This book moves. It’s unapologetically fast, and there’s momentum in every scene. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy THE BLACK COMPANY by Glen Cook.
So, for whatever reason my most recent post replaced this one… Anyway, you can still find the review below.
Firstly, this is a military fantasy novel that details the lives of the titular mercenary group in the epic struggle of good vs. evil. Except… the Black Company signs on with the bad guys rather than the good guys (apparently, Evil offers a great health care package, and they always have cream cheese in the break room).
This a fantasy book that cuts out all the walking (and you can decide whether that’s good or bad). It even cuts out some of the cool set pieces. For example: the Black Company is ordered to capture a heavily fortified city, and the next line is something like “so they did.” Any other book might have dwelled on this siege for at least a chapter, but not this one. It’s less glossing over content than it is highly focused on the core of the story–that which affects the characters.
Which leads me to THE BLACK COMPANY’s next strength: it’s characters. They’re incredibly human, and very much everyman anti-heroes. This is achieved because the main characters of the story are just regular guys who happen to find themselves surrounded by hugely powerful sorcerers and ancient evils. Most of the time, they’re just trying not to be stepped on. They’re not useless–in fact, they’re very capable *regular* people–they’re just more like pawns than they are like queens.
The result? A very different, very refreshing fantasy read best enjoyed by folks who are tired of the main characters being ultra-gods by the end of the series.
And, as an added bonus, you get to say you’ve read a Cook book that never once mentioned food.
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