User:Dlohcierekim's sock/black company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the series of novels by Glen Cook. For the unit of Franconian mercenaries during the Peasant's Revolt in 1520's during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, click Black Company. Template:Spoiler
The Black Company is a series of novels by author Glen Cook. The series follows the adventures of a mercenary brotherhood, The Black Company, last of the Free Companies of Khatovar, through roughly forty years of its approximately four hundred year history. In the series, Cook mixes fantasy with military fiction in gritty, down-to-earth portrayals of the Company‘s chief personalities and its struggles. The series can be subdivided into three sections plus a novel, The Silver Spike,‘’ that follows events concerning former members of the Company and one of its adversaries. The three sections are the “Books of the North,” the “Books of the South,” and “Glittering Stone.”
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The “Books of the North,” collected in the Annals of the Black Company, deals with the Company’s involvement with the Empire of the North. The “Books of the South” follows the Company’s journey south and near destruction on its journey to Khatovar. “Glittering Stone,” sees the Company achieve victory over its employers’ enemies, reek vengeance on the same employers, and move on to a further destiny.
The "Books of the North" include: The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose. The "Books of the South" include: Shadow Games, and Dreams of Steel. "Glittering Stone" includes: Bleak Seasons, She Is the Darkness, Water Sleeps, and Soldiers Live. There are two proposed novels that have not been published. They are A Pitiless Rain and Port of Shadows.
[edit] Books of the North
[edit] The Black Compny
The first book of the series, The Black Company, opens with the Company in the service of the Syndic of Beryl as body guards. Croaker, the Company annalist and viewpoint character throughout the Books of the North, loathes the Syndic and despises Beryl. With the death of the Syndic, the Company is without an employer. They sign on with a legate from the Northern Empire named Soulcatcher. They leave Beryl, crossing the Sea of Torments for Opal.
The Northern Empire is ruled by The Lady, a powerful sorceress, and her minions, The Ten Who Were Taken. The Ten were powerful sorcerers in their own rights who were enslaved by The Lady's husband, The Dominator, centuries in the past. Although they all had been defeated in the distant past by The White Rose, a Resurrectionist movement had called forth everyone but the Dominator. The Lady had blocked his escape from the grave and then exterminated the Resurrectionists.
In Opal, they take on a dipossed nobleman named Raven. They receive their marching orders and head north to assist The Limper's efforts to hold on to the Empire's northern provinces. The Empire is fighting against rebel forces opposed to the Lady's rule. Their they learn their is enmity between Raven and The Limper because The Limper was part of the cabal that dispossed Raven.
Their is also enmity between The Limper and Soulcatcher. Their revilry and efforts to undermine one another compound The Limoer's ineptitude and result in a series of reversals for the Empire's northern campaign. The Company is the only unit in the campaign to retain cohesion, and becomes the rallying point for the Empire's forces as they retreat southard. The Company wins stunning victories, but each victory is undone by the Limper's incompetence.
As they retreat, the Croaker stumbles into the papers of a leading Rebel general, Whisper. The paper's contain the true name of the Lady, and a number of her top sorcerers. Possession of a sorcerer's true name makes it possible to perform a rite thst destroys his or her power. Whisper has been leading the imperials into a trap, but the Lady is aware that the Limper is preparing to defect to Whisper and the Rebels. With the Lady's permission, Soulctcher arranges an ambush.
As their reward for uncovering Whisper's papers, Croaker and Raven are assigned to the ambush. They are to assasinate the Limper and capture Whisper. The ambush goes well, but Raven lacks the fortitude to kill The Limper once he's disabled. The Lady appears on the scene to take the Limper into custody and reveals a secret-- she too has the power to Take. Croaker's reward is to witness the first Taking in four hundred years.
[edit] Shadows Linger
[edit] The White Rose
[edit] The Silver Spike
[edit] Books of the South
[edit] Shadow Games
[edit] Dreams of Steel
[edit] Glittering Stone
[edit] Bleak Seasons
[edit] She is the Darkness
[edit] Water Sleeps
[edit] Soldiers Live
[edit] External links
{{novel-stub}}
Category:Series of novels
