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Chronicles of an Age of Darkness #4
The Walrus And The Warwolf
Begins as the story of a young man named Drake who is thrown into the sea by the allegedly merciful King Tor. It goes on to include Drake's vengeance upon the king and sundry other adventures (in company with appropriate others) on land, sea, and in realms not of Earth. This is the kind of large-scale fantasizing that has made David Edding justly well known, and Cook indulges an Eddings-like penchant for drawing basic plot elements from the conventional fantasy repertoire and then reworking them so effectively that they make for compelling reading. Cook brings to his particular fantasizing a distinctly offbeat sense of the ridiculous, too. The results he produces should please a wide range of fantasy readers."" - Booklist.
784 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1988
4 people are currently reading
384 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Cook
52 books65 followersHugh Cook was a cult author whose works blend fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for his epic series The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 6, 2010
Swordsmith's apprentice Drake Douay is sentenced to death by drowning for vandalism and destruction of property. As Drake is swimming back to shore, he chances upon Zanya, a red skinned, red haired beauty, and decides he'll do anything to get into her knickers. Can two ships of pirates, revolution, and all manner of disgusting monsters stop Drake from being reunited with Zanya and giving her the rogering of a lifetime?
Drake Douay is a lying, cowardly, slimy, drunken fornicator. And I love him! This is one of the easier books I've ever had to rate.
The Walrus & the Warwolf isn't your typical fantasy. Drake Douay is no Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins, that's for sure. Drake's a follower of the Demon God Hagon and worships accordingly: drinking and fornicating. His sister is a temple whore so he gets a good rate. Yes, incest is played for laughs in this story. Not only is Drake a scoundrel, he remains true to his lying cowardly self for the entirety of the book. The lies just keep coming and Drake gets into bigger and bigger trouble.
The Walrus and The Warwolf are the names of two pirate ships and the nicknames of the captains that sail upon them. The captains are well rounded and hilarious. Some of the pirate dialogue was so rough that it almost offended me. You have to love a story where one of the milder insults used by the characters is "octopus rapist." The supporting cast is also full of gems, like King Tor, and Muck, a man who's syphilis caused him to start his own flame-worshipping religion.
The world of TW&TW is one of fantasy and little understood technology of a lost age. While some of it is serious, like teleportation gates and a flying ship, I laughed hard when one of the pirates smashed a Rubik's Cube in disgust.
The story is equal parts pulp fantasy and humor. The tone is full of dry wit and reminds me of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time at times, as well as Glorianna, also by the esteemed Mr. Moorcock.
This was the easiest five I ever stuck on a book. If you like fantasy, British humor, pirates, or really offensive language, this is for you. If you don't, buy it anyway. God knows you don't have enough books with the word Walrus in the title...
Drake Douay is a lying, cowardly, slimy, drunken fornicator. And I love him! This is one of the easier books I've ever had to rate.
The Walrus & the Warwolf isn't your typical fantasy. Drake Douay is no Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins, that's for sure. Drake's a follower of the Demon God Hagon and worships accordingly: drinking and fornicating. His sister is a temple whore so he gets a good rate. Yes, incest is played for laughs in this story. Not only is Drake a scoundrel, he remains true to his lying cowardly self for the entirety of the book. The lies just keep coming and Drake gets into bigger and bigger trouble.
The Walrus and The Warwolf are the names of two pirate ships and the nicknames of the captains that sail upon them. The captains are well rounded and hilarious. Some of the pirate dialogue was so rough that it almost offended me. You have to love a story where one of the milder insults used by the characters is "octopus rapist." The supporting cast is also full of gems, like King Tor, and Muck, a man who's syphilis caused him to start his own flame-worshipping religion.
The world of TW&TW is one of fantasy and little understood technology of a lost age. While some of it is serious, like teleportation gates and a flying ship, I laughed hard when one of the pirates smashed a Rubik's Cube in disgust.
The story is equal parts pulp fantasy and humor. The tone is full of dry wit and reminds me of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time at times, as well as Glorianna, also by the esteemed Mr. Moorcock.
This was the easiest five I ever stuck on a book. If you like fantasy, British humor, pirates, or really offensive language, this is for you. If you don't, buy it anyway. God knows you don't have enough books with the word Walrus in the title...
October 17, 2024
Difficult novel to review but easy to see how this became a cult classic. China Miéville provices an excellent introduction to my edition of this text, deeming this an anti-bildungsroman, a coming of age refusal. The dark humor here will either work for you or not, but it did for me!
Our protagonist, one Drake Douay, starts the novel age 16, a swordsmith apprentice with huge appetite for booze, women and gambling, although not necessarily in that order. Really, all he wants in life is to party and chaffs at the social structures around him, like any good 16 year old dude. His naïve faith in himself propels the story along as he faces all kinds of trials and tribulations. Due to some wonton misdeeds, themselves and achievement as the local religion, the Demon, expects its followers to booze, fornicate and gamble, he finds himself exiled and falls in with some pirates. The titular Walrus and Warwolf are two rival pirates, each with their own ship and pirate gang. Over the course of the story, he falls in with both for a time...
Cook spins more adventure per page than just about any other author I have read. The Walrus & the Warwolf contains nonstop action and adventure within a strange, dark world. Obviously, the world had a high tech civilization at one point- real science fiction here-- but somehow devolved into more of a 'standard' fantasy land. Relics of the previous civilization abound, however, although largely ascribed as 'magic' by most. The world (somehow) has become divided into a North, where things like dragons live, and the South, dominated by the 'swarm', all kinds of strange beasties right out of Lovecraft.
So, what does Drake really want? Well, to get drunk and party, and to fuck. Early in the novel he falls in lust with a red haired beauty and one main theme consists of his chasing her throughout the novel. Unfortunately for him, while stranded on an island (long story), the locals infect him with nano tech or something, which, while killing all diseases and such, also prevents him from getting drunk. Poor Drake! Who would ever give such a curse! YMMV on this one, but geez, what a ride! 5 dark stars!!
Our protagonist, one Drake Douay, starts the novel age 16, a swordsmith apprentice with huge appetite for booze, women and gambling, although not necessarily in that order. Really, all he wants in life is to party and chaffs at the social structures around him, like any good 16 year old dude. His naïve faith in himself propels the story along as he faces all kinds of trials and tribulations. Due to some wonton misdeeds, themselves and achievement as the local religion, the Demon, expects its followers to booze, fornicate and gamble, he finds himself exiled and falls in with some pirates. The titular Walrus and Warwolf are two rival pirates, each with their own ship and pirate gang. Over the course of the story, he falls in with both for a time...
Cook spins more adventure per page than just about any other author I have read. The Walrus & the Warwolf contains nonstop action and adventure within a strange, dark world. Obviously, the world had a high tech civilization at one point- real science fiction here-- but somehow devolved into more of a 'standard' fantasy land. Relics of the previous civilization abound, however, although largely ascribed as 'magic' by most. The world (somehow) has become divided into a North, where things like dragons live, and the South, dominated by the 'swarm', all kinds of strange beasties right out of Lovecraft.
