The Black Company

[Neuad]

Didn't see a thread on this and I'm sure everyone knows about it. . .


Its a great series but does anyone have any recommendations on where to look to find books?

Main chronology

The Books of the North

1. The Black Company - May 1984 (main annalist: Croaker)
2. Shadows Linger October 1984 (main annalist: Croaker)
3. The White Rose - April 1985 (main annalist: Croaker)

The Books of the South

1. Shadow Games - June 1989 (main annalist: Croaker)
2. Dreams of Steel - April 1990 (main annalist: Lady)

The Books of the Glittering Stone

1. Bleak Seasons - April 1996 (main annalist: Murgen)
2. She Is The Darkness - September 1997 (main annalist: Murgen)
3. Water Sleeps - March 1999 (main annalist: Sleepy)
4. Soldiers Live - July 2000 (main annalist: Croaker)


Books of the Glittering Stone are out of print and near impossible to find

[Azharan]

Excellent series! I've got them all and they are very addictive and great to read.

There's one spin off book called The Silver Spike (September 1989)

And supposedly 2 more to be released:

A Pitiless Rain (TBA)[1]
Port of Shadows (TBA)[1]

Check Amazon.com: Amazon.com: Bleak Seasons

[groovy_and]

I found the books of the North and South in some newly-released collections at a Borders or something like that. Have not had any luck finding the Glittering Stone books. Hopefully they will re-release these as well.

The series was excellent, I really enjoyed them. I read them after finding out that they were a huge influence on Steven Erikson, and it sure shows. The whole badass company thing with the Bridgeburners seems to be taken straight from the Black Company idea, not that it's a bad thing. Lots of great characters in the series, and I liked the setting, quite a bit more low-fantasy than the Malazan novels imo, but again not a bad thing.

Reading the first novels in the Dread Empire novels, also by Glen Cook, and am enjoying them as well.

Highly recommended

[Tabris]

Tor will be releasing Glittering Stone in about a year or so in a TPB edition.

Cook has more Dread Empire and Black Company novels coming out over the next couple of years as was already mentioned.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

"Return of the Black Company", TPB being released Sept 15 09 according to Amazon.

As far as they go, liked the first trilogy, wasn't to into the Books of the South...they dragged. If you're into the history of the genre the first book shines some lights on Erikson and a few others.

[Luthair]

I believe I've seen some reprints of The Black Company recently in bookstores. I've found used bookstores are great for finding older titles, large public libraries often have some titles, or might be able to transfer them from another branch.

[Lusiphur]

I have them on DRM free ebook. PM me if you want em.

[Tallyn]

The Books of the North and Books of the South are excellent and among my favorite fantasy books of all time. Cook really went off the deep end the farther he got through the Glittering Stone, though. The writing style changes a lot and I found the Hindu-style mysticism to be rather off-putting. They're not awful, but I wish I had stopped after the Books of the South.

[Knucklehead]

I've read all three of the Books of the North, and I liked the narrator and the world of the first novel, but with each further book something happened. I don't know what it was, but the magic of Cook's world diminished in my mind, and my interest dropped like a boxed-framed flying carpet out of the sky until finally I was forced to put Cook on notice. That and -- yes, I know this shouldn't matter -- the artwork to the second book was frighteningly bad in ways that make a kindergartner's crayola scribble stuck to a refrigerator look like a Rembrandt.

[Vvoid]

The first three books are far and away my favorite novels. I own multiple copies of each because I've lent them out so many times and wanted to read them again, only to have one returned later on.

The later ones, particularly the Glittering Stone ones, I can agree weren't anywhere near as truly awesome as the first ones. The Books of the South were still pretty good, and The Silver Spike is definitely worth reading if for no other reason than The Limper. I enjoyed all 10 books, and recommend that anyone else reading them do so as well simply because they are better than a great majority of other books available. And I will immediately buy any new books that are released even if they suck. But yeah, I'm a little skeptical that it will contain any of the pure awesomeness that makes me re-read those first ones every few years. I've read Glittering Stone twice, and really can't see myself reading them any more unless it is 20 years from now perhaps.

One particular thing that bothered me about the last 4 books (trying not to spoil anything for people) is the hugely overused plot device of being able to see (through various means) things going on that they never should have been able to see. To me that just seemed like a huge crutch, and ruined a lot of the mystique that the first books had.

I also read the first Instrumentalities of the Night book, and fuck me I wanted to put that book down so many times. The first half of it was nothing but an obscure history and economic lecture on some places I will never remember or give a fuck about. If it is important for me to know, I'm fucked. The second half of the book got quite a bit better, but I'm unsure whether that was because it was actually good, or that the first half was so horrible a piece of shit would have seemed good next to it. I haven't read any more of them, I hated it so much, and that really fucking scares me for any future Black Company books. Part of the greatness of the Black Company was that he didn't go into detail about shit, you got a few hints and then your mind just filled in the blanks. If his writing style changes to what is in Instrumentalities, I might not like these future Black Company books

Still, as I said, these are some of the best books I have ever read, faults and all, and I highly recommend them to anyone that even vaguely enjoys fantasy.

[Bralkan]

i <3 the limper

[Arbuste]

One of my favorite set of books. In my opinion, the later books were different, but just as good as the first ones.
I actually liked the Black Company books so much that I bought some other books from Glen Cook, without a clue on whether or not they are worth it. I got the first couple of the Garrett, P.I. novels. I have yet to read them.

So, given that the only things that are going to happen ITT is that people are going to say how much the Black Company owns (which it does), any opinion on other books by Glen Cook? Or books similar in tone or setting to the BC?

[Vvoid]

Garrett Files are awesome, at least for the first several. I have read (and own) all of them up to the most recent one, and it definitely helps reading them as they come out now instead of all in a row, because it sort of falls into a typical pattern after awhile. Definitely all worth reading though, and the first several are going to make you want more.

Dread Empire novels are very good as well, although you can quite clearly see where his growth as a writer occurred. I have the collected editions of the books, so I'm not sure about publishing dates or anything, but the first book is clearly more "raw" than the subsequent ones. It has been a bit since I read them, but probably by the 3rd book or so it really starts to take on a Black Company feel, where you can see how he progressed to the BC books after these. There is also a new Dread Empire book, and I believe I bought it on Amazon, but for the life of me I can't remember if I read it or not. I think it is called something like "A Nation Unaccustomed to Defeat" which is a pretty retarded name, but whatever.

Stand alone books like The Swordbearer and Tower of Fear I haven't read for ages but I remember liking them, back when I was reading The Black Company for the first time.

I have a couple of his other books, the Starfisher ones and one with Dragons in the title that is actually a space novel that is supposedly incredibly awesome from all the reviews, but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

[damastez]

I picked up the aforementioned compilation for Books of the South because it was one of the few things posted here I haven't read, and I have to thank whoever recommended this for reading. These books are great, full of true grit.

I was sold from the very beginning when Croaker said something to the effect of how his plans always 'get messy, because I lose my sense of humor and go for maximum dirt.'

I was sold after that line.

Thanks again

[damastez]

Amazon.com: The Return of the Black Company (9780765324009): Glen Cook: Books

Don't know if anyone reads this series, but the next 3 books are being bound and set to sale on September 15th. Just a heads up.