Surrender to the Will of the Night-Glen Cook

Surrender to the Will of the Night
Glen Cook
Tor, Nov 23 2010, $27.99
ISBN: 9780765306869

The Grail Empire and for that matter the world is undergoing an apocalyptic climate change. Temperatures are dropping rapidly as winter has become much harsher and lengthier. Water levels are shrinking to dangerously low levels; partly because the tundra is expanding covering increasingly the northern mountain ranges.

Piper Hecht has the uncanny skill of being able to kill gods. His knowledge is not a god send as he has enemies seeking revenge, adversaries wanting him dead before he kills them, and family and friends who try to abuse his ability. His sister Heris and their ancestor the Ninth Unknown Cloven Februaren plead with him to join their fight to prevent the dark god Kharoulke the Windwalker from returning. The insane Grail Empire Empress Katrin demands that he lead as the Commander of the Righteous Army a crusade into the Holy Lands against the Pramans. Besides their demands and those of power grabbers, Piper fears their world is dying as The Wells of Power is weakening and the malevolent Instrumentalities from the Time Before Time are returning

The third The Instrumentalities of the Night (see The Tyranny of the Night and The Lord of the Silent Kingdom) is a super entry as the overarching plot moves forward including ending notable threads while setting up the next thriller. The story line predominately is owned by Piper so the audience mostly sees the cataclysmic events and the political misdirected or inactive reaction through his mind filter although there is enough insight from support players to provide a somewhat balance. However, the key to why this tale and the previous two are great is Glen Cook skewers politicians but never loses sight of the big picture apocalyptic end of days. This is a great complicated series in which newcomers need to start at the beginning to see how fast the plot has cooked.

Harriet Klausner