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Title:
The Black Company
Series: The Black Company
#1
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 4 of 5
Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages:
223
Words: 89K
It
has been a decade, 10 years, since my first original foray into the
world of the Black Company by Glen Cook. I initially ignored the
Black Company in the 90’s and ‘00’s because of the Dark Fantasy
tag and I really didn’t want to get into that. Then I read the
Malazan Book of the Fallen and loved it so much and hated it so much
that any objection to dark fantasy was swept away. That still wasn’t
enough though. What was enough was finding out that Malazan was an
homage (some, including myself, would call it a complete ripoff) to
the Black Company. So in 2015, I began my campaign to read the Black
Company novels. It was a complete success and I swept away all
obstacles in my path. It was on that read that I determined that the
authors of the Malazan books were complete hacks because of just how
much they lifted from the Black Company mythology for their own
massive series. I am over that now though. If you like the Black
Company, you will probably like the Malazan books. If you like the
Malazan books, you will like the Black Company novels (or else!).
There
was only one “thing” this time around that I simply didn’t get.
It was obvious the characters were referring to something, either
another character or situation that we as readers were supposed to
infer something from, but while it was staring me in the face, I
couldn’t for the life of me figure it out. It really felt like when
I read the Russian novels and they leave a sentenced unfinished and
expect the reader to figure it out by context, cultural or textural.
Honestly, I don’t even remember what the specific incidence was (so
I can’t even state it and hope someone can enlighten me) and my
reading was not less for not understanding, but it was so painfully
obvious that there WAS an inference and I wasn’t getting it. I
don’t like that feeling. I want to understand ALL the things.
Doing
a re-read really helped my overall understanding because Cook throws
the reader into the deep end and we’re expected to start swimming
like an olympic athlete from the get-go. Since I have navigated these
literary waters once, I didn’t have to spend as much time
frantically trying to figure out which direction I was even supposed
to swim in. I already knew and therefore could pay more attention to
the smaller details that were simply lost in the last read.
This
is a good fantasy story with a very rich history and characters that
are unique with their own voice. I never once questioned who was
who, because Cook writes each character as a true individual. There
are no generic characters. Some might only be mentioned once, or
twice, but you do not confuse them with anyone else. It helps that
Cook does the nickname thing really well. Everybody has a unique name
with a story about that name. We might not get that story, but it is
hinted at and referenced to, much like would happen in any big, close
knit community. Outsiders are excluded on the surface but if they
hang around, they’ll find out those stories and become part of that
community themselves. Thus it is for the reader. The deeper you go
into the annals of the Black Company, the more familiar you will
become with them and the more enjoyable your reading will be.
This
was a complete success of a re-read and I suspect the rest of the
series will be just as enjoyable, if not more so, as I get to them. I
highly recommend this series by Cook.
★★★★☆
From
Blackcompany.fandom.com
Chapter 1: Legate
The Black
Company is in service as bodyguards for the Syndic, the
ruler of the Jewel City of Beryl. The band of
sell-swords is languishing in the humid city. It is yet another
miserable summer, and they are displeased by their current employer
and self-conscious of their reduced state compared to prior
generations.
The Annalist and physician of
the Black Company, Croaker, is curing one of his Company
brothers – Curly – for poisoning and questions him for
places that he has been eating outside their barracks. Identifying
the source, Croaker reports his findings to the Company's leader,
the Captain, who sends a sergeant named Mercy,
the minor wizard Silent, and a dozen men with Croaker to deal
with them. Their target is the Mole Tavern, and they suspect the
poisoners are the Blues, the faction which opposes the Syndic.
After they kill many of the perpetrators and their sympathizers in a
bloodbath, Silent discovers that some of the more conservative
members of the Blues are hiding in a cellar. They take them captive
to turn them over to the Syndic. On the Avenue of the Syndics,
they see a visiting Legate from across the Sea of
Torments, accompanied by hard-bitten veterans like themselves. The
mysterious masked rider is on the back of a titanic black
stallion.
