The Black Company: Chronicles of The Black Company, Book 1

Have you ever gone into a book blind and been so surprised you look again to see if you picked up the right book? That was me, now I’m not entirely sure why but I thought this was about a group of guys on a ship sailing the open seas *shrugs*. So I was really surprised when it is about a band of soldiers for hire, more surprised when there were Wizards in that band and floored when they started talking about vampires, forvalaka and beings that have been brought back from the dead.After the first chapter I had no idea what was going on. I honestly thought I missed something and needed to go back and start again. This is why I was happy I was in a buddy read for this book. I would have maybe given up thinking that I totally was missing something, I wasn’t. It is Cook’s style to have a character know something but not let the reader in on it for awhile. It takes a little getting used to.The best thing is that this is Grimdark…so we are following a group of men who are mercenaries. They sell their swords to the highest bidder, more or less and will fight for any cause. It’s a tale of war so there is bad on both sides but it becomes pretty clear that our team is playing for the bad side.“You who come after me, scribbling these Annals, by now realize that I shy off portraying the whole truth about our band of blackguards. You know they are vicious, violent, and ignorant. They are complete barbarians, living out their cruelest fantasies, their behavior tempered only by the presence of a few decent men. I do not often show that side because these men are my brethren, my family, and I was taught young not to speak ill of kin. The old lessons die hardest.”It becomes pretty clear that Croaker and a few of the officer type people are the best of the crew but even they are hardened men that sometimes do the right thing but more often than not they just do the thing they are being paid for. Currently they are in service of The Lady. She is a bit of a megalomaniac set on world domination but hey everyone has to have goals. She also has a team of people she has brought back from the dead to be in her service….Croaker has even romanticized her in a few of his writings the beautiful seductess. That might have been a mistake as she is cruel, vindictive and will kill thousands of men just to further her goals.“I damned myself for my earlier romanticism. That Croaker who had come north, so thoroughly bemused by the mysterious Lady, was another man. A stripling, filled with the foolish ignorances of youth. Yeah. Sometimes you lie to yourself just to keep going.”We only ever get into the lives of a few of the main band but man the story was really gripping. If George RR Martin wrote this it would be over 1000 pages as he described the battle standards, the detailing around an archway and 3 days of battle. I’d be bored to death and skimming because battles are not really my thing. But Cook gives or tale and sometimes he abbreviates because he doesn’t give you every detail in the 2 weeks of a march north, or the battle that waged for 5 days. Instead he gives you the plot developments and meat of the story. There are fun times too as Croaker records the various Wizard battles between frenemies Goblin and One-Eye.There are some great raw unredeemed characters. Raven has some sort of past that made him kill his wife and lovers before joining The Black Company. He almost seems to have a little magic of his own and he shows how merciless he can be a few times is this book. But he was my favorite character and I really enjoyed how different he was from the rest of the company.There were some big surprises at the end of this book and it was well worth the read. I loved the idea of a band of men with their own moral code, at least to each other. They are not heroes and they are on the wrong side but it is an interesting journey and I’m excited to see where they go next.Note: I really suggest reading this with a few people. There are a few things that were somewhat critical I might not have caught all on my own and since the characters are so unhero-esk it’s really great discussion.

