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The Black Company (The Chronicles of the Black Company #1)

by Glen Cook

3.96 · Rating Details · 25,880 Ratings · 1,072 Reviews

Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found here.

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead.Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to ...more

Mass Market Paperback, 319 pages

Published March 15th 1992 by Tor Fantasy (first published May 1984)

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J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

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Military Fantasy

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Community Reviews

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Jun 30, 2012 mark monday rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantastickal

i thought this book was great. a strange kind of modern classic, one that influenced many other fantasy efforts by ushering in the genuine darkness, grittiness, and lack of wonder of the military novel. the writing is direct, unadorned, choppy - a soldier's perspective, i suppose. the novel jumps right in the middle of the action and makes no attempt to help readers out, assuming that they will eventually catch up. experiencing the lack of poetry and of justice, the anonymity of most of the sold i thought this book was great. a strange kind of modern classic, one that influenced many other fantasy efforts by ushering in the genuine darkness, grittiness, and lack of wonder of the military novel. the writing is direct, unadorned, choppy - a soldier's perspective, i suppose. the novel jumps right in the middle of the action and makes no attempt to help readers out, assuming that they will eventually catch up. experiencing the lack of poetry and of justice, the anonymity of most of the soldiers, and the dearth of noble sentiment - indeed, very little sentiment of any kind whatsoever - was like splashing into icy cold water. it is startling, at first. but you get numbed to it.

the beginning was definitely abrupt but i got into the swing of things pretty quickly. the novel is an onion that gets increasingly rotten as you peel away every layer - but still isn't a completely bad onion. you can still use parts of it in a salad. don't toss that onion away, it's not all bad!

in particular, i loved the literalized levels of moral ambiguity and evil:

(view spoiler)
'cause baby, we're with the bad guys this time!

the reader's stand-in, Croaker, is not all bad. he does some pretty good things. he usually won't lift a finger for anyone outside of the Black Company but, at times, he is a genuinely good guy. The Black Company itself sounds like a militaristic Evil Pixar. it takes pride in its reputation for excellence and usually delivers, above and beyond. it treats its people right. it cares for them; it tries to remember their names. it doesn't like wasting time and effort in senseless battle. it prefers to run rather than toss away the lives of its men. it tries to give them rest and recreation; it promotes comraderie and respect and positive, friendly relationships. The Black Company actively tries to never fuck its men over. and, rather sweetly, it does not think highly of child abuse and torture. that's a good company to work for!

however, The Black Company also kills sleeping guardsmen in their beds. it burns down whole villages. it cares more about a paycheck than about working for mass murdering villains. its younger men rape women while its older men shrug their shoulders indulgently, an older brother chuckling at the shenanigans of a younger brother. for chrissakes, it marches screaming prisoners of war in the middle of a town square and then proceeds to nonchalantly slaughter them, simply because they are in a hurry to get the hell out of dodge. Croaker notices these things, justifies or tries to explain away some of them, but mainly chooses not to dwell on it. as he says: he was not raised to speak ill of his family. and so his narration focuses on the The Black Company's current place on the map as he helps out the wounded, tries to figure out mysteries, and writes about those colleagues with whom he is particularly close. often he spends a lot of time mooning on and on and over the two most intriguing and glamorous women that he actually only sorta knows - Soulcatcher and The Lady. just as often, he contemplates the history and the future of his outfit. he is a Company Man, through and through. The Black Company is bad - Croaker knows it and the reader is shown it during several key sequences - but it is, as they say, not all bad .

the novel features a Secret Hero: Raven. he saves a little girl's life and protects her throughout the tale. he also has a habit of enacting blind vengeance, enjoys extreme knife play, and early on, he graphically and nonchalantly strangles his backstabbing wife at a garden party, in front of his new buddies The Black Company. he is not bad looking and apparently smells like a corpse. that's our mysterious Secret Hero, folks, enjoy him!

i understand that Glen Cook used his experiences in Vietnam to inform his novel. after learning that fact the parallel becomes obvious. but to me at least, it is not simply a parallel for Vietnam; it is a very grown up and realistic analogy for many wars, for the nature of war itself. even the Good Guys can be Bad Guys. and even the Bad Guys have their reasons. what villain truly thinks that they are motivated by Complete Evil anyway? almost anything can be rationalized.

the novel contains precious little of pure good - so little that i clung to those rare good deeds, parceled out by the author so sparingly. what the novel has in spades is shades of grey: no true heroes and very few completely villainous villains. and yet... not a despairing novel. i felt strangely refreshed after reading it.

review for the The Black Company trilogy:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ Rabid Reads rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fantasy, some-kinda-magic, weres-shapeshifters, dead-things, not-your-ordinary-creatures, favorite-secondary-characters, rabid-reads-reviews, diabolical, creeptastic, skulduggery, it-burns-us-precious, buddy-reads-are-the-best, audible

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

I went into the reading of THE BLACK COMPANY by Glen Cook nearly blind. I knew a lot of people didn't like it. I knew it wasn't going to be warm and fuzzy.

But that was pretty much it.

I quickly learned that despite Joe Abercrombie being widely known as "Lord Grimdark," it was Cook who gave birth to the subgenre.

So that's important to know: it it grim, and it is dark.

But it's also about brotherhood, about family. It's about upholding some version of a moral code in the mid ...more

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Nov 23, 2015 Evgeny rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Glen Cook is often called the father of grimdark fantasy. This is his most famous series which most definitely helped grimdark to become the dominant sub-genre of the modern fantasy.

