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Garrett Files #8
Petty Pewter Gods
Garrett , P. I., is on the case
There are some new gods in the town of TunFaire, but temple real estate on the Street of Dreams is at a premium. So the big gods on the block issued a challenge-find the "key" to the one temple still available. When two rival pantheons try to hire Garrett, he knows he is in for it...
There are some new gods in the town of TunFaire, but temple real estate on the Street of Dreams is at a premium. So the big gods on the block issued a challenge-find the "key" to the one temple still available. When two rival pantheons try to hire Garrett, he knows he is in for it...
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
52 people are currently reading
725 people want to read
About the author
Glen Cook
158 books3,719 followersGlen Cook was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for 33 years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in 7th grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with malicious intent to publish in 1968, eventually producing 51 books and a number of short fiction pieces.
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
February 21, 2022
🕵️ Sleuthing Mercenaries R Us Buddy Read (SMRUBR™) with The Overlord 🕵️
Okay, so the Usual CookBook Equation (UCE™) would have looked something like this:
⚠️ Redhead alert ⚠️+ characters with the moral sense of rabid hyenas + palm readers and phrenologists and quamancers and geomancers and pyromancers and necromancers, oh my! + guys who would have no problem getting work as gargoyles at any of the major cathedrals + “Et tu, Cthulhu?” + Garrett and mornings = the stuff of legends + squid gods , aka “many-armed critters with delusions of being masters of the universe” + misfiring charming grin/eyebrow raise combos + loincloth-wearing dudes with pigeon wings growing out of their heads (Conan just called to say he was jealous) + multi-tasking cords (quite the Swiss Army knife, that one) + wondrous mudsuckers fingushing wowzgoggle and rorjfrazzle and mirking sludglup and rotten racklefratz (please don't ask) + clutches of redundant deities + “Awk! Shiver me timbers!” + pigs flying formation + harridans of satanic disposition + the chick with with all the teeth and arms and the snake problem + the weather turning incredibly alcoholic + the faun guy + a beer-drinking TG Parrot (aka the Jungle Chicken) squawking the customary obscenities =
Yes, only that, as you might or might not havemost brilliantly deduced from my most despicable rating, this is clearly not your UCE™ “But why not oh why not,” you kindly ask? Because, in most incredibly atypical, anomalous, abnormal, unexpected CookFashion: blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah + repetitive, descriptive as fish descriptions that are repetitive and descriptive as fish + get on with it already-type plot =
More or less, yes.
➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): A boring CookBook™? Surely, this must be the end.
P.S. This one must have been written by Glen Cook's evil twin. The only plausible explanation this assuredly is.
👋 To be continued and stuff.
· Book 1: Sweet Silver Blues ★★★★
· Book 2: Bitter Gold Hearts ★★★★
· Book 3: Cold Copper Tears ★★★★
· Book 4: Old Tin Sorrows ★★★★★
· Book 5: Dread Brass Shadows ★★★★
· Book 6: Red Iron Nights ★★★★★
· Book 7: Deadly Quicksilver Lies ★★★★★
· Book 9: Faded Steel Heat ★★★
· Book 10: Angry Lead Skies ★★★★
· Book 11: Whispering Nickel Idols ★★★★
· Book 12: Cruel Zinc Melodies ★★★★
· Book 13: Gilded Latten Bones ★★★★
· Book 14: Wicked Bronze Ambition ★★★
Okay, so the Usual CookBook Equation (UCE™) would have looked something like this:
⚠️ Redhead alert ⚠️+ characters with the moral sense of rabid hyenas + palm readers and phrenologists and quamancers and geomancers and pyromancers and necromancers, oh my! + guys who would have no problem getting work as gargoyles at any of the major cathedrals + “Et tu, Cthulhu?” + Garrett and mornings = the stuff of legends + squid gods , aka “many-armed critters with delusions of being masters of the universe” + misfiring charming grin/eyebrow raise combos + loincloth-wearing dudes with pigeon wings growing out of their heads (Conan just called to say he was jealous) + multi-tasking cords (quite the Swiss Army knife, that one) + wondrous mudsuckers fingushing wowzgoggle and rorjfrazzle and mirking sludglup and rotten racklefratz (please don't ask) + clutches of redundant deities + “Awk! Shiver me timbers!” + pigs flying formation + harridans of satanic disposition + the chick with with all the teeth and arms and the snake problem + the weather turning incredibly alcoholic + the faun guy + a beer-drinking TG Parrot (aka the Jungle Chicken) squawking the customary obscenities =
Yes, only that, as you might or might not have
More or less, yes.
➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): A boring CookBook™? Surely, this must be the end.
P.S. This one must have been written by Glen Cook's evil twin. The only plausible explanation this assuredly is.
👋 To be continued and stuff.
· Book 1: Sweet Silver Blues ★★★★
· Book 2: Bitter Gold Hearts ★★★★
· Book 3: Cold Copper Tears ★★★★
· Book 4: Old Tin Sorrows ★★★★★
· Book 5: Dread Brass Shadows ★★★★
· Book 6: Red Iron Nights ★★★★★
· Book 7: Deadly Quicksilver Lies ★★★★★
· Book 9: Faded Steel Heat ★★★
· Book 10: Angry Lead Skies ★★★★
· Book 11: Whispering Nickel Idols ★★★★
· Book 12: Cruel Zinc Melodies ★★★★
· Book 13: Gilded Latten Bones ★★★★
· Book 14: Wicked Bronze Ambition ★★★
November 7, 2022
I will stand by my 3 star rating for this one on my second reread.
This was by far the least interesting of the Garrett books I've read so far. Probably because Garrett himself has no impact on the happenings of this book. He has no agency. Nothing he does impacts the plot. He doesn't make things happen. Things happen to him or around him, and he just kinda floats with the current.
In fact, he spends the whole book in the role of the super McGuffin - being tossed around like a sack of potato from one faction to another, being fought over, or being used as a piñata. It was really rather boring by the end.
Plus, the main question of the day - who was behind all those shenanigans, was never really answered.
And the parade of endless bimbos who wanted to jump old Garrett bones got rather ridiculous.
This was by far the least interesting of the Garrett books I've read so far. Probably because Garrett himself has no impact on the happenings of this book. He has no agency. Nothing he does impacts the plot. He doesn't make things happen. Things happen to him or around him, and he just kinda floats with the current.
In fact, he spends the whole book in the role of the super McGuffin - being tossed around like a sack of potato from one faction to another, being fought over, or being used as a piñata. It was really rather boring by the end.
Plus, the main question of the day - who was behind all those shenanigans, was never really answered.
And the parade of endless bimbos who wanted to jump old Garrett bones got rather ridiculous.
October 18, 2025
This is eighth in a fantasy mystery series that you can read out of order if you really want to. I recommend reading in order, however. If you do want to skip around, you might skip this one. Nothing significant happens and I think it might be the weakest.
So Garrett gets a target put on his back by a bunch of small-g gods who are threatened with falling off of the Street of Dreams (where all the temples are). This is perceived as a death sentence by said gods, so they're not being gentle about recruiting him to their cause.
And seriously, Garrett is pretty much a giant punching bag this entire book. Every antagonist has way more power than he does so he pretty much pinballs from crisis to crisis trying to do things and being balked repeatedly. At one point, he's heading to the Street of Dreams with both pantheons on his tail and he gets intercepted over and over to the point of ridiculousness.
He does pull out the big win, including discerning a threat nobody else did (including the major deities behind the curtain) and does save the world. So there's that. And there are a bunch of sly references to Lovecraft horrors, including a glimpse of what has to be Carcosa.
But that's not enough to save it from three stars. And it isn't helping that Cook is setting up racial and political conflict in the streets that is almost certainly going to be a big deal in future stories but only serves to clutter up the landscape in this one.
A note about Steamy/Chaste: Some of those goddesses could be said to have loose morals if they had any at all. So Garrett gets it on with three or four (depending on how you count things) and it was, frankly, a little gross. Not least because it was overtly transactional a time or two. And this time, there's enough references to bits and lead up to parts that I'm not going to give it the chaste tag. It's not steamy, either, so this will have neither tag.
So Garrett gets a target put on his back by a bunch of small-g gods who are threatened with falling off of the Street of Dreams (where all the temples are). This is perceived as a death sentence by said gods, so they're not being gentle about recruiting him to their cause.