Later,
a violent riot erupts in response to the arrest of the Blue leaders.
Several Urban Cohorts mutiny when they demand extra pay to
deal with the mob and the Syndic refuses. A Company stronghold is
attacked, and Mercy is fatally wounded, but the Cohorts are
ultimately repulsed.
The
next day several members of the Company including Croaker and three
of the Company's four wizards (Goblin, Silent, and Tom-Tom)
follow a rumor of a legendary creature called a forvalaka escaping
from Beryl's Necropolitan Hill. At the opened tomb they discover
fifty-four ancient forvalaka skeletons and several freshly-killed
soldiers, all drained of blood and missing their hearts and livers.
This confirms the rumor about the forvalaka, which frightens Tom-Tom,
whose former master N'Gamo was badly mutilated by a young,
unrelated forvalaka decades prior.
The
riots finally quiet down, and thousands of corpses litter the
streets. Tom-Tom leads a Black Company delegation which
also includes the Lieutenant (the
band's second-in-command), Croaker, and Silent. They
are received by the masked Legate aboard his colossal ship. The
Legate frightens even the wizard Tom-Tom, and, disturbingly, speaks
in entirely different voices. He makes them an offer of
alternative employment, but this will require treachery on their part
against the Syndic.
During
a meeting of the Company's senior members, they eventually decide to
take the offer via their most honorable deception. That night, the
forvalaka attacks the Syndic's residence, the Paper Tower, and
slaughters almost everyone inside. The Syndic actually survives, but
it is implied that Match finishes him off. When the Company
goes after the forvalaka, it kills many of them, including Tom-Tom,
much to the horror of Tom-Tom's brother and fellow wizard One-Eye.
It escapes down the exterior of the tower.
Leaving
the city that night, they kill hundreds of the mutinous Urban Cohorts
soldiers in their sleep. They head to a lighthouse on the Pillar
of Anguish, where their transportation arrives in the form of the
Legate's gigantic ship. The Legate takes the Black Company into
the service of the northern empire and reveals that he has
captured the forvalaka and has plans for it. Croaker realizes who the
Legate is; when the Captain questions him, he reveals the Legate
is Soulcatcher, who was buried alive at least three hundred
years ago alongside nine other evil sorcerers called the Ten Who
Were Taken and their masters, the Dominator and his
wife the Lady. They ruled an ancient empire called
the Domination before being sealed away. The Company
resigns themselves to their new service and One-Eye is deeply
troubled that the caged forvalaka on the ship does not have any of
the wounds they gave it.
Chapter 2: Raven
After
crossing the Sea of Torments, they disembark at the city
of Opal, where they stay for a few weeks. They meet with a
strange man called Raven at the Gardens to
consider his enlistment. After a bizarre confrontation with the
powerful Imperial staff general Lord Jalena, the senior Company
members witness Raven swiftly murder a woman and two of her
companions. They head out to deal with Rebels who are
causing trouble in the northern region of the Empire.
The
Company enters the province of Forsberg while trying to
link up with the Taken called the Limper.
The Lieutenant sends Elmo, one of the senior
sergeants, to make contact with their advance scouts who are waiting
outside a rebellious village. Elmo takes Croaker, Silent, Raven and
seven other men with him, and when they arrive at the village, they
discover everyone is dying or dead, except for Darling and Flick:
a deaf-mute little girl and her elderly grandfather, who are being
tortured by the Limper's drunk soldiers. Saving the two victims and
later recapturing the fortress at Deal earn the Limper's
hatred.
Later
during the winter in the fortress at Deal, Raven goes on a weekly
supply run ("turnip patrol") to the nearby city
of Oar with Candy, Doughbelly, Jolly, and
Flick. However when they are sold out by the stablekeeper Cornie,
the group is ambushed by about a dozen local thugs hired by the
Limper's underlings Captain Lane and Colonel Zouad.