So, what does Drake really want? Well, to get drunk and party, and to fuck. Early in the novel he falls in lust with a red haired beauty and one main theme consists of his chasing her throughout the novel. Unfortunately for him, while stranded on an island (long story), the locals infect him with nano tech or something, which, while killing all diseases and such, also prevents him from getting drunk. Poor Drake! Who would ever give such a curse! YMMV on this one, but geez, what a ride! 5 dark stars!!
December 27, 2010
This book is fucking crazy. Hugh Cook crams more events into a dozen pages than I have ever witnessed before, and he does so with a reckless regard for language or convention. In two paragraphs, a city can fall, or a character can get into a bar fight in a small shanty town and then quaff a mug of beer spiked with plutonium to celebrate; ships sail and take on monsters, and portals open in forests occupied by the ruins of a military complex from ages past. The characters in this story are driven by appetite and act like human beings might in such a wild place.
This book is nothing short of incredible, and I feel changed for having read it.
This book is nothing short of incredible, and I feel changed for having read it.
June 17, 2011
The Walrus and the Warwolf is one of the most audacious books I've ever read (and with a title like that how could it not be?). It's taken me since October to finish it, partly because what with baby and you nerds distracting me all the time it's hard to get any non-audio reading done, and partly because it's like a hundred thousand million pages. That's okay though; I savored every word. I've been sitting with this book for the better part of a year and have a lot of thoughts, so bear with me.
Walrus/Warwolf is the fourth book in The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, a fantasy/science-fiction series by deceased New Zealand author Hugh Cook. I first heard about Cook from this (http://freshly-ground.blogspot.com/20...) obituary last year. I was immediately intrigued. It described Cook's work as way outside the norms of traditional fantasy, While they initially found an audience sales dropped quickly once the books became more experimental and challenging. Only a couple of books were published in the US (and only a third of Walrus/Warwolf) but luckily pulp fantasy salvager Planet Stories had just printed a sexy new addition of Walrus/Warwolf and I was able to find a copy without much trouble. Since then I've tracked down a few original editions of the other books thanks to the magic of Amazon.
Walrus/Warwolf is the fan-favorite of Chronicles and is the recommended starting point because it is just so fun and crazy. Each book in the series is a different type of story. For example, the introductory book, The Wizards and The Warriors, first appears to be a traditional quest fantasy but slowly unravels as it becomes apparent that there's no black and white duality in Cook's world and that the outcome of events is due to chance and circumstance, not the skill or intent of the characters caught up in them. Compare this to The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers which is a historical manuscript written by a madman and censored by hostile editors, or The Women and the Warlords which describes what life is like for a woman in a high-fantasy world (hint: it's not pleasant). The Walrus and The Warwolf is a rip-roaring picaresque, detailing the adolescent years of Dreldragon Drakedon Douay (the Chronicles are a marvel of ridiculous fantasy names, which one suspects, is the joke) and his adventures on the pirate ships Walrus and Warwolf. Drake is a fascinating character. He's a chronic liar and troublemaker. He has next to no morals and is wild in ambition. He's intensely clever but prone to wild assumptions that no rational mind would come to. His entire character can be summed up in the very first lines of the book:
"Drake Douay had his sixteenth birthday two months before the start of the year Khmar 17. That night he celebrated by getting:
(a) laid;
(b) drunk;
(c) into an enormous amount of trouble."
Yet despite having next to no redeeming qualities Drake is a very likable character. No matter what kinda scrapes the guy gets into you can't help but rooting for him. I mean, this is a character who assumes the best way to get the object of his desires is to simply rape her (he doesn't succeed) and yet it doesn't come off like he's a bad guy. Just naive and selfish and morally ignorant. That Cook makes this work is testament to his ability.
Yes, there's rape in the book, and violence, and gore. The world of The Chronicles isn't a nice place. To call it gritty is a huge understatement. It's bouldery. It's cragy. It's massify. Suffering is life in Cook's world. Disease is rampant, the poor are downtrodden, life is cheep. Terrible things happen to people all the time, from enslavement to mutilation to death. Yet here's the thing: the book plays out as a comedy. Partly because the series is a satire of traditional Swords and Sorcery fantasy and partly because Cook has a keen sense of the absurd.
For example, early in the story Drake contracts a breed of special parasite that cure him of internal ills and prevent him from ever getting sick or being poisoned. Drake laments this turn and considers himself cursed. Why? Because he can no longer get drunk. Despite that he uses his perpetual sobriety to win drinking contests and card games he never stops looking for any kind of drink that will get him hammered. The situations are writ large and the characters ridiculous and everything is so tongue-in-cheek than even jokes about rape and incest work. Writing it out here, it sounds horrible, but let me assure you, it really does work.
While most of the book is over-the-top and not meant to be taken seriously there are brief flashes of sincerity and humanity that are all the more powerful for their rarity. One point that surprised me with its sudden integrity occurred during a nightmare scenario when Drake and his crewmates are lost in ancient forest filled with killer monsters. The crew is getting picked off one by one and within a few hours more than a third of them are dead.
"'Where's Pouch?' said Arabin?
'The damn fool fell in the river' said Mulps.
'Pouch!' roared Arabin. 'Come back here you... you...'
His voice trailed away to nothing. He stared at the water. Others joined him on the riverbank and watches in silence as the water boiled to blood. Suddenly the bloody waters vomited upwards, throwing a shower of river, stones, and body-parts into the air. Settling swiftly, the waters soon ran smooth and clean once more.
'Blue-blooded mandarins,' muttered Arabin, in shock and wonderment; he had reached right back to his early childhood for that exclamation.
Drake got to his feet slowly, feeling sick. Two more comrades dead! Jus like that! It was too much to take. So many good men dead. The weapons muqaddam, aye, slaughtered by the Collosnon. Quin Baltu, and--and all the others. It was grief just to list them.
Good comrades. Men of my life.
Drake looked round at the shocked and shaken survivors. These were his comrades true. Many of these he'd felt like killing at times. Some, on occasion, had tried for his throat. But now...
My friends. My life.
He felt it hard to remember a time when he had not known these men.
You who I love.
Now that was right stranger. Weird, even. To feel so close to such a gross gang of warped, twisted killers and outcasts.
But are we not men? Aye, we're men all right. The same blood as princes.
And Drake, tears in his eyes, prayed to the Demon, to the Flame, or to Whoever It Was, not to write them off without thought and feeling."
Maybe this is shlocky out of context, but this was when I realized that there was more to this book than high-flying adventure and smart satire. It's when I realized it was a book that I loved.
One of the most outstanding things about the Chronicles is that the majority of the books take place at the same time. So we see some of the same scenes from different perspectives and with new insights. The can be as much as illuminating different facets of various characters or as little as setting up a joke:
"Watashi's private torture chamber was a soundproof room containing a narrow wooden bench, which bore an ominous number of russet stains, and many ugly implements of iron. Drake did his thinking - and fast. Clearly posing as an innocent peddlar was not going to save him." -The Walrus and the Warwolf
"... Douay was gagged and taken to an abandoned store room. Over the last three days, this had been converted into a horror house. Many ugly implements of iron had been gathered together; a torture bench had been installed; and Jarl had slaughtered a chicken in the room to make sure it was suitably blood-bespattered." -The Wicked and the Witless
Another significant trend to the books is how they don't focus on an overarching plot or quest. Things happen, the books end, but not necessarily with any sort of conclusion. Walrus/Warwolf ends with one plot thread resolved, but many others left dangling. Even the singular resolution has no guarantee of staying resolved, knowing Drake's luck. I think the book ends where it does because it documents Drake's life from one period of stability to the next. But not having the story come to an end is jarring. Cook has some real guts to end the book this way. It's easy to see why the books lost their audience. They're challenging and unexpected. One telling quote comes from Cook's description of The Wordsmiths and the Warguild.
