Water Sleeps

The only complaint I had about this book, was that towards the end Sleepy really began to annoy me. I loved her at the beginning but by the end I just wanted her to shut up. Her continual insistence that "this can't be happening! My g-d would never approve!" became tiresome after awhile and I'm thankful that the next book with go back to atheist Croaker so I don't have to read any more crisis of faith stuff. Other than that, Water Sleeps was as enjoyable as all other Black Company books.

Continuing to be a strong read, really only hampered by the odd feeling of the volume ending after a long denouement following the natural climaxes and even the slow beginnings of the next story. This has been the case with every Black Company book since they left the North, and is likely related to the practical restrictions of the formula of an in-world narrator needing to pass the torch in-story trumping the expectations of the reader. Hopefully the final volume will have a satisfying conclusion to wrap it all up. I enjoyed Sleepy's narration a lot -- I quite liked Murgen, Croaker and Lady, too, but something about Sleepy's personality made for a very satisfying prism, and gave the book a lot of additional flavour. I also thought the show more insurgency angle was fun and different, though the actual conclusion could perhaps have been a bit bigger on the sense of peril and drama. show less

Water Sleeps was actually pretty good, which was a nice change. Sleepy is a much, much better narrator than Murgen, and the immediacy of the guerilla campaign is much more interesting than the previous book's long march to nowhere. I did not love the increasingly obvious parallels to India - maybe I am misremembering, but they didn't seem so lazy in previous books, I mean, use some new names at least - and once they leave the city it starts to have some of the same problems with immediacy as the last book, but it's still much better.

The ending is... odd, enough that I may yet hunt up the next book, but I am not going to dwell too much on the announced but unwritten sequels after that. The Black Company was well worth reading for the show more first three books, and it's mostly been downhill from there. show less

Unfortunately, yet another narrator; fortunately, she's better than Murgen was. If we ignore the fact that the entire plot is predicated on the fact that the good guys have conveniently forgotten that they have the key to shut down the bad guys instantly, it's a better story than the two preceding volumes.

Transitional book that spends way too long bogged down in the minutiae of Taglios, and lots of time is spent having the black company capture minor characters that never appear later in the story. Could have been much stronger with some better editing.

Home, Home on the Plain: Once again we get a switch in annalists - of necessity since Soulcatcher dropped most of the main characters (other than Goblin and One-Eye) into a stasis trap in the depths of the Fortress With No Name. It is Sleepy this time, who got some slight mention in She Is The Darkness, mostly because she was masquerading as a he. Sleepy, along with Murgen's wife Sahra are hard at work getting even with Soulcatcher, Mogaba, and the usual select crew of bad guys. When they aren't pulling someone's chain they are trying to find a way to re-enter the Glittering Plain and release Murgen and all the other Black Company regulars.

The story takes place almost entirely in Taglios, which is now the center of Soulcatcher's show more 'protectorate.' I'm not sure why the witch chose that title, since the only thing she ever protects is herself. And she is more than content to spend the lives of innocent citizenry if she feels the least bit threatened. Sahra and Sleepy and the remaining fragments of the Black Company have gone into hiding with the help of the Nyueng Bao. They wage a war of irritation with the Protector and the Radisha. They spy, paint slogans on walls, and even resort to kidnapping in order to keep everyone off balance while they engage in a desperate search for a key to the Glittering Plain and some knowledge on how to rescue the captives.

Murgen, the only one of the captives still conscious is still around as a disembodied source of intelligence and advice, and Tobo, Murgen and Sahra's son also plays an important part as he begins to display significant skills as a sorceror. This is a tale told in small, detailed steps, both by Sleepy and by Cook himself as he gives us frequent updates looking over the shoulders of the villains. What with Murgen's ghostly presence and Sahra's day job as a housecleaner in the palace it's no wonder that Mogaba finally remarks that keeping a secret is hardly worth the effort.

Glen Cook always manages to have things work out differently from the reader's expectations and Water Sleeps is no exception. This includes the discovery that there is a fourth volume in this trilogy, which has already covered a lot of ground. But there always seems to be more to find out, and one more volume to read. show less

Another excellent book from Glen Cook. This strikes a good balance between the members of the old guard and involvement of the younger members. It is clearly a transition to the future direction of the company and provides the beginning stages for the conclusion of the series.