Raven is severely wounded and Flick is killed. In retaliation, Elmo
leaks the location of the Limper's men to the Rebels, who capture
them. But when it becomes a danger that the Company's involvement
might be discovered, Soulcatcher sends a fellow Taken
called Shapeshifter to help. They infiltrate the Rebel
bunker in Oar and spring a trap on the Limper when he arrives to
rescue Zouad. Raven goes missing but reappears as the Company moves
out from Elm. Rejoining them, he takes the little girl Darling
as his ward.
Chapter 3: Raker
Now
garrisoned in the huge fortress of Meystrikt in
the Salient, the Black Company has earned a reputation as the
Lady's elite. During an ambush patrol the Company obtains some of the
Rebel sorcerer Rakers' hair. Using this One-Eye, Goblin, and
Silent come up with a plan to take him down with a bounty for his
head, which Soulcatcher approves. Soulcatcher, Goblin, One-Eye,
Croaker, Elmo, Raven, and two more soldiers named Otto and Hagop go
to the city of Roses and set the trap. A stunning pile of
treasure is planted on one of the frozen streets, protected by ward
spells. The trap is powered by the sorcerer's own captured hair, and
the loot can only be retrieved safely if someone deposits Raker's
head nearby.
The
powerful Limper arrives to claim the treasure for himself, and
corners the helpless Black Company men in their apartment. But
Soulcatcher intervenes, and reveals that the Limper has been
humiliated by Shapeshifter due to his unauthorized absence from Elm.
The Limper flees in terror that he will be disciplined by the Lady,
and they go back to maintaining their vigil over the treasure and
trap in the street below.
As
planned, Raker discredits himself among his Rebel peers trying to
disarm the trap, and his followers lose faith. Finally, after Otto
and Hagop are assaulted by Raker, Raven and Croaker take the
initiative. Raven uses supernatural tracking senses to track down
Raker in the frigid city. Using Croaker as bait, the pair kills him.
With Elmos' help they pack up the treasure which they split before
they return to the rest of the Company.
Chapter 4: Whisper
Despite
their victory, the Company is forced to leave the Salient on account
of the Limper's apparent blunders in the north. They head through
the Forest of Cloud toward the city of Lords. During
the retreat, they stumble upon and ambush a training camp of the
Rebel sorceress/general Whisper. They discover her valuable
papers which the Lady and Soulcatcher later use to reveal that the
Limper is a traitor. The Limper's True Name was uncovered
by Whisper, and she has used it to suborn him... the Imperial defeats
in Forsberg and the Salient are his treachery.
Croaker
and Raven receive some training in Lords, and the pair are sent to
ambush both Whisper and the Limper in the forest. The risky operation
is a success, and the Lady herself appears to take
possession of the prisoners. The Limper is tortured gruesomely by the
Lady, and is then carried off by a dragonfly demon. But Whisper
suffers a much worse fate: she is subjected to a hideous ritual
and transformed into the first of the Lady's new
Taken.
Croaker,
Raven, and Silent make their way out of the Forest of Cloud
to find Lords badly besieged. They cannot enter the city to rejoin
their comrades. There is a hellish sorcery duel occurring at the
walls: Soulcatcher and Nightcrawler are trading
explosive blows with Harden – Whisper's ferocious cousin
– and other members of the Circle of Eighteen.
Chapter 5: Harden
After
the Taken lose Lords, the Company and a few thousand other Imperials
retreat across the Windy Country to the Stair of Tear.
They fight against Harden's Rebels almost every step of the way. At
the Stair, they hold the enemy forces at bay for a time. In a
carefully-planned assassination, four of the Taken
(Soulcatcher, Shapeshifter, Stormbringer, and the Hanged
Man) take down Harden. But Croaker witnesses an inexplicable and
frightening incident during which Soulcatcher and Stormbringer allow
the Hanged Man to die, despite Shapeshifter's obvious desire to save
the man.
Although
Whisper and some of the old Taken are accumulating stunning victories
against the Rebel in the east, things are collapsing around the Black
Company in the center of the Empire. They are forced to retreat yet
again, this time toward the Tower at Charm... the Empire's
headquarters. The Great Comet is in the sky, a possible
harbinger of doom for the Lady and her followers.