A long time ago even way before J.R.R. Tolkien created his classic trilogy most of the fantasy (or what would later be called such) belonged to so-called heroic fantasy. There was a person, or a group of people who had to perform heroic deeds to save the world most of the time; Lord of the Rings firmly falls into th Glen Cook is often called the father of grimdark fantasy. This is his most famous series which most definitely helped grimdark to become the dominant sub-genre of the modern fantasy.

A long time ago even way before J.R.R. Tolkien created his classic trilogy most of the fantasy (or what would later be called such) belonged to so-called heroic fantasy. There was a person, or a group of people who had to perform heroic deeds to save the world most of the time; Lord of the Rings firmly falls into this category. Conan the Barbarian performed his heroics for personal gains. Elric by Michael Moorcock while not being a nice person still saved the world from evil several times.

Welcome to the world of The Black Company. There is no single person in the entire series who could be called nice by any stretch of the word's definition. You will find plenty of shades of gray though. Their world is dark and violent with almost constant struggle between plain evil and outright evil which would make the Biblical Satan look like an amateur.

The Company is a band of mercenaries with its people just doing their jobs of fighting and dying caught in the power struggle of demigods; at the end of the day even demigods need an army to finalize their conquests; compare it with modern military actions: no matter how many airstrikes you do with even the most modern bombs available only the ground troops ensure the area in question is secured.

soldiers

The "heroes" of the series are low level grunts of the mercenary band. None of them are nice people, but they do have their own honor code and they try to support the lesser of the evils when they have a choice. The characters of the company are excellent and memorable; they grow on you and you find yourself rooting for them after a while.

Speaking of the characters I cannot help mentioning One-Eye and Goblin. These two are the best frenemies of fantasy in particular and any literature in general. They are minor wizards whose purpose in life is to outdo each other by using any means necessary and as a result they never fail to bring amusing moments.

I am convinced Glen Cook is practically unsurpassed when it comes to the amount of backstabbing and double-crossing in the literature. This makes up for an exciting and unpredictable plot twists.

The book and most of the series is written as the company's annals by its annalist and surgeon aptly named Croaker. For this reason it takes some time to get used to writing style with quite a few people abandoning the series because of this. When you think about it, Croaker really does not have much time for writing fancy literature; unlike real-life Patrick Rothfuss or George R.R. Martin he cannot afford taking his time to write being in the middle of military action.

Glen Cook is a Vietnam War vet and as such when he writes about a war he really knows about it. He never glorifies one; in fact the main idea of the series is that there is no glory in any war, no matter which side you fight on. He is also great when it comes to describing military camaraderie; Croaker often refers to people of the company as family.

So the writing sometimes is choppy and quite minimalist when it comes to the descriptions. If you managed to get past it, you will be rewarded with very good characters and exciting plot. All of the book of the series are hard to put down after the initial confusion and this one is not an exception.

To be completely honest I need to mention I am a big fan of the series, so please take my rating with a grain of salt. It might be half a star lower. ...more

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Nov 21, 2015 Markus rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2014, black-company

“No one will sing songs in our memory. We are the last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Our traditions and memories live only in these Annals. We are our own mourners.”

After only reading the first book in the three-part omnibus edition, I can already tell that Glen Cook is an exceptionally skilled storyteller, and that The Black Company is probably the best war story I have ever read.

Series review from the beginning
Series review from the ending

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Jul 01, 2016 ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, books-i-own, fantasy, kick-ass-heroines, series, absolute-favourites, buddy-read, br-2015, read-2015, magic, male-lead, bbb, blood-and-gore-yay, gloriously-fucked-up-characters, assholes-and-liars-everywhere-yay, welcome-to-the-zoo, 1st-in-series, good-ol-testosterone, grimdark, it-s-war, black-company, brb-dead, the-awesome-bunch, cool-chicks-harem, darker-is-cooler, this-is-perfection, mostest-awesomest-villains

Buddy read with the BBB mercenaries

Actual rating: 15 stars. And I'm not even exaggerating.

Warning: this book is not for the fluffy bunnies, pastel-colored rainbows, romance freaks. If you belong to that ~~scary~~ lovely bunch of people, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, read this book. It might scar you for life. It might even haunt you after death.

There are books with bad guys. Then there is this book. Never before have I encountered such a glorious collection of twisted, evil, morally corrupt, vile, di ...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Nancy rated it did not like it

Shelves: sf-fantasy, military-war, waste-of-trees, abandoned

After 75 pages, I've come to the conclusion that life is too short to waste reading bad books. Positive praise and reviews caused me to bring the book home against my best judgement. The first-person style, lack of character depth, stupid names, inane dialogue and juvenile prose have caused me to abandon the book in frustration. Good thing I read Mary Gentle's Ash: A Secret History before giving up on the military fantasy genre altogether.

