Rating: 
Summary: A major work of fantasy.
Review: There are two series in fantasy today which I consider "must-reads," the Black Company by Glen Cook, and Jhereg by Stephen Bhurst. Gritty, down to earth and with some amazing characters and situations, The Black Company not only creates a compelling, epic world but also takes the reader into the motivations and thoughts of a band of mercenaries working for, and indeed as "the bad guys."Dont pass this up.
Rating: 
Summary: Scarcity Creates Value
Review: Why is it that heavy, lusterless platinum is worth so much, and malleable, shining tin so little? I suppose we're so used to ripping tin in sheets to wrap our sandwiches that platinum -- only found on the fingers of the rich and famous -- seems somehow certain to be better. And that, I suppose, is the story behind The Black Company. The Black Company is a rare lump in a sea of derivative and overwrought fantasy books. Having read an enormous quantity of fantasy during the 80's and 90's -- pretty much every popular fantasy novel -- I feel comfortable in saying that Cook is out of synch with contemporary fantasy. The only real comparisons can be drawn to the 30's pulp crowd -- CA Smith, RE Howard. Cook's writing is spare and unadorned -- which is nice, in a world where fantasy is sold by the pound and Goodkind and Jordan's arms race has breached a thousand pages a book -- and his authorial voice is unique. He combines the thesaurus-pretentions of a Lovecraft (many times using words improperly, just to be able to replace a simple word with a long one) in his descriptions with contemporary vernacular in character speech: "None of this grab-a**ing," one character tells another. His characters are brutish and simplistic, as oppposed to the soap-opera complexities and interbreeding of normal fantasy fare. Personality is developed through games of gin-rummy (called Tonk) and cleaning nails with daggers and what-not. A lot of people say that Cook's writing display more shades of moral grays than is standard for fantasy. I disagree. Rather, Cook takes the "cool" approach that everyone is really evil, so it's foolish to say that an evil undead lady who systematically rapes and plunders is worse than an ostensibly good rebel general who rapes and plunders too. Yawn. With Chomsky eloquence, Cook declaims, "Evil is relative. Good is what you choose to fight for." Then, with equal simplicity, we learn, "Nothing is worse than hurting a child. Children are precious, and girl children even more precious." Oh well. What makes the book's morality more interesting than standard fare is simply that there is none of the saccharine "do-no-wrong" absurdity that typifies traditional protagonists. After being deluged by heroes who are women's suffragists, environmentalists, economic socialists, and might wizards, there's something refreshing about a band of mercenaries that really just wants a steady pay and a warm bed. Cook gets a long way with this conceit: light moralizing, light description, vernacular dialogue, lots of action. The writing is poor and the characters shallow, the premise utterly and shamelessly cloned from traditional fantasy (the ancient evil with his ten henchmen facing the rebellious wizards), the pacing choppy, and the "science" of the battles utterly lacking in plausibility. You would think that the author of a swords-and-sorcery war tale would at least do cursory research into low-tech tactics. All we get are moats and halberd lines. In the end, going from -- say -- Jordan to Cook is like going from the lousy meatloaf you've been eating at a lunch counter for years to the lousy lasagna you've never tried before. He's not really a good writer and Black Company isn't really a good book, but at least it's a change. If you're looking for different AND well-written stories, Hobb, Kay, MacKillip, Moorcock, and Wolfe are much better choices than Cook.
Rating: 
Summary: don't waste your time
Review: I will admit that I enjoyed this book when I read it. Despite its incredibly shallow charecters and its indifferent writing I enjoyed it. Despite the fact that the bad guys were known by such names as Nightcrawler and Shapechanger I enjoyed it. But after reading this book and several of the ones that come after it I was left with the feeling that I wasted my time. if you are looking for a trashy piece of fluff to get you through the night read this book, but if you want something remotely meaningful my advice is to move on.
Rating:
Summary: Different from most fantasy. And that's a good thing.
