Surrender to the Will of the Night

Instrumentalities of the Night #3

by Glen Cook

Piper Hecht’s secrets make him dangerous, but his skill and his reputation put him in danger—from his enemies, who fear what he might do, or who want revenge for what he has already done; and from his friends, who want to use his military gifts for their own purposes. His sister Heris and his living ancestor Cloven Februaren, the Ninth Unknown, have made Hecht part of their fight against the return of the dark god Kharoulke the Windwalker. At the same time, the half-mad Empress Katrin wants him to lead the armies of the Grail Empire eastward on a crusade against his old coreligionists the Praman.

Meanwhile, all around them, the world is changing. The winters are growing longer and harder every year, and the seas are getting shallower. The far north and the high mountain ranges are going under the ice, and fast. The Wells of Power, everywhere, keep getting weaker. And the old evils, the Instrumentalities from the Time Before Time, have begun to ooze back into the world. As ever, the genius of Glen Cook’s storytelling lies in his common touch: in soldiers who are like real soldiers, in men and women who love and laugh and sweat, with real hopes and real fears, united only in their determination to face the oncoming night.

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

493 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

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

Reviews

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

☠ A Seasoned and Nearly Seasoned Glen Cook Mercenaries Buddy Read (SAaNSSGCMBR™) with The Real Evgeny™, Elena the Nearly Seasoned One and My Dearest Wife Choko of the Review Not Yet Written ☠

Actual rating: 3.4599758962 stars.

Disclaimer: I never wrote the following crappy non-review. It is simply impossible that I did. Because less than 4-star-worthy Glen Cook books like The Silver Pike do not exist. Ergo, I never read this one. And never rated it 3.4599758962 stars, obviously. And if I didn’t read it and didn’t rate it 3.4599758962 stars, I can’t have written a review for it, right? Right. So glad we agree and stuff.

My Inner, Slightly Biased, Moderately Hysterical Glen Cook Fangirl (ISBMHGCF™) is really mad at me right now. She expected me to put my two little grey cells together, give my pathetic rating for this book some shrimpy thought, come to my senses, and end up going for a much more appropriate 20.5-star rating, you see. And I do see her point, to be disgustingly honest. I mean, anything written by Glen Cook (cereal box blurbs included) is worth at least a 10-star rating compared to 99.9999999% of the crap I read. Aaaaaannnnd, I have to admit I nearly (and very cunningly) increased my rating by 0.3, just so I could round things up to 4 pathetic-but-still-more-honorable-than-3 stars. But strong I remained and rein in my ISBMHGCF™ I heroically did. Go me and stuff.

Not being full of crap as usual changing my rating was a painful but necessary (and a teensy little bit excruciating) measure. A certain someone needed to be severely reprimanded for his aggravatingly annoying and uninterestingly boring slightly uncharacteristic behaviour in this book, you see. YES, I AM LOOKING AT YOU, ELSE BLOODY SHRIMPING TAGE!!!!!!



In case you were wondering: no, this is not my nefarious-yet-happy face.

Note to self: breathe, Sarah, Breathe. Because your boyfriend acted like a foolish, boring ass for 500 pages doesn’t mean he won’t act like a foolish, boring ass redeem himself in the final instalment of this series. Hope springs eternal and stuff .

So. My Super Sexey Sextuple⁸ Quadruple⁶ Agent of a Hot Boyfriend (SSSQAoaHB™) Else Tage apparently woke up at the beginning of this book and decided this was the perfect time to go through some sort of STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS. You know, the type of STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS that has some men doing STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS THINGS and turning into self-absorbed, whining, immature, brooding nitwits? If this wasn’t bad enough, he also has the gall to be duller, lifeless, more soporific than a herd of apathetic, lackluster barnacles in this instalment! The bloody fishing nerve! Can you believe that guy?! I’m afraid I cannot let this go unpunished. I 💕lurves💕 thee a little lot, SSSQAoaHB™ mine, but some things are just not done! Besides, if I let you get away with this, it will set a most disastrous example for your High Security Harem roommates. Ergo, off the Harem Basement of Pleasure Doom you go, Else Tage. Prepare to be appropriately and thoroughly, um, tortured and stuff.



Excuse me? You have something to say about my, um, torture methods? Ha! Didn’t think so.