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Mar 06, 2016 Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ (of badger and SNAKE) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf, fantasy, dark, my-kindle-challenges-me, 2016-reads

DNF 42%. Shoot me, because it seemed that The Black Company was written for me :

~~Morally ambiguous~~ Plain bad heroes whose only rules are brotherhood's related and who don't shy away from almost any deed (they draw the line at killing children, but everything else is implicitly accepted - I'll let you think about what resides into their candid brains, haha). You gotta love antiheroes : when you start smiling because Aww, they didn't kill the kid, after all! you know that you're up for some awfu ...more

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May 25, 2011 Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja) rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Fans of military/dark epic fantasy

Shelves: favorites, soldier-or-military, part-of-a-series, fantasy, owned-copy, antihero, medical-profession, wizard-warlock-sorcerer, epic-fantasy, fantasy-aficionados-may-read

It’s amazing how well military and fantasy seemed to mesh in this story. The Black Company is an elite mercenary unit that holds two values sacred: Committing fully to any commission they take on, and watching out for their fellow members, their brothers in the unit. This unit consists of hardened fighting men, some of whom happen to be wizards, and our narrator, Croaker, who is the annalist (records the history of the unit) and the doctor of the unit.

The world they live in is plagued by war bet It’s amazing how well military and fantasy seemed to mesh in this story. The Black Company is an elite mercenary unit that holds two values sacred: Committing fully to any commission they take on, and watching out for their fellow members, their brothers in the unit. This unit consists of hardened fighting men, some of whom happen to be wizards, and our narrator, Croaker, who is the annalist (records the history of the unit) and the doctor of the unit.

The world they live in is plagued by war between the Rebels and those who serve the Lady. After leaving their present commission for a minor potentate in Beryl (a dead end that could have ended up with them all dead had they not found a way to ‘honorably’ terminate their employment), they take a commission with one of the twelve extremely scary Taken (a cabal of undead wizards who serve the Lady), an androgynous figure called Soulcatcher. Soulcatcher has the tendency to speak in various voices, male and female, sometimes at the same time. The Company knows there is something not right about Soulcatcher. Soulcatcher is probably evil. But for the Black Company, they don’t look at morals that way. Their greatest ethical commitment is to put in a good day’s work for their present employer. The problem is this job is going to take them into really nasty places, and cause some of the men of the Black Company to reevaluate their morals for serving their questionable employer, particularly Croaker.

The writing style in this story appealed to me, with a brisk narrative that managed to convey exactly what I needed to know. The humor is subtle, and the depiction of violence is done very well—not excessively gory, but clearly expressing the ugly nature of war. As I mentioned above, the fantasy elements went hand and hand with this military adventure. The use of magic was a weapon used by both sides in the military conflict. The wizards in the Company were quite the characters, often having competitive showdowns with each other that were great comic relief.

I appreciated the time spent to bring the characters to life. Although these are guys who work for pretty much anyone who can pay for them, I felt that they were honorable men in their own way. Croaker was a good narrative choice, because he was a seasoned soldier who had seen a lot, and pondered what he experiences in a way that brings the reader right into the narrative, along for the ride. He'd been in the business too long to be morally righteous in the traditional sense; but there were things that he and the guys in his unit definitely wouldn’t stand for. Croaker would be one of the first to admit that most of his brothers sit at various points on the evil spectrum. But there is evil, and there is worse evil, as they soon come to find out. The problem is trying to figure out which side is worse.

Another standout character in this story was Raven. He was, well, scary, but tremendously fascinating. A man who joins their unit shortly after they take on the commission with Soulcatcher, he is driven initially by revenge. A formidable killer who scares even the hardened men of the unit, but with a sense of honor that causes him to intervene when another group of soldiers murder a village of children, and gang-rape a nine year old girl. That girl and her grandfather essentially become part of the unit, and Raven becomes like a surrogate dad to the little girl called Darling. This unlikely adoption of a mute little girl and her grandfather adds to the rag-tag family atmosphere of the Company, as they all end up becoming fond of the girl and her grandfather.

Shades of gray. This story is definitely about that spectrum between black and white. It touches on the fact that war is more often the means through which figures in power work out their political squabbles, and less about doing the ‘right thing’ or righting wrongs. And the puppets of their war are working men, getting paid to fight their battles. That doesn’t erase their individual responsibilities for the wrongs they do, and they carry those burdens in the ways they can best manage. But at some point, one has to wonder when it’s time to walk way, to save what’s left of one’s own soul. That’s what Croaker struggles with.

I like that fantasy can go to these places that I wouldn’t necessarily explore out of the fiction setting. The military life is not one I would choose for myself. However, I respect those in the military a lot. Like any profession, a soldier has his own set of ethics and rules, and the good and the bad that goes along with his job. Cook illustrated the inns and outs of military campaigns very well here, the grueling days and nights, and how war isn’t always some crazy, dramatic battle. Sometimes it’s about the long waiting, the even longer marches, and the deprivation when supplies are down, losing men faster than they can be saved, and digging in while the Company is surrounded by the enemy. And everyone has their part to play in the conflict, even if it’s just cannon fodder (sadly enough).

I’m on a roll. I’ve liked most of the epic fantasy I’ve read so far. But this one stands out with its military esthetic, which was done very well. I read this story out of an omnibus collection of The Chronicles of the Black Company, and I’m glad I went ahead and bought it because I want to read more of the Black Company’s adventures.
...more

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Nov 24, 2015 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-5-stars, fantastic-fantasy, witches-warlocks-and-magic, super-sidekicks, awesome-audio, bro-mantic, buddy-read

Buddy read with my fellow Mercinaries at Buddies Books and Baubles who kept me on track. Thank you.

description

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 tal ...more

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Nov 23, 2015 Eon ♒Windrunner♒ rated it really liked it

Before Abercrombie… Before Lawrence... Before Martin…

There was Cook.

description

I loved The Black Company.
It is dark, entertaining and funny with a hint of epic and it kept me enthralled until the end.

