By Glen Cook.
Being The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose.
Begun 18 Dec 2008; finished 28 Dec.
Review written on 01 Jan 2009.
Overarching plot points and themes are discussed here. Nothing specifically spoilerish, but it may take away some of the fun of discovering the story for yourself. Don’t follow the cut if you don’t want it spoiled!
I’m not sure how I got wind of Glen Cook in the first place — Steven Erikson’s praise of the Black Company series as the source of inspiration for his Malazan Book of the Fallen definitely played a part — but I bought The Chronicles of the Black Company omnibus from Jeff and Ann VanderMeer’s book sale, and read it over my vacation break.
This omnibus collects The Black Company, Shadows Linger and The White Rose, which together form one story arc of the Black Company’s employment with the evil tyrannical power known as the Lady, the campaigns and wars they fought against the Rebel (the Lady’s opposition), and their sudden betrayal to come under the banner of her nemesis the White Rose. In the meantime, the Company marches all over the land, engages in numerous battles, gets tangled in political intrigue, military insurgency and rebellious machinations, all the while remaining under the shadow of not just the Lady and her minions, but also a greater, more sinister evil. This military sword-and-sorcery fantasy is told in first person by Croaker, the Company physician and historian, who happens to have the unique privilege of being close to the Lady and her activities.