Malazan Roots

Those that followed my blog in it's previous incarnation are well aware of my love for Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It may in fact be my favorite series of all time. Anyways, imagine my happy surprise that I have discovered where he likely got at least some of his inspiration for said series. The other night I picked up Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook (which is actually an omnibus of the first three books of that series). I began reading it last night and was pleasantly surprised how like Erikson's world it is, or vice-versa to be more accurate. Erikson even provides the blurb on the back cover of this volume. So obviously he had read it and anyone who has read both can immediately detect the similarities between the two. In fact, for anyone who has not yet taken my advice to read Erikson's series, I offer this: if you have read Cook's Black Company books and liked them even a little, then I am convinced you will enjoy the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I am glad to have discovered the Black Company. Yes, I know the books have been around for quite a long time but when I was younger I was very narrow in which fantasy titles I read. As I got older I went a long time without reading at all. Now, in the last few years, I have been making up for lost time. I read a broad range of fantasy and sci-fi (sometimes history and horror as well). So now I have discovered Cook's Black Company and have another series to complete. As an addendum, I did begin reading his book, Instrumentalities of the Night and did not like it. That is one reason I was not interested in reading his Black Company books but finally was won over by the cover art (beautifully done by Raymond Swanland, an artist I was not familar with previously but would like to see more from now). Those that know me well are aware of how easily I am influenced by a pretty package. But that's an issue for another day.