Hugh Cook - Chronicles of the Age of Darkness (ePub/AZW3)

One of the greatest and most underappreciated fantasy series of all time.



The books

The Wizards and the Warriors - (aka Wizard War[1]) 1986 (ISBN 0-552-12566-0)

The Wordsmiths and the Warguild - (aka The Questing Hero and The Hero's Return (2 volumes)[2]) 1987 (ISBN 0-552-13130-X)

The Women and the Warlords - (aka The Oracle [3]) 1987 (ISBN 0-552-13131-8)

The Walrus and the Warwolf - (aka The Lords of the Sword) 1988 (ISBN 0-552-13327-2) (ISBN 978-1-60125-214-2)

The Wicked and the Witless - 1989 (ISBN 0-552-13439-2)

The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers - 1990 (ISBN 0-552-13536-4)

The Wazir and the Witch - 1990 (ISBN 0-552-13537-2)

The Werewolf and the Wormlord - 1991 (ISBN 0-552-13538-0)

The Worshippers and the Way - 1992 (ISBN 0-552-13848-7)

The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster - 1992 (ISBN 0-552-13849-5)



The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness broadly tell the story of the events leading to the end of a dark age.



The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness began with an ambitious outline for a series of twenty novels. This would have been followed by two equally long series, The Chronicles of an Age of Wrath, and The Chronicles of an Age of Heroes. This sixty-volume scheme ended with the publication of the tenth volume because of disappointing sales.



The novels are written in vastly different styles, which may have confused or alienated readers who expected continuity in each novel. Another theory is that the naming scheme, consisting of continual alliterative "W"-titles featuring unusual words put people off.



The Chronicles defy the conventions of the fantasy genre, by including elements of science fiction, graphic violence, grotesque and macabre elements, and political cynicism. They are sometimes described as 'gritty' because of their realism.



The novels aren't high fantasy. They could be described as New Wave Sword and sorcery or Planetary romance/Sword and Planet. They also include elements of comedy.



At different times, the novels portray or allude to murder, bestiality, female genital cutting, cannibalism, racism, sexism, speciesism, abortion, masturbation, mutation, incest, inbreeding, constipation, assassination, gambling, drunkenness, brawling, diarrhoea, capitalism, leprosy, castration, slavery, evolution, patricide, regicide, venereal disease, forgery, treason, dwarf tossing, torture, orgies, incontinence, suicide, disembowelment, capital and corporal punishment, drug use, religious fraud, bribery, blackmail, animal cruelty, disfigurement, infanticide, the caste system, democratic revolutionary movements, rape, theft, genocide, transvestitism, premature ejaculation, prostitution, piracy, and polygamy.