Just finished the 3rd Black Company book...

[Desdichado]

As the title says. I've heard mixed things about the rest of the series, but I ended up liking the original three quite a bit. Enough so that I'll no doubt pick up the Silver Spike in the near future and read it too.

Anyone want to discuss? I thought the concepts, characters and plots were really fascinating in these first three books, but I'm still undecided on Cook's writing style.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I've only read the first one and that was some time ago.

I liked the centeral point that Cooke was making: magic is power and power corrupts. I also thought it was interesting that the evil magical folks all seemed to have this fear of each other. Even the big woman in charge had to constantly keep tabs on the other wizards. (pause while I take a cheap shot at the FR) This made a lot more intiutive sense to me than a wizard-heavy setting like the FR, where there seems to be some kind of wizardly cold war going on but everyone is relaxed about it.

However the sheer volume of people getting casually slaughtered was just too much for me.

 

[Desdichado]

However the sheer volume of people getting casually slaughtered was just too much for me.

I didn't really notice that. Most of the main characters from book 1 were still running around at the end of book 3. A lot of spear-carriers, or red shirts, or whatever you want to call them, got slaughtered though. Then again, it's a military fantasy, so that's hardly surprising.

 

[thullgrim]

Definitly read Silver Spike. After that its up to you. Silver Spike though relates directly to the events in the first three novels. The rest of the series (Books of the South) start a new meta-plot. Some people don't care for the later books though I enjoyes them quite a bit. Even though they are not the strongest of the series they are still better than alot of other fantasy novels out there.

Thullgrim

 

[Desdichado]

Definitly read Silver Spike. After that its up to you. Silver Spike though relates directly to the events in the first three novels. The rest of the series (Books of the South) start a new meta-plot. Some people don't care for the later books though I enjoyes them quite a bit. Even though they are not the strongest of the series they are still better than alot of other fantasy novels out there.

That's not exactly a glowing recommendation -- I don't read a lot of fantasy novels anymore because it takes too much time. Long gone are the days of me just swallowing whatever the library or bookstore had in paperback with an interesting cover. I only want to read the really good stuff. Sounds like the Silver Spike is essential reading at this point, and then I have to make a decision about going on from there.

 

[A2Z]

Josh, I really enjoyed the Books of the South and I'd recommend them. I'm not really sure why people don't like them as much as the first set.

 

[Pants]

Mmmm... Cook wrote three damn fine books there. I haven't read any of the others as I'd rather leave the series on a high note.

My impressions, the first book was obviously the best. The second, however, was not that far behind. Very creepy book and the more I think about it, the more I like the second book. The third book, was a big step down in the serie's quality, IMO.

 

[Desdichado]

I really enjoyed the third book; the idea of the Lady being vulnerable, for instance, and seeing her redemption at the end. I liked the whole idea of her playing at being evil, but having as hard a time excising her good as most people have completely excising their bad. I thought the whole Plain of Fear thing was a little too weird for my tastes, until they explained it near the end, though. I dunno. I guess I still like the third quite a bit. The second one was definately the creepiest, though. I did enjoy that aspect of it.

 

[Pants]

I think the Plain of Fear is what killed it for me. Too weird and it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the books. The rest fo the third book was still pretty good though, and the ending was rather cool.

 

[JoeGKushner]

With the Black Company coming out from Green Ronin, I'd say read the whole thing.

One of the things I thought interesting was the whole rebellion using the White Rose, the characters who played at being hard as nails, the characters that were hard as nails.

The setting is vague and interesting, but sometimes I wanted more information.

The next series has some good books but some of them can throw you for a loop. I recommend going through it all because the last books really help tie things together about the Company's origins and pits them against some really powerful and subtle foes. Something paralleling the fight with the real menace in the first book, but different and darker at the same time.