The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers (Chronicles of an Age of Darkness)

The first five books in Hugh Cook's Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series were largely focussed on the fall of Argan to the Swarms. This instalment is set some 20 years before those events, on a tropical island far away from Argan. Although some of the characters in the Wishstone and the Wonderworkers have previously featured in the Chronicles, you'd be forgiven for wondering what's going on. Sadly, you'll have to keep wondering until you've read Book 10. The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers tells the story of bizarre events that happen on the Island of Injiltaprajura when a demon comes to town. Cook amuses himself (and those who share his sense of humour) by presenting the novel as a history written by a madman (sort of Herodotus with tertiary syphilis). To compound things, the text is annotated by commentators (from the same world as the story is set) who generally miss the point and even scrap with one another. It's a post modern literary conceit that Cook used to demonstrate that he's more sophisticated than David Eddings. Or perhaps he was getting bored after churning out five novels and wanted to try something new. This book is great; a sort of fantasy farce. The only real criticism I have is that if Cook had pursued the main plot arc more assiduously, rather than indulging himself the way he does here (see also the Beowulf homage that is Book 8), his publishers might not have deserted him after Book 10.