten up and with enough money that he didn't have to hustle anymore. All in all, a nice capper to a long running series.

Then came Gilded Latten Bones, which saw Garrett ruminating on getting older, and, most shockingly, a definitive break-up with Tinnie Tate, who had been his on-again, off-again girlfriend for the entire series. In her place came Furious Tide of Light, a sorceress off the Hill, for whom Garrett immediately fell.

Wicked Bronze Ambition follows that up by setting Garrett up in a position of money and influence and with an offer to work for the Prince. Which is one of the unresolved threads I mentioned earlier and a set up for future novels. I hope that proves to be the case. I hope that GLB and WBA set up a second era of Garrett novels with an older, wiser, but no less sarcastic and bumbling investigator at the helm.

[Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best in the series. Story went all over the place, and when it finished I was left with a feeling that I had wasted my time.

[Xenophon Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was glad to see another Garrett novel, but this one just wanders around a lot without much happening.

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wicked Bronze Ambition is the fourteenth and final book in the Garrett P.I. series written by Glen Cook and centered on the adventures private investigator Garrett.

Garrett's fiancé, Strafa Algarda, was born on the Hill and his soon-to-be family-in-law is filthy rich. They are all sorcerers too, and that puts them in a tight spot, because someone has it out for them or rather, their children and grandchildren.

A grand underground tournament has been set up and is meant to be a battle-royale type: the kids are in it if they want to or not and whether they have actual magic powers or not. This case gets very close for Garrett personally because someone he loves has died and now he is out for revenge.

Wicked Bronze Ambition is written somewhat well. The pacing of the narrative was quick, but gripping enough to hold a reader's attention. While written well, the relationship between Garret and Strafa Algarda needed to be developed more before her ultimate fate. The reader barely knew her, before she was killed off, which made feeling the loss rather shallow. It was also disconcerting how quickly rebound from his previous relationship of Tinnie Tate.

Overall, the Garrett P.I. series was written rather well. The first four novels were extremely written well and Cook has created a wonderful world of fantasy and magic mixed with a hard-boiled detective novel. From then on, the following installments were either a hit or a miss – fortunately, it was more of the first. Unfortunately, the last two installments, in my opinion were rather lackluster and mediocrity executed.

All in all, Wicked Bronze Ambition is written rather well and is a somewhat good conclusion to a wonderful, albeit mixed series.

[Pye Josephus Joestar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite the journey reading all these books. There were some incredible concepts, shocking twists, and some extremely sad moments in this book. The beginning was especially shocking and depressing as I didn't expect what happened to my new favourite character to happen at all, or even that soon. I had to keep reading in disbelief going "nah, that can't be. really? no way this a trick....right?". The Tournament is such an epic concept, it is a shame that it wasn't fully implemented the way it was described but I loved it. I loved the call back to the first book with the vampire for sure. There were some things I was wishing he would have delved a bit more with. The Dead Man being one, I just assume the worst for him. The end was thoroughly depressing and left me feeling incredibly sad for Hagekagome but also incredibly confused as to why she was in the story at all and how she came to be. But at least the ending wasn't a typical Glenn Cook "nothing turns out the way you want it" type ending. The end left me feeling, while sad, definetly content.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glen Cook knows how to pull at the heart strings with this book. It had me sobbing by the end.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Garrett and Strafa will be ok, but I'm worried about the Dead Man.

[Parag Kapadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some notes: Firstly, while this is a review of WBA, it's also going to pull in my opinions on some of the other books, and the series as a whole too.

Also, spoilers all over the place for the entire series.

I really like the Garrett files. At least, i liked what they used to be.

I think what ended up happening was that a lot of little niggling frustrations i'd collected and subsequently forgave throughout the series, just came to a head for me and made getting through this book an absolute slog; it was an almost painful experience. It got to the point where i was looking for excuses not to read.

I was looking for excuses NOT to read!!!!1111oneoneoneone one one one

The previous book kinda threw me for a loop with Tinnie kinda becoming demonized in the first few pages of the book. I didn't really buy it. Nowhere in the series was she depicted as overly controlling of Garrett's life; and while she did groan and grumble a bit about his chosen profession i always got the impression that she was ultimately supportive, that she knew he was doing good work out there even though he was often in danger.

