Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company (Shadow Games / Dreams of Steel / The Silver Spike)

This collection of three Black Company novels tells the story of the Company's journey out of the North, into the South, and how the Company came to fight the Shadowmasters. For several reasons, this isn't as cohesive a volume as "The Books of the North," but it still represents some of the best work done in military sci-fi/fantasy. Fans of the Black Company should pick this up for their bookshelves. Newcomers will also find a lot to like, but I'd recommend starting with "The Books of the North" or skipping straight to the Glittering Stone storyline.

"Shadow Games" is set-up book, telling about the mercenary Black Company's flight from the North after its near-destruction at the end of "The White Rose." Still narrated by physician/historian/Captain Croaker, it feels very much like the first three books. The story is very episodic, in keeping with the storytelling mechanic of having Croaker tell the Company's history in the Annals. As with the previous three novels, a lot happens here, and there's not a single paragraph you can afford to skip.

"Dreams of Steel" shifts the narration to Lady, who is either your most or least favorite character. Either way, there's no denying that she's fascinating, and telling the story from her perspective was a great way for Cook to compress events. Instead of Croaker's style of telling a three-month tale in the space of a single chapter, Lady provides more detail, and this novel covers a lot less territory as a result. This is the only novel Lady narrates, and it sets up the events of "Bleak Seasons" (which, I hope, will come out soon in a "Glittering Stone" collection).

A previous reviewer named "The Silver Spike" as her personal favorite, and I'm glad to hear I'm not alone there. It's a "by the way" story, following some of the characters who left the Black Company after the events of "The White Rose." Many are our old favorites, and this book is their swan song. This is the last we see of Raven, Silent, and Darling. It's narrated by a new character, someone from outside the Company, and I actually found Case's narration to be a lot more engaging than any of the others Cook has used; it's a lot more conversational and personal, and gives us an outsider's perspective on the culture of the Black Company. "The Steel Spike" doesn't strictly follow the story of the Company's transition to the South, but it fits with this collection as a way of tying up the last of the story threads from the first volume.

Overall, this is not The Black Company at its best, but it's still miles better than most other fantasy fiction. The gritty realism and themes we expect from Glen Cook are all here, as is the persistent refusal to classify any of our protagonists as "evil" or "good." (This is most obvious when we see the world through Lady's eyes in "Dreams of Steel.") It's still the story of soldiers, sorcerers, and the people caught in the midst of a struggle they don't even try to understand. Highly recommended for fans of engaging, realistic fantasy.

I found The Chronicles of the Black Company quite by accident at my local bookstore, and loved it. It's one of those books that doesn't follow the typical literary trends, and once you settle in, you're in the middle of a terrific fantasy story. It's gritty, unrelenting, and told from a very engaging world-weary perspective.

So I purchased The Books of the South from Amazon and enjoyed it just as much as the first collection. I enjoyed the change of annalists from Croaker to the Lady. I thought she was a great character in the first collection, and to have the story told by her was fascinating...her nonchalance to brutal discipline and the other harsh realities of war, which are given to us in a manner that I've not read anywhere else.

The Silver Spike was an interesting story which wrapped up some loose ends that didn't necessarily relate to the current travels of the Black Company **SPOILERS** However, I was disappointed by the body count of some great characters, which means they won't be showing up anytime soon in the South. No matter, Glen Cook is a top writer and I'm looking forward to finishing the Black Company stories.

This omnibus naturally follows "Chronicles of the Black Company" as the second major installment of Glen Cook's ten book Black Company series. I read a few books inbetween Chronicles and this one, and always at the back of my mind while reading was the thought that I really wanted to get back to this world and see what happens. Needless to say they made quite an impact on me and I was excited to jump back in

Silver Spike is an attempt to tie up all the loose ends left at the end of The Chronicles of the Black Company and give fitting ends to characters that abandoned the main plotline when they left the company and went their own way. I thought it did a really admirable job of doing so and ended up giving the world a bit more depth outside of just the company and their concerns. I'll admit to being a little bit antsy at the beginning of my read; quite simply these weren't the characters I loved the most and I was anxious to get back to the rest, but eventually the story pulled me in and I was able to forget about them. I certainly think this is a must read for anyone reading the series and if you were really charmed by Raven, Darling, or Silent during the first series then you'll certainly want to read this to find out what happens to them. For me the star of the show was Case, his writing was hilarious and even more sarcastic than Croaker's, and I found myself laughing often.

