Bleak Seasons

Rating:
Summary: Decent...but not Black Company Calibur
Review: *some possible spoilers for those new to the series and this book* This book is decent. However, at least in my opinion, dissapointing when compared with the previous 5 books (as well as Silver Spike) in the series. If you haven't read any of the previous books than don't buy this book, you may find it interesting and the writing impressive, but you will get lost fast and end up in frustration.

As always, Cook's writing is impressive and his story full of twists and turns that always keep you thinking. My main gripe with this book is that it didn't quite pick up where the 5th book, Dreams of Steel, left off. Dreams of Steel I thought was one of the better books in the series. It was pretty fast paced and refreshing because it was in the Lady's voice. The ending was pretty shocking and definitely a cliff hanger. I rushed to buy Bleak Seasons when i finished Dreams of Steel but was dismayed to find out that i was basically re-reading events already covered in Dreams of Steel but in more detail.

Bleak Seasons is written in the voice of Murgen, the company standardbearer. He suffers from flashbacks in this book that bring him back to the siege at Dejagore where he battles both shadowlanders and the insane Mogaba. Problem is, nothing is really learned here. theres the introduction of the Nyeung Bao, and thats about all we get out of these flashbacks. These flashbacks in my opinion slow the book down greatly, aren't all that exciting and aren't all that useful either. At times i felt i was re-reading Dreams of Steel.

Another problem is the character Murgen. I don't like him. I like a refreshing voice, as i did with Case in Silver Spike and Lady in Dreams of Steel, but this Murgen character is annoying. He seems like a clueless and humorless Croaker. He always seems to overlook the most obvious of clues and is not funny. Sometimes you just want to smack some sense into him when he keeps important details to himself and doesn't tell anyone things he saw or heard. The fact that the whole book is written from his perspective, without any third person as in the previous books, makes the book more frustrating because theres no escaping this unlikable personality of Murgen. The original book was written entirely from Croaker's perspective, but he was likeable. Murgen is simply a poor man's Croaker.

This book is just too darned slow, as if meant mainly to introduce us to Murgen, the Nyeung Bao and what further impact he could mean in the future. The Flashbacks, confusing at first, slow the book down and aren't informative of anything new and no ground is really made at all in this book. its as if the series hit the brakes and came to a screeching halt after the cliffhanger ending of Dreams of Steel. One last disturbing thing about this book is that the characters seem to have lost some of their depth. We don't see much of Lady at all, Croaker is not the same Croaker...though this is interesting, Otto and Hagop are absent for 99% of the book and One-eye and Goblin are just different...they use more colorful language now and seem less witty than before. Colorful language seems to have replaced alot of the wit in this book now that I think of it. Goblin actually is unheard of in the second half of the book. I missed their witty come backs and constant feuding in this book.

this is a decent book. i hope the latter books in the series re-discover the flavor of the previous books however. Im going to go buy the next book in the series, my fingers are crossed :)

Rating:
Summary: A cult classic and the dark side of Steven Brust
Review:
Imagine reading a series in which Steven Brust decides to explore the dark side of Vlad Taltos, and you have The Black Company.

The Black Company is an easy to identify with group for anyone with a career in law enforcement, the armed forces or health care. It's a series of books that captures the general feeling of those branches of service in which the constant exposure to the dark side of humanity numbs the senses and shapes the character into states of lower emotional connection to the world.

The Black Company is a group of misfits that have nothing in life but their brothers in The Company and whatever miserable situation they find themselves in at the time. The Company is life. The Company is the air that they breathe. And the Captain, the Lieutenant, and the Annalist and Standard Bearer are the people that hold the torch that leads the way into ever plunging darkness.

And it is that feeling of impenetrable doom mingled with the Company's "make the best of what life throws at us" attitude that is the reason that the reviews on all the Black Commpany books bring out such a wide variety of opinions. If you haven't lived this kind of life, you won't get these books, or enjoy them.

The people in the Company are at the end of society and have nothing else to do but put one foot in front of the other and hope that they stay alive just one more day, so that at least they can be miserable instead of dead.

Bleak Seasons is my favorite of all the Company books, and is in many ways like the rest of the Black Company series. It is a sarcastic, down to earth tale of the worst possible situation anyone can find themselves in, a siege, in which at least five different groups of people are forced to live together under the worst of circumstances, and where atrocity is a way of life.

There are the mandatory evil wizards all about, except with the refreshing angle of Cook's narrative in which we actually get to see and hear some of their more human sides: their doubts, their weaknesses, and the torment that goes with the territory.