I didn't buy the idea that she would do a crazy one eighty, especially since these two have indeed known each other for so darn long. It woudln't have been hard to write her in as his plucky partner in crime. But i told myself to respect the author's vision, to acknowledge that people in long running series change, whatever.

Enter Strafa, or enter again, really. These last three books really do feel like a sort of trilogy with her family at the center, or at least the outer core of it all. She's great, she's fine, she's smart and cute and everyone loves her, even Garrett. I was willing to get on board with her, really i was. I didn't like how Tinnie got thrown under the bus. I thought it was a bad narrative choice this far into the series, but I was like alright, i can get on team Strafa, she's nice, and makes things a whole hell of a lot easier for Garrett. He get a competent sorceress partner out of it all.

And then this book comes out.

Hooo boy.

Strafa's killed off in, what, the first thirty pages or so of the book? So, you have this wonderful opportunity to flesh out Garrett's fiance, the person who'll be his wife for real this time, his life partner, and you squander it. This was the perfect chance to flesh out how the Hill worked, how Strafa's family functioned, how the different Hill families functioned among themselves, and even a perfect chance to show us where Strafa would fit in Garrett's investigative work.

But instead she's killed off, to literally no effect. No one emotes. Sure, Shadowslinger says something to the effect of 'take time to sort out your feelings' and there's a minor time skip and all, but it isn't enough. Not for me at least. And then she's replaced like fifteen percent of the way by another sorceress off the Hill palling around with Garrett, guiding him through all these various interactions and getting him debugged after his run in's with Relway and company. Why the hell couldn't that have been Strafa!? Maybe let us get to know the woman who ousted Tinnie in the span of one fetching book!

After she died, i thought, alright here it comes, Garrett's gonna dig deep into his Marine training and kick some butt. And while everyone handles Garrett like he's gonna go off half cocked, that never quite seems to run through his mind. I know it isn't the adult thing to do, but it makes for good fiction. It's good to see a little hot bloodedness every now and again from your main character. It was all just so cold, limp, without passion. Frustrating.

And while i'm on the subject of Garrett's inner thoughts, what was up with everyone breaking him out of his thoughts all the time? His thoughts never really took up real time before, and honestly they don't really have to, so why now? He was broken out of some genuinely insightful thoughts for no real reason. It wasn't humorous and i honestly didn't appreciate everyone stopping the investigator from y'know, investigating. And then people had the nerve to roll their eyes at him for being slow!? Let the man think, you dinguses!

And that brings me to the biggest problem i have with this book and, really, the last several entries in the series--ever since Singe showed up, really. Garrett isn't an investigator anymore. And ever since book 13, he doesn't even delegate anymore.

Singe does his tracking and financing, and even some of his social maneuvering.
John Stretch does his snooping in dark places for him.
Penny helps Dean, and the dead man do leg work.
The Dead Man does his thinking for him.
Saucerhead and Winger do his strong arm work and some of his question asking.
Jon Salvation does his asking for him too.
So does Playmate sometimes, though he's been a bit laid up with the cancer. And what was the point of giving him cancer if it didn't mean anything? Before the cancer he ran his stable and wanted to put some brains into his brother in law. After the cancer, he runs his stable, and wants to put some brains into his brother in law. Nothing functionally changed in the man, he's still strong as an ox, he still holds firmly to his beliefs, as far as we can tell. Don't give the man cancer if you're not gonna do anything with it!!!
To top it off, the man doesn't even live in his own house anymore.
And i miss the pixies!!!

This would all be compelling enough to watch unfold in third person where we could follow some of these other characters, but instead we get Garrett in first person. Garrett does nothing, NOTHING!!!! Other people do his work for him. Important developments take place off camera. Climaxes come together with all these characters but with zero context, because Garrett's dull as all hell and doesn't have all the pieces cause he didn't do any of the work--we don't have any of the pieces cause we're watching through Garrett's eyes!!!! We're just as frustrated and confused as he is.

This book, more than any other, felt like Garrett being led around by the nose by more talented people i'd rather be following, and being scolded for not being perceptive by everybody and their sister. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.

