The Tyranny of the Night: Book One of the Instrumentalities of the Night [Hardcover]

Glen Cook (Author)

Book Description

Series: Instrumentalities of the Night | Publication Date: May 26, 2005

Welcome to the world of the Instrumentalities of the Night, where imps, demons, and dark gods rule in the spaces surrounding upstart humanity. At the edges of the world stand walls of ice which push slowly forward to reclaim the land for the night. And at the world's center, in the Holy Land where two great religions were born, are the Wells of Ihrain, the source of the greatest magics. Over the last century the Patriarchs of the West have demanded crusades to claim the Wells from the Pramans, the followers of the Written. Now an uneasy truce extends between the Pramans and the West, waiting for a spark to start the conflict anew.

Then, on a mission in the Holy Land, the young Praman warrior Else is attacked by a creature of the Dark-in effect, a minor god. Too ignorant to know that he can never prevail over such a thing, he fights it and wins, and in so doing, sets the terrors of the night against him.

As a reward for his success, Else is sent as a spy to the heart of the Patriarchy to direct their attention away from further ventures into the Holy Lands. Dogged by hidden enemies and faithless allies, Else witnesses senseless butchery and surprising acts of faith as he penetrates to the very heart of the Patriarchy and rides alongside their armies in a new crusade against his own people. But the Night rides with him, too, sending two of its once-human agents from the far north to assassinate him.

Submerged in his role, he begins to doubt his faith, his country, even his family. As his mission careens out of control, he faces unanswerable questions about his future. It is said that God will know his own, but can one who has slain gods ever know forgiveness?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In the Wells of Ihrain lies--perhaps--the magical key to resisting the Dark, whose walls of ice are advancing against human holdings. The humans have settled into an uneasy truce with the Pramans, who possess the wells, as a result of the crisis, but, in gross violation of the truce, the Pramans are about to send a spy, the warrior Else, to the human Patriarchy of the West. Else has defeated a creature of the Dark in battle--an outcome that was supposed to be impossible, and on the principle of "Do a little more, and you will be given still more," he is tapped for the espionage assignment, which by the end of this book, at least, hasn't become the suicide mission it seems to be. Whether it will in the next book assures plenty of fantasy readers for the immediate sequel to the first volume of the Instrumentalities of the Night, which promises to be a grim and sweeping epic, indeed. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Praise for Glen Cook

"Cook's talent for combining gritty realism and high fantasy provides a singular edge."
--Library Journal on Water Sleeps

"Cook provides a rich world of assorted races, cultures, and religions; his characters combine the mythic or exotic with the realistic, engaging in absorbing alliances, enmities, and double-crosses."
--Publishers Weekly on Bleak Seasons

"Sheer page-turning fun!"
--Robin McKinley on Bleak Seasons

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (May 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765306840
• ISBN-13: 978-0765306845
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glen Cook strikes again. . ., June 13, 2005

By 

R. Macquarrie "scsurfer" (San Clemente, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tyranny of the Night: Book One of the Instrumentalities of the Night (Hardcover)

Okay, first off I admit I'm an old fan of Cook from the first trilogy and the first Garret book and through the Black Company. No other writer has a better grasp of the front line warrior's attitude: bloody, brutal, confused as hell eternally pissed off at and wary of Gods and Kings and Sorcerers. He has a wonderful grasp of the confusion of war and how chance deals with the best laid plans. And how the grounded cynicism of soldiers can humble the most grandious of nobles.
This is the beginning ground work of a grand epic I believe. He lays down the structure and without maps (maps would be nice) takes us into a wholly new universe of magic and old nasty gods and men and women just trying to deal with the hand they get. It is up close and funny and vast in scale. And he throws out some of the best zingers and hilarious observations of human nature out there. Nothing is sacred but life and love. It will take some patience and an aquaintanceship with how Cook operates would help, but by the time you get to the end you will be cursing because it will be some time before you get to hear the rest of the story, dammit. This man is a master. No-one, Erikson, Jordan, Feist, does epic sword and sorcery better. No bs here just a hell of a fun read. Bring your brain.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Cook with a whole new direction, August 1, 2005

By 

Paul Brazelton (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tyranny of the Night: Book One of the Instrumentalities of the Night (Hardcover)

I've been reading Glen Cook's novels for about fifteen years now, and have been consistently impressed with his writing. What makes his novels - especially the Black Company series - so engrossing is the attention to the life of the characters. From darkly humorous to violent to poignant scenes, Cook manages to get you heavily invested in his characters, makes you care about them beyond reason.

