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Chronicles of an Age of Darkness #6
The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers
Shabble. In appearance, a miniature sun, though coloration tends to be changeable and idiosyncratic. In voice eccentric, speaking at will in any of the accents heard ever on Untunchilamon, even those unplaceable foreign accents otherwise voiced only by the conjuror Odolo. In behaviour feckless, for Shabble has scant regard for consequences. That is Shabble.
While Shabble is still hanging there in the air, a massive energy drain affects all of Injiltaprajura. Lights darken. Fires go out. Candles die. Then, to Shabble’s horror, Shabble feels Something trying to seize Shabble’s own energy. Shabble squeals in fright and flees down the nearest drainpipe. The drainpipe (naturally) leads Downstairs. Downstairs! There is horror down there, and Shabble fears it greatly. Yet the alternative is death.
What has caused this massive energy drain? It is left to Chegory Guy, an Ebrell Islander, to find out. This is unfortunate as his chief skills are as a knifefighter and a rock-gardener. And yet it is he who finally holds the future of the entire, equatorial island of Untunchilamon in his hands.
While Shabble is still hanging there in the air, a massive energy drain affects all of Injiltaprajura. Lights darken. Fires go out. Candles die. Then, to Shabble’s horror, Shabble feels Something trying to seize Shabble’s own energy. Shabble squeals in fright and flees down the nearest drainpipe. The drainpipe (naturally) leads Downstairs. Downstairs! There is horror down there, and Shabble fears it greatly. Yet the alternative is death.
What has caused this massive energy drain? It is left to Chegory Guy, an Ebrell Islander, to find out. This is unfortunate as his chief skills are as a knifefighter and a rock-gardener. And yet it is he who finally holds the future of the entire, equatorial island of Untunchilamon in his hands.
448 pages, Paperback
First published May 25, 1990
2 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Cook
44 books67 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 19, 2012
A massive energy drain disrupts the magic of Injiltaprajra and it's up to Chegory Guy to divine what happened. Too bad he's just a rock gardener at Injiltaprajra's insane asylum. But does the disruption have anything to do with the the Wishstone?
The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers is a slight departure from the first five books in the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness. Rather than concerning the fall of Argan from different angles like the first five, this one is the story of Chegory Guy and a demon forcing itself into the world. Rather than being a straightforward tale, this one is purported to be told through a manuscript written by one of the asylum's inmates. It took me a little while to warm up to the style but I was hooked by one of the hilarious interjections by one of the supposed editors of the manuscript. Jeff Vandermeer employed a similar technique in Shriek but I enjoyed it a lot more here.
While my summary above makes The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers sound like a fantasy version of Die Hard, it isn't. Interesting narration aside, it's more the story of a protagonist that isn't a hero. Chegory is an Ebrell Islander, a red-skinned persecuted minority. One of his friends is The Shabble, a miniature sun. Chegory blunders his way through the story, interacting with such personages as a corpse seller, Guest Gulkan and his Wishstone-stealing crew, and, of course, The Hermit Crab, a godlike being resembling a giant crab that Chegory is charged with feeding a bucket of fish guts once a day. Gulkan makes cameo appearances in all the Chronicles leading up until the final book where, I presume, he finally takes center stage.
As always with Hugh Cook, there is a fair amount of hilarity. Without giving too much away, every one of the cultural taboos Chegory was raised with are challenged in amusing ways. That's about all I can say without giving away too much of the plot.
If you're looking for a hero, look someplace else. If you're looking for an ordinary person going up against extraordinary things, The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers, as well as the other books in the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, are for you.
The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers is a slight departure from the first five books in the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness. Rather than concerning the fall of Argan from different angles like the first five, this one is the story of Chegory Guy and a demon forcing itself into the world. Rather than being a straightforward tale, this one is purported to be told through a manuscript written by one of the asylum's inmates. It took me a little while to warm up to the style but I was hooked by one of the hilarious interjections by one of the supposed editors of the manuscript. Jeff Vandermeer employed a similar technique in Shriek but I enjoyed it a lot more here.
While my summary above makes The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers sound like a fantasy version of Die Hard, it isn't. Interesting narration aside, it's more the story of a protagonist that isn't a hero. Chegory is an Ebrell Islander, a red-skinned persecuted minority. One of his friends is The Shabble, a miniature sun. Chegory blunders his way through the story, interacting with such personages as a corpse seller, Guest Gulkan and his Wishstone-stealing crew, and, of course, The Hermit Crab, a godlike being resembling a giant crab that Chegory is charged with feeding a bucket of fish guts once a day. Gulkan makes cameo appearances in all the Chronicles leading up until the final book where, I presume, he finally takes center stage.
