The Black Company 1.5 Port of Shadows by Glen Cook

The Black Company 1.5 Port of Shadows by Glen Cook

It is with great sadness that I admit that I really didn’t like this book. I love the series, especially the original three books and The Silver Spike. This novel should have been a great addition, coming at a time in the storyline that saw the Black Company at the top of their game, but the sad truth is that it never really held my attention. The tale is broken up into three narratives two of which revolve tightly around the Lady and her sisters growing up in the world of the Dominator. Unsurprisingly the Dominator’s world is a bleak one filled with violence, rape, and other nastiness that is casually sprinkled throughout the stories as the reader tries to glean some context for the evolution of the Lady and Soulcatcher into two fearsomely powerful despots. The stories are confusing and probably don’t hold together under strict scrutiny. (I’m not positive they don’t because I didn’t enjoy the book enough to give it that strict scrutiny.)

 

The final storyline follows the Black Company in the modern day and it is disjointed and confusing and frankly not a lot of fun. I’m rereading the series now, and I remember that I wasn’t thrilled with all of the original books, but I don’t remember being this disappointed in any of the others.