I have to thank Moonbiter for getting me into this book series. I have read through this whole series and for sure Glen Cook doesn't follow the usual book fantasy formula. He builds an amazing but often cruel world, and despite a few dry stretches along the way, he keeps your interest and will throw in a twist and turn when it seems least expected. The veiwpoint is from the common grunt's eye, not from the nobles. I highly recommend this series as a read!
Here's a list of Glen Cook's
Black Company series of books and a brief synopsis:
- The Black Company
- Shadows Linger
- The White Rose
These three are called
The Books of the North and are also sometimes referred to as
The Annals of the Black Company. They are available as a single three book hardbound edition by that name (regularly listed on ebaY - advanced search under 'Books' for 'Glen Cook').
I will say here that the first two chapters of the First book
Black Company are kind of hard starting as names of some of the major characters are thrown out, and this has turned some people off from continuing to read them. If you have this issue, I hope you stay with it, or skip to chapter 3 titled Raker. It was a short in a sci-fi/fantasy mag and gets the book going. You can always go back and read the first two as a prequel if need be. A note on the chapters in the first book.. they are huge! Take the breaks when the story shifts a little or where the stars are.
The first three books start with the Black Company taking on a new contract with the Empire, and board ship to head north. Along the way they have to battle a rebellion against the empire, and in finally coming to the city of Charm, are faced with the downfall of said empire. Some good battles and sorcery along the way!
The next book is a stand alone that is a 'journal' of one of the characters you get to know in the
White Rose. Its an excellent book that takes place after the events of the
White Rose where an evil so dark attempts to arise. I think its one of the better books of the series.
The fifth and sixth books in the series are
The Books of the South:- Shadow Games
- Dreams of Steel
Shadow Games is the account of the rest of the Black Company as they journey south, minus the members who stayed north and are written about in
Silver Spike. The timelines of these two books are concurrent. Here is a synopsis of the two
Books of the South:
There are seven members of the Company left, and its a hard time for the Company.
Shadow Games covers what they encounter, and ultimatly, what they get mixed up in as they travel south, and introduces us to the Shadowmasters who fear their coming. After much intrigue and army-building, There come a climatic battle with the shadowmaster's.
Dreams of Steel continues from the aftermath of the battle, and is the first book written from a different character's point of view. The writing style is seemingly different, which is a great feat for an author to do in my opinion.
Then there is the more recent
Glittering Stone series.
- Bleak Seasons
- She Is the Darkness
- Water Sleeps
- Soldiers Live
The account in
Bleak Seasons is of the annalist protoge Murgen who we get to know starting in
Shadow Games. The account parallels events mentioned in
Dreams of Steel and is again, a bit different from the earlier writings.
She Is The Darkness gets us back to the writings of the original Annalist Croaker, and all he had been through since the end of
Shadow Games. The last couple chapters I noticed a changed writing style, and I felt the story got a little choppy. It seemed he may had let it sit for a time, and now hurried to finish to maybe meet a deadline. The story worked, but I thought it could have used another chapter to smooth it out.
Water Sleeps, and Soldiers Live are follow up adventures and closes out stories of many of the characters we come to know and love. Some new folk are introduced but not really developed, and it leaves open the door for more books in the future me thinks.
As a series, you can feel the morphing of the story through the years it took Glen Cook to write them, and at time I think he dwells too long on things that really didn't require so much verbage, and doesn't go into things I found intriguing. Overall I highly recommend reading this series.
Here are the book covers of most of them.
I found out
in this interview with Glen Cook. There may be a couple more Black Company books coming in a few years!
Yes, the Black Company is quite dark for sure. One of the things I liked about it was the way the battles were described, especially in the 4th to 6th books. Also, some of the characters seem 'real' and the composition of the Black Company at any one time is filled with 'everyman' types from all walks of life. I'm suprised this series isn't more popular. I guess it takes a grim sort of person to understand it.
I found a
Black Company Livejournal Community here. Woo Hoo!
Now about Tonk, a gambling card game played in the Black Company books.
Here are the rules! I had the opportunity to play this game a year or so ago, and it was quite fun.