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Title: Shadows Linger : A Novel of the Black Company by Glen Cook ISBN: 0-8125-0842-4 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 1990 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.13 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Beautiful...
Comment: I have no idea what some of these reviewers are talking about when they call the plot in this book "thin" or not fully realized. This is one of my favorite Cook novels...period. The first time I read it, I literally could NOT put it down. The whole plot line with Marron Shed and his struggle with the morality of what he's doing...I was captivated by it. And this is in addition to the intertwining plots involving: Raven & Darling and what he's up to, the black castle and the purchase of the dead, the return of the Dominator and the Barrowlands, the Limper and his hatred of the Company, etc etc etc. It is true that Cook's style is unlike many in the fantasy genre. He doesn't spend page after page describing fantastical scenery or expounding upon ancient history to make his world seem full of depth. He's too busy describing what's going on NOW. And there's a lot going on...Another masterpiece in my opinion.
Rating: 4
Summary: A second dose of the Black Company
Comment: In his follow-up book to The Black Company, Glen Cook continues the story of this mercenary unit in the service of the Lady. Once more they are the elite unit she sends to trouble spots within her empire, sometimes helped by The Taken, creatures who were once mortal. More often than not, those creating trouble for The Lady are the rebels who believe that the White Rose, a legend come true, will save them from her domination.
In this book, however, it isn't the rebels who must be subdued. The Lady's husband, long buried but not forgotten, has plans to return and once more dominate the world and his wife. His plans involve the catacombs of Juniper, a tavern owner, a homeless man, and one of the Black Company's own. To make matters worse, Croaker and others of the Company possess a secret those in power must get back.
Once more, the action is intense. The overall story seems very different from the first book. In both, however, the ultimate goal is survival. The characters stay pretty much the same and are as likable (or not) as they were in the first book. They still struggle with their own senses of right and wrong. In their business, nothing is black and white. Well, maybe some things are, but that's part of the story.
This is a quick read. The action draws the reader forward, almost against your will. The plot is a bit thin, but the book doesn't suffer much from that. Be sure to read The Black Company before taking on this one.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best of The Black Company series
Comment: With the second book in the Black Company series, Glen Cook has crafted a much darker world than in any of the other books in the series. And because of the more profound themes Cook explores in this book, I found it to be the most intriguing and enjoyable book of the entire series.
The plot revolves around a series of events that lead the Black Company to the far northern reaches of Cook's world, the city of Juniper. Cook crafts Juniper as a city where death is worshipped, not in an evil cult-like sort of way, but in a religious sense. The most holy ground in Juniper, in fact the very center of the life of the city, is the Enclosure, where all of the people who have died in Juniper throughout the ages are taken to await passage to paradise. The one thing about the city that draws the interests of the Black Company and its employer, The Lady, however, is a black castle on the heights above the city. A castle that is growing.
It is to this strange dark city that we find Raven and Darling have fled to following the conclusion of the first book of the series. It is the actions of Raven, and later, a character introduced in this book, Marron Shed, a scared fat little innkeeper that Raven bullies into becoming his partner, that draws the Company to Juniper. It turns out that the Black Castle is the door through which the most evil tyrant the world has ever known, the Dominator, is going to be resurrected. Raven and Shed are feeding the castle by selling dead bodies to it, an act of sacriledge in Juniper. The castle is using the dead bodies to facilitate its growth.
It is in the characters of Raven and, especially, Marron Shed that Cook explores the themes of amorality, cowardice, the costs of reckless behavior, greed, graft, and ultimately, in Shed's case, the path to courage and redemption.
Raven does not realize the consequences of his actions, but instead, as Cook puts it, acts throughout the book with the "pragmatic amorality of a Prince of Hell", for the highest of motives. He is trying to protect Darling, the one hope of the world against Lady's empire.
Shed's character is the most interesting. He is a man filled with fear. His partnership with Raven fills him with self-loathing. It is the journey that Shed takes from coward to hero that fill much of the books most compelling moments.
When Croaker and the Company arrive at Juniper to confront the threat of the Black Castle, their discovery that Raven is at the very heart of the castles growth presents a moral quandry for them as well. Do they sacrifice Raven, knowing that doing so will mean the destruction of the Company because of their part in keeping the secret of Darling from the Lady, in order to prevent the castle from completing its growth and allowing the Dominator back into the world?
Cook does a wonderful job in creating and fleshing out the oppressive poverty and dark alleyways of the slums of Juniper, but it is in the inner turmoil of Marron Shed that Cook is masterful.
I highly recommend reading this book.
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Title: The Silver Spike : The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook ISBN: 0812502205 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 September, 1989 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Shadow Games : The Fourth Chronicles of the Black Company: First Book of the South by Glen Cook ISBN: 0812533828 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 June, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Dreams of Steel by Glen Cook ISBN: 0812502108 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Bleak Seasons by Glen Cook ISBN: 0812555325 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: She Is The Darkness : Book Two of Glittering Stone: A Novel of the Black Company by Glen Cook ISBN: 0812555333 Publisher: Tor Fantasy Pub. Date: 15 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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