Simply terrible. Started with the first book... got up to 25% of it and will stop there.

If we consider the date of creation. This books are simply amazing, i must agree first 3 are not the best but from 4 forward the series gets only better ( books of the north ). Its simply amazing, especialy if you compare it to crap like WOT which after nice ( acceptable ) begging going only to crap later on, here we have the reversal. So to all these who do not like black company and like song of ice and fire and first law series, try to read to book 6 before you throw Glen Cook away. You wont be dissapointed.

I've been trying to figure out Glen Cook for a while. I love Glen Cook, but I've noticed that a lot of people hate him and think his books are awful. I think it mostly comes down to "prose". Glen Cook is great at making a wonderful and creative world and interesting characters and moving a story along well and having fun with magic, but his prose is poor. Personally, prose is near the bottom of the list of things I care about in books, so I love Cook, but there are plenty of people who place prose near the top and they just can't get past that when they try to read Cook. Just my theory.

I hold this site in high regard for introducing me to Song of Ice and Fire and the Kingkiller chronicle and have enjoyed nearly every suggestion you have ever made. After reading the first book I just couldn’t get how you could like this book which is so different from all of the others on this site. The character development, the plot, everything is so one dimensional. Having nothing better to read at the time I checked out the second book anyway. That’s when I really started to get into the story. It hasn’t really become more complex but they are fun reads and I am left wondering what happens next after each book. I would urge anyone a little let down by the first book to still give the second a shot.

This series is truly an amazing piece of work! The first person perspective takes a little getting used to, but you will be hooked.

Feels like history- so much happens over the course of the series. The author isn't afraid to kill off older characters, the motivations are believable. The ending (the very last book) will leave you feeling satisfied- all the loose ends are tied up nicely

LADY IS BADASS!

Anyone looking to give a book a rating is delusional, You either enjoyed it or you didn't... don't try to pin it down suggesting it didn't have this or that. I have read things i didn't enjoy returned to them a year later and found them captivating. Sometimes you need to be in the right mood. Reading the first book of Black Company this after Name of the Wind was a refreshing change. Glen gives you the other side of the coin, you get to be the bad guys... or at least the morally ambiguous guys. Its a good short novel... but theirs the problem apparently its a series and yet after the first book i have no interest in more. I can't even imagine what more their could be. The black company goes off somewhere else and does what.. they just got done fighting for the most evil force in the world (and even the evilest most powerful bitch in the world was getting rather boring near the end). I'll pick up the rest of the series eventually, but i'm going to tour around a bit and wait tell i'm in the right mood again.

Other commenters below nail it, Black Company is complete and utter crap. Trust me, it has nothing to do with the grey nature of the characters, the book just absolutely sucks.

Bestfantasybooks has introduced me to some incredible authors but the presence of black company here is a real challenge to the validity of the site itself. Is this site something special, or just something random? Honestly I'm no longer really sure.

Not everyone likes this book as it isn't a "page turner". While it's addicting, there are far too many slow parts.
That said, it's an awesome and uniquely realistic book.
-excellent plot: unpredictable (to some extent), realistic (ain't got no chosen one or fate, except maybe in the deep south books)
-historic feel. This sounds worse than it is. The books are written from the point of view of an scribe/annalist/dude-keeping-track but as a story. The narrator is also changed several times. This is done extremely well as the writing style changes along with the PoV. It actually manages to shatter some of your strong opinions on characters and events which were explained by another annalist.

The magic system is cool (imaginative and large scale things happen) but isn't well defined (but then, neither is LOTR's).

Characters are great. Lots of development, realistic motives (they're a band of mercenaries, so no altruistic bs), often funny and with unique, believable personalities.

Good and evil switch sides constantly. Scale (size of battles, countries involved, strength of magic, etc) grows AND shrinks (unlike WoT and most other fant novels which only grow). This book builds legends, turns them mediocre and then builds them up again.

Actual battles with actual strategies. And lots. These are very well done with great buildup, twists, unpredictably (either side can lose), betrayals, large scale magic.

