Very good audio book from Librivox ( )

A delightful and strange adventure story in the vein of The Three Musketeers or The Scarlet Pimpernel, but also an early foreshadow of the Mannerpunk genre which grew out of Peake's Gormenghast books.

The well-researched text creates a believable world which is undoubtedly (and delightfully) removed from the modern. Not only does Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) create a fairly accurate portrait of ever-warring Feudal Europe, but at least proposes a psychological type for the soldiers of the time.

Of course, to take such a type from (even contemporary) works is a bit of a silly falsehood, and with characteristic British whimsy, Doyle births a cast which seems realistic not despite but because of its deep-seated eccentricity. Of course, it is precisely this method which will grip Peake (in the wake of Chekhov) in his surrealistic works.

Though once quite popular, this tale has become somewhat less well-known, perhaps because it is easy to take from it a stance of bravado, militarism, and anglocentrism. Perhaps there will come to us a dissolving of such strong self-identifications with such things that people will no longer feel a need to oppose fictional portrayals, and Doyle and Kipling may return with a grain of salt. ( )

Very likeable characters, fun adventure book ( )

Drags a little due to lack of theme, but still manages to be both entertaining and informational. ( )

The White Company was initially published in serialized form throughout 1891 in Cornhill Magazine and was very well-received. Its popularity continued throughout the Second World War, and the British government made sure that despite paper shortages The White Company was kept in print as a national morale booster.
The novel is about the adventures of a group of "manly and true" bowmen called the White Company. Sir Nigel Loring is their leader and Alleyne Edricson is his squire. The novel is filled with battles, knights, and chivalry.