As always with Hugh Cook, there is a fair amount of hilarity. Without giving too much away, every one of the cultural taboos Chegory was raised with are challenged in amusing ways. That's about all I can say without giving away too much of the plot.
If you're looking for a hero, look someplace else. If you're looking for an ordinary person going up against extraordinary things, The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers, as well as the other books in the Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, are for you.
September 2, 2021
Not my all time favorite Hugh Cook novel, but another great entry in what is a fantastic and criminally underrated fantasy series. Seriously, I love this series so much and it does not get the love it deserves. Hugh Cook's world is so original, outlandish, dark, hilarious, serious, hopeful, and creative all at the same time. It pretty much defies most expected fantasy tropes, which is no small feat. I honestly have trouble finding any fantasy series that is even remotely similar to this one. Every book in this series is like a breath of fresh air, mostly because Cook introduces us to a new protagonist every time, though we do still run into other characters from the other novels, and sometimes the books overlap with the history and events of previous books. Overall this is just a wonderful series and I will be saddened when I finally finish it and there are no more entries to read.
September 10, 2024
We are back, this time to a far-distant and quite different part of the World of the Age of Darkness; the semi-tropical island of Untulchilamon in a sweltering southern sea far from Argan, and back with another somewhat callow mildly irritating young male protagonist who will be bounced between the various plot elements like a ping-pong ball till near the end of the book.
This might be the first Cook-Book set entirely within a single location, so let’s talk about Untilchilamon, and upon it, the bloodstone city of Injiltaprajura.
**The Lore and the Location**
Untulchilamon, a sweaty island in a southern sea, and more; beset with stilling winds for fair chunks of the year, this in an age of sail, yet bountiful and home to the bloodstone city of Intiltaprajura. Why? Because its built on the ancient ruins of some possibly-interdimensional acrology/prison/space ship which goes down maybe-infinite levels into who-knows-where and which also has several still-functioning infinite-production machines, specifically - the magical machines from below produce enough water to fill the thirst of Injiltaprajura and to keep that part of Untulchilamon fertile. They also produce ice, and some very random post-singularity industrial products which sometimes spurt up out from underneath and totally poison local fishing, but which are also rare and valuable. Thus lies the wealth, and life, of Untulchilamon - built unwittingly on an ancient magical prison or unnatural nature and to which it seems every basement and stairway in Untulchilamon is somehow connected. The city has an 'Underdark', or perhaps a Mega-Dungeon, which comes in very handy for Hugh Cook as he needs to rapidly apparate and semi-randomly transport his dazed protagonist between various situations.
What are its cultural ancedents? If Argan was roughly America-sizes and arranged, (cold on top, hot below), Untulchilamon is equatorial, maybe a bit Indian, a bit South-East Asian, maybe a bit Madagascarian? It could be Bali. It is a small place quite close to one large big place; the continent of Yestron, so that, whatever happens in Yestron ends up, ultimately, but not immediately, affecting Untulchilamon.
**The Chaos and the Catastophe**
A great teetering unstable pyramid of complex conflicts weighs down upon our protagonist, the ever-callow Chegory Guy. Since we are not him, I will describe them from the top down, from the highest level of organistion to the lowest.
>The Politics
Injiltaprajura _was_ under the control of Wazir Sin, a man bent on Pogrom and murder, especially of red-skinned Ebrell Islanders, who he nearly wiped out. Sin was deposed by a Judonic Knight, who stopped the genocides, and introduced a (more) liberal regime, who then either died or was sent to the asylum for epilepsy and/or syphilis, and succeeded by his daughter; the sleazy but likeable now-Empress Justina. Justina is opposed by Aquitaine Varazchvardan, the albino Lawgiver who served under Sin and quite liked the pogroms.
Wazir Sin was an appointment of the previous Emperor of Yeston, now in a state of Dynastic war. A winner is beginning to emerge; Aldarch III, the Decapitator and _if_ he wins and takes over Yestron, he will quickly be coming to Untulchilamon to take it back, and presumably kill its current ruler, and probably/maybe to restart the pogroms.