It's about a group of people (with a particular set of skills :D) fighting for the employer of the day. These people are not good or bad. They are just people. Some are worse than others, but it’s all about your point of view. I mention this only, because I kept on wondering if I was backing the bad guys her ...more

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Aug 03, 2016 Sh3lly ✨ Bring on the Weird ✨ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommended to Sh3lly ✨ Bring on the Weird ✨ by: ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans)

Shelves: maybe-its-just-me, magic, try-again-later-maybe, fantasy, buddy-read, i-love-peer-pressure, everyone-loved-it-but-me, read-2016, im-so-bored, i-read-it-wrong

I have officially given up. DNF at 35%. There's nothing wrong with this. It just didn't work for me ~~and was so boring~~. I'm sure it's me, not the book.

Everyone else loved it. So it must mean I read it wrong, therefore I even created a new shelf just for this book. I did give it my best effort, so let me pull out the Daniel Radcliffe gif while I'm at it:

Original post:

I'm late to the party, but starting this one. Buddy read with the Buddies Books and Baubles group. They read it like November 19th ...more

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Apr 02, 2015 seak rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-review, 2015

Quick review: Think Malazan Book of the Fallen, but focusing only on the marines. Sounds good right?

Especially given the fact that MBotF is one of my all-time favorite series and the marines were always my favorite parts. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I enjoyed this more, but I can't help but make the comparison and think it a good one. Don't ask me how my mind works, I obviously don't have a clue.

The comparison also makes sense because this series was influential on Erikson's MBotF. Th Quick review: Think Malazan Book of the Fallen, but focusing only on the marines. Sounds good right?

Especially given the fact that MBotF is one of my all-time favorite series and the marines were always my favorite parts. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I enjoyed this more, but I can't help but make the comparison and think it a good one. Don't ask me how my mind works, I obviously don't have a clue.

The comparison also makes sense because this series was influential on Erikson's MBotF. They're completely different, but the cynicism is definitely there in this mercenary band (I'm talking about The Black Company now) and it doesn't hold your hand as you're getting acquainted with the book.

As a big Malazan fan, I'm also a huge fan of authors that let you struggle. Authors that trust the intelligence of their readers, that they'll get it, they'll figure things out, and they'll be rewarded by it as well.

I think the part where The Black Company diverges quite a bit from the Malazan world is that where Malazan is vast, The Black Company is not. The limited viewpoint, following the first person account of Croaker (Crokus anyone?) who's both the company healer and historian, definitely holds back the worldbuilding, but I'm not complaining either. Just noting. And that's not to say it's not vast, you just don't get a sense of the world as much when you only follow a single person. I'm sure the world expands as the series progresses.

Overall, this was a really fun book. It's not black and white, you don't even really know if The Black Company is fighting for the right side, but that's what makes it good. They're just trying to make it through their commission.

Plus, there are some great, zany characters, like One-Eye and Goblin, who magically duel each other constantly, pranking each other with the most ridiculous things and then having more ridiculous things gobble up the previous ridiculous things. It's just great fun.

Croaker, the narrator as I mentioned, has a great voice. He takes his job seriously, but there's no pretense either. I can't wait to read more from the annals of the Black Company.

4 out of 5 Stars (highly recommended) ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Kaora rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

We are minions of the villains of the piece. We confess the illusion and deny the substance.

There are no self-proclaimed villains, only regiments of self-proclaimed saints. Victorious historians rule where good or evil lies.

We abjure labels. We fight for money and an indefinable pride. The politics, the ethics, the moralities, are irrelevant.

I loved this one.

I didn't start out loving it, but on my second attempt at it with a group of friends, I found myself thoroughly hooked.

It probably helps th ...more

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Nov 16, 2012 David Sven rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, dark-fantasy

Position Vacant:

The Black Company is now recruiting in your city. All applications considered. No credit checks, no criminal history checks, no psychological tests, no moral aptitude tests. No matter how dark your history the “Black” in Black Company is Black enough to blot out all your past sins.
Prerequisites: We prefer those who are experienced at “wet work.” If you have never killed anyone, we can provide on the job training but one must consider carefully before hand if you can undergo such ...more

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Dec 01, 2015 Eilonwy rated it really liked it

Shelves: can-t-wait-for-books-two-and-three, good-worldbuilding, good-mythology, just-brilliant, heartbreaking

4-1/2 stars, and may get rounded up.

I was afraid to read this book, because dark, bleak military fantasy? So not my thing. So even though Markus's updates really caught my imagination a year or so ago, I had this series on my mental "probably never going to read" list.

Then all my friends in the Buddies Books and Baubles group started a buddy read, and I knew I would kick myself if I didn't join in. And I'm so glad I did.

No one will sing songs in our memory. We are the last of the Free Compan
4-1/2 stars, and may get rounded up.

I was afraid to read this book, because dark, bleak military fantasy? So not my thing. So even though Markus's updates really caught my imagination a year or so ago, I had this series on my mental "probably never going to read" list.

Then all my friends in the Buddies Books and Baubles group started a buddy read, and I knew I would kick myself if I didn't join in. And I'm so glad I did.

No one will sing songs in our memory. We are the last of the Free Companies of Khatovar. Our traditions and memories live only in these Annals. We are our own mourners. It is the Company against the world. Thus it has been and ever will be.