With Shadow Games and Drums of Steel we go back to Croaker and Lady and our lovable gang of mercenaries and follow them on their long journey south to return the annals to the city of Khatovar. Very quickly it becomes apparent things aren't going to go smoothly and the company once again gets sucked into a war they don't really much want to be apart of. The themes of military brotherhood and dealing with the morally ambiguous nature of their assignments (as in the Rebel vs Empire struggle) so prevalent in the first series are still there in a small way, but in large part the focus shifts to one of political and historical intrigue. The political side of things deals mostly with the company getting involved with the city of Taglios and it's dealing with the main antagonists of the books, the Shadowmasters. This side at times was a little hard for me to remain interested in but Cook did a good job of setting up the religious and cultural workings of the city and I understand why it was necessary to spend so much time on it. The historical side of the company was something that grew in importance the further they went south and was covered in a shroud of mystery. The only way to understand and unravel the intrigue of their journey is to uncover the dark and hidden origins of the company, but that is of course hidden and learned only through small hints given throughout.

I've enjoyed these omnibuses that Tor have put together, my first and only major complaint of them comes in the order they use here. Before starting I looked up some discussions and saw that most people recommended reading the offshoot novel Silver Spike first then continuing with the main series. Here in the omnibus it's placed last and after reading through I completely agree with the recommendations that believe that it should placed at the beginning. I've seen a number of people who read it in order complain about it feeling out of place and I can see how it would be jarring to go so far in a new direction and journey and then be dragged back to a story and characters connected only to the first series.

I definitely got the feeling that these two "Books of the South" were a transitional step - a bridge of sorts between the Chronicle set and the Glittering Stones set, meant to connect the two rather than meant to stand apart as a third major installment. They don't stand alone all that well, both are left on huge cliffhangers and even together feel like only the beginning of a much larger story. There's also the important transition from Croaker as a narrator to Murgen in the later books, with the Book of Lady bridging the gap. Lady was the most interesting character of the first books for me, and I'm glad we got to see from her perspective (even if it was hard to move on from Croaker's voice). The first and last chapters we see from her POV are heartbreaking and enthralling, probably more full of emotion than any other in the series despite both being only a couple pages. The chapters inbetween tended to be long and focus a lot on day to day military training and leadership. They are not nearly as entertaining as chapters from Case or Croaker but it would be unfair to place any of that blame on her as a narrator. Croaker has his sarcasm and the ever giving feud between One Eye and Goblin and Case has a grumpy old Raven to poke fun at to give them humor in their passages; Lady is only given some slimy, unlikable religious nuts who strangle people with scarves for her companions most of the time. Even devoid of humor the passages still manage to be interesting, harrowing, and certainly a huge insight into how Lady came to rule the north through power and an incredible amount of willpower.

I'll say there was some general malaise throughout my reading. I don't normally care too much about these types of things but I got attached to Croaker and Lady's relationship. Seeing how it played out was probably the biggest thing I was looking forward to going into the books, but early on there was a near constant feeling that something would go wrong. Of course that only grew stronger when eventually some things did. I'm worried about how emotionally draining the final set of books will be, it was already a little tough here and the longer the series goes the more attached I'll get to the characters. Unfortunately the ending doesn't really give you much of an option to recharge, almost demands you jump right back in and I know that's what I'm gonna end up doing

Overall a good read, maybe not quite up to my enjoyment of the first omnibus for various reasons but entertaining none the less and a good segue into the final stretch of the series. I'm both anxious and excited to see where we go from here.

From the first page of The Black Company to the last page of the Silver Spike this series has been a rollercoaster. I struggled to get into the first book, but then was dragged along, a willing partner in a gang of mercenaries' escapades.

Sometimes it's hard to watch characters change and evolve when we like them from the beginning - and it was. But, none changed in a way that was out of place or made me feel like they were being driven by the outside force of a writer not totally set on who his characters are. The plane was never broken.