> The Thieves
Two spereate, sets of thieves and adventurers seek the 'wishstone', sacred jewel of Office of the now-Empress Justina. Ahe apparently succesful theft of the wishstone triggers absolute multilayered chaos in In jiltraprajura as the original theives are chased by the adventurers, and the forces of Justina, and the evil Varazchvardan, and anyone else. Arrest all the usual suspects (Ebrell Islanders).
> The Demon
While all of this is going on, a mysterious supernatural force is effecting Injiltaprajura, melting the boundary between dreams and reality, making nightmares real and generally being strange - a Demon is coming through into our world! This seems to have literally nothing to do with any of the other plot threads, its just happening!
> The Golden Gulag
As a chaser for all this, Injiltaprajura is actually built on a crazy piece of post-singularity science-fantasy wreckage, some ruined arcology, or mysterious inter-dimensional prison realm from before the Days of Wrath, maybe 10 or 20 thousand years ago, who knows, and many of the strange people and creatures roaming around Injiltaprajura are wild entities, or curiously immortal people, from just this ancient time, although no-one currently alive really knows or fully understands this about them.
> The Crab
There is also a magical and perhaps (arguably) semi-divine giant Hermit Crab
who's origins are almost completely unrelated to everyone and everything else. He just happens to be there.
> Chegory Guy
Into this is tipped our protagonist, Chegory Guy, a regrettably racially-inferior (on Untulchilamon at least), red-skinned Ebrell-Islander, a classic Cookist callow boy-man on the edge of adulthood, who is tangled up with the chase after the Wishstone, and the mystery of the emerging Demon
A lot of people run around being very decadent and sweaty, not really knowing what's going on and failing to communicate with each other, until the matter of the Demon, at least, is settled, though that of the Wishstone, and the meta-politcs of Jutinas reign, are still up in the air by the end of the book. But there is another book right after, set on Untulchilamon, a direct sequel to this one
**The Annoyances and the Aggravations**
The elements of this which I did not really love; yet another frustrating teenage boy protagonist who notices less than the reader. This is our fourth out of six books. Bring back Miphon, Blackwood and Yenn Olass! Not only that but Chegory Guy is powerless, passive and tongue-tied (at first at least). There are a few too many moments when someone speaking clearly would end the plot, or at least shorten it.
Furthermore the book is made of two plots that so far have nothing to do with each other but just happen to interact. Which... fine. Ok. A Cook-Book is always anarchic in plotting but there is usually a through line and some kind of tie-up by the end.
There is also a lot of ping-pong with the characters and plotlines, plenty of people rushing around and not really getting things done.
Cook is happy at least, and is absolutely WALLOWING in euphony, neologisms, invention and the sheer ridiculous music of prose. At times his coagulations of sound and meaning form a near textual Jazz made purely out of sound and symbols which flows alongside the text;
"an underground warehouse for Firfat Labrat's warehouse of drugs in Marthandorthan"
...............
"The man in question was actually Pelagius Zozimus, a wizard of the order of Xluzu and the quest-companion of Guest Gulkan (pretender to the throne of Tameran), Hosaja Sken-Pitilkin (a fellow wizard) and Thayer Levant (a cut-throat from Chi'ash-lan)."
...................
"Have you in your voluntary or involutary posession any knife, bodin, knitting needle, dragon hook, sword, spear, bow, catapult, arbalest, fighting stick, battering ram, snake, scorpion, basilisk, vial of vitriol or other weapon of death or terror or violence?
Whereupon Zosimus answered in the negative, was subjected to swift but expert search, then was allowed to step closer (but not too close!) to the Empress. The Imperial Linguist stepped forward with him. Both elven lord and linguist bowed.
'Toxteth', said the linguist, then bowed again and withdrew."
There are more Cook-Book staples, like the extensive sex-dreams of teenage boys, characters entering states of mystic logarithmya which seem oddly like Cooks internal state, the sheer joy in trying to find out just how long he can make regularly used words, which is finally reached in; "Zazazolzodanzarzakazolabrik, also known as the Scraglands, the Wastes, the Scorpion Desert - or Zolabrik for short.'
Add to Cooks customary exercises, a new manic meta-epistolification. First, this is the first story set in the Age of Darkness that actually has an in-world writer, and not just the ever-faithful variable third person. All, (nearly all) of this is ostensibly being written by an individual who was present, close to the action, perhaps a resident of the Domjaradron (loony bin).