Over its 300-plus-year history, the Black Company has fought for whoever is willing to pay them. Its members join to forget their pasts and forge a new self from hardship and the focus of battle. And yet they themselves may be remembered through the Annals, kept continuously throughout the Company's existence.

The current Annalist is Croaker, the Company's physician, and it is through his eyes that this story unfolds as the Company joins itself in service to the Lady, a magician so powerful as to be nearly a goddess, and her court of Taken, wizards with whom she shares her powers. The Company's job is to squelch the Rebel forces who believe the Lady is evil and chafe against her rule.

This is a story full of magic, grit, and moral ambiguity. Twists and whiplash-inducing shifts keep the pacing taut and fast-moving. The first chapter or so is really confusing, as the reader is simply tossed into the story with no background and no info-dumping, just Croaker's straight-forward statements about what's happening. For me, figuring out what was going on was half the fun, although my reading was a little slow, as I had to keep doubling back to reread bits when I figured out "oh, that's what that was about!" I've seen some reviewers here complain about the writing style, but I personally loved it. It's raw and bare-boned, with no flowery descriptions or metaphors, but I found it deeply evocative and resonant. It created a mood that held me in its spell even when I wasn't reading. Yes, the story is grim and dark, but I found it to be a good kind of grim, fitting the seriousness of what the Company does. The book avoids outright gruesomeness for the most part (one character accuses Croaker of writing the "sugar-and-spice version" of events), for which I was personally grateful. Croaker acknowledges the ugly side of mercenary soldiering, but does not glorify or revel in it. And there are bits of humor, especially between the Company's two wizards, that break up the heaviness.

I don't want to say too much more about this book, because honestly, I think it's best read without too clear an idea of what to expect. Most of it took me completely by surprise, in a good way.

Now on to Book Two! ...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Troy G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed

You will either love this book or hate it. It is like nothing else ever written. It is the gateway to a series that is consistently better with each novel, but this novel is so polarizing that you might never be able to appreciate the series for what a masterwork it is.

First, the book is told from a first person perspective by an unreliable narrator in a vernacular that is less flowery than is common for fantasy works. This is often the thing that turns people off to this book, but I encourage y ...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Stephen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, hardboiled-and-noir, unique-magic, dark-and-gritty, mercenaries

5.5 stars. I loved this book!!! The world of the Black Company is absolutely amazing and reading this book was a BLAST. Great characters, great world-building and a terrific plot. Can't ask for much more than that. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!!

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Jul 14, 2013 Penny rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, classics, series, scifi-and-fantasy-club-bookshelf, magic, dark

I can see why this is a cult classic. Thoroughly enjoyable read!

I think Croaker is a great character and a perfect choice of narrator! He's been part of the Company for many years and I at no point questioned his loyalty to them, but he's more than just a soldier for hire. Being a physician he has a greater admiration for human life and his perspective on the front lines of war / fighting was refreshingly different. I also liked that he was the historian who kept a record of the Company and the ...more

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Dec 08, 2015 Michael *Windrunner* rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, high-fantasy, dr-reading-challenge, 2015

I read this with my friends at Buddies Books and Baubles.

I think we all had a lot of fun and really enjoyed this book. I considered giving it 5 stars, but...

Speaking of our good-friend Skeletor, I thought about him a lot during this read. I don't think any character resembles Skeletor, but I took the liberty to insert him into my minds-eye anyway.

The story follows a band of mercenaries who get hired by some bad people to fight a war. Part of what was fun for me in this story was that the heroes ...more

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Mar 20, 2016 Pablo Bueno rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Hace poco hice un postre. Tenía un sabor que mezclaba la piña con el chocolate y le puse unas galletas por encima para decorar. Sin entrar en detalles, solo diré que cuando lo fuimos a probar, tras llevarlo a casa de unos amigos, parecía que una jauría de diplodocus epilépticos hubiera estado jugando al vóley playa encima. El sabor, no obstante, era delicioso. Aspecto: malo; sabor: delicioso.

La Compañía Negra es ese postre, así que empezaré diciendo que no es un libro fácil y, sin embargo, tal a Hace poco hice un postre. Tenía un sabor que mezclaba la piña con el chocolate y le puse unas galletas por encima para decorar. Sin entrar en detalles, solo diré que cuando lo fuimos a probar, tras llevarlo a casa de unos amigos, parecía que una jauría de diplodocus epilépticos hubiera estado jugando al vóley playa encima. El sabor, no obstante, era delicioso. Aspecto: malo; sabor: delicioso.

La Compañía Negra es ese postre, así que empezaré diciendo que no es un libro fácil y, sin embargo, tal aseveración podría resultar incierta en muchos casos, como veremos.

Al buscar información sobre este libro, espoleado sobre todo porque el inicio se me hizo un poco cuesta arriba, encontré bastantes opiniones en torno al “discurso tremendamente fragmentado”, la “falta de descripciones y profundidad en los personajes” y, en general, respecto a una prosa un tanto extraña.

Y es cierto: la manera en que Cook junta las palabras resulta chocante en un primer momento, deslavazada, llena de frases cortas sin verbo, opiniones crudas tal cual surgirían de la cabeza de los protagonistas; la acción está teniendo lugar en medio de una partida de cartas y a la siguiente línea están en otra ciudad a punto de entrar en combate. Por otra parte, no se puede decir que su prosa, al menos en esta novela, tenga una calidad altísima, aunque mucho me temo que gran parte del problema es, directamente, de la traducción. Esto no parece ser tampoco una opinión aislada.