Oh, and Strafa comes back to life because there was some limp subplot about a loyal dog and his brother Mikey, and nothing really comes of it. Actually, nothing comes of it at all. It's a complete waste of time. Garrett learns no new insight. He doesn't really grow in any perceptible way. Someone else has to remind him of his brother's connection (naturally). And Strafa staggering out of the tomb just leaves people confused as to whether or not that's Garrett's Strafa, or something else.

I can't claim to know what Cook's writing process is like, and the one interview i saw of him doesn't really shed any light on it either, but i think this is all just a case of the author letting the characters get out of hand. The guard is far too competent--both the official one and the unofficial one. What are Relway's Specials and what makes them so? What exactly in a forensic sorcerer, and what does he do? Does he employ magic or science? Singe is too talented. I get it, she's a prodigy, but she's still a ratperson, and they have social and physiological hurdles they have to cross before they can start acting like near perfect humans. Social reform takes hold far too quickly. If i've got my reckoning right, it hasn't even been ten years since the first book. What happened to the influx of war veterans and refugees? The homelessness, the strain on jobs. What happened to that entire conflict? Society goes from midevil fantasy to basically modern day with gas lamps in no time flat. Garrett is rendered useless in his own story. The world can carry on without him. That's not compelling. That doesn't make us want to root for the guy!

One interesting thing i did catch from the interview was that Cook's getting into anime. So, when i saw the plot for this book, i thought it felt familiar. I think he watched Fate Stay Night or something, cause it's basically his remix of it. Though, he bungles it by not letting us see anything that happens. I thought he was gonna kinda deconstruct the whole idea, maybe take some jabs at the premise, but outside a few off hand remarks about how stupid the whole thing is, it all just peters out after a while. No big climax, no aha moment, y'know?

From the interview it's suggested that he writes the Garrett books 'for fun', in between his Black Company books, i suppose. I don't exactly know what to make of that considering i've never known an author to throttle their effort for one series over another. I accept the series is supposed to be 'lighthearted', but there's no reason a lighthearted series can't wrestle with deeper and more complex themes every now and again. And for someone who seems to like injecting 'realism' into his books, he seems to forget passion is a part of life. Emoting is a part of life. People do stupid things when their emotions take control. People do brave things when their emotions take control. I'd like to have seen some of that.

I think that's all i have to say. This only stays at three stars because i have a lot of respect for what this series was--a chronicle of a hard boiled detective in a fantasy world. Something of a counterpoint, to me at least, to Butcher's Dresden Files. It isn't that anymore, and i don't know if i care to read further. As it is, the previous book felt more like an ending than anything else, and maybe that's telling. Other reviewers have noted that the series seems to have overreached a little. Maybe they're on to something.

But please, i encourage replies (especially if you made it all the way to the end, kudos to you). I really want to understand why i feel this way. I see plenty of glowing reviews of this particular book, and i want to know if i'm just completely off the mark on this. Did i expect too much from the series as it went on? Did i not quite roll hard enough with the rapid societal changes in the story? Am i supremely not getting some kind of subtext that's been staring me in the face this whole time!?

Please enlighten me. Thank you for your time.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second time I have read this book. My memories of the first, read right when it came out, were pretty much relief at the ending and nothing else. Rereading it shows me why none of the rest of the book stuck in my memory. Put simply, it wasn’t a Garrett show, and while far from the worst of the novels, it really didn’t live up to the promise of those first few books.

The plot here feels like The Hunger Games. A Tournament of Swords is being organized in which young scions of sorcerous houses on the Hill are unwillingly pulled into a fight for their lives. Garrett’s fiancé is an early victim—made more shocking by the fact that it was her daughter that everyone was worried about. This is where the book starts to lose its way. The love of Garrett’s life is gone and while everyone treats him with kids’ gloves, he never seems to grieve or even “be Garrett” in going after her killer. He just muddles along and lets everyone solve his case for him.

Perhaps the biggest lost opportunity, however, is that we are finally on the Hill and have a chance to get deep into the aristocracy that has been on the outskirts of so many of these novels and I just didn’t feel like Cook took advantage of that situation.

