The SF books are pretty good. The trilogy, which is somewhat similar to a mix of Black Company and Garrett is the Starfishers trilogy. There is a stand alone novel in the same universe.
He has another sci-fi trilogy called the Darkwar trilogy. Darkwar is interesting, but very different. Its about a far away planet where female psychic wolves have evolved as the dominant life form.
Harp said:
Didn't know about the SF books. Thanks for the heads up.
There is something about the "Black Company" books that I don't like. Its the covers! Man, I feel sorry for Cook. His publisher doesnt' seem to think he's worth finding a good artist for. Okay, one or two covers are pretty cool. But most of them....whew......geez louise......
There is something about the "Black Company" books that I don't like. Its the covers! Man, I feel sorry for Cook. His publisher doesnt' seem to think he's worth finding a good artist for. Okay, one or two covers are pretty cool. But most of them....whew......geez louise......
Funny you should mention that. I avoided the original Black Company book for the longest time. The cover wasn't particularly evocative and the description on the back was a piddling paragraph that amounted to just about nothing. It being the days before my association with the internet, I'd heard nothing about the books. What finally tipped me over, however, was a semi-rave review of the books by none other than Gary Gygax in an issue of Dragon magazine. Sadly, it seems, I do (did?) have a tendency to judge books by their covers.
The Black Company is a mercenary company for hire, last of its kind, that at the opening of the series (see below) is trying to get out of a contract to a corrupt prince. They are led by a man known only as the Captain, and their story is initially recorded by a man named Croaker, who is the Company's physician and Annalist.
The Black Company is a book by Glen Cook (at Amazon here) that is the first in a series also known pretty much as "The Black Company books". These books follow the history of the Black Company (see above) as they join in the service of a great queen known as the Lady, who is possibly the bad guy in this whole thing. One of the great qualities of the series is that there are no good guys. There are guys you come to care about, but other than them everybody's pretty much nasty nasty nasty. Some are just better and smarter at their nastiness than others. And even the guys you care about are awful darn nasty.
It's a great, very mature set of books. Originally he wrote a trilogy, but that ended on quite a cliffhanger, and eventually more books came out. There are now ten books all told: the original three, another called The Silver Spike that wraps up a couple of side characters' stories, two books referred to as "The Books of the South" that carry on the Company's fate after the initial trilogy, and a final set of four referred to as "Glittering Stone", that bring the whole tale to a suitably epic conclusion.
I really like where the later books go. She Is The Darkness is a great, great book, and the ending of the whole saga is so satisfying, and so charged emotionally that it crushes me every time. I think people get turned off because
the narrator you've come to trust so much gets taken away from you
, and Bleak Seasons, the first book of "Glittering Stone" is one of the most non-linear fantasy novels I've read since Moorcock's JC tales. You really have to pay attention just to figure out what the heck's going on in that book, but it's worth fighting through to get to the last three books.
Cook has a lot to say about the nature of battle and warfare and what it does to people. His characters live and breath and irritate you and make you cheer. Great stuff.
Thanks for the recommendation BSC; when I've got cash I'll certainly pick them up, they sound like the kind of thing I need to read and include in my growing Fantasy library.
Well, I've let my subscription to Locus lapse, so the last I heard it was a fantasy novel (possibly trilogy, I can't remember exactly) that he was writing for TOR and was non-Black Company. Perhaps someone else knows more.
I've only read the first trilogy and The Silver Spike and I thought that the 1st book was the weakest. So far the books have gotten better IMO. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Not sure whether it's coincidence or not (this discussion and the following announcement), but it appears that Green Ronin has obtained the license to produce the Black Company campaign setting.
- Eridanis