Chapter 6: Lady
The
Black Company captures two more Rebel sorcerers for the Lady, young
newlyweds called Feather and Journey. On the return
trip to deliver the new prisoners, Croaker believes he is targeted by
one of the Taken. Strange lime-colored thread threatens him. They
hustle away and meet the Howler, who flies them on a
giant flying carpet to the Tower.
During
the final preparations for Charm's defenses, Croaker meets the Lady
again. Soon, a massive accumulation of Rebel armies attempts to crush
their enemy in the days-long Battle at Charm. Shapeshifter is
reportedly killed in very suspicious circumstances. Croaker is
attacked by the forvalaka, last seen in Soulcatcher's
possession, but is saved by the huge Taken known as Bonegnasher.
Later that night, the Taken suffer even more fatalities. But it is
infighting that does them in, not the enemy. Stormbringer mutinies,
and she and Bonegnasher kill one another. On another
night, Nightcrawler is killed by the Rebels, but
the Faceless Man and Moonbiter kill each other.
The
Lady sends for Croaker personally, and reveals that the women among
the Taken have been betraying her to support the Dominator, who
is the true driving force behind the Rebels. She subjects him to
the Eye, a dreadful experience, but gives him a beautiful bow
with black arrows to use for a special purpose. He uses one of the
arrows to chase away a mysterious attacker: a sheet of darkness which
fits the description of Soulcatcher's namesake sorcery.
On
the final day of the battle, the Rebel leadership claims to have
found their long-awaited savior child, the reincarnation of the White
Rose. The Company wizards can see that it is a hoax, created to
motivate the enemy rank-and-file. Feather and Journey–new
Taken alongside Whisper–emerge to stop the Rebel's final
push. War elephants burst forth from hidden compartments
near the Tower, and the Rebel only defeats them after suffering
terrible losses.
Then,
the Howler flies over the enemy formations, dropping
bizarre orbs. As he returns, there is yet another betrayal among the
Taken: Soulcatcher somehow sabotages the Howler's flying carpet, and
the diminutive wizard slams into the top of the Tower at high speed.
The Lady and Croaker leave the battle to chase after Soulcatcher on
the backs of sorcery-enhanced black stallions. After a long
pursuit during which Croaker doubts he is in full control of himself,
he shoots Soulcatcher with his special arrows, and lops off his
target's head. Soulcatcher's morion opens for the first time,
unexpectedly revealing the face of a gorgeous woman. The Lady
explains that Soulcatcher was her own sister. Where Croaker once
entertained fanciful romances about the Lady, now he is thoroughly
disgusted. He has no choice but to accompany her back on her badly
damaged flying carpet.
Returning
to the Tower, Croaker sees windrows of dead men. Tens of thousands
have been killed by the deadly sorcery in the Howler's orbs. Many
dropped dead in formation. While most of the dead were Rebels, a
significant number were Imperials. He also briefly sees Darling among
the basalt wasteland which surrounds the field of battle. Arriving at
the Tower, the Limper is revealed to have been reeducated
by the Lady and newly loyal. The remaining Rebel have been killed via
ambushes and traps in the Tower.
Chapter 7: Rose
Raven
is believed to have died in the battle, but Croaker and Silent
surmise otherwise and eventually track him down. The two determine,
as Raven had beforehand, that Darling is the true reincarnation of a
historical hero called the White Rose due to strange
events which surrounded the girl during the battle. Raven had
deserted with Darling to protect her from the Lady. After Croaker
persuades the highly-stressed Raven that they are not there to harm
Darling, they give him horses, rations, and money (Raven's share of
the treasure from the entrapment of Raker in Roses). Croaker wisely
recommends that Raven choose some other direction other
than Opal and Beryl. In case Croaker finds himself
subjected to the Lady's Eye again, he interrupts Raven
before their new destination is disclosed. After a tender farewell
with Darling in finger speech, Croaker and Silent ride back
toward Charm and the Black Company, and Raven and Darling continue
their trek into hiding.
