It is to its credit that it isn't although it is no stranger to certain fantasy tropes. The story, of a company of hard-bitten mercenaries in the service of powerful and evil sorcerers could easily be hackneyed. It is not the best written nor is the plot the most sophisticated but in terms of capturing what's been called a 'grunt's eye' view of the fantasy battlefield it stands out. The Black Company is a hugely enjoyable book. Good book narration not quite there for me And it just wasn't enough to see me through to the end.
But my problem is that I can excuse a whole lot of bad stuff if there's a strong story. You can enjoy the scenery for a while, but eventually you just want the guy in front to put his bloody foot down and get where he's going! Maybe I'll come back to it in a few months, because I really wanted to like it. The plot lumbers along ponderously like that slow driver in front of you on a single track lane. I think it's because I'm so bored by the pacing that I'm just drifting off at times. I'm 6 hours in and I have no idea what's happening and who's doing what to who and why. The characters are good, the world setting is also interesting, and Cook's dialogue is brief, to the point, and often very chucklesome. Vietor is almost June-like without being quite so dramatic, and this suits the gritty fantasy-noir story, bringing real life to Croaker - our protagonist. On the positive side, the narration is fab. I tried the books a few years ago and never got into them, so Audible finally gave me a chance to try a different format. The background is interesting and quite possibly the unacknowledged inspiration for many more recent fantasy novels. The words are well-chosen and there is an admirable economy of style that is quite rare in fantasy writing. Nevertheless the language is evocative and rich. The sentences are very short and the plot is very simple. But since it had been on my list for so long I downloaded it impulsively and was very surprised to discover that it is one of the most captivating books I have listened to for a while. I have never even sampled anything by Glen Cook in a bookshop so I wasn't sure what to expect. Some books can be harder to follow than others if you don't have the text to refer to. I was a bit put off by the reviewer who said it was not suitable as an audio book. This had been on my list of things to read or listen to for a long while before I found it on Audible.
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