Second, this text is being edited and cut down by the Redactors of Odrom, a tiresome and unimaginative group who note when they disagree with the factual basis of events and even argue with each other in the comments, and who apparently have cut out quite a gigantic amount of discursive rambling by the Originator.
Thirdly, Injiltaprajura being a deeply cosmopolitan place there are many and varies tongues spoken there. This being a Cook book, everything is given in english and we only find out what the actual language is when the writer, the originator, starts commenting on the translation of various words and phrases
and what they might mean.
This is common enough for a Cook Book BUT - since all the characters are also multilingual, we can be in a situation where the *characters* are arguing *about* language, in various languages, and the Originator is also commenting on what they are arguing about, and the Redactors of Odrom are ALSO commenting on this with each other, and perhaps arguing, so we can have an active three-level meta-argument going on.
Fourth and last - there is STILL the omniscient thirdperson as, before the book even starts an un-named and unknown entity, who sounds a lot like Hugh Cook, gives us an introduction, and a description of the origins of the magical hermit crab who nearly forms a deus-ex-carcinoma in Wishstone.
...........
There is more. I will read the direct sequel before I comment.
THREE STARS for a Cook-Book.
But add one star for the spherical Shabble, who is literally a star.
This might be the first Cook-Book set entirely within a single location, so let’s talk about Untilchilamon, and upon it, the bloodstone city of Injiltaprajura.
**The Lore and the Location**
Untulchilamon, a sweaty island in a southern sea, and more; beset with stilling winds for fair chunks of the year, this in an age of sail, yet bountiful and home to the bloodstone city of Intiltaprajura. Why? Because its built on the ancient ruins of some possibly-interdimensional acrology/prison/space ship which goes down maybe-infinite levels into who-knows-where and which also has several still-functioning infinite-production machines, specifically - the magical machines from below produce enough water to fill the thirst of Injiltaprajura and to keep that part of Untulchilamon fertile. They also produce ice, and some very random post-singularity industrial products which sometimes spurt up out from underneath and totally poison local fishing, but which are also rare and valuable. Thus lies the wealth, and life, of Untulchilamon - built unwittingly on an ancient magical prison or unnatural nature and to which it seems every basement and stairway in Untulchilamon is somehow connected. The city has an 'Underdark', or perhaps a Mega-Dungeon, which comes in very handy for Hugh Cook as he needs to rapidly apparate and semi-randomly transport his dazed protagonist between various situations.
What are its cultural ancedents? If Argan was roughly America-sizes and arranged, (cold on top, hot below), Untulchilamon is equatorial, maybe a bit Indian, a bit South-East Asian, maybe a bit Madagascarian? It could be Bali. It is a small place quite close to one large big place; the continent of Yestron, so that, whatever happens in Yestron ends up, ultimately, but not immediately, affecting Untulchilamon.
**The Chaos and the Catastophe**
A great teetering unstable pyramid of complex conflicts weighs down upon our protagonist, the ever-callow Chegory Guy. Since we are not him, I will describe them from the top down, from the highest level of organistion to the lowest.
>The Politics
Injiltaprajura _was_ under the control of Wazir Sin, a man bent on Pogrom and murder, especially of red-skinned Ebrell Islanders, who he nearly wiped out. Sin was deposed by a Judonic Knight, who stopped the genocides, and introduced a (more) liberal regime, who then either died or was sent to the asylum for epilepsy and/or syphilis, and succeeded by his daughter; the sleazy but likeable now-Empress Justina. Justina is opposed by Aquitaine Varazchvardan, the albino Lawgiver who served under Sin and quite liked the pogroms.
Wazir Sin was an appointment of the previous Emperor of Yeston, now in a state of Dynastic war. A winner is beginning to emerge; Aldarch III, the Decapitator and _if_ he wins and takes over Yestron, he will quickly be coming to Untulchilamon to take it back, and presumably kill its current ruler, and probably/maybe to restart the pogroms.
> The Thieves
Two spereate, sets of thieves and adventurers seek the 'wishstone', sacred jewel of Office of the now-Empress Justina. Ahe apparently succesful theft of the wishstone triggers absolute multilayered chaos in In jiltraprajura as the original theives are chased by the adventurers, and the forces of Justina, and the evil Varazchvardan, and anyone else. Arrest all the usual suspects (Ebrell Islanders).