And seriously, Garrett is pretty much a giant punching bag this entire book. Every antagonist has way more power than he does so he pretty much pinballs from crisis to crisis trying to do things and being balked repeatedly. At one point, he's heading to the Street of Dreams with both pantheons on his tail and he gets intercepted over and over to the point of ridiculousness.
He does pull out the big win, including discerning a threat nobody else did (including the major deities behind the curtain) and does save the world. So there's that. And there are a bunch of sly references to Lovecraft horrors, including a glimpse of what has to be Carcosa.
But that's not enough to save it from three stars. And it isn't helping that Cook is setting up racial and political conflict in the streets that is almost certainly going to be a big deal in future stories but only serves to clutter up the landscape in this one.
A note about Steamy/Chaste: Some of those goddesses could be said to have loose morals if they had any at all. So Garrett gets it on with three or four (depending on how you count things) and it was, frankly, a little gross. Not least because it was overtly transactional a time or two. And this time, there's enough references to bits and lead up to parts that I'm not going to give it the chaste tag. It's not steamy, either, so this will have neither tag.
December 16, 2023
Su paskutinėmis dvejomis Gareto knygomis man taip: pusė knygos skaitosi labai smagiai, nes primena tą gerąjį Garetą iš pirmų ciklo knygų, o kita pusė palaipsniui tampa vis nykesnė ir į pabaigą net pabosta, imi laukti greitesnės atomazgos. Šioje knygoje Garetas yra ašinė visų įvykių figūra, bet tuo pačiu tik stebėtojas. Visi nori Gareto galvos, nors iš esmės jis nieko nedaro ir niekaip nekeičia įvykių tėkmės. Tokia gan savotiška istorija.
Vis dar labai mylimas ciklas, bet su tam tikrais ryškėjančiais minusiukais.
Vis dar labai mylimas ciklas, bet su tam tikrais ryškėjančiais minusiukais.
December 20, 2021
Cook misses the mark again with the eighth book in his Garrett Files series. The plot revolves around a contest among some weak gods with almost no remaining worshippers to see who gets to keep a temple on the Street of Dreams and who gets to fade into oblivion. Garrett wants nothing to do with it, but both sets of deities are determined to have Garrett find the mystical key for them that will let them into the last temple and give them victory. This leads to roughly two hundred pages of Garrett running from one set of gods or the other, getting caught and roughed up by the males in the pantheon and seduced shamelessly by the females before he escapes to start the cycle all over again. It’s really not until the last seventy or eighty pages that things become more interesting. Garrett starts to figure out the origins of the “gods” and learns a bit about the danger they came to his world to escape. He also figures out that there is a lot more going on than he thought and a lot more gods than the two pantheons he thought he was dealing with are interesting themselves in the contest. In fact, it looks like the fate of the entire world might just depend on everyone’s favorite private investigator.
The normal cast of characters gets a couple of mentions but comes nowhere close to playing an important role. Even the Dead Man who figures out what is going on didn’t seem that important. But then, how could he be important when most of the plot is about Garrett getting cased, beaten, seduced, and escaping again. I like this series, but this book does not show it in its best light.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
The normal cast of characters gets a couple of mentions but comes nowhere close to playing an important role. Even the Dead Man who figures out what is going on didn’t seem that important. But then, how could he be important when most of the plot is about Garrett getting cased, beaten, seduced, and escaping again. I like this series, but this book does not show it in its best light.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
October 22, 2023
PETTY PEWTER GODS is a very interesting book that introduces deities into the world of Garrett PI. This is a pretty big retcon since the gods had previously been completely absent from the setting except for a mad Loghyr. The gods are portrayed with Glen Cook's typical disdain for religion but are entertaining as poor Garrett struggles not to care about their existence. I think the book could have been better with Garrett more active throughout it as he's a fairly passive character this time around. Still, I had a lot of fun with it. Plus, I feel it's a missed opportunity for him not to sleep with at least one of the goddesses.
October 22, 2023
PETTY PEWTER GODS is a very interesting book that introduces deities into the world of Garrett PI. This is a pretty big retcon since the gods had previously been completely absent from the setting except for a mad Loghyr. The gods are portrayed with Glen Cook's typical disdain for religion but are entertaining as poor Garrett struggles not to care about their existence. I think the book could have been better with Garrett more active throughout it as he's a fairly passive character this time around. Still, I had a lot of fun with it. Plus, I feel it's a missed opportunity for him not to sleep with at least one of the goddesses.