Con estos antecedentes, no es extraño que todo resulte un poco confuso y molesto al principio, hasta que uno entra en el juego y comprende (o más bien “se esfuerza por comprender”) que es la narración tal cual vendría dada por uno de los soldados, Matasanos, que de hecho es el responsable de registrar la historia de la Compañía.

Desde este punto de vista no tenemos una descripción formal de espacios o personajes, o al menos no una al uso, sino la que brota de labios del propio Matasanos, como si nos la estuviera narrando junto a una hoguera del campamento. Así, la narración es acotada frecuentemente con opiniones o aclaraciones que van concretando sin prisa el boceto que nos presenta el autor de todas las cuestiones en un primer momento. Y el dibujo final, por cierto, resulta satisfactorio, tanto en el paisaje, como en la sociedad, los personajes o la propia mitología viva que nos presenta. Hay que decir, además, que contiene unos cuantos buenos giros de la historia, de reflexiones interesantes de los personajes y de detalles de calidad en las descripciones.

Otro tema, íntimamente relacionado con la fragmentación del discurso, es el tratamiento en sí de la acción: el libro nos arroja de cabeza a ella, sin prólogo, introducción o salvavidas alguno, confiando quizá en que el lector vaya atando cabos y comprendiendo poco a poco la lógica interna que rige el libro y las normas de la propia Compañía.

Así que, sí, el libro es fragmentado, irregular, filoso, entrecortado… pero funciona. Además, esa manera de contar siempre un poco menos de lo necesario aumenta vertiginosamente el ritmo de la narración, que es uno de los grandes valores de esta obra.

No quiero comentar mucho respecto a la historia en sí, puesto que es una delicia ir desenmarañando la narración hasta ubicarse y, posteriormente, asistir, cubo de palomitas en mano, al desarrollo y resolución de la trama, pero baste señalar que cuenta la historia de la Compañía Negra en un momento concreto de su larga historia; un momento que empieza abruptamente y acaba de un modo solo ligeramente menos abrupto. La Compañía está formada por soldados mercenarios duros, veteranos y desengañados de cualquier mojigatería o ideal caballeresco. Todo esto con muchas puntualizaciones, dicho sea de paso.

Y este es otro de los valores a destacar. No lo sabía antes de comenzar esta novela, pero a Glen Cook se le atribuye ser uno de los padres del Grimdark. Y a Crom pongo por testigo de que en esta novela hay mucho grim y mucho dark, tratados además con una madurez que seguramente tenga más valor al situarla allá por el 84 en que fue publicada por primera vez. No en vano, me da la impresión de que la obra goza de una vigencia y una capacidad de envejecer con dignidad mucho mayor que la de otras que fueron escritas en aquella época y que hoy se consideran, de un modo más o menos generalizado, superadas.

Mi conclusión es bastante clara: me lo he pasado muy bien leyendo este libro. Puede que no sea para todos los públicos, no solo por el carácter tan marcado que tiene, sino por las características que ya hemos comentado en su textura. Pero no se puede negar que, dentro de su propia lógica, funciona y da exactamente lo que ofrece. Otra cosa es que la forma del pastel a veces terrible y la traducción en concreto, por no decir la propia redacción que se ha perpetrado al realizarla, resulta a veces poco menos que dolorosa. ...more

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Jun 11, 2011 Carol. rated it it was ok

Recommended to Carol. by: FA

Shelves: fantasy, action, male-lead, classic

Three stars; ultimately it's just not my kind of book.

As far as plot, it mostly consists of a series of encounters for the Black Company, starting with getting out of their current contract and accepting employment from the Lady. I don't mind this style of plot in my books, but not everyone may enjoy.

The pacing of the story was uneven at best. Mostly the narrative stopped on plot points germane to their particular tasks for the Lady, but occasionally it takes time to linger on company dynamics. ...more

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Dec 23, 2015 TS Chan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dr-reading-challenge

*3.5 stars*

I read this at a time when I really couldn't concentrate very much on my reading, what more one of the grimdark fantasy genre. As such, I fear I might not be giving due justice to a book of such stature amongst fans of this subgenre.

Glen Cook is known the father of grimdark, way before Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson and George R.R. Martin. The Black Company is a military fantasy book and is about a brotherhood, known as the Company, that serves whoever that employs them in war. The ...more

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Apr 03, 2008 Dfordoom rated it did not like it

Shelves: sf-fantasy

The adventures of a company of warrior mercenaries in a medieval-type fantasy world, but told in what's presumably supposed to be a modern and grittily realistic manner, with the characters sounding like hard-bitten US marines in a bad Hollywood war movie. It's The Dirty Dozen in chainmail. This sort of thing can be done well, as in Mary Gentle's "Ash", but in "The Black Company" it becomes very tedious very fast. And whereas Mary Gentle actually knows about medieval warfare, this one gives the ...more

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Nov 25, 2015 Milda Page Runner rated it liked it

Recommended to Milda by: Evgeny

Shelves: snarky-sarcastic-hero, dark-gritty-fantasy, military-fantasy

3,5 stars. I liked it and at times even loved it, but ultimately it didn't blow my mind the way Abercrombie or S.Lynch did at some point.
This book has a very strong plot, non stop action and plenty of intrigue to keep you going. I did not think I'd ever say that but - if anything - there could be more filler and explanation. Cook often drops you in the middle of things and leaves you confused for awhile especially in the beginning. Writing takes some time to getting used to. There are quite a f ...more

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Aug 10, 2015 Wanda rated it liked it

Shelves: speculative-fiction, reading-project, 1980s, read-in-2015

Grim. Violent. Dark. That sums up The Black Company in three words. This is a switch-over from the good vs. evil high fantasy form of the early twentieth century to a grittier, darker fantasy realm. Sure there is wizardry, but there seem to be no innocent, upright parties. All the sides of the conflict are varying shades of evil; no side can be labelled noble or righteous.

