Carl B. reviewed The Black Company (The Chronicle of the Black Company, Bk 1) on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
A little slow moving, but readable. Some magic, some military action, more "what do we feel about all this". I'll probably read the rest of the series, but then I read the back of cereal boxes.
Naiche A. (Naiche) reviewed The Black Company (The Chronicle of the Black Company, Bk 1) on + 91 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Fast-reading adventure story. Narrator has a laconic, soldierly way of telling the story. Sometimes I really liked this understated manner, but it often made it difficult for me to connect with the characters, which were fairly one-dimensional. The Black Company runs through a lot of adventures, but it is clearly the build-up to the story told in subsequent books. I enjoyed it while it was reading it, but ended up feeling dissatisfied and uninterested in seeing what happens to the characters.
Helpful Score: 2
This series is pretty dark. I read it as a young un' and was scandalized: so I immediately started collecting it.
Brook S. (Brookie) reviewed The Black Company (The Chronicle of the Black Company, Bk 1) on + 30 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A bit hard to get into at first, But that is to be expected scine they were setting up backstory for the Series. The Fight scenes were a bit tedious. Good Character Description.
Al C. (vavoice) -
Helpful Score: 1
"We are the last of the Twelve True Companies. We have out-endured the others by more than a century, but I fear we're into our twilight days. I fear this may be the Company's final commission. A page of history is about to turn. Once it does, the great warrior brotherhoods will be gone and forgotten."
Thus begins this chapter in the chronicles of The Black Company. They are a band of mercenaries. They care not on which side they fight. But they are honorable, and will fight to the death for whomever has commissioned them. They are also a brotherhood that has survived more than a millenium, as is testified in their annals.
Croaker is the current Annalist, and he believes he will be the last when the company takes a commission to serve The Soulcatcher, one of the Twelve, in defense of The Lady, as she trys to claim rule of the world from the followers of The White Rose, and the Circle of Eighteen.
This is a good dark fantasy novel pitting good, evil, and The Company against each other. The reader will cheer the brothers and find it difficult to determine what is good and what is not outside the eyes of the narrator. There is lots of barbarism and magic, with some comic relief. I really enjoyed this story, and can't wait to read the next in the series.
Thus begins this chapter in the chronicles of The Black Company. They are a band of mercenaries. They care not on which side they fight. But they are honorable, and will fight to the death for whomever has commissioned them. They are also a brotherhood that has survived more than a millenium, as is testified in their annals.
Croaker is the current Annalist, and he believes he will be the last when the company takes a commission to serve The Soulcatcher, one of the Twelve, in defense of The Lady, as she trys to claim rule of the world from the followers of The White Rose, and the Circle of Eighteen.
This is a good dark fantasy novel pitting good, evil, and The Company against each other. The reader will cheer the brothers and find it difficult to determine what is good and what is not outside the eyes of the narrator. There is lots of barbarism and magic, with some comic relief. I really enjoyed this story, and can't wait to read the next in the series.
Cora R. (corar) reviewed The Black Company (The Chronicle of the Black Company, Bk 1) on + 33 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The Black Company is a fresh perspective on a typical fantasy story. Like most fantasy, there are evil villains and rebel forces that are trying to overthrow an evil sorceress that is ruling the land as a tyrant. What makes this book different is that it is told from the point of view of a member of a group of mercenaries that is working for the evil sorceress. The story takes place in the trenches and the reader does not know any more about what is going on than the main character knows (the story is told in first person). I found the new (to me) point of view interesting. I liked many of the characters in the black company and I found myself rooting for them, even though they were on the bad guy's side. The book was a slow read for me. I think this is because it was written from this perspective. At times it was frustrating that there were holes in the story, but that is because the character telling the story did not know what was going on either. Overall I am glad I read the book and I will be picking up the next book in the series soon.
Ann K. (liblit) reviewed The Black Company (The Chronicle of the Black Company, Bk 1) on + 130 more book reviews
Set up an interesting premise of the company and the White Rose. Lots of violence though not graphically described
Candace G. (Ogre) reviewed The Black Company (The Chronicle of the Black Company, Bk 1) on + 1568 more book reviews
Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hardbitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their boubts with their dead.
Until the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her . . .
Sword and Sorcery with a vengeance!
Until the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her . . .
Sword and Sorcery with a vengeance!
Great start to a wonderful series,Wizard wars from a soldiers point of view.