"[The story is about] Togura Poulaan, a rather hapless young man who endures all manner of adventures but achieves nothing. If he had achieved something, he would have upset my ideas for the overall structure of the series."
Cook outlined another ten books that presumably would have resolved one of the big conflicts of the books and brought the world out of the dark age its in. But the readership wasn't there to justify any more novels. It's kinda amazing that the series even made it to ten. As it stands, the series is a fascinating, subversive, and hilarious lost gem of genre fiction. I recommend it to everyone here. Cook said that not everyone who read it liked it, but those who did liked it a whole heck of a lot. I'm grateful I'm in the later camp. I hope you will be too.
tl;dr: I really liked this book I keep mentioning. You should read it.
Walrus/Warwolf is the fourth book in The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, a fantasy/science-fiction series by deceased New Zealand author Hugh Cook. I first heard about Cook from this (http://freshly-ground.blogspot.com/20...) obituary last year. I was immediately intrigued. It described Cook's work as way outside the norms of traditional fantasy, While they initially found an audience sales dropped quickly once the books became more experimental and challenging. Only a couple of books were published in the US (and only a third of Walrus/Warwolf) but luckily pulp fantasy salvager Planet Stories had just printed a sexy new addition of Walrus/Warwolf and I was able to find a copy without much trouble. Since then I've tracked down a few original editions of the other books thanks to the magic of Amazon.
Walrus/Warwolf is the fan-favorite of Chronicles and is the recommended starting point because it is just so fun and crazy. Each book in the series is a different type of story. For example, the introductory book, The Wizards and The Warriors, first appears to be a traditional quest fantasy but slowly unravels as it becomes apparent that there's no black and white duality in Cook's world and that the outcome of events is due to chance and circumstance, not the skill or intent of the characters caught up in them. Compare this to The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers which is a historical manuscript written by a madman and censored by hostile editors, or The Women and the Warlords which describes what life is like for a woman in a high-fantasy world (hint: it's not pleasant). The Walrus and The Warwolf is a rip-roaring picaresque, detailing the adolescent years of Dreldragon Drakedon Douay (the Chronicles are a marvel of ridiculous fantasy names, which one suspects, is the joke) and his adventures on the pirate ships Walrus and Warwolf. Drake is a fascinating character. He's a chronic liar and troublemaker. He has next to no morals and is wild in ambition. He's intensely clever but prone to wild assumptions that no rational mind would come to. His entire character can be summed up in the very first lines of the book:
"Drake Douay had his sixteenth birthday two months before the start of the year Khmar 17. That night he celebrated by getting:
(a) laid;
(b) drunk;
(c) into an enormous amount of trouble."
Yet despite having next to no redeeming qualities Drake is a very likable character. No matter what kinda scrapes the guy gets into you can't help but rooting for him. I mean, this is a character who assumes the best way to get the object of his desires is to simply rape her (he doesn't succeed) and yet it doesn't come off like he's a bad guy. Just naive and selfish and morally ignorant. That Cook makes this work is testament to his ability.
Yes, there's rape in the book, and violence, and gore. The world of The Chronicles isn't a nice place. To call it gritty is a huge understatement. It's bouldery. It's cragy. It's massify. Suffering is life in Cook's world. Disease is rampant, the poor are downtrodden, life is cheep. Terrible things happen to people all the time, from enslavement to mutilation to death. Yet here's the thing: the book plays out as a comedy. Partly because the series is a satire of traditional Swords and Sorcery fantasy and partly because Cook has a keen sense of the absurd.
For example, early in the story Drake contracts a breed of special parasite that cure him of internal ills and prevent him from ever getting sick or being poisoned. Drake laments this turn and considers himself cursed. Why? Because he can no longer get drunk. Despite that he uses his perpetual sobriety to win drinking contests and card games he never stops looking for any kind of drink that will get him hammered. The situations are writ large and the characters ridiculous and everything is so tongue-in-cheek than even jokes about rape and incest work. Writing it out here, it sounds horrible, but let me assure you, it really does work.
While most of the book is over-the-top and not meant to be taken seriously there are brief flashes of sincerity and humanity that are all the more powerful for their rarity. One point that surprised me with its sudden integrity occurred during a nightmare scenario when Drake and his crewmates are lost in ancient forest filled with killer monsters. The crew is getting picked off one by one and within a few hours more than a third of them are dead.
"'Where's Pouch?' said Arabin?
'The damn fool fell in the river' said Mulps.
'Pouch!' roared Arabin. 'Come back here you... you...'
His voice trailed away to nothing. He stared at the water. Others joined him on the riverbank and watches in silence as the water boiled to blood. Suddenly the bloody waters vomited upwards, throwing a shower of river, stones, and body-parts into the air. Settling swiftly, the waters soon ran smooth and clean once more.
'Blue-blooded mandarins,' muttered Arabin, in shock and wonderment; he had reached right back to his early childhood for that exclamation.
Drake got to his feet slowly, feeling sick. Two more comrades dead! Jus like that! It was too much to take. So many good men dead. The weapons muqaddam, aye, slaughtered by the Collosnon. Quin Baltu, and--and all the others. It was grief just to list them.
Good comrades. Men of my life.
Drake looked round at the shocked and shaken survivors. These were his comrades true. Many of these he'd felt like killing at times. Some, on occasion, had tried for his throat. But now...
My friends. My life.
He felt it hard to remember a time when he had not known these men.
You who I love.
Now that was right stranger. Weird, even. To feel so close to such a gross gang of warped, twisted killers and outcasts.
But are we not men? Aye, we're men all right. The same blood as princes.
And Drake, tears in his eyes, prayed to the Demon, to the Flame, or to Whoever It Was, not to write them off without thought and feeling."
Maybe this is shlocky out of context, but this was when I realized that there was more to this book than high-flying adventure and smart satire. It's when I realized it was a book that I loved.
One of the most outstanding things about the Chronicles is that the majority of the books take place at the same time. So we see some of the same scenes from different perspectives and with new insights. The can be as much as illuminating different facets of various characters or as little as setting up a joke:
"Watashi's private torture chamber was a soundproof room containing a narrow wooden bench, which bore an ominous number of russet stains, and many ugly implements of iron. Drake did his thinking - and fast. Clearly posing as an innocent peddlar was not going to save him." -The Walrus and the Warwolf
"... Douay was gagged and taken to an abandoned store room. Over the last three days, this had been converted into a horror house. Many ugly implements of iron had been gathered together; a torture bench had been installed; and Jarl had slaughtered a chicken in the room to make sure it was suitably blood-bespattered." -The Wicked and the Witless
Another significant trend to the books is how they don't focus on an overarching plot or quest. Things happen, the books end, but not necessarily with any sort of conclusion. Walrus/Warwolf ends with one plot thread resolved, but many others left dangling. Even the singular resolution has no guarantee of staying resolved, knowing Drake's luck. I think the book ends where it does because it documents Drake's life from one period of stability to the next. But not having the story come to an end is jarring. Cook has some real guts to end the book this way. It's easy to see why the books lost their audience. They're challenging and unexpected. One telling quote comes from Cook's description of The Wordsmiths and the Warguild.
