Customer Reviews

The White Rose: A Novel of the Black Company (Chronicle of the Black Company)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The lack of enthusiastic reviews of this book breaks my heart. I recently spent some hours reading reviews of the "Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordon, where almost everyone wants more action and less "sit around" character development.

Well, I love the Jordon books too. But if it's action you want, start with The White Rose. You'll be sated with action, with war at its worst and best, sorcery both terrible and humorous, love that is both tender and terrifying and people and situations so real (even thought this is fantasy) that you can taste (and smell) them.

When you finish. Don't despair. You can't cram all the sequels into your book-bag. Read every one. At this time, "She is the Darkness" is the latest, but don't skip any. This guy can write good... suck you right into the book and have you believing stuff that- never mind. Go for it.

The White Rose is the third volume in the opening trilogy of the "Black Company" saga. Buy this book right now. But then click on Cook's name and buy the first two volumes of the series as well: Black Company and Shadows Linger.

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 pure good guys and really bad villans--the Black Company (contra its name) lives in gray. Indeed, Cook puts the following words in the mouth of Croaker (the principal viewpoint character and narrator in the early volumes): "I do not believe in evil . . . . I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another." Me too.

In early novels of the series, the Black Company was toughest, nastiest, scariest outfit around. "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!" could have been the Black Company motto. In the White Rose, their numbers have shrunk and the warriors are starting to show their age. They survive now by guile, rather than brute strength.

In the White Rose, the Company also must grapple with its code of ethics, which previously was focused almost wholly inward. Honor vis-a-vis the outside world consisted of keeping one's contracts. Otherwise, honor was focused on one's relationships within the Company. But now the Company has decided that honoring its contract with Lady is not worth its collective soul. Almost against its will, the Company now finds itself serving the greater good.

Many reviewers of White Rose and other Black Company novels have commented on the sparse nature of Cook's prose. In fairness, the White Rose is even sparser than most of the other novels in the series. We have almost no sense of Toadkiller Dog's appearance, motivation, attitudes, or aptitudes. Yet, in a curious way, I think of this as one of the strengths of Cook's writing. Reading Cook's novels is sort of like listening to an old-fashioned radio serial. You have to use your imagination to fill in the gaps. I suspect that my mental picture of Toadkiller Dog is a lot scarier than anything Cook would put down in print. I like that sort of novel, but your mileage may vary.

In the third novel of The Black Company saga and completes the "first trilogy" (the first & second being "The Black Company" and "Shadows Linger"). This book closes many loose ends and opens up many new possibilities. This concept is translated in the myriad books that have followed in The Black Company series.

In this book Croaker, company physician, historian and solider, is now aiding The White Rose/Darling. The idea is that The White Rose is the only one who can defeat The Lady. The former is the epitome of good and the latter is the epitome of bad. Believe me, there is a lot more too it, I am just paraphrasing. Now before Croaker and The Black Company were part of The White Rose movement, they worked under The Lady and her arcane and potent wizards, The Ten Who Were Taken. In order to make matters even more complex, the Taken were once under the power of The Dominator (basically the Devil himself). And to take it to the soap opera realm, The Dominator is The Lady's ex-husband. So now The Dominator is going to rise again from his grave to destroy the world. Consequently, The Lady, The White Rose or The Black Company wants to stop this from transpiring.

I have to say this book was a fun read, yet it was also a deep read. Glen Cook has a way of writing very complex. His imagination is endless, which is a good thing. There were many parts of this book were very philosophical and introspective. Many elements of religion were touch or inferred in this novel. In contrast, I found myself jumping back to earlier parts in book, just to make sure I had a grasp of what was going on. This is book (and series) is a very entertaining read, but it isn't light stuff. As for the names of the characters they are still wonderful: Goblin, One-Eye, Silent, Elmo, The Limper, Croaker, Soulcatcher, Raven, Tracker and of course my favorite Toadkiller Dog. I found Toadkiller Dog to be an interesting and somewhat funny character.

Despite some of the dark fantasy themes of The Black Company series, Glen Cook is still able to throw in humor. There is a reoccurring interaction between Croaker (the narrator) and a menhir. The menhirs are tall talking stones of few words. These menhirs live on The Plain of Fear. The Plain is where The Company has been hiding since the last novel. Anyway there multiple menhirs who keep saying to Croaker "Croaker, there are strangers on the Plain". Any time Croaker tries to reply the menhir is either gone or has some sort of funny response. There is also a part in the book where Croaker, One-Eye, Goblin, Tracker and Toadkiller Dog go on a mission and the result is both comedy and adventurous.