> The Demon
While all of this is going on, a mysterious supernatural force is effecting Injiltaprajura, melting the boundary between dreams and reality, making nightmares real and generally being strange - a Demon is coming through into our world! This seems to have literally nothing to do with any of the other plot threads, its just happening!
> The Golden Gulag
As a chaser for all this, Injiltaprajura is actually built on a crazy piece of post-singularity science-fantasy wreckage, some ruined arcology, or mysterious inter-dimensional prison realm from before the Days of Wrath, maybe 10 or 20 thousand years ago, who knows, and many of the strange people and creatures roaming around Injiltaprajura are wild entities, or curiously immortal people, from just this ancient time, although no-one currently alive really knows or fully understands this about them.
> The Crab
There is also a magical and perhaps (arguably) semi-divine giant Hermit Crab
who's origins are almost completely unrelated to everyone and everything else. He just happens to be there.
> Chegory Guy
Into this is tipped our protagonist, Chegory Guy, a regrettably racially-inferior (on Untulchilamon at least), red-skinned Ebrell-Islander, a classic Cookist callow boy-man on the edge of adulthood, who is tangled up with the chase after the Wishstone, and the mystery of the emerging Demon
A lot of people run around being very decadent and sweaty, not really knowing what's going on and failing to communicate with each other, until the matter of the Demon, at least, is settled, though that of the Wishstone, and the meta-politcs of Jutinas reign, are still up in the air by the end of the book. But there is another book right after, set on Untulchilamon, a direct sequel to this one
**The Annoyances and the Aggravations**
The elements of this which I did not really love; yet another frustrating teenage boy protagonist who notices less than the reader. This is our fourth out of six books. Bring back Miphon, Blackwood and Yenn Olass! Not only that but Chegory Guy is powerless, passive and tongue-tied (at first at least). There are a few too many moments when someone speaking clearly would end the plot, or at least shorten it.
Furthermore the book is made of two plots that so far have nothing to do with each other but just happen to interact. Which... fine. Ok. A Cook-Book is always anarchic in plotting but there is usually a through line and some kind of tie-up by the end.
There is also a lot of ping-pong with the characters and plotlines, plenty of people rushing around and not really getting things done.
Cook is happy at least, and is absolutely WALLOWING in euphony, neologisms, invention and the sheer ridiculous music of prose. At times his coagulations of sound and meaning form a near textual Jazz made purely out of sound and symbols which flows alongside the text;
"an underground warehouse for Firfat Labrat's warehouse of drugs in Marthandorthan"
...............
"The man in question was actually Pelagius Zozimus, a wizard of the order of Xluzu and the quest-companion of Guest Gulkan (pretender to the throne of Tameran), Hosaja Sken-Pitilkin (a fellow wizard) and Thayer Levant (a cut-throat from Chi'ash-lan)."
...................
"Have you in your voluntary or involutary posession any knife, bodin, knitting needle, dragon hook, sword, spear, bow, catapult, arbalest, fighting stick, battering ram, snake, scorpion, basilisk, vial of vitriol or other weapon of death or terror or violence?
Whereupon Zosimus answered in the negative, was subjected to swift but expert search, then was allowed to step closer (but not too close!) to the Empress. The Imperial Linguist stepped forward with him. Both elven lord and linguist bowed.
'Toxteth', said the linguist, then bowed again and withdrew."
There are more Cook-Book staples, like the extensive sex-dreams of teenage boys, characters entering states of mystic logarithmya which seem oddly like Cooks internal state, the sheer joy in trying to find out just how long he can make regularly used words, which is finally reached in; "Zazazolzodanzarzakazolabrik, also known as the Scraglands, the Wastes, the Scorpion Desert - or Zolabrik for short.'
Add to Cooks customary exercises, a new manic meta-epistolification. First, this is the first story set in the Age of Darkness that actually has an in-world writer, and not just the ever-faithful variable third person. All, (nearly all) of this is ostensibly being written by an individual who was present, close to the action, perhaps a resident of the Domjaradron (loony bin).
Second, this text is being edited and cut down by the Redactors of Odrom, a tiresome and unimaginative group who note when they disagree with the factual basis of events and even argue with each other in the comments, and who apparently have cut out quite a gigantic amount of discursive rambling by the Originator.
Thirdly, Injiltaprajura being a deeply cosmopolitan place there are many and varies tongues spoken there. This being a Cook book, everything is given in english and we only find out what the actual language is when the writer, the originator, starts commenting on the translation of various words and phrases
and what they might mean.