Review: I've been reading fantasy on and off for years now and was frankly getting a little tired of the genre. But I read this book with delight. Unlike most other "dark fantasy," this book managed to walk the marvelous line of maintaining likeable characters; I never felt ham-handedly manipulated or jerked around, and I never wanted to throw the book down in disgust (like I do when I read, for example, George R.R. Martin, whose idea of "dark fantasy" is "Haha, you like that character? I KEEL HIM!") The plots were clever and relatively original; the author communicated a real sense of the personalities of all the major characters, and they moved in a world that felt "real." The book was good enough to suspend my disbelief; it got me and took me in. The closest parallels in tone I can think of are perhaps the old Fritz Leiber Lankhmar books, or what the Theives' World series wanted to be but didn't manage. Maybe some of the earlier, better Michael Moorcock stories. Is this book as polished as some of the stuff that's coming out now? No. Heck, there isn't even a map, much less detailed historical accuracy in the weapons, or completely invented languages, or whatever else. That's not what this is; it's closer in spirit to Robert E. Howard than it is to Robert Jordan. A little primitive; a little rough around the edges. But good, worth reading, and unique.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting book
Review: An interesting book. Not great--but interesting. If you're looking for emotional depth of character you won't find it here. More like a shale stone skimmed across a still pond at midnight. The book is aptly named though, because the general feeling surrounding the reader is dark. After reading, you'll know about ash and gray, dripping skies, and trodding through bleak, sucking mud. A campaigners story indeed, told from the perspective of the mercenary company chronicler, Croaker. Beyond that I didn't find the book very satisfying. The most details were in the 'magical' mock-battles between the company's two twisted sorcerers--and they didn't add anything to the story. Distraction on the surface thoughts of Croaker, whom like the rest of the characters, didn't really seem to have deeper thoughts, just a little un-ease at life in general. Perhaps it was a common miasma of the mercenary soldier whose only existence is to wait around in boredom till they are either marching around or fighting to the death with someone else and with no reason why except "just because". I much prefer Steven Brust's fantasy soldiers' view in his book "Dragon". At least there [Dragon] you get some details of food, equipment, conversation and soldier philosophy between those whom may not be friends, but are definitely comrades. You even get the added bonus of caring about the characters. The final problem is there are no introductions to added characters along the way. You just get a name dropped out of the sky and that's that. Rather confusing, and you're often left wondering why they are even there. Still, if you're looking for a book to just pass the time, one without an emotional ride whatsoever--this is for you. ;)
Rating:
Summary: DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
Review: "....I shy off portraying the whole truth about our band of blackguards. You know they are vicious, violent, and ignorant. They are complete barbarians, living out their cruelest fantasies, their behavior tempered only by the presence of a few decent men...." (Page 143) In these few well-chosen words does Croaker, the viewpoint character, describe the Black Company. Dr. Croaker, physician and historian, is one of the "few decent men," and probably one of the few you will care about in this novel which I found so odd. It moves very fast--no Jordanish descriptions of horse furniture or scabbards here! Action, action, everywhere--no time to stop and think. The political situation is described in fits and starts, bit by bit; there is no map (which is incredible--Cook's fans have put a couple up on their website); every character has some strange one-word name--I was longing to find a John Smith amidst the Silents and Whispers and Limpers and Ravens. We never learn for sure what the Black Company is armed with (bows and halberds?) or how it is organized. We don't find out for almost 200 pages how many men it has.There is, believe it or not, NOT ONE pitched battle in the book--no tactics, no maneuvers, no units meeting in melee. (The huge final series of fights is purely defensive inside fortifications and described in rather childish terms militarily: endless hordes of Rebels, endless casualties, endless assaults--it reminded me of the idiotic battles in Brooks's Elfstones of Shannara.) As other reviewers have said, there is not any simplistic good or evil side. However, for me there is too much bad--see my opening quote. There are many fairly memorable characters and lots of things happen, but I cannot see how this vague plot and sometimes vague events add up to more than three stars. I read that Mr. Cook was able to do some of his writing while "working" at an auto plant. Good for him--but it shows, it shows. But I will read the next two in the series, by golly, and that's more than I can say for most multi-volume fantasy authors these days.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprising and Memorable
Review: ...I was a bit confused by the unique perspective and odd plot of this book at first. The rapid pace kept me going though, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The Black Company is one of those stories that presents good and evil as a matter of perspective rather than the "this character good, this character bad" setup that we've all been subjected to. It also moves quickly, you're on the march with soldiers rather than brooding about personal conflicts or desribing EVERY detail about a place.
My only complaint, the thing that kept me from giving 5 stars to this book, was the "off camera" rape scene...Having rape in a book can really help flesh out the atrocities of war, but personally I have great difficulty empathising with otherwise likeable characters who take an such an "aw, shucks" attitude toward comitting rape. I reccomend the second book, 'Shadows Linger,' as well, I actually liked it better since I had gotten into Cook's style and could empathise with the characters a bit more.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best book I ever read!
Review: Anyone that is remotely into fantasy should read this book. A teacher of mine recommended it to me and I didn't read it right away. I was then headed to St. Thomas for a vacation when there it was in the books store in the plane terminal. I figured I would give it a try. I was headed for a week long cruise and I knew that i would finish the book I was reading by the end of the pane ride. I didn't get to reading 'The Black Company' till the second day. I am an incredibly slow reader and I had it finished by the fourth day. I actually passed up at least two snorkeling excursions to read. It was an awesome book. I then picked up 'Shadows Linger' (next in the series) and didn't watch any movies on any of the plane rides bad. Great book that I think every one should read.
Rating:
Summary: Something different, yes!
Review: I first picked up this book in highschool and didn't make it past page 50. Ten years (and a tour in the army) later, I fell all over this series. I tend to cringe when I pick up a book and find out it's written in first person, but not so here. Croaker is a sarcastic irreverent narrator and his humor comes out even in the darkest moments. Speaking of dark moments, lots of them. This isn't a nice world. If you're looking for peace on earth and happily ever after, you won't find it in this series. But, if you're tired of cookie-cutter protagonists, I definitely recommend the mercenaries of the Black Company. They don't believe in good and evil and the only loyalty is to the outfit. Given that, I really recommend the books to an adult audience, but recommend them I do (in particular the first three).
Rating:
Summary: The Start of the Black Company!
Review: Glen Cook's "Black Company" certainly isn't for everyone, but for those who enjoy unusual characters who are not so much "heroes" as they are the "lesser" of two evils, then this is the series for you. There are times when his writing gets a little complicated, and it can be hard to follow, but you can forgive this flaw because the story and the characters are unique and engrossing. Highly recommended for fans of noir fiction, Roger Zelazney, dark humor, or Steven Brust. This book sets the stage, introducing the main character for the first three books (the Archivist) and many delicious villains. Great stuff!
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