August 27, 2013
The 8th Garrett PI novel by Glen Cook and by far my favourite to date, against his own wishes and beliefs Garrett finds himself pulled into a conflict unlike any he's faced to date, the gods of Tunfaire (or two out of the thousand or so sets at least) are facing annihilation and Garrett has become the piggy in the middle between these competing forces to decide which of them survives.
Garrett for his part does not describe himself as an Atheist, or an Agnostic, and he certainly wouldn't describe himself as a believer, but more that he really just doesn't care either way, which the gods find a rather odd stance to take but which probably mirrors my own point of view someone, like Garrett himself says "I thought we had an agreement, I don't bother you and you don't bother me".
Unlike a lot of Urban fantasies which are set in our world, where people are very nervous about mentioning religion in any form due to the fact that someone, somewhere, will take offense at the depiction of their chosen religion being shown one way or the other, which in a fantasy novel I dislike to see people take these things so seriously because it is fantasy (therefore made up and not to be taken overly seriously), where most events, whether they cast a positive or negative light on religion are done to set the tone of a novel.
I totally would understand peoples concerns if we happened to be reading a Theological thesis aimed at disproving or discrediting a religion, sure we could shoot it down all the way, but there's definitely a fear in earth set fantasy novels to explore religion simply due to the nature of how peoples believes prejudice their opinion of a book based on how their religion is depicted.
Now back to the point I was originally making, the fact that Glen Cooks series is an urban based fantasy novel set in a fantasy universe this gives him a lot more room to show the negative sides of his cities religions without insulting anyone from the "real world" his way of doing so heralds back to how pagan religions first got started and how humans perceptions of their gods traits shaped the personalities of said gods.
Overall the story felt even quicker paced than usual as Garrett didn't seem to get more than a quite minute between events to collect his thoughts however the tale was so very well crafted as to not leave you feeling put out by this pacing.
Overall definitely my favourite entry yet, and a must read in the series.
Garrett for his part does not describe himself as an Atheist, or an Agnostic, and he certainly wouldn't describe himself as a believer, but more that he really just doesn't care either way, which the gods find a rather odd stance to take but which probably mirrors my own point of view someone, like Garrett himself says "I thought we had an agreement, I don't bother you and you don't bother me".
Unlike a lot of Urban fantasies which are set in our world, where people are very nervous about mentioning religion in any form due to the fact that someone, somewhere, will take offense at the depiction of their chosen religion being shown one way or the other, which in a fantasy novel I dislike to see people take these things so seriously because it is fantasy (therefore made up and not to be taken overly seriously), where most events, whether they cast a positive or negative light on religion are done to set the tone of a novel.
I totally would understand peoples concerns if we happened to be reading a Theological thesis aimed at disproving or discrediting a religion, sure we could shoot it down all the way, but there's definitely a fear in earth set fantasy novels to explore religion simply due to the nature of how peoples believes prejudice their opinion of a book based on how their religion is depicted.
Now back to the point I was originally making, the fact that Glen Cooks series is an urban based fantasy novel set in a fantasy universe this gives him a lot more room to show the negative sides of his cities religions without insulting anyone from the "real world" his way of doing so heralds back to how pagan religions first got started and how humans perceptions of their gods traits shaped the personalities of said gods.
Overall the story felt even quicker paced than usual as Garrett didn't seem to get more than a quite minute between events to collect his thoughts however the tale was so very well crafted as to not leave you feeling put out by this pacing.
Overall definitely my favourite entry yet, and a must read in the series.
April 8, 2015
ok, I love Garrett. I do. But this one was...I don't know, kind of nonsensical. plus meh.
It so didnt make a lot of sense, and the resolution didnt seem to have a lot to do with Garrett. The dead man played a bigger part, which was nice to see after last time when he slept through the whole book. This book was a lot of Garrett being in a bad mood and getting jumped by Godesses. I think the author had to have been in a bad place when he wrote this one.
I otherwise like this series, and I had been warned this one wasn't too good, so I will keep on, as I know both Garrett and Cook are capable of a lot better.
