Glen Cook - Chronicles of The Black Company (Book Review)

-----"With the Black Company series, Glen Cook single-hadedly changed the face of fantasy - something a lot of people didn't notice and maybe still don't. He Brought the story down to a human level, dispensing with the cliché archetypes of princes, kings, and evil sorcerors. Reading his stuff is like reading Vienam War fiction on peyote."
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Glen Cook is in no need of any introduction, but for the uninitiated and those who somehow missed his works and the impact he had on the genre I will reiterate some of the essential information. He is a contemporary American SF and fantasy author, best known for his fantasy series which follows the exploits of The Black Company. The first trilogy, aptly named The Books of the North, which later expanded into an ongoing series, are ironically his first published works as well as most known and renowned among critics and fans alike. the books I am speaking of and am about to review are as follows: The Black Company (1984), Shadows Linger (1984) and The White Rose (1985). There three books were neatly packed into an omnibus by Tor in the late 2007 and were given a new name - Chronicles of The Black Company. The advantages of this omnibus edition are:

• The original books are out of print, thus very hard to obtain.
• The cover art by Raymond Swanland is absolutely stunning and represents, as far as I'm concerned, an almost perfect melding of artist and writer - the cover is dark, moody, expressionist with a hint of both romance and subliminal violence.
• Financial accessibility; three for the price of one, enough said

This means that you get quality, beauty and a cornerstone genre books in a new shiny package all in one. What's not to like?

This book, three of them actually, griped me, held me tight for the bumpy ride, left me dizzy, out of breath and definitely wanting for more. I feel extremely happy that the Tor Books is releasing the follow up novels of The Black Company this summer within another omnibus – The Books of the South.
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The Black Company is the last of the free companies of Khatovar...which basically means that they are mercenaries for hire and they actually excel at their job. Croaker, a physician and the official Annalist of The Black Company, is the POV through whom the exploits of The Black Company are viewed. Croaker is by no means objective or even aware of everything that is going on at all times but his subjective view is everything Cook offers us and we ought to be content.

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----The story begins in Beryl, where The Company, cornered by the ever increasing demands of their contract which binds them to the role of taming the seething populace for its governor, is half forced and half glad to change allegiance. They leave the city to its fate and enter the service of the Lady under the patronage of one of her highest servants, the Taken named Soulcatcher. The Lady is an ancient evil, a once ruler of a vast empire together with her husband Dominator. She and her jackals, the Ten Who Were Taken, were freed from their entombment and now vie for the submission of the World once again. The Ten Who Were Taken or simply The Taken, grand wizards all, were willed into the service of the Lady and Dominator cenutries ago. The story starts to unfold when The Company crosses the North Sea to help battle The Rebels, a group opposed to the Lady and her plans to rule the World.

--*Minor spoilers follow*
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--The Black Company (1984)
----The first book follows The Black Company’s trial years in the Lady’s service and shows us just how hardy and capable these men are. Croker and some six thousand odd members of The Company battle The Rebel, who are in fact almost as corrupt as the other side and also as riven with internal bickering. The Rebel is a force to be reckoned with and a most worthy foe. The Lady and her forces are on a constant losing streak, and only the final battle fought at the feet of The Tower of the Lady will decide the future of the Empire and with it the future of The Black Company.
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--Shadows Linger (1984)
----The Black Company has proved its worth while battling The Rebel and now becomes the Lady’s most reliable enforcer sent to deal with the toughest missions…and one such awaits them at the eastern edges of the known world – at the city called Juniper, where a mysterious black fortress rises seemingly out of nowhere and there is also a shady problem with the disappearing of bodies during the nights. Identity of The White Rose, who is prophesied to emerge and crumble the Empire of Evil, is a carefully hidden secret held by Croker and some other trustworthy men of The Company; if The Taken or the Lady should suspect anything, The Company would be as good as dead. The Company is playing a dangerous game of high risk, desperately trying to juggle avoiding the Lady’s suspicion as well as doing her bidding.
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--The White rose (1985)
----The cover is blown; Croaker and the remnants of The Company have changed sides and now try to protect The White Rose from the Lady and her superior minions. But as it turns out, there is an even bigger evil lurking out of the shadows - the Lady’s husband Dominator feels left out and now plots to escape the imprisonment in The Barrows as the Lady has done before him. Now, the only chance seems to lie in an unlikely alliance…

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--*End of spoilers*

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I understand that I’ve written a lengthy summary, but which is in the end still undeserving of the story as a whole (=a special strength of the novel in itself). Well, I’ve seen tighter plotting and flashier prose, but the sum of all the elements is what makes this novel(s) so spectacular and not the nitpicking at its specific parts. It is just that Cook managed to conjure a tasty concoction.
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Steven Erikson’s blurb on the backside of The Chronicles of The Black Company (as I’ve copied it above) states Cook as one of his main influences - "a true forefather of the gritty down-to-earth fantasy where princes and benevolent sorcerers exist only in fairy tales and only the grimmest shade of gray has a shot at survival". There is a lot of truth in these words – it is definitely an above average fantasy (and I’m being modest here), but the blurb itself has to be taken with a bit of reserve, since the aggressive sales pitch techniques demand dramatization and overblown aggrandizement.
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Nevertheless, from now on, whenever I’ll be asked what I think of Glen Cook or The Black Company books I won’t hesitate to put him (them) up with the genres best. The subjective Croaker’s point of view may be considered spartan and resembling a journal, but that is what Cook has been aiming for all the time – for us to be reading the Annals of The Black Company as they have been written by the hands of the Annalist, and I found this approach refreshing and enjoyed reading the books tremendously.
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I am not talking about a flawless work of fiction. All I’m saying is that if you buy the style that Glen Cook is trying to sell, than you are in for a real treat. I can understand why some people dislike Cook’s writing or The Black Company books in particular, because this series is really particular in many ways. One piece of honest advice then: if you don’t find The Black Company to your liking 30 and some pages into the book it would probably be for the best if you put it down, because no major changes occur later on which would drastically sway your mind. I for one though found the book worth every penny and from now consider myself as joined to the ranks of the huge legion of Black Company fans.

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(4 out of five)

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~ Thrinidir ~

Eye Candy Covers

Now, I've seen some pretty nifty covers out there...I've also ground my teeth at the cheesy, flashy, rushed, uninspired or just plainly tasteless covers that pollute the shelves. Since the latest trend on the web seems to be the bashing of old pulpy covers and the new North American covers for the Erikson’s “Malazan Book of The Fallen” series, I’ll take a different approach and give praise where praise is due. I’m currently reading “Chronicles of the Black Company” by Glen Cook, which is a great and rewarding read by the way (the influence on Erikson is blatantly undeniable), and the cover of this trade paperback omnibus is absolutely beautiful. It’s artistically well done and on top of that it couldn’t present “you are reading a kickass fantasy novel” impression any better. Tor and Nightshade Books deserve to be congratulated for an outstanding job.
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Here are the covers (click on image to enlarge):

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Glen Cook - The Tyranny of the Night (Book Review)

Sha-lug, the slave soliders in the Kaifate of al-Minphet have only two choices – to do, or to die. For that they were bought and for that they were raised. Bringing mummies to the court of Gordimer the Lion, through the Holly Land around the Wells of Irhian was just one the missions that Else found himself doing of late. When a bogon, instrumentality of the night so powerful it could almost be considered a deity, turns up, he deals with it. The new invention, a falcon – blackpowder cannon – loaded with silver coins puts an end to the creature. It also puts Else in a centre of attention he's not even aware of, for how could a mere mortal kill even an almost deity. There's another's attention that he's much more aware of. Else is getting more and more sure that Gordimer, once a slave warrior himself, is trying to get rid of him. When he returns to the Kaif's court at al-Qarn another mission awaits him. To go alone and spy in Brothe, the heart of the of infidels, to see if another crusade for the Wells of Irhian, the Holy Land of Pramans and Chaldarean alike, is brewing.

The description above tries to catch the essence of the beginning of the main story, or perhaps better main character, that we follow through the larger part of the book. And just to make the things clear – all of this happens on the two thirds of the first fifty pages of the book.

Every short description of the book would do it injustice. Glen Cook liberally uses European High Middle Ages, blending together: crusades, pope (and antipope), Jews, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the King of Spain, Janissaries, ruling noble families of Rome caught in everlasting cloak and dagger games for papacy, corruption of the medieval Catholic Church, catharism and it's centre the Languedoc and last, but not least the Vikings and their pantheon. Now add to that the gods, or perhaps the demons, for this is the land where EVERY god truly exists. The strong ones may not meddle in the affairs of mortals, gorging on magic and prayers, but the small ones are an ever present threat which man had learned to live with, and sometimes tame.

All of that has to be told, put in place and woven in the story, and each of these aspects has a different, new name! If you don't have at least a general idea of European medieval history or if you aren't a careful, composed and systematic reader the first hundred, hundred and fifty pages can easily overwhelm you.

So I suppose the main question is: "Is the rest of the book worth the bother?"

In my opinion: yes. But for objectivity's sake I must in the same breath add that I'm Cook's fan. Well, time used to read a book is always well spent, and I think Cook will have a pleasant surprise or two in store for you. He is well practiced storyteller even if some of his books are not to be counted among the top in the genre. His characters are always realistic – they eat, they shit and they f**k and sometimes die doing one of those things. And above all they tend to be cynical to the extreme. In his books there is little place for idealism, but always for great ideas. If for no other reason to show what people do with them.

The Tyranny of the Night, the first book in the series The Instrumentalities of the Night is a rather old book. It was published three years ago - in 2005. The second volume of, I think, trilogy: Lord of the Silent Kingdom was published in the beginning of 2007, and mass paperback just a few months ago. Hopefully I will get my hands on one of those soon.

On this blog we have a habit of ending every review, with some kind of numerical appraisal. For the life of me I couldn't make an objective one, so form me this book gets a big, blue:

N/A

(And if you aren’t satisfied you can always go read the book yourself.)

- BlindMan -