You know who saved this book from Else’s STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS? My new girlfriend Heris, the resident, middle-aged Wonder Woman. Heris is slightly scrumptious. Heris can save the world all by her little self. Heris likes cracking some heads. Heris is ha-ha-ha-ha. And Heris kicks some most delicious derriere. So, very logically, Heris is MINE MINE MINE. Ergo, Poof Gone Harem (PGH™) and stuff. She’ll be sharing Lady’s cell apartment, by the way. I’m pretty sure these two will be get along grandly and become BFFs in less time that it took Lady to decorate her living room with severed heads on pikes.

Also to be credited for saving the book (and therefore to be added to the kidnapping adoption list): Double Great, aka the “genius with all the acquired personal skills of a spoiled fourteen-year-old” (and award-winning butt-pincher extraordinaire), and a yummy demigod with the ability to spoiler spoiler spoiler, who I predict will be as perfect for my Heris as my Croakie is for my Lady.

Also, also to be credited for saving the book: whales and kraken and mermaids and giant jumping crabs, oh my! My murderous kids’ subaquatic cousins are in da house! And let’s not forget cranky mystical people and toads and fart spy children (don’t ask) and stuff!



➽ And the moral of this Else Tage You Better Think Twice Before Doing the Stupidly Stupid Thing I Think You Might End Up Stupidly Stupidly Doing in the Next Instalment But Hey No Pressure You Potentially Deadly Dead Babe Crappy Non Review (ETYBTTBDtSSTITYMEUSSDitNIBHNPYPDDBCNR™) is: had I actually read this book, I would have told you that nearly half of it is totally unnecessary filler stuff. And that it sorta reminded me of Water Sleeps (And So Do I). And that it kinda sorta ends mid-sentence, which is just not done. But I didn’t, so I won’t. Ha.

• Book 1: The Tyranny of the Night ★★★★★
• Book 2: Lord of the Silent Kingdom ★★★★★
• Book 4: Working God's Mischief ★★★★



[Pre-review nonsense]

I just rated a Glen Cook is a God (GCiaG™) book less than 4 stars.

I JUST RATED A GLEN COOK IS A GOD (GCIAG™) BOOK LESS THAN 4 STARS.

Shame is bloody shrimping me and stuff.



In my defense, this is kind of a Filler-Type Instalment Thingie (FTIT™) ← I never wrote that and you never read it. In which my boyfriend Else Tage goes through some sort of Stupid Is as Stupid Does Mid-Life Crisis (SIaSDMLC™) ← I never wrote that and you never read it. Thank fish my new girlfriend Heris was there to save the day/book/whatever. Our Lord Shrimp knows how I would have rated this book, had her ass-kicking little self and big mouth not been around.

➽ Full If All Goes Well I'll Read Some Really Crappy Stuff Before I Write My Review for this Book Which Will Make Me Realize How Glorious this Book Really and Prompt Me to Change My Pathetic Rating to 10+ Stars As Is Appropriate for All Glen Cook Books Ooops I'm Reading Dreams of Steel Next I Hate My Life and Stuff Crappy Non Review (IAGWIRSRCSBIWMRftBWWMMRHGtBRiaPMtCMPRt10+SAIAfAGCBOIRDoSNIHMLaSCNR™) to come.

[Pavlo Tverdokhlib · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 3rd installment of his pseudo-medieval history fiction, Glen Cook delivers non-stop awesome.

As Piper Hecht, the mameluke-turned Papal mercenary commander finds himself being courted by the Holy Roman Empress to leave the papal service, his-apparently-real-family of powerful cardinals/sorcerors is busy trying to preserve the known world from the awakening of some of the hoariest, nastiest ancient Gods. How? by trying to find a way to free the Norse pantheon from a pocket dimension where they werelocked away by their Viking chosen Ascendant, some 200 years ago.

Now, as always, I must mention that Cook does not use any real historical terms- there's an entire language of substituted terms to figure out. But as I'm not interested in writing them all out, and the parallels are pretty clear, I'll just stick with the real-world places that they're clearly representing.

This is just an awesome book; a total page-turner, because Cook really gets the pacing right; The plot jumps between several PoVs in different parts of the world, and in this volume a lot of the focus shifts off Piper Hecht, and some of the supporting characters introduced in volume 2 take the spotlight. Piper is still brilliant when he is in charge- implementing gunpowder and regular armies in the late medieval period and changing the nature of war, while simultaneously killing gods and juggling insane empresses and demanding popes--but when some of the other characters take center stage, they do a lot of cool stuff and successfully keep the reader's attention as well.