It so didnt make a lot of sense, and the resolution didnt seem to have a lot to do with Garrett. The dead man played a bigger part, which was nice to see after last time when he slept through the whole book. This book was a lot of Garrett being in a bad mood and getting jumped by Godesses. I think the author had to have been in a bad place when he wrote this one.
I otherwise like this series, and I had been warned this one wasn't too good, so I will keep on, as I know both Garrett and Cook are capable of a lot better.
May 10, 2019
wow this one was awesome, a lot of fantasy elements here and tons of intense moments. It felt a lot like black company at times because of the description of gods and areas. I liked the explanation of where the gods came from and what they do. The big reveal and climax was a bit hard to follow but i got the gist of it. Really loved this one. Adeth was disappointing and Morely was being a huge tool in this one though.
July 31, 2017
More Garrett and even more Garrett. Some rather confusing gods and it comes together with a bang. It lost a star for some of the confusion.
January 5, 2020
Intresting take on Gods, still similar to Pratchett's Small gods but here they are powerful despite their believers numbers. Intresting and good story.
Read
December 7, 2023With every next book it is less clear what is going on, but the humor stays on the same level, which is enough to have fun reading. Nevertheless, it would be great to get a better understanding on the story plot and all the numerous characters involved...
October 14, 2021
Did you ever feel like the gods had it in for you? Well Garrett does and they're turning up all over town making his life a living. . . Heck. There's only so much room on the street of the gods, something has to give and it's up to Garrett to figure things out.
And remember. . . Nog is inescapable.
And remember. . . Nog is inescapable.
January 9, 2014
Was it satisfying as being the reason(using subjective cover and title elements) to starting reading the series?
What a gem…finally Cook goes deep into 1 of the backstory!, oh wait he did that in all other books… but is nice to see the gods demystified, rounded up and made human/appealing, before being thrown as dust in the wind, as clients of the big G.
So whats this all about, using a juicy & convincing-tory terms
Personal&Private Investigator/Instigator Garrett gets tangled in a apparently pointless, god decreted, quest..that shakes 1 of the fundamental aspect of the TunFaire mystical and magical universe. What else I can say… except, expect the classic, barely open end, that will be brought back/mentioned in one of the the upcoming x0 books :)
Are you moving on to the next 1?
It’s sick, as I cannot stop reading them, although is really not world creating literature …. I mean it is, but on a micro scale… I guess it’s Cook and there is nothing/no one like him …micro as in similar to his landmark Black company, but not his only grandiose and history marking work …critics BEWARE …U SUCK when limiting artists to single pieces of work!!!
Special thoughts?
No idea why..maybe cause the holiday traveling, maybe cause of the USUAL limited reading time(30min per day for 2 weeks, during working hours), but I seemed to have finished it very quickly, having in account that it felt complete, long, wo going astray, but still being fulfilling, in regards to new characters, old loves, mentioning, old plot reminders from the prev books… a huge bag of love this book :)
What a gem…finally Cook goes deep into 1 of the backstory!, oh wait he did that in all other books… but is nice to see the gods demystified, rounded up and made human/appealing, before being thrown as dust in the wind, as clients of the big G.
So whats this all about, using a juicy & convincing-tory terms
Personal&Private Investigator/Instigator Garrett gets tangled in a apparently pointless, god decreted, quest..that shakes 1 of the fundamental aspect of the TunFaire mystical and magical universe. What else I can say… except, expect the classic, barely open end, that will be brought back/mentioned in one of the the upcoming x0 books :)
Are you moving on to the next 1?
It’s sick, as I cannot stop reading them, although is really not world creating literature …. I mean it is, but on a micro scale… I guess it’s Cook and there is nothing/no one like him …micro as in similar to his landmark Black company, but not his only grandiose and history marking work …critics BEWARE …U SUCK when limiting artists to single pieces of work!!!
Special thoughts?
No idea why..maybe cause the holiday traveling, maybe cause of the USUAL limited reading time(30min per day for 2 weeks, during working hours), but I seemed to have finished it very quickly, having in account that it felt complete, long, wo going astray, but still being fulfilling, in regards to new characters, old loves, mentioning, old plot reminders from the prev books… a huge bag of love this book :)
December 1, 2015
I have liked Garrett from the first adventure I took with him but this one did not seem very exciting or interesting. The story was alright I guess since it did at least have an awake Dead Man for once, he has been asleep for awhile. The new characters introduced did not seem very lively or appealing but kind of dull and lackluster. This was one that I had a hard time getting into and even when I did I just kept going because I like Garrett and his bits of sarcasm enough to overlook a weak plot line.