"[The story is about] Togura Poulaan, a rather hapless young man who endures all manner of adventures but achieves nothing. If he had achieved something, he would have upset my ideas for the overall structure of the series."
Cook outlined another ten books that presumably would have resolved one of the big conflicts of the books and brought the world out of the dark age its in. But the readership wasn't there to justify any more novels. It's kinda amazing that the series even made it to ten. As it stands, the series is a fascinating, subversive, and hilarious lost gem of genre fiction. I recommend it to everyone here. Cook said that not everyone who read it liked it, but those who did liked it a whole heck of a lot. I'm grateful I'm in the later camp. I hope you will be too.
tl;dr: I really liked this book I keep mentioning. You should read it.
September 27, 2021
Absolutely epic. The sheer scale of this novel is mind boggling, seriously it makes 98% of other fantasy pale in comparison. More politics, humor, and grand adventure than some entire series have. Well worth a read and just another one of my reviews that implores fantasy fans to give Hugh Cook’s series a read.
September 28, 2012
This is an unusual read - out of the ordinary for me but I loved it. Hugh Cook takes you on a journey with Drake and you had better watch out. Loads of ups and downs with this writer.
January 15, 2019
The 3 previous entries in this series are worth reading and contain multiple positive elements, but Cook brings it all together in this one with none of the negatives dwelling in those books. The comedy is natural, easy and disturbingly funny, and there is none of the forced pathos Cook can be enamored of. The completely wacky happenings are still impressively diverse and brilliant while consistently contributing to the story. This really should be more widely read and appreciated. There is very little out there as bone deep enjoyable as this.
May 13, 2014
It's a hilarious roller coaster ride from beginning to end. The main character is a demon loving degenerate who you can't help but root for as he stumbles from one disaster to another in a thoroughly insane world. Have re-read it more times than I can remember, picked it up as a kid on my first visit to a second hand book store, pure gold.
September 29, 2016
I'm cheating and using this reveiw for all Hugh Cook's Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.
Take almost every fantasy cliche and trope you can think of and give it to Eddings or Jordan and you get 'The Belgariad' or 'The Wheel of Time'- entertaining enough but otherwise souless pap. Give them however to Hugh Cook and you get your tiny mind blown. He turns everything on its head like no other author before or after him. Wizards, magic bottles, monsters and heroes are used in such a fresh imaginative way that you are glued to the story page by page. Humour pervades every book to a varying degree and one of the great disappointments in life is that he never finished the whole set as he saw them- though luckily each book can be read as a stand alone novel, rewarding fans with nods, winks and links akimbo, otherwise complete reads in themselves.
I cannot recommend these books enough- even if you are not a fantasy fan; believe me these books will nothing like you expect and I think represent a truly unique literary experience
Take almost every fantasy cliche and trope you can think of and give it to Eddings or Jordan and you get 'The Belgariad' or 'The Wheel of Time'- entertaining enough but otherwise souless pap. Give them however to Hugh Cook and you get your tiny mind blown. He turns everything on its head like no other author before or after him. Wizards, magic bottles, monsters and heroes are used in such a fresh imaginative way that you are glued to the story page by page. Humour pervades every book to a varying degree and one of the great disappointments in life is that he never finished the whole set as he saw them- though luckily each book can be read as a stand alone novel, rewarding fans with nods, winks and links akimbo, otherwise complete reads in themselves.
I cannot recommend these books enough- even if you are not a fantasy fan; believe me these books will nothing like you expect and I think represent a truly unique literary experience
June 17, 2021
I've never read anything quite like this. Although I have read the first in the series, but many years ago, and even that was different.
The protagonist is a rogue and a scoundrel and not particularly pleasant, and while he has his charms, you still want to slap him most of the time. He's selfish, greedy, occasionally stupid, but even so, Cook manages somehow to make him likeable enough to keep you hanging on through his adventures.
And what adventures! Everything rattles along at breakneck speed, people travel hundreds of miles in a page, empires rise and fall, armies battle, and monsters rampage. There's enough content in here for ten bog-standard fantasy doorsteps, and while it goes by in a rush, it never feels rushed.
Man, Hugh Cook is quite the storyteller.
The protagonist is a rogue and a scoundrel and not particularly pleasant, and while he has his charms, you still want to slap him most of the time. He's selfish, greedy, occasionally stupid, but even so, Cook manages somehow to make him likeable enough to keep you hanging on through his adventures.
And what adventures! Everything rattles along at breakneck speed, people travel hundreds of miles in a page, empires rise and fall, armies battle, and monsters rampage. There's enough content in here for ten bog-standard fantasy doorsteps, and while it goes by in a rush, it never feels rushed.
Man, Hugh Cook is quite the storyteller.
May 31, 2024
this book did about three lines of speed in the toilets just before it got on a bus and cornered you in a back seat. Now its going to tell its tale. The bus trip will be long and The Walrus and the Werewolf is sitting right next to you and there is actually no-one else on the bus.
This book is like speedy Gonzales is trying to give the Tasmanian devil a colonoscopy on a Ferris wheel and its being animated by chuck jones. It goes pretty hard is what I'm trying to say.
Probably the most interesting thing about the Walrus and the Werewolf is trying to work out how morally serious it is, because it has very strong, but very tacit themes, of moral challenge and historical and moral development, but is also an utterly manic text which races along at the pace of a re-cut cartoon, or like a rubber ball bouncing around in a small room and while it has a lot of morally consequential things happen, it often views them, at the time they are occurring, through a cynical, absurdist or simply an unnervingly morally neutral tone.
Added to this is the utter mania and primordial moral chaos of its protagonist. Is he a good man? Certainly not, but a bit? Not at the start at all. Is he an evil man? A bit, especially at the start, but not a lot and rarely with sadism. Is he any worse than any other 16 year old boy, or person of whatever age he is in each part of the book, in the crazed and chaotic world he is from? Honestly probably not.
Drake Deldragon Douhey is as much a trickster spirit as a main character. He lies like Bug Bunny, or Odysseus. He lies almost constantly, he lies when he doesn't have to lie, he lies even when it would be a bad idea to lie. Even when telling the truth he embroiders, adds and creates fantasies mixed in with it, and even when speaking to people he respects. By our standards he is probably mentally ill. He spends a lot of time in jail.
In his defence the society of the world and the plot of the book don't want him to tell the truth and won't trust him when he does. The one time he tries to tell the truth the people asking for it try to saw off his feet, he needs to use all his desperate skill and invention to devise lies they actually will believe.
I was going to compare the story-to-travel chronology of Walrus to something like O'Brieins Aubrey/Maturin tales, with their social dramas extending across long voyages and then spurts of rapid action, but to be honest that doesn't come close.