Also refreshing is the mortality that Cook bestows all his characters with. Despite their awsome power, some of these wizards are quite afraid of dying, and are not exempt from making mistakes, or misjudging the unintended consequences of their actions. Because Cook takes us there, we see a fresh approach to the usual machinations in the fantasy genre.

Looking for dark plots? There aren't many, other than just plain darkness, dark humor, and doubt. Instead these bad guys are trying to get land, riches, and rule the world, much like modern day governments and tyrants.

So, you will either love it or hate it, and for good reason. These books aren't for everyone.

Cook thrives on describing the subtle but interesting relationship between those who are miserable and those who know how to make the best of being miserable. The difference is that the latter survive, while the former are trampled. The Company always survives as it is always better at handling misery by finding a little sunshine in the worst possible setting, through dark humor, liquor, dirty tricks, and if it is inevitable by figthing harder and smarter than its opposition.

But that simple premise is lost on many who are looking for something else in their reading. And that's fair enough, for this is not a series penned after Dumas or other precursors of the modern fantasy/adventure/swashbuckling genre.

More interesting is that here in this book, Cook steps away from Croaker and Lady, the usual protagonists, and focuses on Murgen, a less than enthusiastic character who finds himself in the unexpected position of being in charge under the worst possible set of conditions. His unorthodox style, dry wit, guaranteed bungling, and his solutions to problems, wrought by trial and error and obssessive reading of the Company diaries, The Annals, lead him to an interesting set of adventures during different time lines, which make Bleak Seasons a nice departure in this classic, but cultish series.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you and Welcome Back to the Black Company
Review: An exceptionally crafted story. It takes the process of time travel in a new direction and gives a real feeling of war. It is not glorious, it is survival. The Black Company is back in the form I loved in the first books, if a little softer. While it takes some effort to track the movement of Murgen through his experience it will in the end leave you wanting more which you definately get in Bleak Seasons.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, and yet somewhat disappointing
Review: Being a big fan of Cook's "Taken-infested" Black Company books, I was a little underwhelmed with this latest addition. Instead of moving forward with a story that had some good momentum, this back-filled the happenings in the city under siege throughout Dreams of Steel.

I did appreciate the mental trips of Murgen as it brought to life the terrible experiences living in a crowded city under siege without support outside. Murgen's Annuals are an interesting double-take of Dreams of Steel in that they illuminate major events from an inside perspective.

Hopefully Glen Cook will get out the next Black Company book in less than 6 years?? If not, have some respect for the Company and put 'em down for the BIG sleep.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, and yet somewhat disappointing
Review: Being a big fan of Cook's "Taken-infested" Black Company books, I was a little underwhelmed with this latest addition. Instead of moving forward with a story that had some good momentum, this back-filled the happenings in the city under siege throughout Dreams of Steel.

I did appreciate the mental trips of Murgen as it brought to life the terrible experiences living in a crowded city under siege without support outside. Murgen's Annuals are an interesting double-take of Dreams of Steel in that they illuminate major events from an inside perspective.

Hopefully Glen Cook will get out the next Black Company book in less than 6 years?? If not, have some respect for the Company and put 'em down for the BIG sleep.

Rating:
Summary: Easily my favorite book in the series
Review: Bleak Seasons is the best book in the Black Company series so far, as far as I am concerned. It is dark, moody, and the story wrenches you back and forth. It takes place simultaneously with Dreams of Steel and fills in the details of the brutal siege the company survived. Of all the books, this one is my favorite.

Rating:
Summary: Decent...but not Black Company Calibur
Review: Glen Cook's Black Company novels are some of the best fantasy books on the market. Gritty, fast-paced, humorous, and realistic, the books are definitely page-turners. When I was just getting into Bleak Seasons, I was disappointed to realize that much of it would concern the same events that occurred in Dreams of Steel, but from a different perspective. It was better than I expected though. Some questions from the previous book are answered while new questions come to light. Cook's dark humor, largely absent from Dreams of Steel, is definitely back in Bleak Seasons. I also love the mysterious voice (I won't spoil it by revealing who the voice belongs to) that welcomes Murgen back when he has his mental trips into the past. Black Company fans will enjoy the book. Readers unfamiliar with the Black Company owe it to themselves to get the first book, The Black Company, and read the entire series.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of the Black Company, but still very good.
Review: Glen Cook's Black Company novels are some of the best fantasy books on the market. Gritty, fast-paced, humorous, and realistic, the books are definitely page-turners. When I was just getting into Bleak Seasons, I was disappointed to realize that much of it would concern the same events that occurred in Dreams of Steel, but from a different perspective. It was better than I expected though. Some questions from the previous book are answered while new questions come to light. Cook's dark humor, largely absent from Dreams of Steel, is definitely back in Bleak Seasons. I also love the mysterious voice (I won't spoil it by revealing who the voice belongs to) that welcomes Murgen back when he has his mental trips into the past. Black Company fans will enjoy the book. Readers unfamiliar with the Black Company owe it to themselves to get the first book, The Black Company, and read the entire series.