Garrett finds himself in the middle of a contest between two groups of gods in Tunefaire. The refugees from the Cantard have brought their own pantheon of gods to the Street of Dreams and now one of the existing pantheons is going to have to move out. Lucky Garrett, he gets to figure who is going to get the last location at the bottom of the street. He gets snatched by the Godoroth first and even though he does not commit he gets waylaid by the Shayir, the other pantheon and told he cannot leave until he helps them. What can he do but escape and go into hiding. He has never been very big on gods in the past and now he can see that they are not anything more than a bunch of thugs who just want to be worshiped.
This was not the best so far and I have a ways to go but if you want the continuity you have to read it. Just know that there are some truly slow spots. But it is still Garrett even if he is not handling a good mystery this time.
Garrett finds himself in the middle of a contest between two groups of gods in Tunefaire. The refugees from the Cantard have brought their own pantheon of gods to the Street of Dreams and now one of the existing pantheons is going to have to move out. Lucky Garrett, he gets to figure who is going to get the last location at the bottom of the street. He gets snatched by the Godoroth first and even though he does not commit he gets waylaid by the Shayir, the other pantheon and told he cannot leave until he helps them. What can he do but escape and go into hiding. He has never been very big on gods in the past and now he can see that they are not anything more than a bunch of thugs who just want to be worshiped.
This was not the best so far and I have a ways to go but if you want the continuity you have to read it. Just know that there are some truly slow spots. But it is still Garrett even if he is not handling a good mystery this time.
January 4, 2012
As with Deadly Quicksilver Lies, I didn't start out liking this. It's still not my favorite of the Garrett novels, but how bad can a book be when Cthulhu has a cameo? Cook taps into the same concept that Terry Pratchett and P.C. Hodgell did to bring us a story about the existence of gods being dependent on human belief in them, though the book is less about the philosophical ramifications of that idea and more about a melee between two pantheons scrabbling to stay alive. I also think that Glen Cook's working title for this book must have been something like Garrett, P.I.: Fantasy Gigolo. I swear he sees more action in this book than in all seven of the previous ones combined.
March 29, 2009
My least favorite of the Garrett PI series so far. It was a bit hazy on plot. . .even when all was said and done, I still wasn't sure what was going on. The whole book seemed to consist of Garrett trying to either (1) get to the Dream Quarter or (2) Sneak into his home.
June 1, 2019
Petty Pewter Gods is the eighth book in the Garrett P.I. series written by Glen Cook and centered on the adventures of private investigator Garrett.
With the sudden end of the war in Cantard, TunFaire is in a state of unrest by returning former soldiers who are at odds with the half-breeds and immigrants who have taken their places in society. Garrett, however, has his own problems to worry about as he gets knocked out, brought before a group of small-time gods known as the Godoroth, and forced into working for them. The goal: find the "key" to the one remaining temple up for grabs in TunFaire, and do so before the Shayir, their rivals. The Shayir find out about the Godoroth's plans and also capture Garrett and give him their side of the story. Cat, a renegade Shayir, helps Garrett escape.
As the civil unrest escalates into full-fledged street warfare, the Godoroth and Shayir elevate their search for Garrett, and Cat, who has her own agenda, but is apparently the only one Garrett can trust. When the battle between the Godoroth and Shayir spills over into the world of the living, causing madness in the streets of TunFaire, the more powerful gods of the city decide it is time to intervene.
Petty Pewter Gods is written somewhat well. Cook continues to expand the world of TunFaire, although the narrative is comparatively nonsensical than his previous installments. While the writing is wonderful, the narrative is extremely crazy with numerous logical flaws in the narrative. Furthermore, there is no mystery to solve, as Garrett is forced to do something for the gods. While there is humor in this installment, most of it is in bad taste.
All in all, Petty Pewter Gods is written somewhat well and is a somewhat good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series, which I plan to continue in the very near future.