"It was a night for screams. A broiling, sticky night of the sort that abrades that last thin barrier between the civilized man and the monster crouched in his soul. The screams came from homes where fear, heat, and overcrowding had put too much strain on the monster’s chains.""There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints.Victorious historians rule where good or evil lies.We adjure labels. We fight for money and indefinable pride. The politics, the ethics, the moralities, are irrelevant.""They sit around together like a couple of rocks, talking about the same things boulders do. They are content just to share one another’s company.""Consider little children. There are not many of them not cute and lovable and precious, sweet as whipped honey and butter. So where do all the wicked people come from?""Little girls are twice as precious and innocent as little boys. I do not know a culture that does not make them that way.""There was always a breeze out around the Island, though it avoided the shore as if fearing leprosy. Closer at hand, the wheeling gulls were as surly and lackadaisical as the day promised to make most men."So this was a book that I should not have liked. It kinda ticked off a pet peeve. But I can’t help myself. I enjoyed Croaker’s (yes, that’s the character’s name) voice entirely too much. I mean, with names like One-eye, Silent, and Tom-Tom how could you not at least be swept away in the entertainment? And as you can see by the above, there were some great quotes in this book.Soooo, story? I’m not sure. I guess I can sum it up by saying that a mercenary group gets a contract to work for the bad guys and ends up going on a campaign to further their employer’s advances. Because our protagonists are portrayed as neither good nor evil, it makes for some interesting observations. And my last sentence should warn those who love old school clearly good vs clearly bad that this might not be the book for them. While I consider Croaker to be inherently good, some of those in his company are not. And he works for the bad guys. He does stuff for the bad guys. So fair warning.What was my annoyance? Summaries. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but some of the scenes were just lumped into a summary paragraph. I mean, to the point where it was almost like, “We went north and fought and won.” Nothing that simple, but it sure did feel like it. That happened a lot. Normally I wouldn’t mind, I mean, I’m not a fan of descriptions, but I felt a bit cheated out of some action. Matter of fact, even the action scenes felt a bit summed up. If Croaker fought, it was pretty much lumped up as that, instead of giving us a play by play of his moves, or how many bad guys he took on. I found it as enjoyable as annoying. I will say, dialog mostly advanced the story. I like dialog, so this worked.Another thing that took me a bit to adjust to was Cook’s writing style. Scenes could be a bit confusing at times, especially the beginning. You kinda feel tossed around. It’s a lot to adjust to right from the get go. There were breathtaking sentences, but I’d say most of it read choppy. At first, I wasn’t a fan, but as the story progressed I actually found it captivating. A few examples:"One-eye grunted, discarded. Candy picked up and spread. One-eye cursed.""The list was disappointing. I gave it to Elmo. He cursed, spat, cursed again. He kicked the planks we were using as a card table."As you can see, it’s very short, abrupt, and choppy. Somehow it works, though. It fits with the characters, and I found myself not noticing it the farther I read.The world was fleshed out enough for me, but those crazy into world building might find it lacking. I didn’t really get a good feel for it, but then again, I’m not one to usually notice an underdeveloped world. I like a story that moves.How about those characters? I can’t say that I love one over another. There was a group—the main group the story focuses on—that I loved. All of them. They were each well built, flawed, unique, and interacted with each member differently. I liked that aspect. Most of all, I think I enjoyed Croaker’s voice; how he spoke, how he observed, his morals and lack thereof. He wasn’t my favorite character—I’d actually be challenged to name one—but he kept things moving along. Not only were the “good” guys entertaining, but some of the “bad” guys were equally developed. Cook did a great job at portraying some pretty dark characters and I found a few of them as captivating as some of the good guys.I will definitely be picking up the second book. I’ve heard it’s better, and I’m curious to see where the story goes. We’ve got a peek towards the direction we’ll be traveling, and I’m excited about it. But most of all, I look forward to hanging out with the gang again. The great banter and wide cast makes it delightfully entertaining. And now that I’m adjusted to Cook’s style and know what to expect, I think I’ll be able to sit back and enjoy the second one more.Overall, this book’s got some great cussing, it moves along nicely, it’s choppy and delightfully free of lengthy descriptions, it’s got a great set of characters, and some deep thoughts. I’d recommend it to any fantasy lover.

