They'll stick it to the rebel "good guys" all the way, often with cheerful deviousness. Great Story, Narrator Takes Getting Used ToĪ refreshing romp through a gritty yet colorful medieval fantasy setting that follows a mercenary company recruited by the arch villain. The novel, first in a long series of Black Company annals, feels complete enough at its conclusion and at the same time promises an eventful, long future for Croaker and his mercenary brothers. Vietor's reading of each of the very different voices of Soulcatcher's different souls is fun, creepy, and impressive. I feel that he does a fine job, enhancing Croaker's hard-boiled exterior and sensitive interior, as well as modifying his voice appropriately for the other characters, from the hysterical high-pitched mage Goblin to the laconic Clint Eastwood-like killer Raven. I can't understand why some reviewers dislike Marc Vietor's reading of the novel. I sympathize with the reviewers who find the novel too rawly written, but I liked most of the graphic similes and the in medias res openings of each chapter-story and appreciate how each new chapter adds a few more pieces to the dramatic situation of the fantasy world.
The short story chapters-without transitions between them-are narrated by the company's doctor and historian Croaker to make a single compelling tale. Cook vividly captures the way that men working together in intense situations indulge in petty resentments even as they bond into a family through shared adversity. It's enjoyable to watch the memorable members of the mercenary Black Company playing cards or pranks and suspenseful to follow them going on dangerous missions.
His novel is by turns funny or scary, horrifying or moving, grotesque or beautiful. He writes a hard-boiled fantasy about the heroic feats of human anti-heroes in a world in which, as in our own, the historians of the victors determine good and evil. Glen Cook slaps a devastating battle magic spell on epic fantasy cliches (e.g., evil empire, virtuous rebels, dark lord, blasted wasteland around his headquarters, and clear division of good from evil). However, Croaker doesn't trust any of the Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister.Hard Boiled Morally Ambiguous Epic Fantasy Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. The one person who was taken into The Lady's Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. But being "The Lady's favored" is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs-and the Company's historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.
The soldiers of the Black Company don't ask questions, they get paid. Glen Cook, the father of Grimdark, returns to the Chronicles of the Black Company with a military fantasy adventure in
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