A review by lanko
Port of Shadows by Glen Cook
2.0
I was really up for this. It has been what? Almost 20 years since Soldiers Live? And to make thinks even better, this starts really well... but it became boring pretty quickly. Took me a month to read it. And a month was also the time to read the entire series last year.
It starts with the Company guys we all love and cherish, there is banter between One-Eye and Goblin, even the long sections of playing tonk that appeared in the other novels. The Captain, Lieutenant, Silent, Elmo, the guys are all there.
Heck, the guys even pull one on the Limper right at the beginning. Good times.
Then the plot "starts" and... it's a really non-sense one, not to mention not packed with much action, barely any military incursion and descriptions like in the previous books. Believe it or not, it's mostly focused on Croaker playing at "hard-boiled-and-violent-mercenary-but-cutesy-and-clumsy-family-man" with a fake wife and children.
Well, near the very end (at about 98%) comes the bomb and everything makes sense about this and it'll probably make you wonder a lot about some things... but still, it didn't make the story up until that point any more enjoyable to go through.
There's a backstory featuring characters back in the Domination, with the Dominator himself and some of the Senjak sisters at the front.
I think Cook totally nailed the personality of the crazy but genius mage, but I really wanted more story on the Domination, not the direction it took.
There's also some random stuff thrown in, like lots of Asian names (Kuroneko, Shironeko, Baku, etc) and clones of magical asian girls (yes, seriously) coming out of nowhere, even yukatas suddenly appear (and how does Croaker know what one is?) Or why people were using it at that place? Considering these clones are based on sisters of a certain someone, it made it even more confusing.
It all becomes focused on this, the Company itself and its other great members pretty much vanish into the background, along with the other Taken, the Domination or anything that could've been explorer.
Anyway, after almost 20 years, it was good to see some of the guys back, but at the same time wondered if they deserved a little better.
It starts with the Company guys we all love and cherish, there is banter between One-Eye and Goblin, even the long sections of playing tonk that appeared in the other novels. The Captain, Lieutenant, Silent, Elmo, the guys are all there.
Heck, the guys even pull one on the Limper right at the beginning. Good times.
Then the plot "starts" and... it's a really non-sense one, not to mention not packed with much action, barely any military incursion and descriptions like in the previous books. Believe it or not, it's mostly focused on Croaker playing at "hard-boiled-and-violent-mercenary-but-cutesy-and-clumsy-family-man" with a fake wife and children.
Well, near the very end (at about 98%) comes the bomb and everything makes sense about this and it'll probably make you wonder a lot about some things... but still, it didn't make the story up until that point any more enjoyable to go through.
There's a backstory featuring characters back in the Domination, with the Dominator himself and some of the Senjak sisters at the front.
I think Cook totally nailed the personality of the crazy but genius mage, but I really wanted more story on the Domination, not the direction it took.
There's also some random stuff thrown in, like lots of Asian names (Kuroneko, Shironeko, Baku, etc) and clones of magical asian girls (yes, seriously) coming out of nowhere, even yukatas suddenly appear (and how does Croaker know what one is?) Or why people were using it at that place? Considering these clones are based on sisters of a certain someone, it made it even more confusing.
It all becomes focused on this, the Company itself and its other great members pretty much vanish into the background, along with the other Taken, the Domination or anything that could've been explorer.
Anyway, after almost 20 years, it was good to see some of the guys back, but at the same time wondered if they deserved a little better.