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A review by wyrmdog
The Many Deaths of the Black Company by Glen Cook
4.0
I was hesitant going into this volume. The Black Company has been a hell of a ride, and has had some stratospheric highs and some rather disappointing lows. Yet the lows were never so low as to detract, and indeed served only to underscore how astounding were the highs (the Silver Spike shining brightly as my favorite of the whole run).
Water Sleeps was the low point of the volume. Not because it was bad. On the contrary, it revealed a great deal of the mysteries of the series, and opened the way to further insanity. But it did not stand out as most of the non-war volumes do with a noir sensibility, rather, it pressed on almost like a volume that just had to be written, not one that was enjoyed by the author. Like a honey-do for the series. Necessary connective tissue.
It does stand out in one way, however: Sleepy. The narrator of this volume is a significant departure from past narrators. Several characters showcase a fluidity of gender representation that Cook's abbreviated prose can confuse terribly. By this time, I am familiar enough with his style that I figured things out pretty quickly. Still, his casual use of cover and character designators can be a little confusing even now.
Tobo steps up to fill a crucial role in the Company and makes every bit as colorful a character as One-Eye and Goblin.
In Soldiers Live, we are back to a familiar annalist and finally make contact with Khatovar. As with everything in the series, nothing is as expected, and nothing goes quite right.
But we are given the violent introduction of two new characters just as we see the departure of several others. In true to Cook fashion, some horrors are treated as well as can be expected given the subject matter, and he never dwells gratuitously on any of it while also being much clearer about things than in volumes past. All in all, he handles some delicate things pretty well.
But the two new sorcerers are among my favorites, particularly the older of the two, who is exactly the sort of broken character rising to a new lot in life that I love.
The final annalist entries are pretty great.
There are big changes throughout the book, and all of them not only make sense, but are given in a way that feels almost as mythic as several characters speculate they may one day be.
The ending is bittersweet but also open-ended. It's been 15 or so years since this last book was published and we may never see another in the series. It's a satisfying end, even if it isn't the big, epic, tidy resolution that some people may want. Of course, if you want that, you probably aren't still reading the Black Company.
Though I waffle between 3 and 4 stars from volume to volume, I have to say that this has easily been one of my favorite fantasy series' to date.
Thanks for the ride, Glen.
Water Sleeps was the low point of the volume. Not because it was bad. On the contrary, it revealed a great deal of the mysteries of the series, and opened the way to further insanity. But it did not stand out as most of the non-war volumes do with a noir sensibility, rather, it pressed on almost like a volume that just had to be written, not one that was enjoyed by the author. Like a honey-do for the series. Necessary connective tissue.
It does stand out in one way, however: Sleepy. The narrator of this volume is a significant departure from past narrators. Several characters showcase a fluidity of gender representation that Cook's abbreviated prose can confuse terribly. By this time, I am familiar enough with his style that I figured things out pretty quickly. Still, his casual use of cover and character designators can be a little confusing even now.
Tobo steps up to fill a crucial role in the Company and makes every bit as colorful a character as One-Eye and Goblin.
In Soldiers Live, we are back to a familiar annalist and finally make contact with Khatovar. As with everything in the series, nothing is as expected, and nothing goes quite right.
But we are given the violent introduction of two new characters just as we see the departure of several others. In true to Cook fashion, some horrors are treated as well as can be expected given the subject matter, and he never dwells gratuitously on any of it while also being much clearer about things than in volumes past. All in all, he handles some delicate things pretty well.
But the two new sorcerers are among my favorites, particularly the older of the two, who is exactly the sort of broken character rising to a new lot in life that I love.
The final annalist entries are pretty great.
There are big changes throughout the book, and all of them not only make sense, but are given in a way that feels almost as mythic as several characters speculate they may one day be.
The ending is bittersweet but also open-ended. It's been 15 or so years since this last book was published and we may never see another in the series. It's a satisfying end, even if it isn't the big, epic, tidy resolution that some people may want. Of course, if you want that, you probably aren't still reading the Black Company.
Though I waffle between 3 and 4 stars from volume to volume, I have to say that this has easily been one of my favorite fantasy series' to date.
Thanks for the ride, Glen.