Steven Erikson is just a Glen Cook hack??

[Bunami]

I am now about two thirds of the way through the third book in this Black Company series and am really enjoying it!
After finishing The Crippled God I have to say I really was struggling to find any kind of contact with the next few books I read. Greg Keyes Kingdom of Thorn & Bone series was a good read but just didn't grab me, then I read Feist's latest book and again was left feeling unexcited. Next was ADWD and yet again I found myself missing that 'Erikson' touch.

So thank heavens I have found what inspired Erikson to write the way he does through Glen Cooks Black Company and to see these similarities has done nothing to put me off his works in the least. Personally I have no trouble whatsoever in separating these two different works of wonderful fantasy.

Still seven more books to go yes! Plus another two more rounding out the series I believe which are yet to be written/released...

[Thundasnowz]

I've read all of The Black Company Books twice and all of Erikson's Malazan Books of the Fallen once. I love them both and certainly see Cook opening the gates for Erikson but do not see him as derivative.

Although the military angle and from the tench view likely comes to Erikson via Cook they also differ significantly. Cook's plots are fast moving and bare bones. Sure there are twists but it never seems like Erikson's writing that offers you a glacier of information ladled out in little incomplete bits and leaving you wondering what will come into play or not. Also Cook gives a pithy paragraph here and there examining a theme while Erikson infuses the theme into the story until it is oozing out the cracks.

Erikson can be a bit obtuse in his world building, culture building and such while Cook tells the story just letting you know what you need to know.

I love them both but find Erikson's robust style much more to my liking and very robust relative to Cook's.

No, Erikson is not a hack and I see as much anthropology, archaeology, modern liberalism, colonial guilt, environmentalism, etc. etc. as I see Cook in his work.

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Lacedaemonian

Do not get me wrong, there is almost enough original materials in the Malazan series to forgive Erikson for his weakness. However, the characters that appealed to me and got me hooked in Malazan can all be found parading around in the Black Company. The Bridge Burners are almost an exact replica of the Black Company . Even the major themes can be found detailed in The Black Company.

I haven't read any Glen Cook - however, I have read most of Sven Hassel's WWII novels about a group of abject downtrodden German infantrymen - and as soon as I met the Bridgeburners, I thought I was back in a Sven Hassel novel - just with fantasy overtones.

Except for Whiskeyjack, who to me is just another form of the gruff thoughtful and brilliant warrior archetype that we see in Pratchett's Vimes, Gemmell's Druss, and Abercrombie's Logen Ninefingers (and no doubt, many more)

[Kaldaur]

They have vastly different writing styles, although some of the content may be similar. Glen Cook is a minimalist, using short, fragmented sentenced to convey his terse scenes. It's very effective. Erikson likes to ramble with his narrative. It's less effective.

[svalbard]

20 pages into Glen Cook's Black Company series and I gave up. Hackneyed is the word I use to describe it, but then my brother(an avid Cook fan) is promising to use Gestapo tactics to get me to continue...not a chance!

[Peeves]

After reading that Erikson was a glen cook hack, i decided to give him a go.
I too was dissapointed.