Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook
Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, Tales of the Black Company.
This is an omnibus edition including Book #1 The Black Company, #2 Shadows Linger, and #3 The White Rose of the Tales of the Black Company Series.
Introduction
These three novels tell a complete story arc about the adventures of the Black Company. The Black Company is a mercenary group in a medieval-type fantasy world. The narrator is Croaker; he is a chronicler and a physician for the Black Company. Most of the story is portrayed as if the reader is reading the journal of Croaker as he describes how the Black Company becomes involved in the affairs of the Queen of the Northern Empire, who is called the Lady. Their interaction will control the fate of the empire.
Summary
These novels describe in detail how a mercenary company in a magical land would function. It is a military procedural detailing a close-knit group of men trying to survive in a deadly war. The characters are great. One-Eye, Goblin, and Silent are the magicians. The Captain and the Lieutenant rule the company. Raven is a mysterious man of the company who keeps his secrets to himself. Raven’s ward, Darling, becomes an important character. But here’s the secret, in my opinion, what these three novels are really about is the love story between Croaker and the Lady.
That surprised me, but that extra level of complication pushed this series to one of the best that I have ever read. The Lady is a powerful sorceress, who has been released from her magical bonds after a long period of time. She has two concerns. She had ruled the land for many years with her husband, the Dominator, who remains magically bonded. The Dominator wishes to be released, but the Lady does not want him to be released since then he would take over her empire. They were both originally magically bonded by a group led by the White Rose. The Lady’s information is that the White Rose has been resurrected and so she is concerned that the White Rose will wish to re-bind her. She hires the Black Company to help her achieve her goals, but the Black Company never plays by any one’s rules for long.
Recommendation
Croaker writes the chronicles of the Black Company and he is at times an unreliable narrator especially where the Lady is concerned. I missed reading this series as it was published. Glen Cook was the writer guest of honor at Cleveland Concoction 2017, so I decided to read this collection and I am glad that I did. It is one of the best series that I have read recently. I cannot recommend it enough and I plan to read the other novels in the series very soon. I am glad that the author plans to write two more novels set in this world. Reading them as they come out would be ideal.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/400924.Chronicles_of_the_Black_Company
My review of The Books of the South by Glen Cook. The Black Company is reduced to a handful of members, so Croaker takes them south to earn back their fortune.