If you tried to make a chart of the time compression, dropped chapters, ("oh the crew had a pretty crazy adventure here, anyway), long prison and slavery stints simply danced across with a few words, that time Drake became a King for a year or so, (one chapter in third person historical record form), well the chart would look like a seismograph during an earthquake, or two earthquakes going different directions at the same time. If you tried to draw a *map* of his travels, enslavements, imprisonments, flying castle trip, teleport gate incident, mysterious tunnel travel and many, many sea voiyages, shipwrecks and abductions, then it would look like a jackson Pollock painting.
Very likely a number of these wild journeys are to bring Drake into contact with various other characters from the previous four, and later six, (and possibly planned ever later FIFTY), books who are all interlaced. having read just the one so far there is no way for me to tell.
The main character does actually slightly morally develop. He goes from a teenage attempted rapist, driven by obsessive lust, to someone who actively tries to value the object of his affections as something more like the object of his affections, and eventually into something more like adult love.
While the text skates madly over incidents, or arrantly informs us of vital matters in passing, and while its main group of piratical characters remain generally relentlessly self-interested, they are still *coherent* characters. They are not jokes, though the story makes jokes about them. The 'storyteller' part of the story might leap hither and yon over important events but the characters are affected in full depth, as they should be. A crime, abandonment, act of violence or of mercy might happen and be shown in a chaotic way, lightly, but if the characters involved pop up again in the roiling broth of the story, they will remember and be affected by these acts. The fears of a neurotic pirate might be played for laughs or plot convenience in one moment, but over time, they will have reasons for their existence and will not be forgotten or overwritten to make a new or better joke.
Its beyond curious that while many of these characters enter as parodies, they are not parodies of themselves.
This feels like a book founded on deep thought and careful planning, and then merrily painted over and scrawled over as if it were graffiti, but as you look closer it seems the graffiti was planned all along.
Its no surprise to me this series wasn't a hit, its the opposite of what the average fantasy fan wants from their stories. Usually people like simple blocky morality as the base, with a lot of very deep and serious language and self-consciously writerly and morally-instructive and dramatically perceptible Events.
Walrus does this the wrong way round; the base, the world and its morality, are complex, but hidden, or at least not self-consciously or deliberately described by the writer who in engaged in a kind of mad folk dance over the blocks of their story.
Its impossible for me to tell if this is a cynical book, or a tragic one. It seems like a tragic book in disguise as a cynical one, or perhaps the two things are in equipoise.
This book is like speedy Gonzales is trying to give the Tasmanian devil a colonoscopy on a Ferris wheel and its being animated by chuck jones. It goes pretty hard is what I'm trying to say.
Probably the most interesting thing about the Walrus and the Werewolf is trying to work out how morally serious it is, because it has very strong, but very tacit themes, of moral challenge and historical and moral development, but is also an utterly manic text which races along at the pace of a re-cut cartoon, or like a rubber ball bouncing around in a small room and while it has a lot of morally consequential things happen, it often views them, at the time they are occurring, through a cynical, absurdist or simply an unnervingly morally neutral tone.
Added to this is the utter mania and primordial moral chaos of its protagonist. Is he a good man? Certainly not, but a bit? Not at the start at all. Is he an evil man? A bit, especially at the start, but not a lot and rarely with sadism. Is he any worse than any other 16 year old boy, or person of whatever age he is in each part of the book, in the crazed and chaotic world he is from? Honestly probably not.
Drake Deldragon Douhey is as much a trickster spirit as a main character. He lies like Bug Bunny, or Odysseus. He lies almost constantly, he lies when he doesn't have to lie, he lies even when it would be a bad idea to lie. Even when telling the truth he embroiders, adds and creates fantasies mixed in with it, and even when speaking to people he respects. By our standards he is probably mentally ill. He spends a lot of time in jail.
In his defence the society of the world and the plot of the book don't want him to tell the truth and won't trust him when he does. The one time he tries to tell the truth the people asking for it try to saw off his feet, he needs to use all his desperate skill and invention to devise lies they actually will believe.
I was going to compare the story-to-travel chronology of Walrus to something like O'Brieins Aubrey/Maturin tales, with their social dramas extending across long voyages and then spurts of rapid action, but to be honest that doesn't come close.
If you tried to make a chart of the time compression, dropped chapters, ("oh the crew had a pretty crazy adventure here, anyway), long prison and slavery stints simply danced across with a few words, that time Drake became a King for a year or so, (one chapter in third person historical record form), well the chart would look like a seismograph during an earthquake, or two earthquakes going different directions at the same time. If you tried to draw a *map* of his travels, enslavements, imprisonments, flying castle trip, teleport gate incident, mysterious tunnel travel and many, many sea voiyages, shipwrecks and abductions, then it would look like a jackson Pollock painting.
Very likely a number of these wild journeys are to bring Drake into contact with various other characters from the previous four, and later six, (and possibly planned ever later FIFTY), books who are all interlaced. having read just the one so far there is no way for me to tell.
The main character does actually slightly morally develop. He goes from a teenage attempted rapist, driven by obsessive lust, to someone who actively tries to value the object of his affections as something more like the object of his affections, and eventually into something more like adult love.
While the text skates madly over incidents, or arrantly informs us of vital matters in passing, and while its main group of piratical characters remain generally relentlessly self-interested, they are still *coherent* characters. They are not jokes, though the story makes jokes about them. The 'storyteller' part of the story might leap hither and yon over important events but the characters are affected in full depth, as they should be. A crime, abandonment, act of violence or of mercy might happen and be shown in a chaotic way, lightly, but if the characters involved pop up again in the roiling broth of the story, they will remember and be affected by these acts. The fears of a neurotic pirate might be played for laughs or plot convenience in one moment, but over time, they will have reasons for their existence and will not be forgotten or overwritten to make a new or better joke.
Its beyond curious that while many of these characters enter as parodies, they are not parodies of themselves.
This feels like a book founded on deep thought and careful planning, and then merrily painted over and scrawled over as if it were graffiti, but as you look closer it seems the graffiti was planned all along.
Its no surprise to me this series wasn't a hit, its the opposite of what the average fantasy fan wants from their stories. Usually people like simple blocky morality as the base, with a lot of very deep and serious language and self-consciously writerly and morally-instructive and dramatically perceptible Events.
Walrus does this the wrong way round; the base, the world and its morality, are complex, but hidden, or at least not self-consciously or deliberately described by the writer who in engaged in a kind of mad folk dance over the blocks of their story.
Its impossible for me to tell if this is a cynical book, or a tragic one. It seems like a tragic book in disguise as a cynical one, or perhaps the two things are in equipoise.
July 4, 2010
A very fun, wild teenage romp though a post apocalyptic fantasy world with lots of pirates, sex, booze, ancient super science, hokey religions, humor, and pirates. Arrg!
March 6, 2025
When I first picked up The Walrus and the Warwolf—book four of The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness—I immediately sensed that I was holding a cult classic, an overlooked gem of 1980s fantasy that defies genre conventions. It’s a wild, unpredictable, and deeply engaging novel, feeling both utterly unique and yet strangely familiar.
Hugh Cook takes well-worn fantasy tropes—pirates, prophecy, and grand adventure—and twists them into something subversive, irreverent, and occasionally frustrating, yet always compelling. For a book written in its time, it feels astonishingly ahead of the curve.
