I started this book immediately after I had finished with The black company as I had found the first book to be engaging after 50 pages or so but this book the I think cook has hit his stride from the start, the last book was basically given us to from the pov of Croaker who is basically annalist/fighter/physician for the black company.But this story progressed from the pov of Maron shade whom I think is one of the most interesting characters who develops excellently throughout the story we get all the sides of shade.The previous book had bigger single chapters but in this cook has basically split the book in pov chapters.The story continues after the battle of charm where the lady has thoroughly routed the rebel the company is solely serving the lady finding and destroying whatever rebel pockets of resistance which are left but in doing so many in the company have started second guessing themselves although the rule of company is WE FIGHT NEITHER FOR GOOD OR EVIL WE ARE THE BLACK COMPANY, WE FIGHT SELL OUR SWORDS TO ONE WHO PAYS US. and this has even started to manifest between the wizards of company goblin and one eye.They are basically been feuding for centuries but in one feud goblin basically loses his mind and tries to take one eye down for real where in croaker starts noticing something has been happening in the company.This book also has darling and raven who have holed up juniper running away from the lady, because raven and many in the company suspect that darling is just more than a dumb and deaf child.They are holed up in Iron Lily which is bar owned by a coward maron shade who is basically borrowing more and more money from the lenders to get himself and his mother through the winter, he basically hanging from a thread when his money lender crab starts demanding that he pay up or abandon the iron lily as a payment.Desperate times call for desperate measures and he finds help from raven who asks him to accompany him to steal things from catacombs.Juniper basically has a black castle growing in the outskirts of the city, and shade discovers how the castle keeps growing.The black company soon get involved in the plot when they are dispatched to juniper by the lady who is asked for help from the duke of juniper.The story really moves at a pace when company lands in juniper, the most fascinating sequence is basically when raven and shade move through the rooftops of juniper hunting minions of crabs.Cook basically murders his characters without any hesitancy that is another fascinating aspect of this series.The book basically ends with a bang with company finally coming to a conclusion for their future course of actions.I give this book 4/5 stars.
I think I’m going to enjoy returning to the tales of the Black Company again and again until I’ve completed them all. While I found the first book a bit difficult to get into when I read it several weeks ago, it grew on me as I progressed. And now this second book felt very comfortable, like slipping into the same rough, rugged and patched up jacket that I had worn that time I successfully rode a rampaging bull in my first rodeo. It’s the same kind of gritty, rough story and characters but this time around it felt great to dive right back into the book. (Note to the curious: I didn’t really ride a bull in a rodeo…just trying to come up with an appropriate analogy. Sorry about that.)Croaker, the narrator and chronicler of the Black Company’s adventures, is back as are many of the names from book one: Goblin, Elmo, The Captain, One-Eye, etc. But his first person pov chapters alternate with what is happening in the town of Juniper in the north country, where former Black Company member, Raven, has set-up operations. We get a wonderful new character, Marron Shed, who undergoes one of the most poignant evolutions as a character that I can remember reading over the past several years. The two story lines merge as Croaker and his group discover Raven and Shed’s gruesome money-making scheme and realize it is affecting the much larger picture of The Lady, the Taken, the Dominator, and their objectives, as well as a mute girl who seems to have a very large secret that could change everything. The members of the Black Company themselves, mercenaries to the end, but proud of their skills and service no matter their employer’s motives continue to be a fascinating group. As before, the author does an amazing job of putting you into a scene with very few words. But a word of warning…don’t get too attached to any particular character (or two or dozen) as this author seems to follow the fiction writer’s axiom: ‘Kill off your darlings.’Even more than after the first book I am eager to pursue this series, especially the next volume, The White Rose. I really need to see where this goes from here.
Do You like book Shadows Linger (1990)?
Sometimes, you put off reading a book. You make up reasons. You forget about it, remember, are unsure.... I finally read the second "Black Company" novel. What is wrong with me?!? Why did I take so long to read this? It was fantastic! It was fantastic from the beginning right on through the end. I generally don't like fantasy, but this book was wonderful. I heartily recommend... unless you are fussy about sexism. The main characters use a few unpleasant words (and I literally mean "a few", since there are about two or three usages that I can think of) and descriptions of women. It is in character and seems in no way to reflect the author's feeling about female characters, since there are some quite powerful female characters in the story. But if that's going to bother you, you might want to read something else.
—Felicia
"I believe in our side and theirs, with the good and evil decided after the fact, by those who survive. Among men you seldom find the good with one standard and the shadow with another."3,5 starsNot as good as the first one, though it does keep most of the elements that made The Black Company so good. The most disappointing part was that all the interesting characters from the first book (the Lady, the Taken, Raven and Darling) are barely present in the second. They appear, of course, but they all play a significantly lesser role. The story is also quite different in Shadows Linger, and here we see more of undercover action and infiltration than battles and power struggles, but Cook manages to keep advancing the plot within this new frame, and the ending builds the excitement for the conclusion of the trilogy.
—Markus
Series: 11/27/2005 5/10The Black Company series' premise was very interesting - a gritty dark take on the ins and outs of a military company in a fantasy world. It didn't really live up to expectations though. I would've preferred to see more of the company rather than the focus on one individual. The series definitely has it's ups and downs. Some books are decent and others are pretty bad - it seemed to get worse as it went on. The plotting was pretty poor and the characters were one-dimensional and not very interesting.For more info, check out:The Black Company on wikipedia7/24 - shadows linger - 8interesting characters - deeper. i liked the use of the split narrative. fast paced page turner
—Brian
