majabwds's review against another edition
3.0
A bit disjointed. I thought I was missing parts of it. Will read another one to see if I want to continue with the series.
mrw1zard's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
almarais's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
tizamon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
sch91086's review against another edition
3.0
I'm on the fence about this book. On the one hand, the characters and the world building were pretty good. I liked Croaker and Soulcatcher, loved One-Eye and Goblin, and Raven and Darling. The magic was fun and semi-creative.
On the other hand- I still can't tell you what The Lady or The Dominator is. I can't tell you why the all-powerful woman who rules the north needs a perfectly ordinary annalist for an assassin against super powerful undead creatures, especially when she could send any one of those other nine super powerful undead creatures. I don't fully understand what it means to be "Taken" or if there are always ten of them and if they all get different special powers or what.
The first third of the book is utterly confusing for exactly this reason. I guess the upside is that there are no long and painfully boring info dumps to read through. Around the 35% mark things do start to make more sense. Or the reader just begins accepting that they don't know what the hell is going on and decides they're okay with it. Take your pick.
Finally, the action isn't very exciting. It's written with about the same excitement as one might write about the sun setting. And that's only speaking about the action which is actually written. Most of it is glazed over with a fade to black chapter ending and the next chapter picks up after the battle is over. For a book written about a mercenary company, I sort of expected more battle. I was wrong. And I was lucky, because the one battle that is written was, as stated above, painfully boring to read. It felt like the writer was just going through the motions so he could get to the end.
I gave it a 3 because there were parts I liked and parts I didn't. I'd like to continue with the overall story, but I'm also a little cautious.
On the other hand- I still can't tell you what The Lady or The Dominator is. I can't tell you why the all-powerful woman who rules the north needs a perfectly ordinary annalist for an assassin against super powerful undead creatures, especially when she could send any one of those other nine super powerful undead creatures. I don't fully understand what it means to be "Taken" or if there are always ten of them and if they all get different special powers or what.
The first third of the book is utterly confusing for exactly this reason. I guess the upside is that there are no long and painfully boring info dumps to read through. Around the 35% mark things do start to make more sense. Or the reader just begins accepting that they don't know what the hell is going on and decides they're okay with it. Take your pick.
Finally, the action isn't very exciting. It's written with about the same excitement as one might write about the sun setting. And that's only speaking about the action which is actually written. Most of it is glazed over with a fade to black chapter ending and the next chapter picks up after the battle is over. For a book written about a mercenary company, I sort of expected more battle. I was wrong. And I was lucky, because the one battle that is written was, as stated above, painfully boring to read. It felt like the writer was just going through the motions so he could get to the end.
I gave it a 3 because there were parts I liked and parts I didn't. I'd like to continue with the overall story, but I'm also a little cautious.
geckopa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Quite unique in it's militaristic description, and easily notable that the author knows what he does, which makes everything very plausible and a delight to read.
furthermore it is very interesting since it is written from the perspective of normal but capable people while extremly powerful forces exist ofttimes manifested in their opponents.
I also liked discovering later in the series that he changes the writing style when he changes the writing charakter. Which adds another layer to the personalities.
furthermore it is very interesting since it is written from the perspective of normal but capable people while extremly powerful forces exist ofttimes manifested in their opponents.
I also liked discovering later in the series that he changes the writing style when he changes the writing charakter. Which adds another layer to the personalities.
gianlucafiore's review against another edition
5.0
I understand the criticism on the hard writing style but honestly took me a couple of chapters to get used to it and then it was as easy as any other book. I mean, it's not like the Divine Comedy or Chaucer.
With that said, this is the birth of grimdark and an amazing birth it is. The influence on Malazan is plain from the very first pages, with the Black Company being much smaller in scope and world building. We don't get much of the history of characters either, but I heard that improves in later books. The Black Company is tighter, shorter, much more action focused, albeit most of it is told of and not shown, yet with the same mysterious array of demigods that Erikson would later implement in his series.
It can be not everybody's cup of tea but saying it is a bad book is as far from reality than saying Chernobyl is a bad TV series because it's bleak.
