The Fire in His Hands
core novel 1984 Dread Empire
Record
| First published | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.96 (502 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 224 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780671459079 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Fire in His Hands, part of a prequel duology to the main Dread Empire series, follows a young desert heretic named El Murid who narrowly escapes death at the hands of rivals within his own faith and sets out on a mission to bring order and righteousness to his scattered, feuding people. Preaching a stark religious vision that promises unity under a single ruthless law, he rises from outcast to a formidable religious and military leader among the desert tribes, gathering followers even as rebellion, jealousy, and plots against his life seethe among the very warriors he seeks to command. The novel traces how conviction, charisma, and cruelty combine to turn a nearly murdered heretic into the founder of a movement that will eventually reshape the wider Dread Empire world decades before the series' main events unfold.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dread Empire
- Series: Dread Empire core; position 1 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 4 of 8: previous All Darkness Met (1980) · next With Mercy Toward None (1985)
- Internal chronology, within Dread Empire: position 1 of 8: next With Mercy Toward None (1985)
Sources
← Dread Empire dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.