Like the Chronicles of the Black Company, The Books of the South is three books wrapped into an omnibus edition. They were all filled with unexpected twists and left me longing to warn the characters I've grown attached to. The Silver Spike, in the last ten pages or so, fell a little short. What happened needed to happen, but how it happened felt a little strained. The story though is solid.

Separately, I may have shorted the Silver Spike a half a star, but together this series is still holding my interest so tightly I giggled like a child when I went to my shelves and found two more books instead of just one. I'm looking forward to another evening with the Black Company tonight over a cup of coffee.

Although these books are likely the weakest books in the series they are still worth reading. The Books of the South represent the middle of the Black Company series. You should absolutely read the first omnibus prior to this one and that in itself is the only problem with this omnibus, similarity. The Books of the South present a similar enemy and a similar set of characters. That being said there are a multitude of differences between the books. This set of books includes a far more in depth look at political issues, leadership issues, and even personal issues of the top soldiers in the great mercenary outfit.

I'd also like to point out that Glen Cook's writing is not dumbed down. One major problem I have when attempting to read fantasy fiction is that it appears to be written for 12-14 year old kids. As such the vocabulary is extremely limited and the writing is often too obvious, with no nuance. Well I can safely say that Glenn Cook's writing was more then adequate at keeping me feeling like I was reading the writing of intelligent men and women (the books are all written by the annalists of the black company - meaning they are written as if they were a sort of journal).

Just for the record, the only reason I m not giving it 5 stars is it might not be everyone's cup of tea. It's pretty dark stuff at times

I really, really like it but some of the writing style takes a bit getting used to.
The paceing is a bit weird, hard to tell how much time elapses.
Sometimes there's a lot of detail on things you wouldn't expect and not much detail on others, get used to it.
A lot of the story deals with: who's good and who's bad is relative. Think if it as military, dark fantasy.
Throw out your notions of how you think fantasy needs to be written

First off, even though its the third story, I recommend reading the Silver Spike first before reading the other two stories since that one mostly relates to the 3rd book in the series, while the other two stories go in a different direction. The writing is much the same as the previous books, including stories from multiple people that eventually come together in some way near the end of the book.

Obviously, make sure you read the first book(s) before reading this one to get a full understanding of the events going on in the world.

I am reading the Black Company books out of sequence. All of these collected editions seem to start strong and then get tedious. Lets face it, 100 or so pages of siege just are not compelling. Generally speaking I like series that are connected. You get to know the characters. But this grinds along in many places and the ending of the series is abrupt and jarring.

I've made it a habit to read Glen Cook during my lunch breaks because I enjoy his writing style. Not only are his stories rich, he gets to the darn point when it comes to creating his world of the black company. The chapters leave off on parts to where it makes it easy to follow even if you put down the books for weeks on end. Simple read but very enjoyable especially if you're getting into fantasy.

PRO:
Great book for people who want to get into fantasy without having to read harry potter.
Chapters come quickly so place marking is a snap.
Author Glen Cook gets to the point when he tells a story.

Con:
If you're looking for a book with as much depth as The Lord of the Rings books search elsewhere. This fantasy series style, although awesome, does not have the capacity to spend 4 pages depicting the facial descriptions of its characters from the freckles on their noses or their facial expressions. As I stated, Cook gets to the point quick and drives it home.

I think that i must be missing something; other reviewers have called this gripping military fantasy and there have been other references to gritty realism, etc. I actually found large parts of all three stories dull to the point of tedium particularly the long journey south in Shadow Games. But what I found odd was that for "military fantasy" there was only one battle that ran for more than a page. Most of the battles and skirmishes are dealt with in an utterly superficial manner with more time spent describing the costume armour of the two main protagonists - sometimes major battles are covered in only a sentence or two (I think the whole first campaign by the Taglians against the invading Shadowmaster armies is dealt with in a page or two). Between the perfunctory battles we get the convoluted conspiracies of the various parties involved and the introspective maunderings of the main character. I didn't find any of the subtlety or moral ambiguity that other reviewers have mentioned; there was clearly good and evil with some shades of grey in between, but we were never in doubt as to who the bad guys were. In some respects the betrayals and conflicts of interest were a little predictable. I found the punctuation and sentence structure, or lack of it annoying at times; sometimes you were left unsure who was actually speaking. Overall, it was alright but not outstanding, I've read worse, but then again, I've read a lot better.