Customer Reviews

The Many Deaths of the Black Company (Chronicle of the Black Company)

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3 star:		(1)
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"Darkness wars with darkness as the hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must. They bury their doubts with their dead. The Black Company, dirty deeds done dirt cheap." So begins the Chronicles of the Black Company, perhaps the first book ever published in a genre that is now called Dark Fantasy.

The Many Deaths of the Black Company is an omnibus containing reprints of the second half of the Glittering Stone saga, a four book series continuing the tale of the Black Company, which was first published between 1996 and 2000. If you have not read the original Black Company series, the characters and plot may prove overwhelming. I recommend you start with the first novel, Chronicles of the Black Company. You will not be disappointed.

"Water Sleeps" and "Soldiers Live" are the books contained within The Many Deaths of the Black Company. They conclude a series which has been nearly two decades in the making. While initially published to little fanfair, The Black Company is now viewed as a revolutionizing force within Fantasy literature. His works are known for their mature and realistic setting, epic scope, military focus, morbid humor and gritty prose.

The original editions of these two books are now extremely rare and regularly sell for 30+ dollars each. This is their first republication in the modern era, get them while you can. Rumors abound that Glen Cook plans a return for the Black Company but these books have yet to materialize. Until then: Here ends the annals of The Black Company.

Word of warning: if you like your fantasy fluffy and with elves, stay far away from the Black Company!

Glen Cook's Black Company novels are meaner than a basket full of rattlesnakes and tougher than old boot leather. It's a dark world full of evil sorcerers, all of whom fear the men of the Black Company. They are a band of veteran mercenaries for whom kicking ass and taking names are all in a day's work, and impossible missions just another nut to crack. This is down to earth epic fantasy that trudges through the mud and the blood.

The Many Deaths of the Black Company is the fourth of four omnibus editions. If you haven't read any of these books yet, start with The Chronicles of the Black Company, and then the Books of the South and The Return of the Black Company. Many Deaths contains the novels Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, the last two books that wrap up the series (although Cook stated in a 2006 interview that he has two more unpublished ones, A Pitiless Rain and Port of Shadows). You will have much more enjoyment starting from the beginning.

Though the last few books had some spots that were hard to get through, "The Many Deaths of the Black Company" pulls you along and keeps you guessing. Though I finished this book less than a month ago, I'm already going back through the series. If you read the first three omnibuses, you obviously had every intention of finishing the series but let me encourage you by saying that "Water Sleeps" and "Soldiers Live" are among my favorite books of the series. If you haven't read the other books, obviously do so first because nothing in these books will make sense otherwise. In closing, this is a perfect end to an almost perfect series.

Soldiers live. And wonder why... Its a great theme and fitting for this Glenn Cook series. Rather than going out with a bang, some of the Black Company members live on. Not in a heroic or exciting manner, but with sadness and sense of loss.

The first three Black Company books were brilliant and delightfully disturbing for me. Glenn Cook left the typical realm of fantasy and abandoned the stories of kings and elves. The focus on realistic military fantasy was a nice change of pace. Years later I believe we see the effects of Cook's writings when reading Erikson, GRRM, or Abercrombie.

All that being said, I think this series really fizzled out. Im not sure I fully believe these later stories of the Black Company needed to be told. The last novels dragged out slowly and became hard to read. The drudgery of everyday living of the soldiers became depressing to me after 10 novels. Aspects that were new and intriguing in the first novels were now commonplace. I understand that a lot of this was intentional from Mr Cook, but Im just not sure why these final novels were written. I respect and admire Mr Cook, but I would like to see him move on to less tilled ground. Eventually that which was once groundbreaking becomes well trod.

Soldiers live and wonder why. The Black Company novels live on and I wonder why...

This is the last omnibus of the Black Company Saga. The most obvious statement to be made here is that you should absolutely read the prior books in the series before getting to this one. The ending was fantastic and the writing is superb. While character depth is built through 9 novels the consistent switching of main character figures allows for a fresh novel every time.

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 have the whole series, and while I recommend starting at the beginning and reading the whole series start to finish, I do recommend reading them. I reread the whole series start to finish, and while it could have been more sonorous, it would not have carried one of Cook's points.

Observant readers may sense a lack of continuity between stories. This is intentional. The idea is that the Annals have been added to by a variety of writers, (Croaker, Murgen, Lady, Sleepy and Croaker again, then the twins) and that each has is their own perspective, style and ax to grind. Of course, whichever one you are reading avows their own lack of bias, but that's part of the fun. You get a real feel for the individual characters as they tell the Company's story their own way.

Another idea behind the story line is that the company lives on though members die and employers betray, even though one raggedy old former captain has managed to hang on. Well imagined and amazing, though not designed for those who need fairy tale endings. All does not always end well, but we survive. Croaker's apotheosis at the end leads you to wonder about some mysteries in Bleak Seasons and She is the Darkness, but any sort of certainty would spoil the effect of the Company slipping into legend as it recrosses the Plain.

More than your ordinary slash and burn military fiction, Cook through Sleepy and Croaker takes the reader on a journey that is in places fun, exciting, amusing, tragic, and compelling while dealing with the harshness of military life in a world where everyone else is the enemy. It is always worth rereading.

Books that make up this omnibus are great. That being said, the editorial review's quote doesn't come from either of these books, but instead from a previous work in the series. Murgen's narration ends with She is Darkness.

I liked the original books the best, but these definitely kept me interested. If you're looking at this page I'd recommend 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.

I began reading Glen Cook after I finished the nine completed books in Steven Erikson's Malazan series, which I consider the best books I have ever read. His tribute to Cook made me pick up the Black Company books, and I enjoyed them as much as Erikson's work. It's obvious that Cook influenced Erikson and appropriate that he pays him homage. That I feel Erikson is even better as a world builder in no way diminishes the great books that Cook has written, and as the person who essentially created the epic military fantasy genre, he deserves all the accolades he receives.