She Is The Darkness: Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company (Chronicles of The Black Company) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The Old Man looked up..." (more)
Key Phrases: little wizard, crystal chamber, glittering stone, Thai Dei, Uncle Doj, Nyueng Bao (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid.

At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence.

Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence.

Stone cannot speak but stone remembers.

So begins the next movement of Glittering Stone....

The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other.

Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all.

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: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812555333
• ISBN-13: 978-0812555332
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,470 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 8 in The Black Company Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Higher Standard (of the Black Company)!, February 13, 2000

By	"1demann" (San Antonio TX) - See all my reviews

I just started reading the "Black Company" series recently. In point of fact "Bleak Seasons" was the first I'd read. I seem to find myself starting some series in the middle (I've done it that way with McCaffrey's Dragonriders and Kurtz's Deryni). "Bleak Seasons" FORCED me to get "She is the Darkness" (and in turn, I'll have to buy "Water Sleeps" next). Excellent books. Mr. Cook's writing style is mature, gritty, dark, and wonderfully "Grody". I am now hooked on the Black Company and will have to spend money to get all of them. I found Murgen to be a likable and realistic soldier (I've been friends with a few soldiers, and they can be like that). All the characters seem to live in their own world, much like real people do. I have tired of books in which the people only seem to throw dialog at each other in order to get to an endpoint. Cook laces his people with selfishness and selflessness in proper proportion, without losing their personalities in the process. I very much like, Highly reccommend, and will continue to read, the Annals of the Black Company.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Paranoia Embodied, July 9, 1998

By	[e-mail] (College Station, TX) - See all my reviews

In early Europe it was common for mercenary bands to be unable to trust their employers. In this book, no trust is possible. Everyone has an agenda that is mutually exclusive. What is even worse, there are only shades of black. The mercenaries are not good people. The employers are moderately bad people. The enemies the Black Company have been hired to fight are crazy and bad. The allies are all either crazy, evil, or both. Heaped on top of that, Croaker, the Captain, cannot draw on his subordinates for planning purposes, because there are agents of the enemy (crows) everywhere plus the subordinates may defect. This leads to a level of paranoia I have not seen before. How do you plan when all around you are suspect? Cook has done an excellent job of capturing the feel of men at war.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High quality Black Company stuff., June 15, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Central Florida) - See all my reviews

I'll give this book five stars or a 10 or a blue ribbon or best of breed, whatever works to keep them coming. 470 pages and I got through it in 3 days,(part time,) tearing off chunks and hardly chewing them as I rushed through.

It's unimaginable that this book could be read and truly enjoyed without having read previous "Black Company" books, but anything is possible. However, if you haven't read the early books, you're in for some good reading.

The duty of the Annalist for this war-torn and again war-torn group of mercenary soldiers keeps changing hands, and each time, I am disappointed for a few pages, wishing Croaker was back at it, or Lady, or even One-eye. But now it's Murgen. (and maybe next, Sleepy.) Having accumulated a coat of grime and stink and the ache of fresh wounds and strains compounding old vicarious hurts, I settle in for more terror and humor and mystification until it is finished. As finished as it ever gets, and I return to reality, having had enough for a while.

This is good writing. These people become friends and family and when they are gone, mourned, while someone new joins up and fills the space and becomes blood. I have absolutely no desire for this series to end. What is it about some of us that would have it this way? No closure, please. The beautiful, evil and crazy sorcerer sister- whoops! I almost gave it away. Join me, other Black Company addicts. Feast, then return later to pick up what was rushed through, chew it well and wait. There will be another. Like darkness, it always comes.