Sell me on the Black Company novels [Merged Threads]

[hellbender]

If Cook would have come up with a reasonable, on-the-fly definition of what "Bingo" means in his universe, maybe I could have given it a pass. Since he didn't I'm going to have to assume he was referring to either the puppy with namesake song or a game played by retirees on present-day earth, same iteration and timespace as this messageboard.

It probably doesn't bother a lot of people but it bothered me. Snapped me right out of the zone.

As it is a modern fantasy, not based on our world, I myself take these iterations as translations to the equivalent in our language. It doesn't bother me at all and actually to me adds a better credibility to the work as a whole. I don't need a definition of "Bingo" because I understand what it means in our world and take it as a non literal translation. If you want to pick on words like that the books are probably quite useless to you as Croaker and other writers (like Philodendron Case) follow the same mold and constantly use phrases unique to our world and language. This doesn't bother me because this language is the translation to me of what they would use in the Black Company world.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Black Company

I finally picked this up today (so far, only the first in the series) based on the fact everyone says it kicks tail. Since the book doesn't have a listing in the front, how many books are in the series total?

 

[hellbender]

There are ten books in the series:

Books of the North:

The Black Company
Shadows Linger
The White Rose

The Silver Spike (independent novel)

Books of the South:
Shadows Games
Dreams of Steel

Books of the Glittering Stone:
Bleak Seasons
She is the Darkness
Water Sleeps (but your enemies don't)
Soldiers Live (and wonder why)


You won't be sorry you picked them up if you enjoy gritty fantasy.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Since the book doesn't have a listing in the front, how many books are in the series total?

Three books make up the "Books of the North".

A standalone wraps up loose ends in the North, called "Silver Spike".

Two books make up the "Books of the South". Where the survivors of the Book of the North travel to another continent searching out the origins of the Black Company.

Four books make up the "Books of the Glittering Stone". These follow up the Books of the South, but involve a cohesive thread through them all.

The three books of the "Books of the North" can be read without following through with the latter books. I frequently do reread just these three books. Many readers go on to the other books because the characters are so compelling one just wants to see what trouble they get themselves into and how they get themselves out of it.

So, while there are 10 books total, you can stop at the first three and be perfectly content.


Regards,
Eric Anondson

 

[hellbender]

I totally agree with Eric Anondson's overview of the books, one can be perfectly content with the first trilogy. I have re-read the novels each time a new book comes out and sometimes just read over the first three and the Silver Spike for good measure. This is a series that isn't like any other. It is a little quirky, the writing styles change, but it will pull you in. So much happens in just the first novel, it will amaze you. The characters are plausible and charming in their own particular ways.

 

[barsoomcore]

One of the best fantasy series, ever. I envy you for your first time through. Croaker is about to become a close personal friend of yours, pretty much guarantee it.

 

[johnsemlak]

Can someone try to sell me on these books? I've never read them but I'm curious about all the buzz lately?

Why would you call it 'gritty' fantasy (never sure I understand what that means)?
Why do/don't you like it better than other fantasy serieses?

 

[hellbender]

Can someone try to sell me on these books? I've never read them but I'm curious about all the buzz lately?

Why would you call it 'gritty' fantasy (never sure I understand what that means)?
Why do/don't you like it better than other fantasy serieses?

In addition to the link to the other thread here I will add how I see the books as gritty.

The main characters in the mercenary group are not supermen. Their plots sometimes fail, their adversaries are heartless monsters with frightening power. The emotions are well portrayed, as are the character's motives, Cook makes these people (even the weird back from the dead ones) real; you can see what makes Croaker the man he is, why the Lady isn't really in touch with the world, what makes Soulcatcher a little off kilter. This all contributes to the grit, a bleak world where a band of mercenaries slogs on, against all odds, battling torments external and internal, trying to carve out a place for themselves, winning battles through cunning, losing wars in the long run that they won for the day.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

If you think you like gritty fantasy, you owe it to yourself to read the first book (The Black Company). If you don't like it, at least it isn't one of these 900 page monsters that you end up not liking. But if you really know what gritty fantasy is, then I am betting you will like it since nearly every gritty fantasy author out there has paid homage to Glen Cook and the Black Company.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

This doesn't bother me because this language is the translation to me of what they would use in the Black Company world.

Bingo!

When I read the first book, I stopped dead when I came across some modern phrases. But then I realized what he was doing and it never bothered me again. The suggestion that he come up with a word for bingo that fits his world? That is the antithesis of his writing, so if you want your authors to spend pages telling you about the game played by the natives of a village, which they call "bongo" and then consistently use the term "bongo" where we would use bingo... well, don't read Cook.