The book also manages lots of grit and kills off your favorite characters without warning. Doesn't stray into tragedy though, so don't avoid it cause you think it'll be sad.

Try the first book. Get through it and you'll either be hooked or bored. Despite knowing the south and deep south books would be worse, i would have gone mad if i hadn't read them, and the ending was quite good imo.

This book should be re-edited. That's the key issue, i believe. Shorten the crappy parts and this would be my favorite series of all time (I've read most on his top 25 list).

Subject says it all, just finished the books of the North and ordered the books of the south, gritty, dark, amazing characters and strong plot.

I am speechless. This is such a horrible book. It is poorly written, the narrative is completely unintelligible, dialogue is infantile, names are like a 10 year old came up with them. The reader has no idea what is happening. The company is constantly travelling somewhere having one-sentence fights with god knows who. You cannot identify with any character or for that matter even tell the difference between them. The characters are not even two-dimensional. Don't waste your time on something that never should have being published.

One of the best in dark series but I have to admit that when Cook switched over to Murgen as the chronicler he really screwed up. Murgen is just a royal pain and I hope he gets bumped off in Water Sleeps.

FYI: never compare anything to the Malazan series since Erikson's fans are very fanatical and unforgiving. I found Erikson to be far too sanguinary for my taste. Though he is a master at creating a new Mythology parts of the book read like a Viet Nam war report.

This series is quite possibly the worst written piece of garbage ever written. Worst editing ever.

@ jackball - yes, yes there is an audio version floating about. And yes, the first 4 books are read by a guy with a raspy voice xD.

The black company is a great example of how tone should be used in a fantasy novel. The story sort of meanders around, and doesn't have a really tight narrative, but the tone is gritty and fits perfectly. I actually read parts of it to my infant son, and it comes across verbally very good. I wonder if there is an audio version of this floating around anywhere? Imagine a raspy voiced guy reading it, totally cool.

I would like to start off by saying that the Black Company by Glen Cook is my favorite set of books behind LOTR and WOT. It should be among the top 25. I first read the Black Company when I was 13 and I still enjoy it today. These books are gritty, dark and real. It is especially appealing to military types who can relate to the characters and their relationships with their fellow brothers in arms. Steven Erickson said it best, "Reading his stuff is like reading Vietnam War Fiction on peyote."

I really don't understand the people on this site who complain about WOT being too complex with too many characters and then go one to praise the Malazan books. It took me forever to read The Malazan book of the fallen. I've passed the latest book in the series "Dust of Dreams" several times now at my bookstore and I cannot bring myself to by it. It's so long and so slow. Erikson killed off my favorite characters. I guess he thought it would work for him like it did for Martin. And where do you think Erickson got most of his ideas for his characters from. Take Quick ben for example. He is a lot like the wizards from the Black company, Goblin and One eye put together.

Also, has anyone read Sanderson's new book, "The Way of Kings?" His central character is a surgeon forced to put aside his healing to become a soldier and leader." Sanderson is a great author and his work has garnished great aclaim, but this is very similar to the main character in the Black Company Croaker, who is one of my favorite characters of all time.

SSL, but I thought someone should speek up for the Black Company. You can't judge it by modern books like the Malazan. It was written 30 years ago. Its not trying to be overly complex in plot or characters. Its just good. Erikson himself wrote that the black company changed the face of fantasy and I'm starting to see why.

I agree with the other reviewer, ELC. I loved the Malazan books and found that in comparison the Black Company books are boring, repetitive and lacking in depth.

I found the first person viewpoint that was used throughout the books adequate, if not terribly impressive, however the viewpoint switches from the 'main' character a few books in and I quickly lost interest. I also only read about 3 or so books in the series before giving up (which I very rarely do)!

Save yourself the trouble and read all of the Malazan books instead. They are far more complex but worth every minute IMHO.

I think it is misleading to compare the Black Company with the Malazan... I bought these books with high expectation, and was utterly dissapointed... I bought 3 books all together & quit on the middle of 2nd book...