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| Article : The Black Company Series |
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Oh, the life of a hard bitten mercenary is not for me...
Glen Cook is a very good author. This is a series of novels that stretches over 10 books. It tells the tale of a mercenary company that travels the world, fighting and seeking for its lost history. A long long long long long time ago the Black Company was sent from the land Khantovar for some reason, and has wandered the lands ever since. As the series progresses, you get to see them go from land to land, and eventually discover their purpose and reason for being.
Croaker is the head doctor for the Black Company. He is also the first of many annalists you shall meet, and one of the few that survives. Each book is treated as if it was written by an annalist who witnessed or was present at those times.
The book the Black Company starts with the company being hired to do a job for the most powerful nation. They will work for the Lady and the Ten who were taken. An almost immortal evil sorceress and the ten wizards that she has bound into her service. They are hired by SoulTaker, who you will discover throughout the books is actually the sister to the Lady.
Along the way they meet beasts like the Forvalaka which is an evil shapeshifting monster that slays many of them, and other fun cultures.
They hack and slay their way to the jeweled cities, and begin service under the Lady. They are hired to help put down a rebellion, where a mythical rebel known as the White Rose is said to rise during the passing of a comet and will put down the Lady and her tyranny for ever.
The Black Company is populated with some of the most memorable characters. The sorcerer One Eye, an ancient black man who wears the nastiest hat ever met. Goblin, a small toad of a sorcerer who is One Eye's partner and enemy in almost everything the Company does. The Captain, who leads the Company and soon dies within the series leaving Croaker to gain control. The Lady herself who eventually must give up her power after an amazing series of battles and becomes Croaker's wife. Murgen the standard bearer who becomes annalist and lieutenant. Sleepy, a female who starts by impersonating a boy and eventually becomes the Captain and then dies at the end of her greatest victory. This is barely one hundreth of the unique characters you will meet. And the villains are some of the baddest and craziest you will meet. Soulcatcher, the Howler, the Shadow Masters, Kina the Death Goddess who seeks to bring the world into the year of Skulls...
At the core of the series is the fact that everyone in the Black Company comes from somewhere else, but now treats the company as their home and family. They record their past so they can remember each other, and they pass through the world fighting merely to find a way home. By the end of the book almost everyone you have met throughout the series dies, and Croaker is one of the few that lives. You get to see how this feels as one by one all the characters slip away.
Croaker has the best quote for this: "Soldiers live, and wonder why".
An amazing series. Filled with magic, mayhem, armies, demons and gods. I highly recommend it. The Black Company Series by Glen Cook. I own 'em all.
- The Black Company
- Shadows Linger
- The White Rose
- The Silver Spike
- Shadow Games
- Dreams of Steel
- Bleak Seasons
- She is the Darkness
- Water Sleeps
- Soldiers Live
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