A Shadow of All Night Falling
core novel 1979 Dread Empire
Record
| First published | 1979 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.65 (1,091 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 240 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780425042601 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
A Shadow of All Night Falling opens Glen Cook's Dread Empire series in the harsh mountain principalities of Kavelin and Wesson, where the exiled sorcerer-brothers Bragi Ragnarson and his companions become entangled in a war shaped by ancient, terrible powers stirring after centuries of quiet. Mercenary captain Bragi Ragnarson, fighting far from his northern homeland, finds himself drawn into the schemes of the Dread Empire's immortal, undying rulers, the Star Rider and the sorcerous Empire of Shinsan, whose armies and magic threaten to reshape the fractured kingdoms of the west. As old prophecies and buried grudges resurface alongside fresh betrayals on the battlefield, Bragi and his fellow mercenaries are forced to choose sides in a conflict whose true scale none of the western kingdoms yet understand.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dread Empire
- Series: Dread Empire core; position 3 of 8 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Glen Cook
Notes
- From the series record (Dread Empire): Original trilogy, two later-written prequels, and a run of sequels; the planned concluding volume was never finished after the manuscript was lost. A ninth title, "Wrath of Kings," was considered but excluded: on inspection it is an omnibus edition bundling books 6-8, not a standalone novel with an independent reader-rating pool.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Dread Empire: position 1 of 8: next October's Baby (1980)
- Internal chronology, within Dread Empire: position 3 of 8: previous With Mercy Toward None (1985) · next October's Baby (1980)
Sources
← Dread Empire dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.