The Books of the South by Glen Cook
The Books of the South by Glen Cook, Tales of the Black Company.
Omnibus edition including Book #4 Shadow Games, #5 Dreams of Steel, and #3.5 The Silver Spike of the Tales of the Black Company Series.
Introduction
After the White Rose, book three of the Tales of the Black Company, the Black Company has been reduced to a handful of members. They decide to break into three groups. Darling and Silent head east, Raven and Case stay in the town of Oar in the Barrowlands, and the rest of the Company heads south. Lady has lost her sorcerous powers and joins the Black Company with Croaker as the leader. This collection has two novels and one shorter work.
Each story is narrated by a different person. Shadow Games is narrated by Croaker and tells of the events of the Black Company as it heads south. Lady is the narrator of Dreams of Steel, which follows the events after Shadow Games and sets up the story for the rest of the novels. The Silver Spike is narrated by Case and tells what happens in the Barrowlands after the Black Company heads south.
Summary
The Black Company has been called the last of the free companies of Khatovar, so Croaker heads toward the legendary city of Khatovar and wants to discover the roots of the Black Company. The Annals of the Black Company state that the Black Company came from the south, but the earliest volumes which detail the Black Company’s origins have been lost. Croaker’s group travel south of Beryl and they arrive at Gle-Xle where they meet allies. They head down the river from Gea-Xle and end up in the large city of Taglios. Taglios is at war with the Shadowmasters, who rule the area south of Taglios.
Croaker can only get to Khatovar by going through the Shadowmaster’s lands, so he signs a contract with the rulers of Taglios to gather an army and defeat the Shadowmasters. The Shadowmasters have powers that are like Lady’s former group of sorcerers called The Ones Who Were Taken. This is a formidable task. Meanwhile, Case and Raven have learned of magic brewing in the Barrowlands and decide to catch up to the Black Company and ask for help.
Recommendation
The three books in this collection all have a different feel. Shadow Games follows Croaker and is similar in tone to the first three books. It comes to a reasonable thematic ending. Dreams of Steel is also called the Book of Lady. It is interesting to see her side of the story. The problem with the book is that it doesn’t reach a conclusion. Several story threads are started but are left loose for the next volumes of the series. The Silver Spike feels unnecessary. The events do not impact the main story. It comes to an ending and it seems like that is all there is for that story. I wonder what the point of this story is.
The writing is excellent, especially the parts that the narrators told in the first person. The third person stories were not as successful. The Shadowmasters and the group from Taglios did not interest me. I did not care if they succeeded or failed. I wanted to get back to the chapters with Croaker and Lady. There was enough here for me to recommend this collection and to look forward to reading the next four novels which are grouped as the Books of the Glittering Stone.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Books of the South by Glen Cook.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2365730.The_Books_of_the_South
This is the link to my review of Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, an omnibus of Books 1, 2, and 3 of The Black Company Series.