Dreams of Steel

Lady just doesn't make an exciting narrator. The book starts fairly slow, and the Company itself doesn't ever feature much. The parts I looked forward to the most were those featuring Croaker, now relegated to third-person narrative for the first time in the series, which felt a little odd at first. Nevertheless, a decent entry in the series. The ending is incredibly abrupt, but taken with the time-hopping of the next book, it doesn't seem that out of place.

I continue to very much enjoy this series! The shift in narrator gave this book a different feel, even though the plot is a direct continuation of the previous volume. Surprisingly, though this ends the two-volume series, it ends without any plotlines properly resolved, setting up the final four book series. I don't mind this at all, but it's a bit unexpected after the original trilogy wrapped itself up so much more tidily.

If you like efficient plotting, memorable (if heightened) characters and some sordid realpolitik in a sword and sorcery setting, I'd be hard pressed to think of anything that meets the bill better than "The Black Company". Here's hoping the remaining volumes continue to deliver like the first six have.

Mama Don't Allow No Foot Stomping Here.: After four volumes in which she has played a major, is somewhat silent, part the inevitable has occurred. With Croaker missing in action after the disastrous battle for Degajore and presumed dead, Lady has taken over. Welcome to Dreams of Steel -- Lady's own book. Once a cruel empress and once of the most powerful wizards of the north she is the now leader of that part of the Black Company that did not get trapped in the city. It is up to her to rally and bring the battle back to the shadowmasters.

Just as important as the struggle for Degajore is the introduction of several new characters. In fact, a whole sect of new characters -- the Stranglers, who are more than a little reminiscent of the show more thuggee. Instead of Kali their goddess is called Kina, but she is just as many-armed and malevolent as her equivalent in this world. Somewhere she sleeps while her followers dedicate their kills to her and work to bring about the Year of Skulls. Now one of the leaders of this sect, Narayan Singh, has attached himself to Lady. She sees an opportunity to use Kina's followers to further the goals of the Black Company regardless of whether the Stranglers might have an agenda of their own.

Nothing in this volume is as it seems. The story picks up some twists that are unusual, even for a Cook novel. Enough to keep the story interesting and convolute. Followers of the series will actually find little difference between Lady as narrator and Croaker. Her established character isn't one that would come naturally to being an annalist, so Cook defaults to his regular style. The result is that this volume works as well as its predecessors and has none of the weaknesses of the next few narrators. I found the book enjoyable, although the end is a little chaotic and sudden. show less

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Dreams of Steel Series: The Chronicles of the Black Company Author: Glen Cook Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: SFF Pages: 383 Format: Kindle digital edition Synopsis: The Lady must pull together a whole new Black Company, as most of the group gathered in the last book were beaten. With Croaker out of the picture, she must fulfill the obligation to the Taglians and take show more down the Shadowmasters, her former apprentices known as the Taken. Problem is, the Taglian leaders don't want her, or the Black Company, around any longer; and a Death Cult gets involved and tries to make the Lady the death goddess's avatar; and the Shadowmasters play their games against the Lady and each other. "It's complicated" only scratches the surface! My Thoughts: Spoilers Ahead Matey's! Thankfully, we learn relatively early on that Croaker's not dead, but being held captive by the Lady's sister, a Taken and now a Shadowmaster named, Catcher? I can't keep track of which Taken is which much less when they start with the whole new identity thing and switch it all up. Needless to say, I'm glad he's alive even if he played a very small part in this book. I really wish I had read these back in the day when I was part of the SFBC. These books make Steven Erikson's whole Malazan Book of the Fallen series look like the bloated up pompous bag of wind that they turned into in the last 3 books. The Black Company books are superior in almost every way and as a bonus, I get answers. Well, I guess late to the Black Company party is better than never. The reveal at the end, about the Lady's child, was almost so not there that I had to read the couple of paragraphs a couple of times to make sense of it. Little things like that are why I prefer an omniscient narrator style instead of the unreliable. But it fits with the whole tone of the series and Cook writes it so it isn't clunky, choppy or distracting. Finally, I enjoy Cook's writing. I don't skim. Anything. It is interesting and he does a great job of hiding little nuggets of info among otherwise random things. It is kind of fun actually. All the battles, fighting and magic make it ok too *wink* " show less

I am happy that the Lady proved at least somewhat more interesting as the narrator than she did as the love interest in the previous book. That gave at least some real drama to one of the villains, the cult plot was pretty solid, and while I rolled my eyes really hard at the ongoing "why am I puking every morning? This is so weird" thing, it at least hints at interesting story to come.

I would love to find out what happened next, but it appears the next book may be a rewrite of this time period from a different angle, and I am much less excited about that. So far I'm pretty underwhelmed by the Black Company as a whole - they may not stay in my library.

Due to the dramatic ending of the previous book, I had to start Dreams of Steel right away! Although not the best in the series, it is still good and gives us a new perspective into the Black Company.

Unlike all the other books, this book is narrated by Lady, which provides a different perspective for the story. It is interesting to get to know Lady better and learn more about her history and feelings towards Croaker. I am really starting to like her! I enjoy seeing her as a more human character, though she is starting to get her powers back. What I can’t wait to find out is if she reverts back to her old self or if Croaker has been a good enough influence on her. I also like her battle strategies and how she solved the problem of the show more priests in this book. That was dark!

I found that I am starting to get to know more about the other characters that were introduced in the last book, and I really like Ram because he reminds me of Raven.

Dreams of Steel is a lot slower than all the other ones. I found myself not needing to get through it as quickly as the others. Usually during slower parts there would be One-Eye and Goblin to keep me entertained, but they are not in this novel. However, it is still an intriguing and surprising story so I had to keep going. I’m glad I did because I really liked the ending and after reading that I can’t wait to find out what happens!

Throughout the book you find out more about the new characters who are working with Lady. I don’t want to give anything away, so I will just say they are some scary and dark characters!

Definitely read this book if you read the others, but just be aware its just a little bit harder to get through. show less

Croaker is missing, so Lady takes over control of the Black Company and the narration of this book of the series. In order to rebuild the Company and the armed forces of Taglios, Lady poses as an avatar of the goddess Kina, who seems basically equivalent to the Indian Kali, who is dedicated to bringing about the Year of Skulls, which entails a lot of death and destruction.

The book feels like it has more of an independent plot than the previous one, but it still leaves a lot unresolved for future books. The character of Lady is not that well developed. Having her narrate the story is not much different from having Croaker do it, and you don't get much sense of her as a very powerful, very old being. This is still a good read, but show more doesn't live up to the earlier parts of the series, or other similar fantasies that are out there. show less