With that said, this is the birth of grimdark and an amazing birth it is. The influence on Malazan is plain from the very first pages, with the Black Company being much smaller in scope and world building. We don't get much of the history of characters either, but I heard that improves in later books. The Black Company is tighter, shorter, much more action focused, albeit most of it is told of and not shown, yet with the same mysterious array of demigods that Erikson would later implement in his series.
It can be not everybody's cup of tea but saying it is a bad book is as far from reality than saying Chernobyl is a bad TV series because it's bleak.
doruga's review against another edition
4.0
A fantasy classic. Read this forever ago and just remembered thinking the character's names were cool. Well this story is a lot more than that. Its grim dark fantasy but the characters are still human! Who'da thunk that was even possible. I was used to grimdark being just torture porn and manly manz doing manly things. This book is still def manly manz, but they feel too and thats great lol. Excited to read the rest someday.
trike's review against another edition
3.0
I’ve owned a number of Cook’s books for years — decades, actually — and have never gotten around to them. I finally decided to give this one a listen and I’m glad I did.
At first this feels like a collection of short stories, but somewhere around the 2/3 mark it coalesces into a cohesive story that you realize was there all along. I think this novel and the sequel, [b:Shadows Linger|400881|Shadows Linger (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #2)|Glen Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436464351s/400881.jpg|1761500], are fundamental to both the extreme grimdark Fantasy that followed and the “drop you in the middle of the world without explanation” type of stuff, the current king of which are the various Malazan series. I wonder if authors like Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erickson, Ian Esslemont, Mark Lawrence and Brent Weeks would have careers if not for Glen Cook. I see a lot of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire in the annals of The Black Company, too.
That said, although this seems to be a foundational work for quite a lot of unromanticized modern Fantasy concerned with grit and grime, I merely liked it rather than loved it. I do appreciate that it is lean and unfussy. Unlike the busy blather of the Brent Weeks book I recently read, Cook gets to the point. And a very sharp point it is.
However, due to that leanness, the secondary mystery running through the story was something I figured out fairly early on. I’m sure if I had read this 35 years ago when it came out (1984), I would have been more impressed. Now I’ve consumed far too many stories to be easily fooled. But it was still a decent reveal, in that it supports the tone of irony and things not always being what they seem. I just wish it hadn’t been so obvious and simplistic..
Other than that it’s a decent story. I’ll probably listen to the sequel, too.
At first this feels like a collection of short stories, but somewhere around the 2/3 mark it coalesces into a cohesive story that you realize was there all along. I think this novel and the sequel, [b:Shadows Linger|400881|Shadows Linger (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #2)|Glen Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436464351s/400881.jpg|1761500], are fundamental to both the extreme grimdark Fantasy that followed and the “drop you in the middle of the world without explanation” type of stuff, the current king of which are the various Malazan series. I wonder if authors like Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erickson, Ian Esslemont, Mark Lawrence and Brent Weeks would have careers if not for Glen Cook. I see a lot of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire in the annals of The Black Company, too.
That said, although this seems to be a foundational work for quite a lot of unromanticized modern Fantasy concerned with grit and grime, I merely liked it rather than loved it. I do appreciate that it is lean and unfussy. Unlike the busy blather of the Brent Weeks book I recently read, Cook gets to the point. And a very sharp point it is.
However, due to that leanness, the secondary mystery running through the story was something I figured out fairly early on. I’m sure if I had read this 35 years ago when it came out (1984), I would have been more impressed. Now I’ve consumed far too many stories to be easily fooled. But it was still a decent reveal, in that it supports the tone of irony and things not always being what they seem. I just wish it hadn’t been so obvious and simplistic.
Spoiler
The rebels the Black Company are hired to fight are desperately searching for a kid who will unify their side, a Dalai Lama-type child known as the White Rose. The Black Company has a deaf girl who tags along with them who gets a lot of page time devoted to her. You don’t need to be William Goldman to put two and two together.Other than that it’s a decent story. I’ll probably listen to the sequel, too.
kalio's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25