It must be said that the book kind of ends on a cliffhanger; not a huge one, but there are clearly important developments about to happen; and although usually that would frustrae me to no end, here I accepted it, largely because the story I've already gotten was so good.

Anyone who enjoyed the previous 2 books will love it. Anyone else... there's honestly enough awesome here to jump in even for series newcomers.

[Charty · Rating 3 out of 5]

So long after reading the last book, I had a hard time getting back into the story and I would KILL for some maps and an index/glossary of names to keep all the characters and their various titles/personas, etc. straight. And while pigs are flying, a short recap of what's gone before at the beginning would be nice...still, I managed to get back into the story and finished wanting the next installment NOW.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still a good story although the world events are continuing to diverge from the "alternate 12th Century history" of the first book. In addition to plot-related changes, magic and supernatural beings (including old gods - or demons, depending on the character's religious convictions) are more common and aggressive, the world is growing colder (a new ice age), causing migrations of animals, peoples, and creatures of the Night, and at the same time, the use of gunpowder weapons is increasing dramatically. I'm also feeling that Cook is now introducing elements from other historical periods (other then the alternate middle ages that the series started with) as I'm getting a Queen Mary I/Elizabeth Tudor/Phillip II feel in the Grail Empire situation. With book 3, the author is introducing more POVs, which, while interesting, sometimes feels like it derails the story just as I start to get caught up in it again. 3.5 stars.

[Malquiviades · Rating 4 out of 5]

And going down the story... whatever it may be. It is still great that the story develops and evolves without any hint on what will be happening next.

In this book the whole magical part of this alternative Earth is openly shown, the deviation from Middle Ages history is plain to see and many possibilities are drawn against a background were bigger things might happen in books to come. This is Glen Cook after all, so there will be plenty of them for sure. You may get tired of a never-ending story, but not now, not with this book.

The story goes around the main character, but with a big number of side characters that may pop in any time making the story rich in possibilities. And Glen Cook woven his story in a great entertaining way. Sometimes around the middle I wondered if I was not looking at a AD&D party, but... nothing wrong with it. It fitted perfectly.

The ending is a cliff-hanger type. However I dislike it when used too often, I am willing to concede the point. It stops the story before the book gets too long, makes you long for the next book and wonder what comes next.

And that is what I do...

[William P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glen Cook doesn't right about underdogs or people miraculously finding something that lets them win the day in a traditionally heroic manner. Cook's people tend to be the ones who brought the biggest guns to knife fight. And then some. He arms his people with the most powerful of everything and the best handle on intelligence. You'd think that would take all the fun out, right? They'd never lose, they'd never fail, there would never be a difficult moment. And yet. Enemies never die, or if they do there's someone to carry on after them. There's always a bigger fish. The victories are empty and often meaningless. There's something more behind the scenes and if we ever find out what it is the world may well end. No one tells stories like Glen Cook tells stories.

With all that in mind, this is classic Glen Cook. Carrying on in fine form and continuing where the previous book in this series left off. Honestly, there's nothing new here, really, but that never really the point. Just hop on the ride and see where it goes. You'll thank Cook and ask for more, sir.

[Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

p great

[Gil Brenum · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a slow start in books 1 & 2, the pace picks up and there is more character development, particularly with female characters.

One chapter that deals with the death of an aging soldier brings out the humanity of the protagonist, Piper Hecht, more than was shown in the other books.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Johny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still quite good, but addition of one minor character's POV (Nassir) and that bloody cliffhanger kinda ruined it for me.

[Zeak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is not easy but it's top tier fantasy and I look forward to reading 4th book, then re-reading series. Cook is the man 💪

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll say at the outset, I loved this book. Blazed through it at top speed, loved every minute. I'm an unabashed Glen Cook junkie, and therein lies the problem-- it's the same problem currently afflicting most of my sf/f reading friends with George Martin's Ice and Fire series-- you finish the most current book, and then you have to wait for the fantasy writer to finish working on the next one, then wait for the publisher to go in and mess with it, then wait for the bloody thing to come out. If you're like me, you'll start your collection of a particular author in paperback mass market editions (as I did with the Black Company series), read up to whatever's current, then start getting the new ones in hardcover or trade paper, so that you end up with a mismatched set that looks funny on the shelves. Thankfully, publishers have figured this out, and have started putting out multiple editions of the good stuff so that I have been able to replace my paperback copies of the earlier Black Company books with nice omnibus editions, or re-buy my George Martin so that at least the books are the same height on the shelves... I'm dithering. On to the book at hand.

