The Books of the South

It's true that these stories aren't up to the standard of the excellent original trilogy. The Black Company's past wasn't something we desperately needed to know; and in fact one of Cook's strengths as a fantasy writer was how little time he spent on world building throughout the first three novels. Cook could simply have carried on the story of The Black Company by having another annalist write about the adventures of the Company during his own times. We didn't need *this*.

But, criticism aside, these stories are still a darn good read. Sure, there are problems with characters coming back and characters missing from the original. But these tales are just a lot of fun to read and, really, that's the most important thing.

It is annoying show more though that this collection only begins the tale of the Black Company in the south. I suppose we'll have to wait for the next omnibus to reprint the remaining four volumes so we can see how it all ends. show less

Glen Cook continues his Black Company series in this omnibus edition of the next three books. Whilst enjoyable enough, it's fairly obvious that Cook did not initially intend to extend the series, and two of the books in particular lack the spark that made the first three so groundbreaking and enjoyable.

Surgeon-turn-Captain Croaker is heading south with the few soldiers left after the Black Company's trials in the north. But before they reach the almost-fabled city of Khatovarr - and the origins of the Black Company - they find themselves mired in a local conflict. The third book (in my opinion the strongest) follows up the struggles of Lady and those left behind in the North.

It's quite obvious from the outset that Cook never expected to show more extend the original trilogy, and thus some hasty ret-conning ensues. Characters meant to stay dead are brought back to life, lost powers are restored, and the series takes a right-angled turn. The plot is also extended; these books are not like the tightly paced, self-contained and structured novels that wowed me so much last year.

Cook moves into more typical fantasy territory, replete with gods and apocalyptic overtones; a bird's eye view replaces the more ground-level view and the ambiguous take on "good" and "evil" that made the first three books so progressive is largely missing. The Silver Spike (the third novel) regains much of this, but unfortunately the first two books feel largely like treading water.

This is not to say it's a total loss. Cook's prose is always enjoyable, and his dialogue and characters remain a treat. It's just a shame that coming off such a high, The Books of The South neither push Cook's talents further, nor continue the same high standard of the first three. show less

The first two books in this get into a thorny quest for the Black Company's roots, the perils of which every shifty character in the book seems to know except the Black Company. Add to that the return of some old villains and a bloodthirsty destroyer goddess and this is good stuff. I did make a frowny face when the narration shifted from Croaker to Lady in the second book, but I liked her and it worked. Dreams of Steel ended on a mean-ass cliff and off I went hoping to get closure.

However. The third book, The Silver Spike, takes a detour. It returns to Darling, Raven, Silent, et al. It gets a bad rap: distracting, jarring, irrelevant, that sort of thing. It is a crazy story. It moves fast and doesn't slog through details the way other show more books in the series tend to do. The povs shift all over the place, making it hard to follow at times, especially at the end when all hell breaks loose. But it features a full complement of shady, creepy, nasty, outlandish characters—one of the most endearing things about these books. I liked it. I really did, even though what initially drove me was the aforementioned cliff-hanger.

All in all, I love this series and am looking forward to the next installment. show less

I was really excited when I found out the Black Company storyline continued. I really enjoyed the personal writing style, wit, and perspective Cook put into the first three books. Unfortunately, this trilogy was very disappointing.

The first two books continue the main Croaker storyline. The first was reasonable - it had decent elements of intrigue, travel, new places and characters, and continued romantic tension between Lady and Croaker. It had hints of ennui, but I was able to look past it with the momentum of the first trilogy still on my mind.

By the second, however, I started to get truly bored. Having old characters come back to life is a weak premise. Any author worth his salt should be able to create newer, just as interesting show more characters and thread them into the world like the old ones. Plus, they weren't even developed any further, they were just generic adversaries like they were before. So I started to feel like Cook was just rehashing the same battle and conflict over and over again. He kept the couple characters he liked and then created and killed new characters before you could understand them well. This is awful and a quick way to make the story stale. The only thing saving it was the Lady-Croaker reunion thread, which while cute is not exactly Cook's forte in style.

Then we get to the third book. This book was a joke; at times I seriously wondered if he was just playing with his readers. The new characters were unrelatable and boring. They weren't evil, they weren't good, they were just there. I didn't care a whit what happened to them. And the old characters became total one-sided mockeries of everything they had been. They had no depth, we always knew how they would respond, and they seemed to have very little purpose in life. And the ending just topped it all with complete pointlessness, both in character resolution and in plot resolution. I don't mind randomness. I love when main characters randomly die in Erickson or Martin, but the pointlessness of a non-epic death or a failed attempt is usually made somewhat tragic. Cook just left it pointless.

The world that Cook created has so many untold stories and hidden wonders that he could constantly tap to keep things fresh and the books interesting. For instance, the entire history of Lady and the Taken which is hinted at but could really flesh out some of these books. Why he instead chooses to rehash the same battles and pointless outcomes is way beyond this humble reader. show less

Obviously a case of the author and publisher milking a popular series to death. The first three Black Company novels were very good, collected together in Chronicles of the Black Company. The three books in this omnibus have nowhere near the quality, sense of humor, or plotting of the first three. People who were good and truly dead in Chronicles are suddenly alive again, for no apparent reason, other than to make the author some quick bucks. There was a real over-arching plot driving the first three; here, it just feels like some bad guys were whipped up out of thin air, to provide a reason for bloody battles. The wit is gone, the joyfulness is missing...all the fun bits (the wizards zapping each other, for example) are MIA here. A show more very pedestrian, boring omnibus. I didn't even bother with "The Silver Spike," as I really didn't want to see Raven turned into an alcoholic mooning after the insipidly-named Darling. No more Cook for me, I'm afraid. show less

I will start by stating that the Black Company series would be five star ratings across the board but for the fact that Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series one-ups Cook in this vein. Nonetheless, the Black Company started the 'hard boiled, soldier-in-the-mud' style fantasy story for me and as such it hold a dear place in my heart.

I have read the entire series multiple times; Croaker and The Lady are always close by and ready to appear on my night-stand once again.

Highly recommended for anyone who appreciates fantasy a little more 'realistic' and little less flowery.

The first three novels of the Black Company are the most 'packaged' as an entire, cohesive story, and I found them to be the best. I would then consider these show more two to be a natural extension of the first, as an encore performance. The later books become somewhat bogged down in the swamps before finally picking up once again near the end of the series.

After the plot line of the first three books comes to a close, the tale seems to make a bit of an abrupt turn and deposit the Company in the South, which is not at all a bad move. With the new setting and significant range of new cast, as well as the unexpected return of a few older characters these two stories feel like a fresh beginning rather than simply more of the same. Also we have a real sense that the Black Company now have a purpose and destiny, which helps to drive the plot forward.

Ah yes, before I forget (although I have in reality already forgotten it), The Silver Spike. I'm not sure why this is here, it's uninteresting and irrelevant. That is all. show less

Took me a while to get used to the way it was written and things were presented, but I absolutely fell in love with this book and the series, and plan to get the third one whenever I can. A very well-put together fantasy, one that I can revisit time and time again.
The characters were incredibly interesting, the magic sublime, the plot easy to follow and I did want to follow it! Recommend to all who love "smart" epic fantasy novels that aren't just fantastical tales of magic and swordplay.