Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company (Shadow Games / Dreams of Steel / The Silver Spike)

Love his writing. Marketing is solid. Multiple books in one.

The Books of the South is an omnibus of Glen Cook's Black Company series comprised of Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel and the Silver Spike. The Books of the South is the second arc in the Chronicles of the Black Company. The first arc is a trilogy that can be found in omnibus form called, simply, the Chronicles of the Black Company. If you haven't read the first trilogy, then there's not much point in starting here. All three of these novels build on the first trilogy.Shadow Games and Dreams of Steel follow the story of Croaker, annalist and captain of the mercenary group the Black Company, who was the primary narrator and protagonist of the original trilogy. Croaker leads the remnants of the Black Company south in order to learn more about the origins and history of the Company. But along the way, they are hired by the leaders of a massive city to fight a war against a sinister collection of sorcerers. The Silver Spike, meanwhile, takes place during Shadow Games and Dreams of Steel and continues the story of some of the other characters from the original trilogy, Darling, Raven, Silent, and Case. All four are caught up in a crisis when a powerful magical artifact is stolen from custody and evil magicians from all around try to hunt it down to take advantage of its power.Glen Cook is a very solid writer. His pacing is excellent. He creates a deep, complex world filled with very real people. None of the characters are particularly good people. A lot of them are murderers; some are rapists, backstabbers, etc. What makes it work so well is that the antagonists are, if anything, more evil. Although morally ambiguous characters have become more prevalent in the fantasy genre in recent years, Cook's Black Company novels were somewhat revolutionary when they were first released in the mid-to-late 1980s, before which most fantasy novels were essentially derivatives of the Lord of the Rings, which featured really "good" characters against really evil ones.What really sets Cook apart, particularly from fantasy authors today, is his ability to tell a full, satisfying story in just a few hundred pages. None of the Black Company books are more than 350 pages. Most are closer to 300. Thus, a Black Company trilogy is about as long as one George Martin, Steven Erickson or Robert Jordan novel. To be sure, Cook's story is not nearly as complex or involved as are those of Martin, Erickson, Jordan, etc. But it is very satisfying to be able to sit down, read for a few hours, and make substantial progress in a book.In all, the Books of the South are not quite as good, in my opinion, as the first Black Company trilogy. This is, I think, because they are so very similar to the first trilogy. The characters are basically the same, the tone of the novels are basically the same, even the plot is very similar (the Black Company somehow ends up fighting a bunch of evil sorcerers). All that being said, if you liked the original Black Company novels, you'll definitely like these. If you didn't like the other Black Company novels, you probably won't like these.

Like Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath on acid. War, war, and guess what? More war. Battles still rage the black company gets rebuilt. Rebels and imperials butt heads. And somehow the big bads just won’t die. Or do they?

From the first page of The Black Company to the last page of the Silver Spike this series has been a rollercoaster. I struggled to get into the first book, but then was dragged along, a willing partner in a gang of mercenaries' escapades.Sometimes it's hard to watch characters change and evolve when we like them from the beginning - and it was. But, none changed in a way that was out of place or made me feel like they were being driven by the outside force of a writer not totally set on who his characters are. The plane was never broken.Like the Chronicles of the Black Company, The Books of the South is three books wrapped into an omnibus edition. They were all filled with unexpected twists and left me longing to warn the characters I've grown attached to. The Silver Spike, in the last ten pages or so, fell a little short. What happened needed to happen, but how it happened felt a little strained. The story though is solid.Separately, I may have shorted the Silver Spike a half a star, but together this series is still holding my interest so tightly I giggled like a child when I went to my shelves and found two more books instead of just one. I'm looking forward to another evening with the Black Company tonight over a cup of coffee.

Although these books are likely the weakest books in the series they are still worth reading. The Books of the South represent the middle of the Black Company series. You should absolutely read the first omnibus prior to this one and that in itself is the only problem with this omnibus, similarity. The Books of the South present a similar enemy and a similar set of characters. That being said there are a multitude of differences between the books. This set of books includes a far more in depth look at political issues, leadership issues, and even personal issues of the top soldiers in the great mercenary outfit.I'd also like to point out that Glen Cook's writing is not dumbed down. One major problem I have when attempting to read fantasy fiction is that it appears to be written for 12-14 year old kids. As such the vocabulary is extremely limited and the writing is often too obvious, with no nuance. Well I can safely say that Glenn Cook's writing was more then adequate at keeping me feeling like I was reading the writing of intelligent men and women (the books are all written by the annalists of the black company - meaning they are written as if they were a sort of journal).

I am really hooked on this series, great writing, great reading.

The best book series in the world!

Este volumen incluye "The Books of the South" ("Shadow Games" y "Dreams of Steel") de la serie "The Black Company" de Glen Cook y la novela spin-off "The Silver Spike"; está en inglés y encuadernado en tapa blanda. Si te gustó el primer tomo de la saga, no te puedes perder su continuación.

Gripping read. The books which inspired Steven Erickson. It is a must have for all fantasy fans

This saga is just awesome. I like it more than Game of Thrones, and it's the best fantasy saga I've read so far.