Customer Reviews

Bleak Seasons: Book One of the Glittering Stone (Chronicles of The Black Company)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

*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 :)

Glittering Plain marks the turning point in the Black Company's quest to return to Khatovar. A new narrator - Murgen - steps in to permanently take the place of Croaker, who has disappeared in battle and is presumed dead. Dejagore has fallen to the Company, but now is under siege by the Shadowmasters. Lady, who filled in for one volume is outside the city seeking a way to free it, but the real story is within, in the desperate struggle of the members of the Black Company and their cohorts to survive both the battles and the betrayals of their own kind. Murgen is a weaker narrator than either Croaker or Lady, and will take a bit of getting used to. As his character develops over this volume and the next the weakness plays an important role. But, at first, you may get the feeling that Glen Cook has slipped up a bit.

Much of Murgen's weakness is the result of several disasters he is trying to deal with at the same time he is plagued by a continual series of fugue states that have the narrative darting over both time and place. Cook always liked to tell more than one story at a time, but in the Glittering Plain series the literary device becomes the mainstay of the narrative. As much as I liked the book, I found this a confusing approach, with much of the story being told passively. But the story has its own strengths as well as Cook brings the reader further into the cultures of the South and tells a more realistic story of life under siege than a fantasy story normally gets.

Bleak Seasons is an unsettling rather than a dramatic book, told from a less than heroic viewpoint. It sets the stage for the volumes to come and introduces the new themes that Cook has chosen to develop. Most important, we meet the Nyueng Bao, a people on a sacred pilgrimage who were caught up in the war with the Shadowmasters. This strange people, reminiscent of the indigenous Vietnamese who played similar roles in that war, must hang their hopes on Murgen and his fellows despite vast differences. Murgen himself is drawn into a Nyueng Bao family and much of the volume and those that follow will explore the story of a proud people forced by circumstance to assisted people they would otherwise consider hopeless barbarians.

It's rather difficult to talk about this book without strewing spoilers all over, so you will have to forgive me for staying away from the plot. This is an intricate novel that labors under a sense of impending doom. It is an intimate, often confusing novel that is often more intensely personal than its predecessors. Cook is trying to shift gears and I think he succeeds, although he will leave some readers behind in the process. If you stick with it, I think you will find the result is satisfying, but if you are looking for more pure military fantasy you may be a bit perplexed.

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.

By far the weakest of the series, and it still gets 3 stars. The others are all 4 or 5s. Start at the beginning of the series, with "The Black Company." By the time you get to this book, you'll be caught up with the characters, and you'll be more willing to give the book a chance. It's unfortunate that this book is a disappointment compared to the fantastic reading of the other books, but I think it's still worth reading.

There is a story, and you'll start to see it about half way through, but it's really difficult to find at first. With the unreliable narrator and the temporal skipping, things come at you in bits and pieces, and it takes some time before you can starting putting them together so they make sense. It is an interesting method of conveying the confusion and uncertainty of the narrator, but a real struggle to read.

The rest of the series is great, and it gets better again after this, so if you've had any doubts, read the rest of the books, even if this one proves too much of a challenge. I stuck with it, and though it was daunting at first, I felt vindicated by the end.

Honestly though, I don't think you'd be too ill served by skipping this one and simply reading the other books in the series. They're all wonderful, and you won't have any fleeting thoughts about forgetting the following books simply because this one is hard to follow at first.

By rating Cook's "Bleak Seasons" at a Good 3 stars out of 5, I'm probably being charitable. But, I don't think it's actually bad enough to merit only 2 stars. Anyway, I'm not very happy with the book. First, and most obviously, is the point of view the book's coming from: Murgen. I don't have that much trouble with him, personally. It's not even that all of the book is from Murgen's point of view (no interleavings from other characters). It's more the loss of the old standbys: almost all of the regulars are relegated to cameo-like appearances. Of the regulars, Goblin and One-Eye are probably the most prevalent, but even their parts are shallow. Cook does introduce a new group of people (the Nyueng Bao), but they don't seem to serve much purpose here. Which leads to the bigger problem: the book is a re-hash of the material from Dreams of Steel (The Fifth Chronicle of the Black Company) (just from another viewpoint). There's a small amount of material extending from the cliff-hanger there. But the vast majority of the text is about what went on in Dejagore during its siege. And, that leads to another problem: for no apparent purpose, Cook has Murgen jumping back and forth through time to tell the story. All that does is break up the flow of the story and leave gaps between events. For instance, the main relationship Murgen has with a woman of the Nyueng Bao ends rather abruptly in one of the "present moments." Because of all the jumping around, we don't get any true feeling for the relationship nor for what its ending means to Murgen. Ditto for the new material extending from the previous cliff-hanger. At best, this is just irritating. But, in general, it actually ruins the story.

So, overall, the book is readable, but not very good. Maybe what Cook's done here will have some meaning in later books. I hope so. I also hope those later books will be more in line with the earlier "Black Company" books.

After what began as a great start to a new era for The Black Company with their travels south to Khatovar in Shadow Games and The Lady's struggle to maintain in Dreams of Steel I found this book kinda of..meh. Cook's writing style is much different in this book compared to prior ones. As it should because he is introducing a new character. Murgen. Though Murgen has been around I believe in the White Rose novel, his character is in the shadows. Murgen is the understudy to Croaker, so you can't have a Croaker Jr. in this book. You have to mix it up. It is a different vibe in this book compared to The Lady and Croakers vision. Its understandable though.

This book begins with The Book of Murgen. The Company is based out of Dejagore/Stormgard where they are bunkering down from one of the Shadowmasters. The Company is split in two, one being with Murgen and the "Old Crew" while Mogoba has his Nar which are primarily dubbed "New Crew". There is alot if inner struggle between both Company camps with Mogoba feeling that he is right to Captaincy without a doubt. While in the mist of this inner turmoil, a Shadowmaster is out for blood and continues to pound The Company into submission. Murgen also begins to fall in and out of consciousness throughtout the book that seems pecuilar to everyone, including himself.

The Nyueng Bao are introduced into this series too. They are a band of pilgrims that are caught between the war and are stuck where they are at. Murgen seems to have some kind of bond with these Nyueng Boa people. They forsee an alliance and a grander good can come out if they join forces. Yet, The Nyueng Bao seem to know alot of the Companies history when they came up north from Khatovar and that surely does prickle Murgens ears a bit.

In this book alot of down time seems to take place. Little things occur here and there that kinda slow down the pace of the book, in my opinion. In previous books something has always happened in every chapter or every page that was key to the progression of the book. What I did enjoy was One Eye and Goblin's feuding takes a front seat in this book alot of the times. Those two wizards are a real treat to the series. I have always found One Eye go be my favorite of the two. You can't have one without the other. In this book you begin to see Mogobas "honor" begin to take form. He becomes so full of himself to a point of no return and won't admit it. His Nar have their doubts about his sanity but they can't do anything about it but turn their heads.

Bleak Seasons is a good book at best. Besides the introduction of the Nyueng Bao nothing really of that importance takes place. Though there are moments in this book that are seen thru Murgen and the Company's perspective that occured in Dreams of Steel and I found that very welcoming. I found this book to tie in last place with The Silver Spike in terms of how I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if you can skip this book and go straight into She is the Darkness, hmm, never thought of that. Regardless pick it up and continue on !

Let me start out by saying it is difficult to review this book alone without taking it in context of the larger series. Maybe this book is better from an objective viewpoint but from the confines of the series it is a serious letdown. When i first started reading the black company series i tore through the first five books in a manner of days, loving every minute of them. After reading the first collection of books i went out and bought the next three collection and eagerly awaited their arrival. I fell in love with the characters especially Lady and how Cook wrote her character changing throughout the series along with croaker and his cynical and witty outlook on life. The previous book in the series, Dreams of Steel, was one of my favorite books i had read in a long time and i read the whole thing in 12 hours flat. Now when i started reading Bleak Seasons i was disappointed but still hopeful that Croaker and Lady would feature as at least prominent characters. Instead we are treated to Murgen and only Murgen and the events of the book skip between a siege that we already know how it ends and a couple years in the future. Lady is almost completely ignored in this book and Croaker is relegated to a minor role. This is my problem with the book, Cook has built these other characters up over five books and then tosses them to the curb. All of the emotional investment and time i spent falling in love with Croaker and Lady is wasted. Instead of answering major plot threads such as how powerful is Lady now? Is she back to her empire breaking power? How is the relationship between her and Croaker? Where is their daughter? And what are they doing about fighting the Shadowlanders? Cook introduces new plot threads that I quite frankly don't care about. I will still read this book and the others but the magic has disappeared in this book. I only hope Cook recaptures it in the next five books.

I really did have a hard time to read this book. The writing stile of Murgen is kind of difficult and the book keeps shifting back and forward in space and time. Very difficult to keep the time line and understand what's going on.
I usually stay up at night to finish this kind of books. This time I had to make an effort not to burn it..

I have read all the Black Company series. Gritty, down-and-dirty fantasy at its' best. Definately recommended. However, if you haven't read one yet, start with Black Company or the omnibus edition.

This novel, after a 6-year hiatus from publishing black company stories after 'dreams of steel,' is a distinct change of style for Glen Cook. Told from the viewpoint of Murgen, this novel features externally forced temporal dislocations of murgen which obviously will serve some plot goal as murgen sees things in a couple of different time frames. Unlike some of cook's novels where there are 2 timelines (present, past background) told in intervals, this does not work nearly as well, being of the same character in what to us are fairly closely related events (4 years in story-time, but you cannot tell). It is clear that after 6 years mr. cook has some different ideas on how to approach the cliffhanger he left in the previous novel.

The italicized prophetic mumbo-jumbo without context and murgen's seizure/travel glimpses of third areas are sufficiently vague to add little or nothing to the story.

Croaker is marginalized as a character, and Lady is nearly absent in this novel. Most major characters (barring the circus sorcerers) in even the previous 2 books are marginalized in this novel.

To the extent a reader of this series wants to know the rest of the story and reads this novel with that goal in mind, it gets better later in the book, but it is arguably the most mundane glen cook book i have read to date.