With the sudden end of the war in Cantard, TunFaire is in a state of unrest by returning former soldiers who are at odds with the half-breeds and immigrants who have taken their places in society. Garrett, however, has his own problems to worry about as he gets knocked out, brought before a group of small-time gods known as the Godoroth, and forced into working for them. The goal: find the "key" to the one remaining temple up for grabs in TunFaire, and do so before the Shayir, their rivals. The Shayir find out about the Godoroth's plans and also capture Garrett and give him their side of the story. Cat, a renegade Shayir, helps Garrett escape.
As the civil unrest escalates into full-fledged street warfare, the Godoroth and Shayir elevate their search for Garrett, and Cat, who has her own agenda, but is apparently the only one Garrett can trust. When the battle between the Godoroth and Shayir spills over into the world of the living, causing madness in the streets of TunFaire, the more powerful gods of the city decide it is time to intervene.
Petty Pewter Gods is written somewhat well. Cook continues to expand the world of TunFaire, although the narrative is comparatively nonsensical than his previous installments. While the writing is wonderful, the narrative is extremely crazy with numerous logical flaws in the narrative. Furthermore, there is no mystery to solve, as Garrett is forced to do something for the gods. While there is humor in this installment, most of it is in bad taste.
All in all, Petty Pewter Gods is written somewhat well and is a somewhat good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series, which I plan to continue in the very near future.
April 4, 2024
Just to get it out of the way early, this book loses a half a star because the "mystery" is concluded in a less than satisfying way. It was just a bit too sudden for me. The ride to the ending was amazing which helps.
Everything else about this book is what I love about the series.
Contrary to the last book this one makes Tunfaire(the city Garrett lives in) feel like a real place and not just a bucket full of people Garret knows. The weight of the previous books is much lighter here but still gives you great cameos from the past.
Yet again Cook just sneaks some amazing stuff into what should be a run of the mill detective novel.
The city is close to bubbling over from racial tensions. Secret police have started to show up in crowds to deal with race riots.
You get a deep dive into the pantheon of gods in the city and how their hierarchy functions in the world.
A dash of cosmic horror which is always fun.
The best part is the humor he throws at you when you least expect it alongside the moments where he just slaps you in the face some of the best writing I have ever seen out on a page. It isn't fair. I'm getting whiplash.
The book is great, the series is still great, and I will be reading book 9 soon.
More people should give this series a chance. They are fun pallette cleansers with a lot of meta humor and satirical musings on the fantasy/noir genres.
Everything else about this book is what I love about the series.
Contrary to the last book this one makes Tunfaire(the city Garrett lives in) feel like a real place and not just a bucket full of people Garret knows. The weight of the previous books is much lighter here but still gives you great cameos from the past.
Yet again Cook just sneaks some amazing stuff into what should be a run of the mill detective novel.
The city is close to bubbling over from racial tensions. Secret police have started to show up in crowds to deal with race riots.
You get a deep dive into the pantheon of gods in the city and how their hierarchy functions in the world.
A dash of cosmic horror which is always fun.
The best part is the humor he throws at you when you least expect it alongside the moments where he just slaps you in the face some of the best writing I have ever seen out on a page. It isn't fair. I'm getting whiplash.
The book is great, the series is still great, and I will be reading book 9 soon.
More people should give this series a chance. They are fun pallette cleansers with a lot of meta humor and satirical musings on the fantasy/noir genres.
July 26, 2018
So... you know how in every Garrett P.I. story our detective's character develops in the end? He always learns something, like 'don't trust old generals' or 'everyone has their demons... like literally'. Here... there's nothing. Nothing really changes. Things just happen, kind of randomly and I don't think we - as readers that do not possess the mental capacity of the Dead Man - can ever think what will happen next and what's the reason behind it all.
This is the first book in Garrett P.I. series that I didn't necessarily enjoy. Throughout the whole story I felt like all events happened somewhere around Garrett but not exactly to him -- or that he had any importance whatsoever. There wasn't too much place for any detective work, no deductive/inductive skills were ever required, Garrett just repeatedly got beaten up pretty badly. Not my kind of character development!
After all, you just end up thinking, 'what the hell has just happened?'. For me, there was definitely too much pondering the meaninglessness of religion, and not enough Garrett substance we all showed up for.
