The Worshippers and the Way [Paperback]

The Worshippers and the Way is the 9th book in Hugh Cook's Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series, a series of 10 novels which was originally planned to be 40.

To give a review of the The Worshippers and the Way it helps to put it in perspective to the rest of the series. Books 1 through 5 were set on the continent of Argan and can be considered strongly connected to each other. Books 6 and 7 are set on the Island of Untunchilamon and are a closely related pair but only vaguely connected to the rest of the series. It's during books 6 and 7 that you get the feeling Cook, after completing the Argan epic, doesn't really know where he's going and he begins getting a bit experimental, involving more science fiction elements and also seeming to play around with his readers by using extremely, ridiculously long names for all places and people. Books 8 and 9 drop the practice of using long names, thankfully, but remain experimental in that firstly, they each stand pretty much on their own (although they do contain vague references and connections to the other books) and secondly, that each one he does something different. Book 9 is a science fiction, not a fantasy novel, and its protagonist, Asodo Hatch, is the most mature protagonist of the series. Unlike Chegory Guy, Sean Sarazin, Drake Douay, or Togura Poulaan, Asodo Hatch is not a young, reckless adventurer. Instead, he's in his thirties, has a wife and daughters, feels a great responsibility to his community, and he has many serious problems which give a somewhat sober tone to the entire book.

The Worshipers and the Way suffers from the same flaw of books 6 and 7, that is instead of focusing firstly on telling a story Cook gets too preoccupied with describing the world he's built; the geography, the different races and cultures and how they interact, the history of various things and places, etc. Make no mistake that Hugh Cook is an excellent writer, and just his world building alone is entertaining reading, but what made books 1 through 5 so great is that in addition to this they also told a well-planned and riveting story. The actual story in Worshippers and the Way is mediocre, and all Hugh Cook's trademark twists and turns, while they do add suspense, here also contribute to the impression that Cook only has a very general plan and is mostly deciding what happens as he goes along. The ending is a bit unbelievable and things work out too conveniently.

That being said Hugh Cook was a highly talented and sadly overlooked storyteller. Even though it's not the best thing he ever wrote, The Worshippers and the Way towers above most other books in the science-fiction/fantasy genre and is well-worth tracking down and reading. Five out of five stars.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars