Customer Reviews

The Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company (Chronicles of the Black Company)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection of three Black Company novels tells the story of the Company's journey out of the North, into the South, and how the Company came to fight the Shadowmasters. For several reasons, this isn't as cohesive a volume as "The Books of the North," but it still represents some of the best work done in military sci-fi/fantasy. Fans of the Black Company should pick this up for their bookshelves. Newcomers will also find a lot to like, but I'd recommend starting with "The Books of the North" or skipping straight to the Glittering Stone storyline.

"Shadow Games" is set-up book, telling about the mercenary Black Company's flight from the North after its near-destruction at the end of "The White Rose." Still narrated by physician/historian/Captain Croaker, it feels very much like the first three books. The story is very episodic, in keeping with the storytelling mechanic of having Croaker tell the Company's history in the Annals. As with the previous three novels, a lot happens here, and there's not a single paragraph you can afford to skip.

"Dreams of Steel" shifts the narration to Lady, who is either your most or least favorite character. Either way, there's no denying that she's fascinating, and telling the story from her perspective was a great way for Cook to compress events. Instead of Croaker's style of telling a three-month tale in the space of a single chapter, Lady provides more detail, and this novel covers a lot less territory as a result. This is the only novel Lady narrates, and it sets up the events of "Bleak Seasons" (which, I hope, will come out soon in a "Glittering Stone" collection).

A previous reviewer named "The Steel Spike" as her personal favorite, and I'm glad to hear I'm not alone there. It's a "by the way" story, following some of the characters who left the Black Company after the events of "The White Rose." Many are our old favorites, and this book is their swan song. This is the last we see of Raven, Silent, and Darling. It's narrated by a new character, someone from outside the Company, and I actually found Case's narration to be a lot more engaging than any of the others Cook has used; it's a lot more conversational and personal, and gives us an outsider's perspective on the culture of the Black Company. "The Steel Spike" doesn't strictly follow the story of the Company's transition to the South, but it fits with this collection as a way of tying up the last of the story threads from the first volume.

Overall, this is not The Black Company at its best, but it's still miles better than most other fantasy fiction. The gritty realism and themes we expect from Glen Cook are all here, as is the persistent refusal to classify any of our protagonists as "evil" or "good." (This is most obvious when we see the world through Lady's eyes in "Dreams of Steel.") It's still the story of soldiers, sorcerers, and the people caught in the midst of a struggle they don't even try to understand. Highly recommended for fans of engaging, realistic fantasy.

"Shadow Games". The Black Company took heavy losses at the battle of the Tower of Charm. Croaker leads what is left of his comrades in arms on a quest to find the lost Annals in order to bring it to the free companies' birth city Khatovar that may not exist outside of ancient history or perhaps mythos. The expedition is dangerous from the natural predators, but they must deal with shadowmaster wizards who believe humans are expendable at a time the squad still hurts.

"Dreams of Steel". Following another devastating battle at Degajore, Croaker is missing and probably dead. A former brutal wizard-empress, Lady is in charge of those members of the Black Company that escaped the city's death trap. She struggles to rally her force as they must make a desperate attack on the seemingly invincible shadowmaster wizards.

"The Silver Spike". As much of the Black Company survivors trek south in search of legendary Khatovar, some depart. Darling rejects Raven, who becomes bitter and an alcoholic until Philodendron Case begins to help him. Darling and Silent return to their underground haven. Others are also in retreat and hiding.

This omnibus contains books 4-6 and is a natural follow-up to the first omnibus reprint (see CHRONICLES OF THE BLACK COMPANY containing the first three tales - The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose). The fine military fantasy saga holds up well through books 4 and 5 and the twists appear plausible as Glen Cook provides the full impact of war on people. However, the Omnibus edition enhances flaws as Lady seems to have the same command voice as Croaker that is blatantly obvious when reading Shadow Games and Dreams of Steel and The Silver Spike is a fascinating sidebar tying up some dangling threads, but feels out of place (though it is my personal favorite). Still the Black Company remains strong military fantasy.

Harriet Klausner

I found The Chronicles of the Black Company quite by accident at my local bookstore, and loved it. It's one of those books that doesn't follow the typical literary trends, and once you settle in, you're in the middle of a terrific fantasy story. It's gritty, unrelenting, and told from a very engaging world-weary perspective.

So I purchased The Books of the South from Amazon and enjoyed it just as much as the first collection. I enjoyed the change of annalists from Croaker to the Lady. I thought she was a great character in the first collection, and to have the story told by her was fascinating...her nonchalance to brutal discipline and the other harsh realities of war, which are given to us in a manner that I've not read anywhere else.

The Silver Spike was an interesting story which wrapped up some loose ends that didn't necessarily relate to the current travels of the Black Company **SPOILERS** However, I was disappointed by the body count of some great characters, which means they won't be showing up anytime soon in the South. No matter, Glen Cook is a top writer and I'm looking forward to finishing the Black Company stories.

The Books of the South is an omnibus of Glen Cook's Black Company series comprised of Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel and the Silver Spike. The Books of the South is the second arc in the Chronicles of the Black Company. The first arc is a trilogy that can be found in omnibus form called, simply, the Chronicles of the Black Company. If you haven't read the first trilogy, then there's not much point in starting here. All three of these novels build on the first trilogy.

Shadow Games and Dreams of Steel follow the story of Croaker, annalist and captain of the mercenary group the Black Company, who was the primary narrator and protagonist of the original trilogy. Croaker leads the remnants of the Black Company south in order to learn more about the origins and history of the Company. But along the way, they are hired by the leaders of a massive city to fight a war against a sinister collection of sorcerers. The Silver Spike, meanwhile, takes place during Shadow Games and Dreams of Steel and continues the story of some of the other characters from the original trilogy, Darling, Raven, Silent, and Case. All four are caught up in a crisis when a powerful magical artifact is stolen from custody and evil magicians from all around try to hunt it down to take advantage of its power.

Glen Cook is a very solid writer. His pacing is excellent. He creates a deep, complex world filled with very real people. None of the characters are particularly good people. A lot of them are murderers; some are rapists, backstabbers, etc. What makes it work so well is that the antagonists are, if anything, more evil. Although morally ambiguous characters have become more prevalent in the fantasy genre in recent years, Cook's Black Company novels were somewhat revolutionary when they were first released in the mid-to-late 1980s, before which most fantasy novels were essentially derivatives of the Lord of the Rings, which featured really "good" characters against really evil ones.

What really sets Cook apart, particularly from fantasy authors today, is his ability to tell a full, satisfying story in just a few hundred pages. None of the Black Company books are more than 350 pages. Most are closer to 300. Thus, a Black Company trilogy is about as long as one George Martin, Steven Erickson or Robert Jordan novel. To be sure, Cook's story is not nearly as complex or involved as are those of Martin, Erickson, Jordan, etc. But it is very satisfying to be able to sit down, read for a few hours, and make substantial progress in a book.

In all, the Books of the South are not quite as good, in my opinion, as the first Black Company trilogy. This is, I think, because they are so very similar to the first trilogy. The characters are basically the same, the tone of the novels are basically the same, even the plot is very similar (the Black Company somehow ends up fighting a bunch of evil sorcerers). All that being said, if you liked the original Black Company novels, you'll definitely like these. If you didn't like the other Black Company novels, you probably won't like these.

Although these books are likely the weakest books in the series they are still worth reading. The Books of the South represent the middle of the Black Company series. You should absolutely read the first omnibus prior to this one and that in itself is the only problem with this omnibus, similarity. The Books of the South present a similar enemy and a similar set of characters. That being said there are a multitude of differences between the books. This set of books includes a far more in depth look at political issues, leadership issues, and even personal issues of the top soldiers in the great mercenary outfit.

I'd also like to point out that Glen Cook's writing is not dumbed down. One major problem I have when attempting to read fantasy fiction is that it appears to be written for 12-14 year old kids. As such the vocabulary is extremely limited and the writing is often too obvious, with no nuance. Well I can safely say that Glenn Cook's writing was more then adequate at keeping me feeling like I was reading the writing of intelligent men and women (the books are all written by the annalists of the black company - meaning they are written as if they were a sort of journal).

I purchased both the Chronicles of the Black Company and the Books of the South after reading the reviews here and I was not disappointed. I think fans of John Marco's Tyrants and Kings series will enjoy these books.

I started reading fantasy about 5 years ago. Initially I was engrossed in Salvatore's books, but since then I've discovered better and more mature fantasy.

The Black Company books are my favorite fantasy novels now. I would suggest that anyone looking for great Dark Fantasy check out these books.

It's so refreshing to read books that don't spit out the same old fantasy cliches that many authors are guilty of using.

I think that i must be missing something; other reviewers have called this gripping military fantasy and there have been other references to gritty realism, etc. I actually found large parts of all three stories dull to the point of tedium particularly the long journey south in Shadow Games. But what I found odd was that for "military fantasy" there was only one battle that ran for more than a page. Most of the battles and skirmishes are dealt with in an utterly superficial manner with more time spent describing the costume armour of the two main protagonists - sometimes major battles are covered in only a sentence or two (I think the whole first campaign by the Taglians against the invading Shadowmaster armies is dealt with in a page or two). Between the perfunctory battles we get the convoluted conspiracies of the various parties involved and the introspective maunderings of the main character. I didn't find any of the subtlety or moral ambiguity that other reviewers have mentioned; there was clearly good and evil with some shades of grey in between, but we were never in doubt as to who the bad guys were. In some respects the betrayals and conflicts of interest were a little predictable. I found the punctuation and sentence structure, or lack of it annoying at times; sometimes you were left unsure who was actually speaking. Overall, it was alright but not outstanding, I've read worse, but then again, I've read a lot better.

As someone who has served more than one tour in the current global war, this book rings true to me on many levels. Cook sees the heart of it, much like David Drake, and realizes that it's not the swords and magic, it's the men and women living through it.

I read the Black Company Series pretty much as fast as the books came out and I could find them. Sense this predated Amazon and my living overseas this wasn't always easy. Before starting on the Black Company Series I never read much fantasy and I still don't, but The Black Company was so different from the few fantasy books that I had read from authors like Piers Anthony. I just had to know what was happening to the Company! I would start searching for the next book in the series till the next book was published and I got it. Now, I wish I kept those hardbacks but being in the military and moving around I ended up selling them or giving them away. After reading most of the reviews I find myself moved emotionally and really wanting to reread the series.

This year I received a Kindle from my wife for Christmas. I had high hopes of rereading The Black Company Series only to find it isn't really available as a series yet with the Kindle. So PLEASE FORGIVE this indulgence when I ask everyone who reads this review to let Amazon know you want the books of the series to be formatted to the Kindle. It is easy and only takes a second.

Is this a good review? I don't know. The Black Company Series is not your typical Fantasy, so much so a person who does not normally care that much for the Fantasy genre fell in love with it years ago and wants to reread it all over again.