Maybe he will if he writes another one.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Drew McCaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like OLD TIN SORROWS, this was one of those out-of-the-blue Glen Cook novels that completely bowled me over. It retains all the sparkle of what makes Garrett stories fun, but with an unexpected dose of emotion and a real feeling of consequence.

At this point, nearly a decade later, I'm not sure if Cook intends to write more about Garrett...but I'm not sure he has to. This would fit as the sort of bittersweet ending a Cook series deserves—that aching melancholy of true loss, combined with the distant dawning of hope for a better future.

WICKED BRONZE AMBITION is one of the finest novels Cook has written to date.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still have tears in my eyes after reading the final chapter of this, possibly, final Garrett P. I. Book. The book starts out on a high happy. Garrett and Strafa are in love, going to shortly be married and all seems right with the world. That couldn't last and heartbreaking tragedy falls upon Garrett. Now he's hurt and angry and the people who did this too him are going to pay. With the help of numerous magic users off The Hill including the Black Orchid who just might be an avatar of the Death god, Garrett and companions from the past stories join together to stop the evil that's gripping the heart of the city. The story moved great, the pacing was spot on. The twists and turns will keep even the smartest reader guessing until the final pages. Wow, this one was good.

[Paul Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the characters and the humorous tone of the series, even when interlaced with the seriousness of the mysteries. Yet this feels like the weakest book in the series to date. I'm not sure if that's the lead character maturing, or the writer stretching the stories out. With luck, the next book will help establish if this is a book that reestablished a direction or merely a story that needs to end.

[Kelvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have no idea why I keep reading these. The women (including the very young ones) are treated as sex objects, the mysteries are generally solved by the Dead Man reading peoples' minds rather than any detective work and the plots are actually quite amazing in how ridiculous and far-fetched they are (e.g. the one with aliens in it that all wanted to have sex with the protagonist). I'm going to stop doing this to myself.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glen Cook is one of my favorite authors and his "Garrett" is one of my favorite fantasy series. This book as with the others in this series was a great read. For fans of fantasy and/or detective novels this is a must read.

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This whole series was ridiculous fun. This author, however, appears to have some troubling proclivities that are a tad less subtle in this series than in his others. However these were still very entertaining reads.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weirdly abrupt ending, that doesn't offer any of the emotional payoff the rest of the book had been building up to. Other than that not too bad a story.

[David Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A magical contest is threatening the young of the more wealthy families in Tunfaire. Garret's new family ties have dragged him into the conflict. Now , he and his friends and a few other assorted allies have to stop the madness before too many people are killed. Plots within plots within plots will have to be untamgled to get to the truth.

I have followed this series for many years. It is one of the original fantasy noir series to mix magic and hard boiled mysteries. It is very good at what it does. But this installment does have some problems.

The first problem is more a personal problem. Like I said, this series has been around for quite awhile. The first book was published in 1987 (so 14 books over about 30 years.) Books 1 through 6 all were published within 4 years (from 1987 to 1991). After that books started being published every 2 to 4 years. With this publishing history, it was a lot easier keeping up with the series when it first came out. As the book took longer to appear, it became easier to forget what had happened earlier in the series and even miss new installments (like I have apparently done). All of this means, I was missing some background information for this book (either because I forgot it or had missed an earlier book).

Another thing that made this book hard to follow at times is the sheer size of the cast. Over the series, a lot of characters have been introduced into Garrett's life. It seems every single one of those characters made at least an appearance in this story. Plus a whole bunch of new characters are introduced.

Finally, the mystery was very weak. The bad guys are inept at best. Their motivation was weak and felt contrived. Garrett seemed to have more problems solving this mystery because of distractions in his persona life and because the bad guys were doing things in a more random (idiotic) fashion than any logical person would do.

So while I enjoyed revisiting garrett and his world, it is more from nostalgia than any other reason.

[Arthur Sido · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave Wicked Bronze Ambition four stars but that was really directed at the series as a whole which was overall fun and a quirky and normally well executed concept. This appears to be the final entry in the Garrett, P.I. world and one of the last couple of books Glen Cook has released. As it has been around a decade since his last new book came out and Glen turns 80 next month, I assume we won't see any additional books from him in any of his series. Too bad for me as he is one of my favorite authors but the guy deserves to enjoy his retirement.