Surrender... does everything a third book should do. It deepens the world, it develops the characters and refines their interactions, it finishes up the first major story arc... Piper Hecht has come a long way from being Sha-Lug Captain Else Tage, so much so that throughout the last book and much of this one he's no longer sure where his loyalties lie. He's been adopted into a western family, by a couple old sorcerers who insist that he's actually their grandson or great-great-grandson due to a kidnapping/slaver raid in his childhood... so he might not (if the magicians are to be believed) be really from the East at all. He's proven himself to be very, very very good at waging war, and in fact has a much more 'modern' style of warfare than anyone else in his world. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, so his gift for the battlefield, in this book, causes him more grief and stress than anything else. He's become entangled with the Grail Empire (think of the coalition of German kingdoms before they were Germany) and its Mad Empress (she's totally bonkers, although this does get an explanation). He's a man caught between worlds, between loyalties, and the Mad Empress keeps issuing increasingly irrational decrees which he feels he has no choice but to carry out. He has a sort of family he's made for himself, and worries about them, although like most soldiers' families they don't see him much, or often. And it's not a subplot but maybe a parallel plot that involves his grandfather and great-great grandfather and older sister, dealing with Instrumentalities (old gods, old dark evil nasty gods... which Piper has throughout the series been learning how to slay with gunpowder weapons) and an imprisoned pantheon (Norse, largely) and an old evil that must be dealt with... this part of the book was just as entertaining as the Piper stuff, and at times became the more interesting sections, since Piper spends significant time in this book being yanked around by a crazy woman.

I try to avoid spoilers, but I will warn potential readers that this book is not the end of the series, so from about page 300 through to the end of the book when you're wondering how Glen Cook can possibly tie things up, I'd say: Don't hold your breath. He does tie up many of the major plotlines in this volume, but the book ends on the upswing, at a moment of high drama and tension, one of those endings that made me say "Oh you bastard!" and then go run to the internet to make sure there's another volume on the way at some point. According to the Glen Cook Wiki, the next volume is called "Working The Gods' Mischief", although there is no announced date of publication. I will be waiting, eagerly, for some sort of announcement, or checking Amazon to see if a pre-order exists yet, but Cook has said that since he's turned to writing full time the books take him longer to finish, so it may be a while.

Highly recommended, thoroughly entertaining and thrilling, this one is Glen Cook firing on all cylinders and telling a fantastic tale... the only thing that keeps it from a 5-star rating is the fact that I'm gonna have to wait who-knows-how-long for the next volume.

[Math le maudit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suite du nouveau cycle de Glen Cook (auteur du cycle de la Compagnie noire). Il s'agit ici du tome 3, découpé en deux parties par les Editions Atalante pour l'éditions française.

Après deux ans d'attente, le moins qu'on puisse dire, c'est que le retour dans l'univers des Instrumentalités est rude !

Pour rappel, ce cycle de fantasy se situe dans un monde médiéval très largement inspiré par l'Europe médiévale du XIIe-XIIIe siècle. Glen Cook brouille les cartes en inventant de nouveaux noms pour tous les pays et toutes les religions, obligeant à une certaine gymnastique mentale pour s'y retrouver.

Et comme pour toute gymnastique, quand on a pas pratiqué depuis longtemps, la reprise est ardue ! Si on retrouve ses repères assez vite pour le volet européen, c'est plus délicat pour les évènements moyen-orientaux.

Heureusement, Glen Cook connais son affaire et parvient à nous remémorer les évènements des tomes précédents sans pour autant tomber dans le résumé.

C'est donc avec plaisir que l'on retrouve Piper Hecht et ses compagnons pour suivre la suite de leurs pérégrinations au sein de ce monde en pleine ébullition. Les Instrumentalités de la nuit s'agitent de plus en plus, menée par Karoulke, redoutable démon hivernal qui profite de l'affaiblissement des sources magiques pour étendre son emprise sur les terres chaudes du sud incapables d'enrayer l'avancée des glaces.

Dans le même temps, Piper Hecht, à la tête des armées patriarcales va tenter d'éviter un bain de sang au Connec (avatar du comté de Toulouse) et de faire respecter la volonté du nouveau pape qui veut mettre un terme aux querelles religieuses.

