Black Company novels

[drothgery]

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.

So Jordan made a lot of bad investments after Lord of Chaos? (books 4, 5, and 6 of The Wheel of Time are by far the longest in the series to date)

 

[Old One]

Love it or Hate it...

My experience with The Black Company is that you either love it or hate...not much middle ground. I agree with much posted above - that the clipped prosed, direct and gritty style lack of "traditional" heroes is a somewhat radical departure from standard heroic fantasy. IMO, Cook's ability to build believable characters that are worth investing reading time and interest in with that minimalist style is part of his genius.

Count me amongst the big BC fans...it is one of the few series I keep on my bookshelf (instead of boxed up) and will pick up again and again for a quick read.

~ OO

 

[Fargoth]

Cast my vote as a BC fan. I too started the books, found the style to be so drastically different then what I was used to coupled with the fact that the first book is a slow starter and became disinterested. After blowing the dust off of the book a year later I read the series to completion and thoroughly enjoyed it.

There were some plot threads that were foreseeable, while others were not. Pay attention to characters because seemingly innocuous ones in one book will end up in the forefront in others.

I find it odd that no one has mentioned Goblin and One-Eye yet. There was a relationship that I found intriguing, funny, sad, and just about every other emotion.

I believe that the books also appealed to me because they were written from the soldier’s PoV … and being a career military man myself, I found the bonds and unique interactions between the soldiers quite enjoyable.

Regards,
Paul

 

[Pants]

I don't think Erikson has found a voice as rich, memorable and powerful as Croaker's. Croaker is really what makes those books special, for me. I love listening to Croaker ramble.

Damn straight.
Croaker is just a great character.

 

[barsoomcore]

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.

Meh. I can't imagine shooting pool with the hobbits. Or talking about girls. Or cars. Or fights we got into when and with who and about what.

They're great characters, don't get me wrong, but they exist in the Shire. Maybe in bucolic English landscapes. They grow out of that -- their voices are the voices of Middle-Earth and the Shire. Croaker lives downtown, next door, and I think Cook's genius was in letting Croaker talk to us in OUR language, instead of giving him a voice that grew out of some imaginary setting.

One way's not better than the other, but I do think this is Cook's great accomplishment, and what makes the BC books important. Steven Brust does a similar thing with Vlad, and Erickson is doing a similar thing, and I THINK GRRMartin is, too. Not as sure there as I've only read the first half of the first book and didn't actually like it much.

And I think many writers whose debt isn't as obvious still owe a great deal to Cook and the way he "de-mythologized" high fantasy. I think modern fantasy would look different if he hadn't written those books. And Brust, since they came out at almost exactly the same time and took very similar angles. Cook set fantasy stories in a gritty world; Brust told gritty stories in a fantasy world.

 

[argo]

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.

Now, see I'd disagree with that assesment. I'd say that, with the possible exception of Sam, the hobbits in LotR define the "farmboy destined to save the world" archtype. Frodo espically. Sure there was no ancient prophecy of a 3' tall hero who would save the world but all the other elements are there. A young man unaware of larger powers outside his idylic home, forced out of his comfort zone by forces he did not forsee and can't control, who once he finds out what is really going on makes the decision to do the right thing and take up the quest and then prevails through luck, courage and the goodness of his heart. Throw in a little divine intervention on the part of the great powers of Middle Earth who entrust Frodo with the ring and give him aid on his quest and I don't think you can call him a "common man" anymore.

Where Cook's characters, espically Croaker, differ is that their outlook on their world remains that of the "common man". Their objectives are, in order of importance:
1) stay alive
2) keep your friends alive
3) finish the job
4) wreak bloody vengance on your enemies (a task which frequently overlaps with points 1-3 )

They also are rarely handed a McGuffin such as the Ring (the only McGuffins they had that I can remember off the top of my head are the White Rose and the Silver Spike). They aquire power through skill, cunning and strength of arms. Forces in the world seek to ally with them or use/abuse them because of their power. Their enemies seek to destroy them not because they are "carrying the Ring" but because they are powerful or because they pissed the enemy off.



So yeah, I like the books in case you couldn't tell Speaking to the origional poster: I'd suggest you at least try to finish the first book (and the first three if you can) before giving up on them. One thing about the minimalist, first person narrative that I really like but that I didn't realize until much later is that Cook really does write from the perspective of his narrator and the narrator will omit details, elaborate, stretch the truth, be ignorant of important facts, spin and conceal all based on his personal experiences and beliefs. Often you will come to some bit of dialogue that indicates some other character's POV and realize that they have a completly different take on events that happened five chapters back and that you had taken as truth at the time. I found that playing around with the believability of my source of information, questioning what I thought I knew and attempting to "read between the lines" were very satisfying mental exercises as a reader. Props to Glen Cook for writing a nariative complex enough to hold up to that sort of thing.

Later.

 

[Haloq Jakar]

if everything else fails

Read Tower of Fear a non BC book by Cook (rhyme intended) I love the BC but ToF is a great read.

Another great thing about Cook is that his characters are not afraid to do the dirty work. They don't get preachy. They live real lives. They walk the walk not talk the talk.

 

[drothgery]

They also are rarely handed a McGuffin such as the Ring (the only McGuffins they had that I can remember off the top of my head are the White Rose and the Silver Spike). They aquire power through skill, cunning and strength of arms. Forces in the world seek to ally with them or use/abuse them because of their power. Their enemies seek to destroy them not because they are "carrying the Ring" but because they are powerful or because they pissed the enemy off.

Well, there's the Keys (the Lance, and the other two), and the Books of the Dead, too.

So yeah, I like the books in case you couldn't tell Speaking to the origional poster: I'd suggest you at least try to finish the first book (and the first three if you can) before giving up on them.

I rather like the Black Company (though I like a really broad spectrum of fantasy, so I d on't know how much my opinion's worth here), but asking someone to make it through three books -- even relatively short ones like the first trilogy -- before making up their mind is a bit much. Finish The Black Company, and you'll probably know if you want to read more.

 

[Desdichado]

They also are rarely handed a McGuffin such as the Ring (the only McGuffins they had that I can remember off the top of my head are the White Rose and the Silver Spike).

As drothgery also mentions, the keys. That's an odd usage of the word 'rarely' where apparently the exact opposite is true.

 

[Endur]

I should point out that like a lot of authors, Cook's primary protagonists have a lot in common.

Croaker, the main protagonist of the Black Company series, is pretty similar in some ways to Garrett, of Garrett PI, Cook's fantasy private investigator series. And both of them are similar to Bragi Ragnarson from Cook's Dread Empire series.

When you branch out away from those three series, Cook's protagonists lose their similarities.

Tower of Fear is my favorite novel by Cook. And its protagonists are very different from the protagonists in The Swordbearer or the Warlock series or the Shadowline series.