The novel is told from the first-person perspective of Drake Douay, a boastful, self-serving, and often downright foolish rogue who dreams of heroism but mostly stumbles from one misadventure to another. He’s not the usual fantasy protagonist—neither a chosen one nor a noble warrior. Instead, he’s a liar, a thief, and, at times, an outright coward. Yet he’s also immensely resourceful, quick-witted, and capable of remarkable feats when pressed. His voice is engaging and often hilarious, but it can also be maddeningly obtuse.
The narrative is unreliable—sometimes deliberately so—as Drake embellishes or misremembers events. This makes for a refreshing departure from the earnest storytelling of traditional epic fantasy, but it also demands patience. Those expecting a straightforward heroic journey may find themselves frustrated by the novel’s meandering, episodic structure and Drake’s frequent failures.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its worldbuilding. Cook creates a rich, complex setting teeming with warring factions, intricate politics, and a genuine sense of unpredictability. From bustling cities to pirate-infested waters, the world feels alive and dangerous. Fantasy elements—such as magic and prophecy—are present, but they’re treated with a grounded, practical realism. Magic is rare, dangerous, and often misunderstood, lending weight to its presence.
This realism extends to the novel’s depiction of society. Cook doesn’t romanticise war or heroism but instead highlights the messiness of battle, the cruelty of rulers, and the harsh realities for those without power. The world is brutal and often unfair, where fate is dictated as much by luck as by skill.
At over 770 pages, The Walrus and the Warwolf is a long book, and it doesn’t follow a tight three-act structure. Instead, it unfolds in a series of loosely connected, unpredictable episodes. Just when you think you know what kind of story you’re reading—pirate adventure, political intrigue, coming-of-age tale—it shifts into something else.
Some sections are thrilling and fast-paced, filled with swashbuckling action and daring escapes. Others slow down, focusing on long stretches of captivity, deception, and waiting. This uneven pacing can be frustrating if you’re expecting constant momentum, but it also makes the story feel more immersive and lived-in than many traditional fantasy epics.
One of the novel’s most striking elements is its subversive tone. Cook takes familiar fantasy conventions—prophecy, heroic destiny, grand adventure—and dismantles them at every turn. Drake repeatedly misinterprets prophecies, fails at heroic tasks, and finds himself at the mercy of forces beyond his control. Even his supposed love story is unconventional, filled with messy, transactional, or outright disastrous relationships.
There’s a strong satirical undercurrent throughout, mocking the idea of noble warriors, wise rulers, and infallible seers. In many ways, The Walrus and the Warwolf feels ahead of its time, foreshadowing the kind of deconstruction seen in A Song of Ice and Fire or The First Law trilogy.
For all its brilliance, The Walrus and the Warwolf is not an easy book. Its length and episodic nature can make it feel unfocused at times. Drake, while an entertaining narrator, is not always likable or reliable, and readers who need a protagonist to root for unequivocally may struggle with his many flaws.
Yet, for me, this book—and the series as a whole—is one of the most compelling and underrated fantasy works that no one has read. It’s challenging, subversive, and often hilarious, offering a reading experience unlike any other. If you’re looking for something truly different in fantasy, The Walrus and the Warwolf is well worth the journey. That is if you can find a copy!
Hugh Cook takes well-worn fantasy tropes—pirates, prophecy, and grand adventure—and twists them into something subversive, irreverent, and occasionally frustrating, yet always compelling. For a book written in its time, it feels astonishingly ahead of the curve.
The novel is told from the first-person perspective of Drake Douay, a boastful, self-serving, and often downright foolish rogue who dreams of heroism but mostly stumbles from one misadventure to another. He’s not the usual fantasy protagonist—neither a chosen one nor a noble warrior. Instead, he’s a liar, a thief, and, at times, an outright coward. Yet he’s also immensely resourceful, quick-witted, and capable of remarkable feats when pressed. His voice is engaging and often hilarious, but it can also be maddeningly obtuse.
The narrative is unreliable—sometimes deliberately so—as Drake embellishes or misremembers events. This makes for a refreshing departure from the earnest storytelling of traditional epic fantasy, but it also demands patience. Those expecting a straightforward heroic journey may find themselves frustrated by the novel’s meandering, episodic structure and Drake’s frequent failures.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its worldbuilding. Cook creates a rich, complex setting teeming with warring factions, intricate politics, and a genuine sense of unpredictability. From bustling cities to pirate-infested waters, the world feels alive and dangerous. Fantasy elements—such as magic and prophecy—are present, but they’re treated with a grounded, practical realism. Magic is rare, dangerous, and often misunderstood, lending weight to its presence.
This realism extends to the novel’s depiction of society. Cook doesn’t romanticise war or heroism but instead highlights the messiness of battle, the cruelty of rulers, and the harsh realities for those without power. The world is brutal and often unfair, where fate is dictated as much by luck as by skill.
At over 770 pages, The Walrus and the Warwolf is a long book, and it doesn’t follow a tight three-act structure. Instead, it unfolds in a series of loosely connected, unpredictable episodes. Just when you think you know what kind of story you’re reading—pirate adventure, political intrigue, coming-of-age tale—it shifts into something else.
Some sections are thrilling and fast-paced, filled with swashbuckling action and daring escapes. Others slow down, focusing on long stretches of captivity, deception, and waiting. This uneven pacing can be frustrating if you’re expecting constant momentum, but it also makes the story feel more immersive and lived-in than many traditional fantasy epics.
One of the novel’s most striking elements is its subversive tone. Cook takes familiar fantasy conventions—prophecy, heroic destiny, grand adventure—and dismantles them at every turn. Drake repeatedly misinterprets prophecies, fails at heroic tasks, and finds himself at the mercy of forces beyond his control. Even his supposed love story is unconventional, filled with messy, transactional, or outright disastrous relationships.
There’s a strong satirical undercurrent throughout, mocking the idea of noble warriors, wise rulers, and infallible seers. In many ways, The Walrus and the Warwolf feels ahead of its time, foreshadowing the kind of deconstruction seen in A Song of Ice and Fire or The First Law trilogy.
For all its brilliance, The Walrus and the Warwolf is not an easy book. Its length and episodic nature can make it feel unfocused at times. Drake, while an entertaining narrator, is not always likable or reliable, and readers who need a protagonist to root for unequivocally may struggle with his many flaws.
Yet, for me, this book—and the series as a whole—is one of the most compelling and underrated fantasy works that no one has read. It’s challenging, subversive, and often hilarious, offering a reading experience unlike any other. If you’re looking for something truly different in fantasy, The Walrus and the Warwolf is well worth the journey. That is if you can find a copy!
June 30, 2022
4,25 stars - English hardcover
Troublemaking youth comes of age after many fantastical and at times squalid adventures in this fourth volume of Cook's Chronicles of Age of Darkness.
In a barbaric world scattered with the remains of high technology, swordsmith's apprentice Drake Douay is promised (he thinks) the hand of the daughter of King Tor of Stokos, falls for and tries to seduce ex-priestess Zanya Kliedervaust and is cast off by his master Gouda Muck for general shiftlessness.