I enjoyed this book so much that I'm now neck deep in the series.If you're a fan of the Malazan series, then you should really give this one a shot and see what you think. If you enjoyed following Fiddler and the Bonehunters, then you'll probably feel at home following the Black Company in their escapades. It has the same militaristic feel to it, along with secret plots, back stabbing, epic battles, magic, and all in a much smaller scope than the Malazon series.The story is told primarily from the perspective of Croaker, the company physician and annalist, and it appears that the story is essentially being told from the annals. Any time the story is being told in first person, you know it is from Croaker's point of view. Everyone else is referred to in third person, which I really appreciate because it helps you keep track of who you are following and what's currently going on.It's a somewhat simple story in scope, at least in comparison to other Epic Fantasy novels (Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of the Fallen) but I quickly came to appreciate the smaller scope of the story. The series is still deep enough to be enticing, but not so deep that you get lost at every turn trying to make sense of it all. You don't really get any of the "fluff" either that longer books have big chunks of (or in some cases, entire books filled with fluff.)I love the story, I love the characters, my only complaint really is that I wish they were a bit longer. I'm chewing through these books so fast, but enjoying every minute of it.

This book good have been great and, perhaps, should have been great.The plot is not overly complicated but ambles along at a resonable place, it would be wholly predictable if ity wasn't for the nature of some of the main characters and specifically the prime character. The mix of strtaightforward plot with more complex characters works well and sustains interest levels.The real problem is the writing style - by which I do not mean the grammar and spelling/typos so much as the disjointed nature of the book. It feels as though it has been edited with a lump hammer and I was left wondering whether parts had been hacked out by an over zealous editor or simply never written.I could not go so far as to say it was an enjoyable read and I doubt I will bother with the sequels, but if you pick it up cheap for a read on the train/plane/whatever then it will fill an hour or so.

The story itself is amazing and this is where it all starts. But beware: at the time of purchasing, I bought this thinking I could easily pick up the next installments - I was wrong. Much better buying the collection of the first three novels than this. 5 stars for the reading but better value with the collection.

It is a good but not great book. Very entertaining but it does not have the depth of the work of other authors such as Abercrombie or Scott Lynch to name a few. I felt less attached to the character compared to other fantasy series. I will however continue to read the books of the black company.

Initially hard to read. Nothing connects. Everything feels disconnected. From each other. Just like these sentences.Eventually it starts to get interesting and stays that way. Hard read but it's worth it. I advice you pick up the trilogy though. Now I need to buy the trilogy because I can't find the books seperately.

If you like dark fantasy - stories that are not about sterile clean ever-happy heroes and people where all ends well and nice - The Black Company is for you.They are not goodie-two-shoes, no knights in shining armor. They have done terrible things and compassion isn't exactly a trademark. But at the same time the characters of the Black Company are authentic and they grow on you with their crooked charme. And they carry a weird kind of honor and pride with them.I was looking a while ago for darker fantasy with questionable heroes or main characters. Ever since I got my hands on R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice (many many years ago, before Amazon existed in Germany) I hungered for plausible, barbaric and dark fantasy stories.A few weeks ago I found The Black Company and fell in love with the series.What do I like in particular:The characters.They are as I mentioned before, authentic. Everyone of them has his quirks, dark secrets and viewsEach of them has a well fleshed out background - revealed more and more throughout the story. And the best of it, I couldn't really find any boring stereo-types.Dialogues:The story all in all is very well written - especially the dialogues.It's always hard to write an ongoing dialogue between multiple characters - Glen Cook mastered it.Many of the dialogues had me laughing.What can I say more... eloquent - sarcastic - pun after pun or simply interesting when the story takes a slower pace.Story iteself:At the beginning I was a bit worried... it starts out a bit slow and harmless. But soon after that it picks up pace and I couldn't put the "e-book" out of my hands. Next day I looked like an old owl with deep dark rings under my eyes ;-)It's dark, it deals with nasty things - tender souls shouldn't read it unless they are masochists...The combat scenes are nice to read - no exaggeration - just plain realistic combat yet exciting.No epic Drizzt-Do'Urden-Super-Hero beat them all Hack&Slash. In this story, people lose their life or body-parts and life still goes on.I wish there would be much more of that kind of fantasy on the market.