On le voit, un univers où plus que jamais se mêle magie et imbroglio politico-religieux. Un régal.

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glen Cook's "Surrender to the Will of the Night" is another troublesome book to rate. If this were a stand-alone book, I'd rate it at an OK 3 stars out of 5. But, since it's the 3rd in the series, I'm going to assume that those reading it are happy with the style and content of the previous books and up my rating to a Very Good 4 stars out of 5. This book is written very much in keeping with those previous books. And, as I noted in my review of the previous book, along with all the good things being the same, that means the not-so-good things are the same. To wit, the re-hashing of medieval Europe with far too many made up place and character names. Also, by this point, I'm beginning to wonder if Cook has any plan or direction for the series. There's a nice story here (as with each of the other books), but I'm not sure where they're going. It's possible that Cook is letting the series meander like he did with the last half a dozen books in his "Black Company" series. I hope not. Also, my biggest complaint with the book is the cliff-hanger ending. Thankfully, the next book is already out. But, I'm no enamored with cliff-hangers. Still, if you've gotten to this point in the series, I think you'll find this to be a very good continuation.

The books in Glen Cooks "Instrumentalities of the Night" series are:

1. The Tyranny of the Night: Book One of the Instrumentalities of the Night
2. Lord of the Silent Kingdom (Instrumentalities of the Night)
3. Surrender to the Will of the Night (Instrumentalities of the Night)
4. Working God's Mischief (Instrumentalities of the Night)

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third book in the series felt more finished than the second (which I also liked quite a bit), and things really got crazy by the end of Surrender to the Will of the Night, in a good way (for the reader). I'm looking forward to the fourth book and, frankly, hoping Cook is not writing a fifth, because if there's another cliffhanger ending to the fourth like there is in this third book I'm going to get a bit annoyed that I have to wait for Cook to finish writing another book before I get to resolve the cliffhanger.

I enjoy the heck out of Glen Cook's writing, and this series of books is no exception. I don't mind cliffhangers, and they can even help heighten the enjoyment of the reading, when I do not have to wait several years to find out what happens next. I definitely do not feel a burning need to wait a few years for the next book, though. A wait for Stephen King was much of what killed my interest in the Dark Tower series; it had just taken long enough to get to the next book that I no longer cared, and because the books immediately followed previous books in a way that relied on a clear memory of what had just happened at the end of the previous book it would not be easy to get into the next book with too long a span of time between books. So, to make a long story short: I hope that doesn't happen at the end of the fourth book in the Instrumentalities of the Night series, because these are great books, and it'd be a shame to just give up on them.

This is far from the most useful review I've written, I know. Sorry about that.

[Raja · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the longest I've ever taken over a novel by Glen Cook -- usually I plow through them in a matter of days, or a couple of weeks at the most. This one took ~5 months, with multiple weeks in there where I didn't touch it.

Simply put, not enough happens in the middle third of the books. I've never thought Cook needed an editor before, since his prose tends toward sparse, but in this case, whole sections of plot either needed to be cut -- since they didn't add much beyond moving some characters around -- or expanded to make them interesting.

To make matters worse, the book ends on a cliffhanger, having spent its last third getting progressively more interesting. I'm not sure if I'm on board for the next book in this series; I want to know what happens, but not if it means another slog like this.

[Joshua Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

Strong edition to the series

Pros
- Great dialogue as always from one of the best.
- Solid worldbuilding, including the editions of other storylines which will factor into the overall scope of the story.
- Strong characterization as usual from Cook.
- Minor characters being pushed into greater roles (Heris, Lila, Clover)
- It seems that the next book will finally lead to the long-awaited clash between Hecht and Gordimor (I hope).


Cons
- Ends on a mid-scene cliffhanger which is pet peeve of mine.
- Several choices Hecht makes toward the end of the book felt off to me.
- Too many of the battles are shown at a distance to the reader. I would have liked to have seen it from a character's POV who was in the thick of things.

Looking forward to Book 4 so let's hope TOR doesn't delay it's release like it did Book 3.