Stealing the swordsmith's favorite weapon, the boy takes sea passage to find profit and glory. He is captured by the pirate Slagger Mulps of the Walrus , whose crew bear a grudge against Drake, and is rescued by the competing pirate captain Jon Arabin of the Warwolf . After surviving many adventures as king, slave and mercenary, and as the object of religious hatred by a powerful cult led by Gouda Muck, Drake is reunited with his true love Zanya--only to face further trouble.
This hidden gem is to boys' own fantasy adventure what Terry Pratchett's stories are to fantasy comedy and the Princess Bride is to fantasy romance: best of breed.
Rumor has it that the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness (of which this volume is a stand-alone story and the best of the lot) helped to inspire Terry Mancour's Spellmonger series, but that's just idle speculation.
Although the rest of the books in this series more or less sucked, this book was great. After reading the first page I couldn't put it down. The characters are so real in their psychology. Every action has a realistic motive. Drake is a believable hero. Jon Arabin is one of the most likable characters in all of fantasy literature
Troublemaking youth comes of age after many fantastical and at times squalid adventures in this fourth volume of Cook's Chronicles of Age of Darkness.
In a barbaric world scattered with the remains of high technology, swordsmith's apprentice Drake Douay is promised (he thinks) the hand of the daughter of King Tor of Stokos, falls for and tries to seduce ex-priestess Zanya Kliedervaust and is cast off by his master Gouda Muck for general shiftlessness.
Stealing the swordsmith's favorite weapon, the boy takes sea passage to find profit and glory. He is captured by the pirate Slagger Mulps of the Walrus , whose crew bear a grudge against Drake, and is rescued by the competing pirate captain Jon Arabin of the Warwolf . After surviving many adventures as king, slave and mercenary, and as the object of religious hatred by a powerful cult led by Gouda Muck, Drake is reunited with his true love Zanya--only to face further trouble.
This hidden gem is to boys' own fantasy adventure what Terry Pratchett's stories are to fantasy comedy and the Princess Bride is to fantasy romance: best of breed.
Rumor has it that the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness (of which this volume is a stand-alone story and the best of the lot) helped to inspire Terry Mancour's Spellmonger series, but that's just idle speculation.
Although the rest of the books in this series more or less sucked, this book was great. After reading the first page I couldn't put it down. The characters are so real in their psychology. Every action has a realistic motive. Drake is a believable hero. Jon Arabin is one of the most likable characters in all of fantasy literature
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2025
The longest and possibly the best of the Chronicles of the Age of Darkness. Cook has found his stride here. The first and third novel were serious, filled with unrepentant savagery and dread, but it gives way here to a dark humor filled with obscenity and foulness.
We follow Drake, a cock-sure apprentice swordsmith, who becomes the focus of wrath of his master after third-stage syphilis causes the man to develop religious mania and create a cult naming Drake as its Satan figure. Drake then runs off to become a pirate and a bevvy of violence and world-shattering events follow. It is a long book, with a few redundancies, and a court scene that becomes a little dull, but it never slows down. The character goes back and forth across the continent of Argan, meets everyone, is nearly killed over and over, and ultimately triumphs - sort of.
Cook has tremendous fun kicking Drake around. He is obviously the author's David Copperfield and has a deep love for the arrogant teen who spends most of his time lying, bragging, gambling, having sex, and fighting. The plot is an Odyssey. There is no quest or questing-hero. Drake is adrift in the world without aim most of the time, dealing with desperate characters and trying to claw his way to the top.
This one is not for those who are easily offended. It is filled with over-the-top unrepentant material. But it is also one of the best books I've ever read.
We follow Drake, a cock-sure apprentice swordsmith, who becomes the focus of wrath of his master after third-stage syphilis causes the man to develop religious mania and create a cult naming Drake as its Satan figure. Drake then runs off to become a pirate and a bevvy of violence and world-shattering events follow. It is a long book, with a few redundancies, and a court scene that becomes a little dull, but it never slows down. The character goes back and forth across the continent of Argan, meets everyone, is nearly killed over and over, and ultimately triumphs - sort of.
Cook has tremendous fun kicking Drake around. He is obviously the author's David Copperfield and has a deep love for the arrogant teen who spends most of his time lying, bragging, gambling, having sex, and fighting. The plot is an Odyssey. There is no quest or questing-hero. Drake is adrift in the world without aim most of the time, dealing with desperate characters and trying to claw his way to the top.
This one is not for those who are easily offended. It is filled with over-the-top unrepentant material. But it is also one of the best books I've ever read.
May 21, 2018
The series that gave us “I have twin Zulzers!” Shabble and “ gan sucking jids of veek nucking ornscum helock!”
Now gives us many fun pirate activities like “First off!”
Haha fun times.
Best of the quirky series. But they are all pretty good and Vastly underrated and under appreciated.
If you hate modern derivative fantasy churn carp read this and the series. You won’t be disappointed
Now gives us many fun pirate activities like “First off!”
Haha fun times.
Best of the quirky series. But they are all pretty good and Vastly underrated and under appreciated.
If you hate modern derivative fantasy churn carp read this and the series. You won’t be disappointed
October 11, 2019
This book is full-on amazing.
I mean, maybe it helps if you're a bit cracked, but still. I half-believed chess was played with dice and neversh when I was a kid.
No wonder the teachers gave me funny looks.
Utterly smashing.
I mean, maybe it helps if you're a bit cracked, but still. I half-believed chess was played with dice and neversh when I was a kid.
No wonder the teachers gave me funny looks.
Utterly smashing.
February 17, 2022
Almost impossible to describe its scope without sounding deranged, this book rocks, like a piratical grand theft auto that increasingly gets out of control.
August 25, 2021
Chronicles of an Age of Darkness: volume 4
This was the only book of the series that I ever read in my first 50 years of life, a chance discovery at a market bookstall where I bought it for 50p because it had a cool cover. Even though I never found any of the other books, not for 50p anyway - paper round money only went so far, the images and ideas stayed with me for many years, in particular a bunch of itinerant pirates stumbling around a hyper advanced ship and the concept of the ectopic snake, surely the way to go in future medicine.
In moving from the deeper, more considerate work of volume three, where a woman's point of view is explored, the pace, change and focus of four is quite shocking, for it is the lad's book of lads adventures in a lad's fantasy world. Drake Deldragon Douay, he of more names than a dubious high street pop up store bumbles, bonks, boozes, and bruises his way around most of the series map in a quite overwhelming display of boyish bravado that would have Flashman himself requesting a bit of a breather.
It is a highly enjoyable romp with much to recommend it: the naive experience of hyper advanced technology; the considerations of religion, fanaticism, and human failings; the contract of political systems between princes and pirates; the same group of friends constantly failing in and out of favour in a Sven Hassel tribute act.
I could just leave it there, the recommended read of a brash young man perhaps too innocent to realise the dangers he puts himself in when believing he is the centre of the universe and that it owes him big. However, I think this is to do it a disservice, for the developing relationship between Drake and his long pursued red skinned paramour could be seen as an illustration of growth in the male, elevating her from mere meat to immortal mate. Perhaps? Read it and see what you think.
Highly recommended.
Fleecy Moss, Author of the Folio 55 SciFi fantasy series (writing as Nia Sinjorina), End of a Girl, Undon , and 4659 now available on Amazon.