This is the first book in Garrett P.I. series that I didn't necessarily enjoy. Throughout the whole story I felt like all events happened somewhere around Garrett but not exactly to him -- or that he had any importance whatsoever. There wasn't too much place for any detective work, no deductive/inductive skills were ever required, Garrett just repeatedly got beaten up pretty badly. Not my kind of character development!
After all, you just end up thinking, 'what the hell has just happened?'. For me, there was definitely too much pondering the meaninglessness of religion, and not enough Garrett substance we all showed up for.
December 1, 2025
The book was a fun read, with a added twist for this series. Pulling from earlier works of Fritz Liber, the main character is pulled into divine politics of 'Street of the Gods'. Through this case the main character is given more reason to hold a cynical view of the world. Garrett is given a job, but he never really accepts it.
This book didn't feel like a detective story. The main character is forced into a situation beyond his control, and I feel is more reactive than proactive. But it is a fun story, and is perhaps my second Garrett book to date.
The reason I call on Fritz Liber is that in his works, Fafrd and the Grey Mouser. There exist a 'street of the Gods' which functions the same way as the one in this series. (at least on the physical level). Though this earlier author doesn't spend much time on the divine politics of the street, the gods themselves in the series can be seen as petty.
This book didn't feel like a detective story. The main character is forced into a situation beyond his control, and I feel is more reactive than proactive. But it is a fun story, and is perhaps my second Garrett book to date.
The reason I call on Fritz Liber is that in his works, Fafrd and the Grey Mouser. There exist a 'street of the Gods' which functions the same way as the one in this series. (at least on the physical level). Though this earlier author doesn't spend much time on the divine politics of the street, the gods themselves in the series can be seen as petty.
July 11, 2025
Easily the weakest book in the series so far; I actually think I’m being generous with a 3. The book fleshes out some Tunfaire lore, but past that doesn’t offer much. It starts out poorly, with inconsistencies between the start of this book and how the last one ended, and although the first half of the book sets things up relatively interestingly the entire thing is riddled with Garrett character tropes ratcheted up to 11. The major story crescendos are confusingly written and given very little space, making for a completely underwhelming finale.
January 23, 2019
I wasn't that impressed with this one. The story is a little wild and doesn't really seem to have a point. A lot of things are going on and obviously Garret is in the middle of it but it seems to be that he wasn't prevalent to the story. It just kind of worked it self out without any real outside influence. It was more like Garret was along for the ride instead of figuring anything out. The punch lines were still good and Garret being Garret the story was fun in that sense.
May 20, 2023
Garrett and friends are off on another rollicking adventure. This time our intrepid hero is selected to be the judge and jury to decide which of two sets of low level gods will be kicked off of the Streatbof Dreams and fade into oblivion. Garrett is introduced, see beaten to a pulp, by both sets of gods and can’t choose between them. Before it’s all said and done large parts of bot sets are destroyed and Garrett enjoys the temptations of several goddesses.
A very good read.
A very good read.
October 16, 2021
Certainly wild and with plenty of the typical Garrett ridiculousness, but a little too gratuitous and unfocused for me. I’m also not sure why, but this printing was absolutely full of typos—lots of f’s became r’s, lots of missing periods, lots of misplaced quotation marks…no clue what was going on there.
January 11, 2021
As much as I've enjoyed the Garrett PI series this is a pretty clear low point. Confusing and often bordering on nonsensical, Garrett's encounters with the gods of TunFaire was not half as entertaining as it should have been and I'm glad that the next book seems to be a return to form.
February 13, 2023
It's getting too much, I mean ok all women are hot and the especially beutiful ones are "morsels". But now he beds a bunch of goddesses, one after the other from some forgotten pantheons.
As I said, a lil too much, even if it was written in 1995.
As I said, a lil too much, even if it was written in 1995.
September 22, 2024
This was my 8th book in this series (I started at the beginning). The first seven books were outstanding...5 stars all the way. This one just didn't have the same feel. Even the normal characters you expect to be around were used sparingly, if at all.
May 1, 2025
Started with decent expectations of a bit of a mystery plot, but about halfway through took a sharp right-hand turn into a miasmatic swamp of obtuse pseudo religious discursive monologuing. Not on par with other works in this series. Would rather have read about the actions on the Cantard.
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