Review: Chronicles of the Black Company, by Glen Cook

 

Chronicles of the Black Company is an anthology of the first three books in the series (The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose).

While Croaker, the Annalist and physician of the Company, is the first person POV we also have a handful of other significant POV characters that work well to flesh out the world and creative narrative intrigue (in one book the main POVs are separate but then converge, for example).

The Black Company is a notorious/renowned group of mercenaries who find themselves in a contract with the Lady, a resurrected tyrant aided by powerful sorcerers known as the Taken. While there are rebels, seeking the reborn White Rose (who first put down the Lady and her still slumbering husband), there’s a clear sense they’re not especially virtuous. More a case of two dark grey factions rather than black and white.

Although it took me a while to finally get around to the third book (I own the first two as individual copies too) I’m glad I did. The first book is grim without being explicit, and the second has one of the finest characters arcs I’ve ever read with Marrow Shed. The third is full of a looming sense of dread, heightened by the fact I had no idea if the ‘good guys’ would win, and whether the later books followed the Black Company in the past.

Lots of fantasy focuses on magic, and while this is present in the world it takes a back seat to the importance of pragmatism and the sometimes unpleasant truth that the smartest move can also be the bloodiest. Plenty of factional infighting adds an extra layer to the battle between the Lady and the rebels, and an extra threat to the Company as they get caught in the middle of squabbling Taken.

I’m being deliberately vague on plot matters due to the three-book nature of this review, but suffice to say each book rises to a fitting crescendo. The writing style is concise and doesn’t bother with excess embellishment, flim-flam, or falling into the trap of endlessly describing a fantasy world instead of getting on with the plot and character development. I’m already 74 pages into the next book.

 

Thaddeus