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Summary: In the beginning....
Review: The Black Company is one of the great creations of modern fantasy. In a genre in which most stories are starkly black and white--really great good guys and really bad villans--the Black Company (contra its name) lives in grey. In a genre in which heroes are all-knowing and all-powerful, the Black Company is filled with fallible, vulnerable humans. Yet, they nevertheless are the baddest outfit around. Remember how we reworked Psalm 23 back in the '60s? "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil--for I am the baddest SOB in the valley!" That could be the Black Company motto.One of the things I like best about Cook's novels is that the story line is more important than the individual characters. There are no Gandalfs here--no all-powerful wizards (who never seem to do anything with their power) that are all-knowing and all-good. (The bad guys come closest and even they can be killed...eventually...if you try hard enough.) There is an over-riding sense of reality to the series: Characters screw up--just like in real life. Characters die--just like in real life. Good guys turn bad--just like in real life. Bad guys turn out to have socially redemming qualities--just like in real life. Black Company is the first novel in the opening trilogy of what has become "The Saga that Would not End." I am not a big fan of never-ending stories, but must admit that Cook does it better than most. In any case, the opening trilogy is pure joy--highly recommended. "Black Company" tells the story of how the Company came into the service of Lady, a sorceress of great power who rules a purportedly evil empire in the northern part of the Company's world. Should the Company serve evil? Do they have a choice? One of the striking things about the Black Company is Cook's notion of honor. The Company's code of ethics is focused almost wholly inwardly. Honor vis-a-vis the outside world consists of keeping one's contracts. Otherwise, honor is focused on one's relationships within the Company. This is both the Company's greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. A critical element of the series is the Company's gradual coming to grips with the nonsustainability of its ethical structure.
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Summary: The Best Book I Have Ever Read!
Review: From the opening paragraph, I was hooked - and that was back in 1986 when I first read the book. I have owned four copies to date, and I keep lending them out and not getting them back again... The Black Company has everything a fantasy novel should - great characters with cool names (Croaker, Raven, One-Eye, etc), a plot that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go, and a fantasy world that is SO real and believable. The on-going series of books is excellent, but none have better the debut. Love it to death!
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Summary: The Darker Side of Fantasy
Review: This is a book for readers who prefer a harder edge to their fantasy than is offered up in most books in the genre (I guess I'll join the Jordan-bashing bandwagon here and use that as an example). Heroes aren't always nice guys, villians aren't always pure evil, and you never know who will live and who will die. Cook has the courage to treat the battles in this book as battles really are; chaotic, bloody, painful. There are enough magic spells, monsters, and enchanted items here to keep the book from bogging itself down in the "too realistic to be REAL fantasy" trap, which is a good thing. My only complaint (and this is remedied in later books in the series) is that it took me awhile to get to know the characters. Maybe I'm getting old and slow, but while Cook's choice to bring the reader into the story right in the middle of the Company's latest campaign serves the mood of the book very well, I found myself constantly trying to remember who everyone was before they got killed. Still, it's a strong 1st book in a series that keeps getting more daring and readable as it goes on. You'll be tearing through them by the third book.
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Summary: THE BEST OF THE SERIES
Review: I was truly astounded by this book. I avoided it for years due to the longtime cliche; 'You can't judge a book by it's cover'. Well judge I did. I am happy to say I was horribly wrong. This book is a work of art in my opinion. Told from the point of view of the company physician, this takes The Company into the service of a powerful sorcerer/ess and beyond. It was quite refreshing to have the tale told from the point of view from within rather than without. Far too many books take a third person omniscient stance that can be inhibiting to the personal growth of the people the tale is about. This book does not fall prey to that. I would give it a higher rating if I could
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Summary: A Black Opal found amongst the slag
Review: An aquaintance of mine was moving and handed me a bag of used books that he no longer wanted. Most of it was sleazy sci-fi and fantasy that did nothing more than follow the genre's formula writing. Then I ran across this book. I then went out and bought every other Black Company book I could find. To say it is dark is understating the tone of the book. As often as Croaker tries to remind the reader that they are not always nice, and as much as he gives you warnings of what is to come, the reality of how dark their world is tends to reach out and grab you at points throughout the entire series. The book begins with the Company trying to find their way out of a contract and succeeding legally, if not ethically. That sets the tone for the book and reminds you right up front, they are a mercenary company and fights for whoever pays them. Cook paints not only a picture of mercenary life in the employ of the dark forces, but also the political intrigue within the entire structure of the ruling class. He effectively has you cheering for a group of cutthroats and murderers, because comparitavely, they are the good guys. If you like dark novels, I highly recommend this one.
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Summary: Changing Pace
Review: After having read and reflected on Glen Cook's Novel The Black Company, I can truly sit back and appreciate his efforts. Being an avid fan of fantasy adventure, I found Cook's novel to be refreshing and tantalizingly dark. Cook offers the reader a rare, personal glimpse into the heart of his character Croaker. The reader knows only what he knows and we can appreciate and understand the Companies struggle with moral issues as Croaker sees them and explains them. Finally, a fantasy book that explores the desires of the good and the evil which co-exist in the world and by the end, the reader has to really wonder what is the good or the evil. In this way Cook is able to take a mere fantasy story and turn it into something more real and important. I highly recommend the Black Company, although it is not for the weak hearted or for those who like to see good triumph. Instead it is a journey into a man's soul and his attempts (and ours as readers) to understand the driving ambitions of human nature.
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Summary: Good Book, but not a classic
Review: I liked Black Company. Cook was new to me and a welcome addition to my list of "authors I can buy a book from now and then". The short, hard style of writing provides a welcome change from the long, page-consuming descriptions given by other authors (e.g. Goodkind). To me, the situation reminded me very much of the 30years war, but reading other reviews, the author succeeded obviously in describing mercenaries in every major war. What I liked the most about this book was the honesty about the trade of war and that the protagonist does not know more (and thus reader does not know more) than he actually can know. So things are confused sometimes, cannot be explained fully and turn out differently than expected. Customers that liked this book should read: 1. Battlecry by Leon Uris 2. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer 3. Simplicissimus by Grimmelshausen 4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin I'm looking forward to reading part II.
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Summary: One of the best, no question.
Review: This is the first book of one of the absolute best fantasy series ever written. In my opinion, the Black Company series ranks in the top three of all time (with Lord of the Rings and Nine Princes in Amber, though we're comparing apples and oranges here). Maybe it's not for everyone, but then again some people think that the Harlequin romance series, "Wheel of Time," which is thinly veiled as fantasy, is worth reading. :) Even if you don't tend to like Glen Cook, you may well enjoy this series. I, for one, don't like much else he's written, but he's reached down deep inside himself somewhere and dredged this tale out of his very soul. My favorite books in this series are the first two (man, the second one is truly grim), and the peripherally related "The Silver Spike".
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Summary: Buy this book!
Review: You are shooting yourself in the foot unless you buy this book! It will make you laugh, make you shiver and make you sad.
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Summary: Your Hair Will Stand On End
Review: You may experience nightmares and shivering, and a reluctance to give your true name. You may even have to change your underwear, but that will be from laughing at the antics of Goblin and One-Eye as they haze each other with annoying spells. This is the kind of book you wake up at 3am thinking about, especially if you've ever been in a war.
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