The Black Company (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #1) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Nov 11, 2010 [Name Redacted] rated it liked it

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

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 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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Dec 08, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it it was amazing

This book was the influence behind Steven Erikson's epic fantasy, Malazan Book of the Fallen. ...more

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Dec 05, 2008 Derek rated it liked it

Shelves: sword-and-sorcery

The battle being fought, the war being waged, is not the one you think it is. The story is a long build-up towards an annhiliating battle as the Black Company becomes more directly involved in the matters of this war and comes closer to the center of conflict. As it proceeds, the brothers of the Company begin to see the internal feuds and rivalries among the powers of the Empire: the weird undead sorcerers that are the Lady and her 'allies', the Ten Who Were Taken.

It is only at the conclusion th ...more

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Jun 27, 2010 Chompa rated it really liked it

This was a hard book to rate. I enjoyed it. That's, to me, the bottom line. Let's say 3.5 for my rating.

The Black Company is mercenary troop that has been around for hundreds of years. This book finds them in the employ of a fantastically powerful entity called "The Lady". We see the story unfold through the eyes of the company's doctor and historian, Croaker. It is quickly revealed that the troop is working for a fairly evil entity, but perhaps not the worst? But a contract is a contract.

The ...more

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Sep 08, 2015 Wayne Heinz rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

The Black Company is heralded as a dark and gritty work--Glen cook has been called the grandfather (father maybe?) of Grimdark—and it is definitely gritty and at times dark. Glen also writes detective fiction and though I have not read any of his detective fiction there are definitely elements of the hardboiled detective novel in his work.
There is a certain joy at discovering the sources of ideas for later authors. Steven Erikson list’s Glen Cook as a major influence on his Malazan Book of the ...more

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Jul 18, 2008 Charles rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

The first three Black Company books are the best but Cook didn't really make any serious missteps in the series. All of them are good reads to me. I have heard folks say that Cook's style takes some getting used to, but I liked the fact that it was a bit unorthodox. ...more

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