This is common enough for a Cook Book BUT - since all the characters are also multilingual, we can be in a situation where the *characters* are arguing *about* language, in various languages, and the Originator is also commenting on what they are arguing about, and the Redactors of Odrom are ALSO commenting on this with each other, and perhaps arguing, so we can have an active three-level meta-argument going on.
Fourth and last - there is STILL the omniscient thirdperson as, before the book even starts an un-named and unknown entity, who sounds a lot like Hugh Cook, gives us an introduction, and a description of the origins of the magical hermit crab who nearly forms a deus-ex-carcinoma in Wishstone.
...........
There is more. I will read the direct sequel before I comment.
THREE STARS for a Cook-Book.
But add one star for the spherical Shabble, who is literally a star.
October 3, 2018
I am revisiting this series from when I was a kid, so I'm not sure if my opinion is influenced by the fact this is the first of the series I hadn't actually read (I only made it to the last one), but I absolutely loved this book. I found myself sneaking a few pages in here and there when I could because I was totally hooked.
Off the back of the lackluster Wicked and the Witless, this fresh new tale features an entirely new set of characters and is the first not to be set on the continent of Argan. It still contains the moral ruminations and sly jokes of previous novels, but it is also far more concise and has far fewer meandering passages and pointless subplots which is one of the few things that annoys me about Cook. Its location, settings and characters are interesting and developed efficiently, the story itself is fairly straightforward and doesn't tangle itself up unnecessarily.
The book is a purported history written by a madman, a resident of the island's asylum of which the novel is centered. It is also heavily redacted and notated by obviously hostile editors, a stylistic twist which I haven't encountered before but really enjoyed; the prejudices of both sides adding humour to the proceedings.
A fairly straightforward tale of an outcast who becomes a reluctant hero, driven by aspirationally pure motives of which he constantly questions. This sits nicely against the prejudices of the narrator and the good natured pisstaking of liberal, progressive values. Cook is one funny mofo; his Pythonesque / Douglas Adams style of humour is right up my alley so I always enjoy his comic ramblings and asides. This book is a hoot, especially when Shabble is around. I also loved its subtlety in interweaving patches of history into the present, such as the days of wrath (I now wish he'd got to write that series). The legend of the Golden Gulag especially injects a menacing undertone I hope is further developed in the next 4 books, as I do the sci-fi elements which take it in more interesting directions than the simpler heroes and dragons of previous books.
Overall this book is wonderful; I immediately got stuck into the Wazir and the Witch upon finishing it.
Off the back of the lackluster Wicked and the Witless, this fresh new tale features an entirely new set of characters and is the first not to be set on the continent of Argan. It still contains the moral ruminations and sly jokes of previous novels, but it is also far more concise and has far fewer meandering passages and pointless subplots which is one of the few things that annoys me about Cook. Its location, settings and characters are interesting and developed efficiently, the story itself is fairly straightforward and doesn't tangle itself up unnecessarily.
The book is a purported history written by a madman, a resident of the island's asylum of which the novel is centered. It is also heavily redacted and notated by obviously hostile editors, a stylistic twist which I haven't encountered before but really enjoyed; the prejudices of both sides adding humour to the proceedings.
A fairly straightforward tale of an outcast who becomes a reluctant hero, driven by aspirationally pure motives of which he constantly questions. This sits nicely against the prejudices of the narrator and the good natured pisstaking of liberal, progressive values. Cook is one funny mofo; his Pythonesque / Douglas Adams style of humour is right up my alley so I always enjoy his comic ramblings and asides. This book is a hoot, especially when Shabble is around. I also loved its subtlety in interweaving patches of history into the present, such as the days of wrath (I now wish he'd got to write that series). The legend of the Golden Gulag especially injects a menacing undertone I hope is further developed in the next 4 books, as I do the sci-fi elements which take it in more interesting directions than the simpler heroes and dragons of previous books.
Overall this book is wonderful; I immediately got stuck into the Wazir and the Witch upon finishing it.
August 27, 2018
Revisiting this series, proudly displayed on my bookshelf.
I’m not judgey (I am massively judgey) but those who see the series and know it have always turned out to be decent, most excellent people.
This book in the series held up for me as the writing is excellent. Almost all the books are written in a different way, this one uses an unreliable narrator whose text has been further annotated by a clerical caste of pedants, fact checkers, redactors et al. This isn’t overused and the effect is a good one.