This is where Tyranny of the Night diverges from books of the past. In the Black Company novels there was always an idea of a larger world outside of the characters, but that larger world was never fully realized or explored. In this novel, the world Glen Cook has created becomes a major character; a complex, complicated and sometimes infuriating character.

I found that getting into the novel was more difficult than in past books, primarily due to the deluge of information in the first 100 pages. Names, locations, history, cultures and divergent chronologies come pouring out for the first quarter of the book. Only dedicated readers will make their way through the morass, which is very unfortunate. To my surprise, Tyranny of the Night is probably the most accomplished book in Cook's very long history.

The world he creates is rich in culture and history, taking cues from real life history and making it his own. The mythology of the Instrumentalities - the faeries and gods-at-large of the world - are at once vague and immediately menacing. The political intrigue is actually intriguing, and the ebb and flow of the luck of nations is solid and sensible.

Above all of this, the main characters (all of whom are antiheroes of a sort) keep the same dry, hilarious wit Cook's fans had come to expect from the jaded soldiers of the Black Company. Yes, the world is big and complicated, but when push comes to shove Cook's book is about the little guys who get out of the way when the elephants dance. It's with the characters of Else and Shagot and Pinkus and many others that the heart of the novel beats strong. They are every bit as likeable as Croaker, Raven and the Company.

I can't convince anyone to read a book they geniunely dislike, but the 'pain' of the first 100 pages of Tyranny serves dividends later in the book. I highly recommend you stick with the story. Future books will likely not have such a steep learning curve. It really is worth learning this new, fascinating world, and I'm grateful to Glen Cook for creating yet another incredible realm to visit.

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Map issue, October 19, 2005

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E. Allen (CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tyranny of the Night: Book One of the Instrumentalities of the Night (Hardcover)

Some folks were upset at the lack of a map. The map of Europe and the Mediterranean will do just fine. The parallels with real medieval history somewhat mixed in time but very close in a lot of ways. Pope vs Antipope looks like 12th C. You have Ottomans from the late 14th or 15 C (assuming the Sha-lug are Janissaries) with Western Europe at the beginning of the Albigensian Crusades in the early 13th C. Early gunpowder would say 14th C. Crusader Kingdoms 12th - 13th.

Some of the places appear to be:
Brothe = Rome
Andoray = Norway
Connec = Langeudoc (Southern France)
Friesland = Denmark
Arnhand = France
Calzir = Moorish North Africa
Holy Lands = Holy Land
Dreangar = Ottoman Turks
Antieux or Khaurene = Toulouse
Firaldia = Italy
Santerin = England
Sonsa = Venice
Plemenza = probably Florence or Milan
Vieran Sea = Adriatic
Creveldia = Greece
Eastern Empire = Byzantine Empire
Mother Sea = Mediterranean
Navaya = Spain or one of the pre-unification Spanish Kingdoms

People and Organizations
Sha-lug = Janisssaries
Grail Emperor = Holy Roman Emperor
Patriarch of Brothe = Pope of Rome
Principates of the Collegium = Papal Legates
Chaldarean = Christians
Brothen Patriarchy = Roman Catholic Church
Deves = Jews
Pramans = Muslims
Maysalean Heresy = Albigensian Heresy = Cathars
Duke Tormond = Raymond VI of Toulouse
Braunsknechts = Landsknechts
Brotherhood of War = Knights Templars and/or Hospitallers
Johannes Blackboots = Frederick Barbarossa (Redbeard) with some changes
Patriarch Sublime = mix of a couple Popes