Rating:
Summary: The long awaited but somewhat letdown Black Company novel
Review: I first started reading the Black Company series around 1990. Once I started I read all of them in a matter of a month. So after waiting for what seemed like an eternity I was suprised that Mr. Cook decided to alter his storyline. Don't get me wrong he is a brilliant writer but this book begins a significantly different variation from his earlier works. The story continues to be told as of old through the eyes of the annalist but since a new annalist is now telling the story you would think that this new annalist would tell it with their own personal flare. It still sounds like Croaker telling the story but Croakers the captian now and Murgan is Annalist. This book sounds like Cook has reached a critical point in where he wants the series to go but he hasn't quite figured it out yet. On its own this is a great book but within the series it definitly lacks something that the earlier books had.Commented on by an avid reader in Central Delaware.

Rating:
Summary: A cult classic and the dark side of Steven Brust
Review: Imagine reading a series in which Steven Brust decides to explore the dark side of Vlad Taltos, and you have The Black Company.

The Black Company is an easy to identify with group for anyone with a career in law enforcement, the armed forces or health care. It's a series of books that captures the general feeling of those branches of service in which the constant exposure to the dark side of humanity numbs the senses and shapes the character into states of lower emotional connection to the world.

The Black Company is a group of misfits that have nothing in life but their brothers in The Company and whatever miserable situation they find themselves in at the time. The Company is life. The Company is the air that they breathe. And the Captain, the Lieutenant, and the Annalist and Standard Bearer are the people that hold the torch that leads the way into ever plunging darkness.

And it is that feeling of impenetrable doom mingled with the Company's "make the best of what life throws at us" attitude that is the reason that the reviews on all the Black Commpany books bring out such a wide variety of opinions. If you haven't lived this kind of life, you won't get these books, or enjoy them.

The people in the Company are at the end of society and have nothing else to do but put one foot in front of the other and hope that they stay alive just one more day, so that at least they can be miserable instead of dead.

Bleak Seasons is my favorite of all the Company books, and is in many ways like the rest of the Black Company series. It is a sarcastic, down to earth tale of the worst possible situation anyone can find themselves in, a siege, in which at least five different groups of people are forced to live together under the worst of circumstances, and where atrocity is a way of life.

There are the mandatory evil wizards all about, except with the refreshing angle of Cook's narrative in which we actually get to see and hear some of their more human sides: their doubts, their weaknesses, and the torment that goes with the territory.

Also refreshing is the mortality that Cook bestows all his characters with. Despite their awsome power, some of these wizards are quite afraid of dying, and are not exempt from making mistakes, or misjudging the unintended consequences of their actions. Because Cook takes us there, we see a fresh approach to the usual machinations in the fantasy genre.

Looking for dark plots? There aren't many, other than just plain darkness, dark humor, and doubt. Instead these bad guys are trying to get land, riches, and rule the world, much like modern day governments and tyrants.

So, you will either love it or hate it, and for good reason. These books aren't for everyone.

Cook thrives on describing the subtle but interesting relationship between those who are miserable and those who know how to make the best of being miserable. The difference is that the latter survive, while the former are trampled. The Company always survives as it is always better at handling misery by finding a little sunshine in the worst possible setting, through dark humor, liquor, dirty tricks, and if it is inevitable by figthing harder and smarter than its opposition.

But that simple premise is lost on many who are looking for something else in their reading. And that's fair enough, for this is not a series penned after Dumas or other precursors of the modern fantasy/adventure/swashbuckling genre.

More interesting is that here in this book, Cook steps away from Croaker and Lady, the usual protagonists, and focuses on Murgen, a less than enthusiastic character who finds himself in the unexpected position of being in charge under the worst possible set of conditions. His unorthodox style, dry wit, guaranteed bungling, and his solutions to problems, wrought by trial and error and obssessive reading of the Company diaries, The Annals, lead him to an interesting set of adventures during different time lines, which make Bleak Seasons a nice departure in this classic, but cultish series.