Shadows Linger: A Novel of the Black Company (The Second Chronicle of The Black Company) [Mass Market Paperback]

Glen Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1990

Mercenary soldiers in the service of the Lady, the Black Company stands against the rebels of the White Rose. They are tough men, proud of honoring their contracts. The Lady is evil, but so, too, are those who falsely profess to follow the White Rose, reincarnation of a centuries-dead heroine. Yet now some of the Company have discovered that the mute girl they rescued and sheltered is truly the White Rose reborn. Now there may be a path to the light, even for such as they. If they can survive it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Timely and timeless…The author of the Black Company series brings a stark realism to his tales of imaginary lands."

--Library Journal (starred review) on The Tyranny of the Night

"Complex and compelling…It is a powerful fantasy, combining a fast-moving plot with an introduction into this world of patriarchal schism, greedy churchmen and nobles, and cynical soldiers bent on survival."

--VOYA on The Tyranny of the Night

"The thing about Glen Cook is that with The Black Company he singlehandedly 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 sorcerers. Reading his stuff was like reading Vietnam War fiction on peyote."
--Steven Erikson, author of Gardens of the Moon

About the Author

Born in 1944, Glen Cook grew up in northern California, served in the U.S. Navy, attended the University of Missouri, and was one of the earliest graduates of the well-known "Clarion" workshop SF writers. Since 1971 he has published a large number of SF and fantasy novels, including the "Dread Empire" series, the occult-detective "Garrett" novels, and the very popular "Black Company" sequence that began with the publication of The Black Company in 1984. Among his SF novels is A Passage at Arms.

After working many years for General Motors, Cook now writes full-time. He lives near St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife Carol.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 319 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (April 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812508424
• ISBN-13: 978-0812508420
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My personal favorite of the whole series, November 22, 2000

By 

Stephen M. Bainbridge "www.professorbainbridg... (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadows Linger: A Novel of the Black Company (The Second Chronicle of The Black Company) (Mass Market Paperback)

I LOVE the Black Company series. But Shadows Linger is easily my favorite novel in the whole series. Here's why: The Black Company is one of the great creations of modern fantasy. In a genre in which most stories are starkly black and white--really great good guys and really bad villans--the Black Company (contra its name) lives in grey. In a genre in which heroes are all-knowing and all-powerful, the Black Company is filled with fallible, vulnerable humans. Yet, they nevertheless are the baddest outfit around. Remember how we reworked Psalm 23 back in the '60s? "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil--for I am the baddest SOB in the valley!" That could be the Black Company motto.

One of the things I like best about Cook's novels is that the story line is more important than the individual characters. Yet, in Shadows Linger, my favorite characters take center stage. Croaker leads a Company detachment to the town of Juniper (which itself is a great location that is fully realized.) Raven is in town contributing his unique brand of honor and violence. Eventually they meet in a wild climax.

One of the striking things about the Black Company is Cook's notion of honor. The Company's code of ethics is focused almost wholly inwardly. Honor vis-a-vis the outside world consists of keeping one's contracts. Otherwise, honor is focused on one's relationships within the Company. This is both the Company's greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. A critical element of the series is the Company's gradual coming to grips with the nonsustainability of its ethical structure. Shadows Linger is a critical plot point in this line of plot evolution. In it, the Company must decide whether honoring its contract with Lady is worth its collective soul.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A second in the series exceeding the first., June 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadows Linger: A Novel of the Black Company (The Second Chronicle of The Black Company) (Mass Market Paperback)

This series is about the charactors, not the setting, or the conflict. Cook has created a cast of dozens, and made them individual enough that you could tell which charactor was doing what, just by when and how. These charactors are as real as one can expect in a fantasy novel. The good guys have their problems and hang-ups. Some of the supposed heros are just out and out unlikable. Some of the villians are compelling, all are interesting, and some are outright repulsive.

The story is told as seen by Croaker, the company doctor, in an unflowering honest chronicle of the companies actions in a war they aren't really happy about being a part of.

The only complaint I have about this series is the amount of time between new books. If this is a concern then read the first trilogy (The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose) which are a complete set unto themselves. The Silver Spike, is a stand alone which occures just after the first three chronologicly.

Read them once to enjoy them. Read them a second time to appreciate them.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dark tale indeed; still great on the fourth reading., October 21, 2005

By 

No one of consequence (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shadows Linger: A Novel of the Black Company (The Second Chronicle of The Black Company) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm now on my fourth reading of this series over the course of about 20 years, having first read them in 1985 and then been left in limbo awaiting the release of the Glittering Stone series. Glen Cook did a masterful job of crafting his dark and dangerous world in "The Black Company", and introducing us to that dysfunctional band of somehow sympathetic miscreants, including characters like Croaker, One-Eye, Goblin, Raven, and many others. The author takes it to the next level in "Shadows Linger."

Set in the gloomy, ramshackle port city of Juniper, this volume picks up the trail of Raven and his ward, Darling, as they seek to make a new life for themselves apart from the Company and out of the notice of the Lady and her empire. Just as he did in the first book, Cook focuses on the gritty, unsavory aspects of life, and paints a foreboding picture where some of the darkest aspects of human morality and depravity are commonplace. Men like the hapless Marron Shed or the weasely Asa, whose day-to-day survival is precarious at best, care little about morality, or if they care, they suppress their nagging consciences for the sake of staying alive.

In his efforts to do good for Darling, Raven unwittingly plays into the plan of the incomparably evil Dominator as he seeks to escape his tomb in the Barrowlands. At the same time, he also draws the attention of the Lady and the Taken to Juniper. Those crack mercenaries, the Black Company, are sent to Juniper to serve as the vanguard of the Lady's forces who are to contain the threat caused by Raven's bumblings. From there the tale becomes one of wicked plot twists, intense action, and powerful wizardry as the Company finds itself caught in a battle between earthshaking otherworldly powers -- and pays a heavy price.

I don't want to go into too many details -- don't want to spoil a great book for those who may not have read it yet. Let me encourage you to do just that. I'm still debating which of the first three novels is my favorite -- it may well be this one.