Black Company novels

[Banshee16]

It's a far cry from Tad Williams, I'll grant you. But I think Tad Williams is kind of crappy and overwritten so there you go. I far prefer Cook's laconic delivery to most of fantasy's breathless overwroughtedness.

They're not for everyone but I recommend you stick them out for at least the first three. They don't take long to read and if by that time you don't like them, you're unlikely to ever like them.

But they are some of the most important fantasy written in the last thirty/forty years, so you really ought to try and take them on their own terms.

I would tend to disagree about Tad Williams, but everyone has their opinions

In any case, I've reached pg. 80 today. It does read quite quickly. In some ways it appears to be getting better, but in others, I think it does differ from the type of writing I typically like. However, as you said, the setting seems somewhat interesting, and I do like darker, grittier fantasy, so as has been suggested by a few, I'm going to try and read the first three books, and see how I like them.

I'd have to say that Tad Williams is one of my favorite authors, as well as Tolkien, and most recently, China Mieville and G.R.R. Martin. I also like Raymond Feist, though it's getting very frustrating seeing his books out in Britain, where I can't get to them, for a year or two before they appear here in Canada. I liked the Belgariad, but I've heard that once you've read it, the Mallorean and Dave Eddings' other series are basically just the same thing rehashed.

Cook's style is very minimalistic, from what I can see so far. But I'm also coming off Tad Williams, China Mieville, and Patrick O'Brien, so the difference is probably exaggerated, as they're on the other side of the spectrum.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

I tend to see Cook as the smaller brother of Steven Erikson. Yes, there are several points I could criticize and it doesn't nearly reach SE, but DAMN, if the books aren't fun to read! It's no 'big' literature, but good fun in a nice setting, with interesting characters.

I hope, the BCCS arrives soon ...

Did you order from Amazon? I've heard Amazon is very slow with this book. I've been interested by what I've been reading about the BCCS....not necessarily just for Black Company, but for a gritty, dark, fantasy world, and a lot of the rules and scraps that could be ported into my own game.

Bit of a choice though....if Amazon, order it, and have it take possibly several weeks, but get it for $37, or go down to my FLGS, and pick it up for $50...

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

But they are some of the most important fantasy written in the last thirty/forty years, so you really ought to try and take them on their own terms.

This is an important statement. Pardon my ignorance on the matter, but *why* are they some of the most important fantasy written in the last 30-40 years?

Banshee

 

[barsoomcore]

There's a great interview with Erickson where he talks about this.

Basically, Cook turned fantasy upside-down. He wrote these gritty tales about small people caught up in earth-shattering events. This wasn't Tolkien, it wasn't Howard or Lieber or Zelazny. He was telling stories from the worm's-eye view of a common soldier -- not a farm kid who turns out to be the mythically foretold bearer of the only weapon that can defeat the great enemy, not a prince of some ancient line, not a great hero who laughs at danger, but a normal guy who's just doing his job and trying to not get killed.

Croaker is one of the great characters of fantasy, and when you consider the books as revolving around him, and compare him to the other main characters in this genre, I think Cook's accomplishment speaks for itself. Croaker's sitting in the pub across the street, or buying smokes in the corner store. He's shooting pool in the seedy billiards downtown and maybe holding his own against a couple of unpleasant bouncers. He lives right here where we live, and nobody in fantasy before had ever done that.

And it may not be to your taste, and, well, your taste and mine evidently have very little crossover, except for Tolkien and Patrick O'Brien, but it IS important.

 

[Dakkareth]

Did you order from Amazon? I've heard Amazon is very slow with this book. I've been interested by what I've been reading about the BCCS....not necessarily just for Black Company, but for a gritty, dark, fantasy world, and a lot of the rules and scraps that could be ported into my own game.

Bit of a choice though....if Amazon, order it, and have it take possibly several weeks, but get it for $37, or go down to my FLGS, and pick it up for $50...

Banshee

Amazon Germany doesn't have it, so I tried some online gaming stores. Now after two months I found one, that seems to have it . And I'm definitely going to use it for stuff not set in the BC setting, too. Malazan world, here I come!

 

[Desdichado]

There's a great interview with Erickson where he talks about this.

Ooh, where? Can it be read online?

 

[Endur]

Basically, Cook turned fantasy upside-down. He wrote these gritty tales about small people caught up in earth-shattering events.

The Silver Spike (edited) is probably the best story for this theme. Its book 4 of The Black Company series and really "nails" it home.

Croaker himself comes across this way in his narrative, but by the end of the series it wouldn't be fair to call him "small".

 

[barsoomcore]

http://www.tor.com/erikson/meet.html

Endur: You mean The Silver Spike, I think. And agreed about what happens to Croaker -- but he never really loses that regular-guy attitude. Even at the end.

And I have to say that the end of Soldiers Live is maybe my favourite series ending of all time.

 

[Chaldfont]

Its also refreshing to read a fantasy book that doesn't run over 900 pages long. Especially fantasy novels which could be edited back down to 250-300 and be a lot better.

Ever notice how the more financially successful a writer gets, the longer (and longer winded) his books get?

I'm looking at you, Robert Jordan.

 

[Desdichado]

Basically, Cook turned fantasy upside-down. He wrote these gritty tales about small people caught up in earth-shattering events. This wasn't Tolkien, it wasn't Howard or Lieber or Zelazny. He was telling stories from the worm's-eye view of a common soldier -- not a farm kid who turns out to be the mythically foretold bearer of the only weapon that can defeat the great enemy, not a prince of some ancient line, not a great hero who laughs at danger, but a normal guy who's just doing his job and trying to not get killed.

Eh? What's that? Not Tolkien, you say? I seem to remember these characters in Tolkien... I think their names were Frodo and Sam and Pippin and Happy or something like that. Merry, maybe? The description seems to fit them perfectly, with the added bonus that they're literally physically small, not just metaphorically so, as Croaker. They weren't princes, heroes or destined and foretold prodigies of any kind; they were just little, common men who were in the right place at the right time. Or maybe the wrong place at the wrong time.

I also don't know that Cook started a real movement in fantasy; certainly the sub-category of "military fantasy" is still very small, and the only other ones I can think of that work in it are guys like Stan Nicholls who quite blatantly imitate Cook (not that I knew this until recently; I read Nicholls before reading Cook.)

Where Cook does do something really unique that's left it's mark on fantasy as a whole though is in this whole gritty, pragmatic, cynical, jaded, hardboiled tone.

Of course, there may be works with which I'm unfamiliar that do this before Cook too, but I think it's safe to say that even if there are, Cook's the one who's influence is being felt today, not those other chaps.