[Viktor Davion · Rating 5 out of 5]

That a decent sequel in Instrumentalities of the Night series. Story is moving forward and it is very smooth. Though if I look back I become amazed how world changed since first book and how Piper Hecht really affect it. Story is amazing and captivating, it answers some old questions (that aroused from first two books) but also creates some new ones. It moves to new level of epic. Some characters moved from background to foreground and their personality described well, they complement whole picture very well. Piper Hecht also changed dramatically, though this change was not momentary but it is very significant in compare with the first book. And there definitely will be a sequel, ending is quite open one. I'm waiting for next book with impatience.

[William Gerke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A continuation of the current adventure by Glen Cook, "Surrender to the Will of Night" provides a powerful, thematic conclusion to the trilogy. People run hot or cold on these books. Cook breaks a lot of rules--hundreds of people and place names, no map, telling rather than showing major events--but there's a very specific style at work and the rule-breaking allows him to tell a story with a scope and intensity I've not seen anywhere else. And his characters sneak up on you, so that by the end, the fates of minor characters become strangely moving and affecting. As always, leaves me hungry for his next book, whatever the series.

[Rob Preece · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Cook's writing and think he has a nice world here--with lots of parallels to European/crusade history in the middle ages. He uses that popular fantasy style of jumping from viewpoint character to viewpoint character, which lets the reader see a lot more of what's going on than if we stuck with a single character throughout. The downside, for me, was that we spent most of our time with Hecht, who wasn't really doing interesting things a lot of the time. I really wanted to see what Heris was doing against the ancient dark god threatening the world. So, flawed but well-written and engaging. I was definitely drawn to finish the book.

[Psychophant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book of the Instrumentalities of the Night series. As such, I suppose only those who have read the two earlier books will be interested in it, as it builds on them.

In this one magic and events keep speeding up, we get to see some alternate universes, and get a good dose of Cook's version of dwarfs. Good stuff.

The bad parts are still there, however. There is no end in sight, except the potential for eternal cold. Though the history has drifted a lot from the historical XIIIth century, it still has a lot of links with it.

In all, an amusing and educative read. And I still do not know where Cook is taking us.

[Math le maudit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tome 3, partie 2.

Toujours aussi agréable à lire, cette deuxième partie est consacrée en parallèle aux préparatifs de croisade de Piper Hecht, passé au service de l'empire du Graal, les manigances du neuvième inconnu pour mettre un terme à la vie de Karoulke le démon des glaces et les évènements au Moyen-Orient.

Très efficace, le récit se dévore et comme souvent, Glen Cook conclut son troisième tome sur un cliffhanger insoutenable !

Ne reste plus qu'à attendre la suite, dans quelques années... Argh !

[Bara · Rating 4 out of 5]

První dva díly mě uchvátily víc. Tento měl to dobré z předchozích knih jen toho bylo na množství míň, ale stránek bylo stejně. Některé pasáže tak působily velmi dlouhé a člověk se nemohl dočkat, až se dostane k zajímavějším scénám.

Na druhou stranu Heris a Lila získávají víc prostoru, což je fajn.
Zřejmě v případě Děj se vůle nastoupil syndrom druhých knih. Takové to, kdy je obsah dost dobrý na to, aby to člověk přečetl s chutí a těšil se na konec série, ale stejně vám vrtá hlavou, že jednička byla o chlup lepší.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Reading his stuff is like reading Vietnam War fiction on peyote." ~Steven Erikson

I love the funny banter Cook creates for his characters but I really felt this story falls short of 5 stars. It felt very...choppy, fragmented? Plus I really needed a flow chart to keep straight all the nations, kings, dukes, religions, etc. and who the were fighting and why. The number of names got very confusing. Maybe if I hadn't read the first 3 with a year in between it would have made more sense.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this really quickly, perhaps that's why it didn't sit with me as well as the previous two

[Troy Lefman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took a bit with this one, but it's my favorite of the series so far. Expanded character development. I like the fact that status quo has to go. Hecht has things going well and how he wants? Nevermind, let's change it up.
I like that some under-utilized characters were brought to prominent parts of the story.
Cliffhanger ending. Wow.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Advances the story fairly well, though a maddening ending. I am not a big fan of the cliff hanger. Only real complaint is how some of the side stories don't really seem to tie in, though they may just be part of a larger tapestry that will be revealed in time.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piper continues to become a more and more important man in this late medieval/magic world and hobnob with increasingly powerful allies. Great cliffhanger ending. (At least now that the next book is out, it's great)

[Nomdeplume22 · Rating 3 out of 5]

fell short

[John Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, so good. I had to go back and read the second book in order to remember what was going on. I like that.