As for the story, it’s a simple tale of love between an outcast and a do-gooders daughter; it’s a tale of stolen Crown Jewels and the farce accompanying their retrieval, it’s a commentary on race; it’s a analysis of a political coup between an usurper’s daughter and a civil servant loyal to the old regime; it’s about demonic possession and an immortal delinquent called Shabble; it’s about a Hermit Crab that can turn people inside out.
The writing is such that you jump along for the ride, it all fits together! (With the only criticism being that perhaps Chegory meeting Odolo is a bit contrived).
Well worth it for any fantasy sci-fi fan.
If only it had turned into the 30/40 book epic Cook had planned - this book like others leaves so many questions unanswered (but not at the detriment of the story).
I’m not judgey (I am massively judgey) but those who see the series and know it have always turned out to be decent, most excellent people.
This book in the series held up for me as the writing is excellent. Almost all the books are written in a different way, this one uses an unreliable narrator whose text has been further annotated by a clerical caste of pedants, fact checkers, redactors et al. This isn’t overused and the effect is a good one.
As for the story, it’s a simple tale of love between an outcast and a do-gooders daughter; it’s a tale of stolen Crown Jewels and the farce accompanying their retrieval, it’s a commentary on race; it’s a analysis of a political coup between an usurper’s daughter and a civil servant loyal to the old regime; it’s about demonic possession and an immortal delinquent called Shabble; it’s about a Hermit Crab that can turn people inside out.
The writing is such that you jump along for the ride, it all fits together! (With the only criticism being that perhaps Chegory meeting Odolo is a bit contrived).
Well worth it for any fantasy sci-fi fan.
If only it had turned into the 30/40 book epic Cook had planned - this book like others leaves so many questions unanswered (but not at the detriment of the story).
June 6, 2022
Allegedly written by the inmate of a lunatic asylum, on an island where most of the insanity takes place outside, this features krakens, demons, a Hermit Crab with magic powers, and a host of characters with conflicting desires and foibles. Inmany ways, this resembles a Shakespeare play where there are many alarums and excusions, but things return to peace and what passes for normality at the end.
September 24, 2017
A very different style to the previous 5 volumes. Rather hardwork to get into it, but worth the effort.
September 9, 2025
Chegory Guy, a member of the despised Ebrell Island race, is thrust into a series of disastrous events that upset the island nation he lives on. This is the first of the series not set on the island of Argan, so many of the familiar references for this series are not present, and Cook spends a lot of time telling us about its history, but also revealing much about the weird history of this planet. The plot, and there isn't much of one - there's plenty of action but not much plot - revolves around a demon manifesting on the island and the stolen Wishstone, which is in fact a highly advanced piece of technology.
Increasingly in this series, the main character has very little effect on the story or events. They are simply swept up in them. Everything that happened would have happened whether Chegory Guy was involved or not, which can be kind of frustrating and a little boring. This book has tons of great concepts and ideas piled into it, but there are so many that it can become overwhelming. Adding to that the huge number of characters, the authors use of ridiculously long names, and his insistence on telling us, then retelling us, who was in a specific spot every time, and we have a book which is kind of pointless. It is only good in setting up the next volume which is a superior piece of work.
Increasingly in this series, the main character has very little effect on the story or events. They are simply swept up in them. Everything that happened would have happened whether Chegory Guy was involved or not, which can be kind of frustrating and a little boring. This book has tons of great concepts and ideas piled into it, but there are so many that it can become overwhelming. Adding to that the huge number of characters, the authors use of ridiculously long names, and his insistence on telling us, then retelling us, who was in a specific spot every time, and we have a book which is kind of pointless. It is only good in setting up the next volume which is a superior piece of work.
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
December 2, 2013
Cook is back in form with The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers.
As a history buff I'm thrilled by the return in force of the commentary.
We are treated to a future historian discussing a historical document discussing current events.
So we are getting three perspectives. that of the protagonists themselves, that of the original historian and that of the future editors of the historical text.
And the wonderful thing is that none of them are perfect. They each suffer from their own biases and flaws.
As a history buff I'm thrilled by the return in force of the commentary.
We are treated to a future historian discussing a historical document discussing current events.
So we are getting three perspectives. that of the protagonists themselves, that of the original historian and that of the future editors of the historical text.
And the wonderful thing is that none of them are perfect. They each suffer from their own biases and flaws.
Read
January 17, 2016Chronicles of an Age of Darkness
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