One thing that I did find strange about this "conclusion", it seemed to happen rather quickly. There was such a build up with the two former books and even in this one. However when it came right down to it, the story seemed to wrap things up in an expedited fashion. I don't want to be mistaken, I liked the end result, it just seemed like there was all this build up and little apex of climax. Who knows, maybe this was Glen Cook's intention.

Overall, this is a great book and great series of fantasy. I am not a huge fantasy person; as a matter of fact I don't like elves, dwarfs and other jovial mystical stuff. However, this series is very different and somewhat gothic. This is a wonderful book that can allow you to escape reality and modern times.

One has to give Glen Cook credit for variety in approach: each of the three books comprising "Books of the North" has been presented in a different format, the first episodic and often temporal swings from chapter to chapter, the second short, abbreviated chapters following multiple storylines and more linear than the first, with "White Rose" continuing the structure of the second, but utilizing the new device of unattributed messages sent to the main narrator that take the reader back to events a hundred years prior to the book's present and ongoing circumstance, and delivered to the protagonist with a regularity that allows the author to reconstruct the past, propelling two trips to the Barrowlands, the reappearance of players long thought dead, as well as setting up the book's final conflict. In my opinion the use of this device is not as successful structurally as those used in the past, only enhancing the at times parenthetical and peripatetic shifts of focus that to date have dominated the narrative.

Despite the active and often engaging storyline and characters of Cook's saga, there is a sense of the author patching his tale together as he goes, events and incidents occurring in a rapid and summary succession that oftentimes lack explanation, or are dispensed with in the most cursory manner once they have fulfilled their function. Action is the primary driving force of this series, its primary strength, and, despite some delightful characterization, it becomes clear everything else is secondary to moving the plot along. Characters appear and disappear and events take place in circumstances never fully clarified or realized, and in some cases, such as Tracker and Toadkiller Dog, the reader is left almost completely unclear as to their actual identity. This treatment of characters and events keeps the author's tale very much at the surface of things, action the raison d'etre of the entire tale, with a level of substance barely rising above the contemporary action cartoon. And, while there was evidence in "Shadows Linger" that the author was toying with using his narrative to explore themes of good and evil, personal responsibility and the relativism of virtue, these intentions were absent here.

Despite the rather one-dimensional quality of these stories---an action/entertainment value analogous to the best pulp fiction or films such as "Starship Troopers"---they do offer the reader pure escapist pleasure, written with some skill and imagination, for moments of unexamined recreation. Just don't look too closely.

This is the third volume of the first of four segments of the 10 volume story of the Black Company (whew!) Unlike many long series, Glen Cook has the knack of always being just inventive enough to maintain a high level of interest without over-amping on any one volume and then running out of plot at a critical moment. The story opens on the final series of conflicts with The Empire, with The Black Company on the side of the good guys for a chance. Hidden away on The Plain of Fear, the last of The Black Company, and other supporters of Darling, The White Rose, carry out what remains of the rebellion. Life is harsh as harsh can be, and they all know that The Lady and her Taken will soon appear and try to squash them like bugs.

Their only secret advantages are Darling herself, who is a Null - magic doesn't work around her - and the Plain itself a vast desert populated with a host of strange and intelligent life forms. Giant whale like creatures sail the skies, giant talking menhirs wander the dunes, stopping only to mutter "There are strangers on the Plain," and an ancient tree guards an even more ancient evil. Life is not good in the tunnels beneath the sand. And someone, somewhere, keeps sending Croaker pages from Bomanz's Diary - the self same wizard who worked the release of The Lady and The Taken, and who no lies trapped in the Barrow Lands in the tangled net that still guards the Dominator and some of his darker friends.

The story continues to alternate between past and present (a favorite Glen Cook device). Gradually we realize that The Dominator is still working on escape and that something evil has worked its way free as the result of Raven's interference in the guardian spells. This time the risk is even worse than that in Shadows Linger. So dire, in fact that The Lady convinces Croaker to get her acess to The White Rose in order to work out a tactical treaty until the big threat is past. This is a Black Company novel, so if you are intuiting a serious blowout, you're right. Everyone gets into the act - rocks, whales, monsters, you name it.