Told from the point of view of Croaker, the Annalist (history keeper) of a mercenary force known as the Black Company, we ge Grim. Violent. Dark. That sums up The Black Company in three words. This is a switch-over from the good vs. evil high fantasy form of the early twentieth century to a grittier, darker fantasy realm. Sure there is wizardry, but there seem to be no innocent, upright parties. All the sides of the conflict are varying shades of evil; no side can be labelled noble or righteous.

Told from the point of view of Croaker, the Annalist (history keeper) of a mercenary force known as the Black Company, we get the story from a man who seems to have a sense of honour, even if it is twisted. The member of the Company are all known by a single nickname or title (Captain, One-Eye, Goblin, etc.) as they have left their previous lives behind and will leave the Company only through death. If these men have any loyalties, they are to their Company comrades and secondarily to their current employer.

Fantasy novels frequently have momentous battles in them (LOTR, the Belgariad, the Rift War saga, etc.) but these are usually witnessed from an overarching view point, with a sense of good winning over evil. The Black Company changes the view point—suddenly, it’s the guys in the trenches, the ones bleeding and dying, who are supplying the story. The ones who are following orders without seeing the big picture; the ones who are fighting because they signed up, not because they necessarily believe in the cause. We get the down-and-dirty view of the battle field. It reminds me of gritty historical fiction like The Whale Road, a Viking story by Robert Low.

By contrast, the Lensman series from the 1940s and 50s looks like naïve poppycock, with its belief in the essential goodness of its main characters and their ideals. There is none of the nobility of purpose that the reader enjoys in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The Black Company would seem to have roots in Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series and in R.E. Howard’s Conan—all men who betimes pledge their swords to an employer in hopes of a financial reward. Each has their own personal concept of honour, within which they attempt to live. The Black Company takes things one step further with a whole group of men participating in this arrangement. It shares some similarities, I think, to Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series, which places a member of the Torturers’ Guild into the role of main character, a morally enigmatic choice if ever there was one.

Much more realistic—showing the mud, the blood, and the gore, as well as the moral ambiguity of war itself, I can see where this series is likely one of the many roots in fantasy literature than has led to the current Grim-Dark branch of the genre.

Book number 184 in my science fiction/fantasy reading project.
...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Mike (the Paladin) rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, military-fantasy

I read the text version of this book some years ago (so long I'd pretty much forgotten the story). This is the set up for the saga as the Company fights in service to The Lady (a seemingly nasty piece of work who's almost the epitome of evil...almost.)

I'm pretty sure that the Black Company would exemplify "anti heroes" here. nasty fighters a mercenary company made up of the good, bad and ugly (with the good being in the decided minority.) The company has a long and....well "illustrious" isn't a ...more

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Jun 30, 2012 [Name Redacted] rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, pulp, action, dark-fantasy, war

I've heard this described as "Vietnam War fiction on peyote" and I think that's a pretty accurate description. This is wild, dark, bleak stuff and deserves its reputation as a fantasy classic. While other writers had done a marvelous job of plumbing the depths of gritty, amoral fantasy (Robert E. Howard & Jack Vance spring immediately to mind), Cook seems to have been the first to focus on the fortunes of the rank-and-file rather than the great heroes and rulers and magicians.

The Black Comp I've heard this described as "Vietnam War fiction on peyote" and I think that's a pretty accurate description. This is wild, dark, bleak stuff and deserves its reputation as a fantasy classic. While other writers had done a marvelous job of plumbing the depths of gritty, amoral fantasy (Robert E. Howard & Jack Vance spring immediately to mind), Cook seems to have been the first to focus on the fortunes of the rank-and-file rather than the great heroes and rulers and magicians.

The Black Company books focus on the trials and travails of an order of amoral mercenaries who are eventually enlisted to fight on the side of the greatest evil the world has ever known. Once an order of proud black warriors (hence their name), they have fallen on hard times: their numbers are dwindling, the commissions they receive are beneath them, and there are only two black men left in the entire Company. All of the other great mercenary companies that once served the civilized world have long since died out or disbanded, and the Black Company seems destined to continue purely as a refuge for wanted criminals and lost souls. All they have left is their own particular code of honor, a refusal to abandon a cause for which they are being paid to fight. So when the terrible Lady and her dark envoys, the Ten-Who-Were-Taken, offer the Black Company a new commission -- helping her put down the rebels who oppose her inexorable conquest of the Northern lands -- the Company is torn between fear and cautious optimism. Once they sign on to help the Lady they will be honor-bound to fulfill their contract and thus honor-bound to serve an empire dedicated to the subjugation of all free peoples and ruled by a team of grotesque, centuries-old sorcerers. But this new job could bring them a chance at renewed glory or, at the least, financial solvency and new recruits. In the end, out of desperation and resignation, the Company takes the commission.