WBA ends on kind of a cliffhanger with lots of storylines left dangling and overall it really wasn't a great book. As others have commented, it is overly long and meanders, and for me there were way too many extra characters crammed into the storyline. Even as the book was wrapping up I was finding myself trying to remember which person was which. Glen began writing 40 years ago so he certainly has given us our money's worth but the Garrett, P.I. series kind of ended not as much with a whimper but a "Huh?". Too bad but the original Black Company series remains my most re-read book series in my library. Hell, I could start right back over in Beryl with the Black Company. I just might do that.

[Jim Carleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best of the series, but not the worst by any means. Either way, this appears to be the *last* of the series :-( It's been six years since this was published. In the past, a new Garrett, P.I. novel showed up every 18 months or so. Sad, but every well runs dry, eventually.

For a novel that had very little real action, at least compared to the earliest novels in the series, this moved pretty fast for me. Lots of delving into characters not given much time in the past, as well as areas of TunFaire only hinted at previously. I enjoyed the by-play of some of the marginal characters who finally had a chance to take Center Stage.

For all that, the plot was not as well thought-out as most of the earlier novels, which is kind of weird, as this is the longest of the Garrett novels. The ending, while heartening, is not terribly satisfying: a very long build up to a rather anti-climactic climax.

I give this 4 stars primarily for the characters, particular Dollar Dan. I strongly suspect that I will not re-read this, as there is only so much time that we each have, and I have far too many books that I have never read. Still, it's a good read if one knows the back stories

[Brandon Mehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off with a bang with Garrett's wife, Strafa, the perfectly bubbly Windwalker getting killed due to a Tournament of Swords for the young. I spent the whole book agonizing about whether she would be brought back and finished it quickly. She was, but the side mysteries were just a bit too much, especially with Hagekoma (sp?), his brother's dog coming back as a girl. It was more delegation and getting information, which I liked as a transition and contrast from the sole steel-eyed detective from the first books. Strafa was eventually brought back, thanks to the machination of his new in-laws, but it will definitely take some getting used to to mark Garrett as a Hill person. However, I don't think that will be necessary as Glen Cook has gotten a bit old for writing, unfortunately.

[S. D. Howarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

Far better than the previous offering. While enjoyable with the main characters in action, it plods.

The reincarnation takes that long I had several ‘get on with it’ moments, and wished Garrett and Morley had been left to their own devices more and henpecked less.
It didn’t need all the tribe, one hill sorcerer less and let them and Singe carry the story as a contrast. To me they merged into the same counterpoint character of varying age and race and pulled back on the pacing.

In short it felt padded and slowed the read between enjoyable and average, but I’d look forward to the next one.

[Groucho42 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but a bit tired and far too long. It could have been told much more succintly. I don't know if he stopped getting more ideas or if his books stopped selling, but this seems to be the last novel he wrote.

His fiance Strafa is killed at the beginning, and he wanders through the investigation of why and of a competition where Hill magical kids are being forced to fight. Too many characters with not enough to do. Clearly, there could have been more stories if there'd been an interest, but there didn't seem to be any either on his side or his publisher's.

Toss up between 2 & 3 stars. Out of nostalgia, it's a 3.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great read from Glen Cook, I still have quibbles about his series. First, the society that he has drawn though fascinating, doesn't bear much examination. It is essentially a lower tech version of our world with magic. Put that aside, as we have to for George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series, it is a great construct.

Another thing that would have helped this book would have a list of characters with a brief description. Still, you will love it.

[David Drollinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best yet

Over the years I have read and enjoyed all the Garrett stories. I have enjoyed all of them, watching everyone grow and mature (well mostly). This one however I like the best. It gives us a glimpse into the workings of the people on the hill. I sincerely hope that there are many more coming in the next few years. Great read

[NePo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book punches hard.
I don't want to spoil anything, but it happens around page 50 and after that I am hooked, I can't stop reading. It also kinda hurts.
Still the last pages of the book, ending is weak.

It might be the best book in the series.