Scan barcode
A review by stephenmeansme
The Books of the South by Glen Cook
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up. The first two books in this omnibus (SHADOW GAMES and DREAMS OF STEEL) grabbed me less than the first two Black Company books (THE BLACK COMPANY and SHADOWS LINGER), possibly because they were more like the previous Black Company book (THE WHITE ROSE) - it gets pretty sweeping, big armies clashing and big bads scheming, with less character-driven downtime, or so it felt. That said, the worldbuilding is pretty good, as Croaker, Lady, and friends head south past the equator and end up getting hired by a not-Hindu city-state to stop some nasty but even bitchier shadow-worshiping lunatics from taking over.
That said, the worldbuilding lags a bit in some of the details. While Taglios, the city-state, is somewhat interesting, the names and cultural situation is very much a pastiche of the Indian Subcontinent - caste system, polytheism with many cults and gods having different aspects, the intrigue around the Lady heralding what's basically the Kali Yuga - whereas the first three Black Company books took an admirably light touch when it came to, say, medieval-Europe references. It helped that Glen Cook gave all the cities and people bizarre if simple names, like Croaker (person) or Lords (city). I get the need to come up with non-English names to proxy for Croaker's unfamiliarity with the South, but it was less immersive somehow.
And then THE SILVER SPIKE came in and, for all I doubt that the events will matter much to the continuing series besides tying up loose ends, that tense, against-the-odds, character-banter goodness of Black Company #1 and #2 came back. It's really fun! And stays fun even when you realize that the good guys have freakin' flying whale monsters on their side.
It helps that Cook stays far away from mystery plotting or idiot plotting. Yes, some characters make stupid choices, but it's for understandable reasons - maybe it's because they're just not that bright or wise, for example. But the people in charge, on all sides, are never stupid, and make many very smart decisions. This, an ominous countdown clock, and a fun POV narrator for some of it made it a very enjoyable read. Which is odd because I think the other reviews go the other way. Fair enough; I maybe like Croaker and the bickering wizards One-Eye and Goblin more than Raven or Darling or Silent (the cipher squad), but the situation in the South wasn't interesting for most of the Taglian adventure.
Overall though, it keeps going pretty strong.
That said, the worldbuilding lags a bit in some of the details. While Taglios, the city-state, is somewhat interesting, the names and cultural situation is very much a pastiche of the Indian Subcontinent - caste system, polytheism with many cults and gods having different aspects, the intrigue around the Lady heralding what's basically the Kali Yuga - whereas the first three Black Company books took an admirably light touch when it came to, say, medieval-Europe references. It helped that Glen Cook gave all the cities and people bizarre if simple names, like Croaker (person) or Lords (city). I get the need to come up with non-English names to proxy for Croaker's unfamiliarity with the South, but it was less immersive somehow.
And then THE SILVER SPIKE came in and, for all I doubt that the events will matter much to the continuing series besides tying up loose ends, that tense, against-the-odds, character-banter goodness of Black Company #1 and #2 came back. It's really fun! And stays fun even when you realize that the good guys have freakin' flying whale monsters on their side.
It helps that Cook stays far away from mystery plotting or idiot plotting. Yes, some characters make stupid choices, but it's for understandable reasons - maybe it's because they're just not that bright or wise, for example. But the people in charge, on all sides, are never stupid, and make many very smart decisions. This, an ominous countdown clock, and a fun POV narrator for some of it made it a very enjoyable read. Which is odd because I think the other reviews go the other way. Fair enough; I maybe like Croaker and the bickering wizards One-Eye and Goblin more than Raven or Darling or Silent (the cipher squad), but the situation in the South wasn't interesting for most of the Taglian adventure.
Overall though, it keeps going pretty strong.