The story here is told by "Croaker", who is both the Company's resident medic (hence his name) and Annalist. He is the latest in the Company's long line of record-keepers, chronicling their success and their failures, and ensuring that the those of the Company stay in touch with the traditions and history that bind them together as an order; he also ensures that no member of the Company will ever be forgotten. He takes his jobs seriously, because without him the men of the Company are both physically and metaphorically lost. Through his eyes we see the rise of the Black Company under the auspices of the Lady, but we also see the wages of war. Death, torture, rape, brainwashing, and looting are just the beginning.

I've hard a couple of complaints about this book. The first is that the author's descriptions of the battle scenes are too short, too sparse. That's very true, but I think that complaint ignores the fact that this is a story told in first-person by a non-combatant who is more interested in the facts than in poetry, and who cares more about who survives and who dies than who ultimately does what in which way. Cook's rendering of Croaker's account of the Black Company's work is completely in keeping with the character he has created.

I've also heard people complain about the lack of "real" names in the story. This is a very distinctive feature of the world which Cook has created, and if you expect to get lots of "Legolases" and "Valanars" and "Rundoroons" well, you're going to be disappointed. The men of the Company give up their birth names when they join the Company, receiving new names as a result of their actions or distinctive features or ranks or the whims of their new comrades ("One-Eye", "Goblin", "Silent", "Lieutenant", "Elmo", etc.) and that actually helps to bind them together -- the Company is a new family for its members, and the new name is both a sign of acceptance into the order and of forsaking one's previous life. It's also a measure of protection. The Ten-Who-Were-Taken and the Rebel leaders all have name-titles ("Soulcatcher", "the Howler", "Raker", "Feather", etc.) because, as in so many magical systems, knowledge of your True Name makes you vulnerable to your enemies, especially when you and your enemies are both magic-wielders. It's even implied that the Ten's names are concealed from everyone, including themselves, when they are "Taken" to ensure that only the Lady (or her husband) can hold that degree of influence over them.

Clearly I am a fan. But while i do feel that this book has a lot to recommend it, I'm also aware that it's not perfect. The author does his best to have the characters speak in what we might consider "real" or "modern" English, replete with slang; this is refreshing given that the characters are mostly from lower-class and criminal backgrounds, but it doesn't always work. There are several incongruous and anachronistic linguistic elements, references to uniquely modern or American things, which betray the fact that Cook was relatively new to the business of writing fantasy fiction. What is more, the third chapter was previously featured in a magazine and, while it was apparently adapted for inclusion in this book, its origin as an independent short story still shows. Characters, events, facts, and features of the setting, all of which were introduced in the previous two chapters, are re-introduced and there is a persistent feeling that this third chapter was originally intended to be the first.

Overall, I'd say that Cook gets off to a rough but promising start in his first "Black Company" book. I'm looking forward to the reading the next volume. ...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

What a piece of work. It’s clear that the abhorrent is nothing new to the characters in this book, and things which we would normally find highly objectionable are often mentioned in a casual and matter-of-fact fashion. This device is employed quite brilliantly by the author to drive home the nastiness of war, especially war on the side of evil. So, dark times and dark deeds are the order of the day here. Let battle and pillage commence!

In actual fact, the book isn’t more violent than you would ...more

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Nov 21, 2015 Choko rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, fantasy-grim

*** 4 ***

I had fun reading this with the BBB group, thank you guys!!!

The characters were strong, though not as multilayered as those of Abercrombie. However, the magical component was richer and the ambiguity of the mercenaries when it comes to causes they serve added to the action, making this a read which can engage an eclectic taste. For me personally, the evolution of Crocker's feelings and thoughts he puts into the annals, as well as the twin sisters and their evil appeal, was the true stre ...more

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Mar 07, 2016 Scott rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Really intriguing start to this series. Fell sort of flat at times, and things seemed to happen out of nowhere with pretty much no explanation, but I still enjoyed it.

Definitely sets the stage for an excellent trilogy, something to build on. Although for a war story, I could have gone for a lot more cussing :D

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♥ Nothing Better ...: BR 2 - Carmen-Manisha; 9 june ----> 1st June	19	21	Jul 02, 2016 01:58AM
Beyond Reality: THE BLACK COMPANY: Roll call and initial impressions (NO SPOILERS)	38	114	May 10, 2016 05:27AM
Sci-fi and Heroic...: The Black Company by Glen Cook	12	149	Nov 07, 2015 02:12AM
/r/Fantasy Discus...: The Black Company - Final Discussion (With Spoilers)	23	151	Mar 04, 2015 09:15AM
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About Glen Cook

Glen Cook was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for 33 years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in 7th grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with m ...more

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The Chronicles of the Black Company (1 - 10 of 11 books)

Books by Glen Cook

Chronicles of the Black Company (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #1-3)

The White Rose (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #3)

Shadows Linger (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #2)

The Books of the South (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #3.5-5)

Shadow Games (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #4)

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“Evil is relative…You can’t hang a sign on it. You can’t touch it or taste it or cut it with a sword. Evil depends on where you are standing, pointing your indicting finger.” — 80 likes

“If one chooses sides on emotion then the rebel is the guy to go with. He is fighting for everything men claim to honour, freedom, independance, truth, the right.......all the subjective illusions. All the eternal trigger words. We are minions of the villan of the piece. We confess the illusion and deny the substance.” — 22 likes

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