This was the only book of the series that I ever read in my first 50 years of life, a chance discovery at a market bookstall where I bought it for 50p because it had a cool cover. Even though I never found any of the other books, not for 50p anyway - paper round money only went so far, the images and ideas stayed with me for many years, in particular a bunch of itinerant pirates stumbling around a hyper advanced ship and the concept of the ectopic snake, surely the way to go in future medicine.
In moving from the deeper, more considerate work of volume three, where a woman's point of view is explored, the pace, change and focus of four is quite shocking, for it is the lad's book of lads adventures in a lad's fantasy world. Drake Deldragon Douay, he of more names than a dubious high street pop up store bumbles, bonks, boozes, and bruises his way around most of the series map in a quite overwhelming display of boyish bravado that would have Flashman himself requesting a bit of a breather.
It is a highly enjoyable romp with much to recommend it: the naive experience of hyper advanced technology; the considerations of religion, fanaticism, and human failings; the contract of political systems between princes and pirates; the same group of friends constantly failing in and out of favour in a Sven Hassel tribute act.
I could just leave it there, the recommended read of a brash young man perhaps too innocent to realise the dangers he puts himself in when believing he is the centre of the universe and that it owes him big. However, I think this is to do it a disservice, for the developing relationship between Drake and his long pursued red skinned paramour could be seen as an illustration of growth in the male, elevating her from mere meat to immortal mate. Perhaps? Read it and see what you think.
Highly recommended.
Fleecy Moss, Author of the Folio 55 SciFi fantasy series (writing as Nia Sinjorina), End of a Girl, Undon , and 4659 now available on Amazon.
May 17, 2017
This is a great book. You easily forget that this book was written in 1988 because every character has depth, a good side, a bad side, and a past filled with important events that develop their character. Cook's storytelling is like a DnD campaign gone off the rails. Whatever plans or dreams the characters have in these stories, they will be swept aside because of how chaotic and terrible the world is around them.
For example: A character's woman is being holed up in an inn taken over by an evil cult. The character hatches a plan to get her out by sneaking in stealthily, dispatching a few guards, sweeping her off her feet, and sneaking back out again. Well, that's the plan....but that's now how things go down. He instead trips alarms, locks himself in the room with his woman who didn't even want to see him in the first place and was there on her own volition. forced out of the window on the 2nd floor and lands on the ground surrounded by cult members, dashes to the nearby city guard and gets himself arrested. The writing is constantly subverting your expectations and taking you on an adventure that you have no idea where it'll end up.
Each of these books are stand alone, and I really recommend any one of them. There are 10 total and I'm starting book 5 right after I finish this review. If you like fantasy, you have to give these a read. They are hard to find, but they deserve to be classics.
For example: A character's woman is being holed up in an inn taken over by an evil cult. The character hatches a plan to get her out by sneaking in stealthily, dispatching a few guards, sweeping her off her feet, and sneaking back out again. Well, that's the plan....but that's now how things go down. He instead trips alarms, locks himself in the room with his woman who didn't even want to see him in the first place and was there on her own volition. forced out of the window on the 2nd floor and lands on the ground surrounded by cult members, dashes to the nearby city guard and gets himself arrested. The writing is constantly subverting your expectations and taking you on an adventure that you have no idea where it'll end up.
Each of these books are stand alone, and I really recommend any one of them. There are 10 total and I'm starting book 5 right after I finish this review. If you like fantasy, you have to give these a read. They are hard to find, but they deserve to be classics.
March 28, 2023
This whole series is a remarkable achievement: each volume is a story in itself, but also part of a larger story, and the same scene may appear in different books from different points of view. The created world of the books also has impressive complexity and depth, contrary to the impression given by the fairly unappealing sketch maps.
This novel, a Bildungsroman of a picaresque sort, is probably the best of the series. I can see why it might not appeal to everyone: the central character, Drake, is not what we might call admirable, with (when we meet him) all the maturity that we might expect of the 16-year-old boy he is when we first meet him, especially one who has grown up in a society that does little to curb the less pro-social characteristics of such a person. Still, for those who persevere, there is much to divert the reader. The novel proceeds at a lively pace, packed with events running the range from laugh-out-loud humour to shockingly graphic violence. Through it all, Drake eventually reaches maturity, but it takes a long time to get there.
This novel, a Bildungsroman of a picaresque sort, is probably the best of the series. I can see why it might not appeal to everyone: the central character, Drake, is not what we might call admirable, with (when we meet him) all the maturity that we might expect of the 16-year-old boy he is when we first meet him, especially one who has grown up in a society that does little to curb the less pro-social characteristics of such a person. Still, for those who persevere, there is much to divert the reader. The novel proceeds at a lively pace, packed with events running the range from laugh-out-loud humour to shockingly graphic violence. Through it all, Drake eventually reaches maturity, but it takes a long time to get there.
September 22, 2017
I liked it. There were parts that I really, really liked, but there were also parts that I didn't enjoy very much. The opening few chapters are not gripping and the main character does not endear himself to the reader at all. When the story proper gets going it is good, although somewhat rambling. I found myself almost exhausted and could only manage a few chapters at a time. It feels like it was written to be like Monty Python's "Life of Biblo Baggins the Sex Crazed Pirate"!
August 8, 2017
Didn't enjoy this at all. Drake Douay isn't a compelling main character. Many of the other characters are seemingly interesting but are only sketched out as characters and lack depth. There isn't a story so much as a series of wandering events. Setting was interesting but the presentation of it was dull.
June 29, 2018
Zany, unpredictable and at times problematic. In some places, it's a swashbuckling delight. In others, it's an incoherent mess of characters and countries we've never met or visited before.
Pirates, though. Pirates help.
Pirates, though. Pirates help.
December 7, 2021
Another of the intricate and bizarre Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, longer than the earlier ones, and interweaving the perilous life of its protagonist Drake with many of the earlier characters. Possibly over-long, but always quirky and entertaining.
February 17, 2019
Law: the rule of the past over the present, the dead over the living, precedent over pure reason, syntax over sense and of absurd fictions over urgent realities.
November 25, 2021
My absolute favourite of this series!! So fast-paced and funny.
April 4, 2022
One of the best books (and series) I have read in a very long time. The scope and enjoyment of adventure is immense!
January 7, 2024
I love this series. Very interesting world with fascinating insight into how news travels
December 15, 2016
I bought the entire series of ten books many years ago, and have recently extracted them from the attic to read again. This book is the fourth of the series and extends the events from the first book but from the point of view of the character Drake. By having many of the books alluding to the same events and characters from differing viewpoints, the overall story arc is given more depth.
Grimy, funny, rumbustious, rude, and with deeply (and I mean really deeply) flawed characters that you root for despite some terrible acts, Hugh Cook has built a world you want to investigate (even though personally you'd be crazy to go there).
For me, Drake's story is the best thus far. I've nearly finished reading book five (and Drake makes a brief reappearance), but "The Walrus and The Warwolf" remains my favourite.
Grimy, funny, rumbustious, rude, and with deeply (and I mean really deeply) flawed characters that you root for despite some terrible acts, Hugh Cook has built a world you want to investigate (even though personally you'd be crazy to go there).
For me, Drake's story is the best thus far. I've nearly finished reading book five (and Drake makes a brief reappearance), but "The Walrus and The Warwolf" remains my favourite.
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