This is a transition volume, bringing most of the loose ends together as preparation for moving into the next phase of the story - the Black Company's ride back into its own history. Much will change, but it is one of Cook's strengths that he can work changes without breaking the reader's concentration. This is one of the few series where neither the writer nor the reader seem to get overtired.

This is without a doubt Glen Cook at the top of his form. The book is original, unusual, fast-paced, and very enjoyable. The original Black Company trilogy are the best of the nine Black Company novels, and this third book is the best of the trilogy. Read the previous two books first, but definitely get this one too. You might be up all night. The tight prose on display here is easy to follow while still interesting and exciting. It makes for wonderful light reading.

The White Rose, the third in Glen Cook's Black Company series, completes this mercenary army's adventures in the north country. It is as different from the first two as they are different from each other. The men grow older, their numbers, dwindle, yet they are feared by their enemies.

All of the threads come together, but not altogether cleanly. The differences between good and evil are not always clear. The beginning of the story is disjointed and not nearly as action-oriented as the first two. No one is what he -- or she -- seems to be. Yet at the end, the story is satisfying enough.

Cook's gritty prose style changes slightly from one book to the next. Characterization is not as strong as in the previous books. Yet there is enough continuity to keep one reading. And he always has a few surprises. This is a good, fast read. Be sure to read the books 1 and 2 first.

The White Rose, the third book of Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company, may be the weakest entry in the first Black Company trilogy, but it is a good novel. If you haven't read the first two books, there's no sense starting here. But if you have and want to see if the White Rose is worth your time, read on.

The writing style remains mostly the same. Unlike the Black Company, which was told from a single first person perspective, and Shadows Linger, which was told from two first person perspectives, the White Rose is told from two first person and one third person perspectives. Personally, I preferred the previous books, where Cook focused on one or two perspectives. With a third perspective added, the story became a little complicated. Although, obviously, the work isn't nearly as complex as, say, Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the relative simplicity of the first two novels was one of their major draws. In fairness, Cook writes very well from a third person perspective. But the writing style is very different than the first person perspectives. The first person perspectives, particularly Croaker's, are written typically in gruff, terse phrases, much the way one talks. The third person perspective, meanwhile, was written in flowing prose. The contrast, while nicely done, is a little uncomfortable.

Further, it took quite awhile to realize why the two perspectives (those other than Croaker's) were at all relevant. But, unlike in Shadows Linger where the second character perspective was as good as, or better than, Croaker's, the two in the White Rose are less interesting by far than Croaker's. I occasionally found myself skimming them to get back to Croaker's narrative.

The story doesn't progress as quickly or as fluidly as it does in the previous two novels. Indeed, plot advancement comes in fits and bursts. But, like the first two novels, the climax is delightful. The climax serves nicely not only for the novel itself but for the first trilogy of the series. If you wanted, you could end your experience with the Black Company here, with the White Rose, and not feel like anything is missing.

In some ways, though, the White Rose seemed like a bit of a letdown. While it was good, it lacked anything near the caliber of the revelation that was the character Shed in Shadows Linger. That most remarkable piece of writing left me expecting much of the same here, and it simply wasn't to be had. To be sure, the Lady receives some much needed character development and Cook handles it well. But after his magnificent effort in Shadows Linger, almost anything was bound to disappoint.

In all, the White Rose is a satisfying conclusion to the Chronicles of the Black Company. You can end here and feel pretty good about it. But if, like me, you want to follow the Black Company more, the series continues with the Books of the South duology and concludes (at least so far) with the Glittering Stony tetralogy. If you didn't like The Black Company or Shadows Linger, you almost certainly won't like the White Rose. It's more of the same. But if you liked the first two books, you'll like these. After all, it's more of the same. But unlike a lot of series where "more of the same" gets repetitive quickly, the Chronicles of the Black Company is entertaining and exciting from beginning to end.

There are many good things about this series. Cook writes in a colloquial, spare style which often achieves a weird elegance. He asks the reader to trust him that information and characterization will be shown rather than told, and he follows through. (Though I still want to know more about the psychology of the Taken.) Though the plot and setting are pretty much those of standard heroic fantasy, the world-weary tone and the fuzzy morality add a new feel.

This is the climactic and the most surreal and magical of the first trilogy, and at times it got a bit too out there for me. I wanted more concrete tactical detail--the Black Company is a mercenary unit but one never gets much sense of how warfare really works in this society. However, Croaker's 1st POV voice is engaging, and most of the characterization overall is strong.

Just as good as the previous Black Company books. It was a little confusing at first because it goes back and forth in time.