While I was on my vacation this year, I read an omnibus of three books of The Black Company series by Glen Cook. I bought the omnibus earlier this year, but only just got around to it on vacation. The story as to how I bought the book is kind of funny. I was in a Borders in December buying volumes 3 and 4 of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and I see this book "Chronicles of the Black Company," with a really cool cover design. I would have bought it then, but I recalled past experiences of buying books based purely on the cover and synopsis alone and not liking them. Upon getting home, I hit up Amazon for more information and reviews for the books, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually rather good. I bought it later with a gift certificate I got in January.
The Black Company series is dark fantasy, detailing the history of the titular Black Company through approximately 40 years of its history over 10 books. The main character of these books is a physician/Annalist called Croaker, a man I believe in his 20s when we first meet him. I say "Annalist" as Croaker himself is writing these books as chronicles of the company. They are part of a larger series of books, the Annals, written by many different authors and chronicling the company throughout its centuries-long history. At the beginning of the first book, the Black Company is hired by an empire in the north as part of its army as it tries to conquer the world. The ruler of this empire is an enigmatic sorceress known only as the Lady, whom Croaker develops something of an interest in, mostly because she's so mysterious. I'm afraid I can't really reveal any more, as that would be spoiling this great tale. I don't even know the whole story, as I've only read the first six, the next four have yet to be released in convenient omnibus form.
What I like about these books most is their treatment of morality. The Black Company has been hired by many various people and causes that could be called "evil", but the company itself has a strict code of honor that ensures they are never led away from their ideals. The Lady's Empire mentioned earlier is certainly an evil empire at first glance, but we learn that it is actually a rather ordered and even safe society. That's not really a spoiler, don't worry. Even the Lady herself, my favorite character of the series, isn't one-sidedly evil, she's actually quite human and multifaceted. We learn quite a bit about her throughout the series, somewhat ironically as we are first introduced to her as a very mysterious person.
These are some of the best fantasy novels I've read in a while, and recommend you reader(s) to look into them.
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