Reading Well: The Black Company by Glen Cook

Since The Black Company was published in 1984, Glen Cook has come out with nine further novels surrounding the adventures of the titular band of mercenaries. This is the only one I have read to date, and I did so without knowing the novel was 30 years old.

That matters: the morally ambiguous anti-hero was much less prevalent in the 1980s than it is today, making it a more interesting read in hindsight. The book focuses on Croaker, a physician and historian with The Black Company, a centuries-old band of soldiers (and sorcerers) for hire currently in the employ of The Lady, fighting against the uprising of The Rebel with the aid of the Taken … and that sort of sums it up: this is pure fantasy pulp, full of capitalized characters and less than fully-fleshed out histories.

But it works: the pages turn, and Croaker’s companions–sullen Raven, the ever squabbling magicians One-Eye and Goblin, dependable Elmo, and the rest–are drawn with enough differentiation to keep them straight (or, you know, make them expendable). The questionable morality of The Black Company–The Lady is their employer, but is also clearly the more evil of the combatants–is dealt with fairly straightforwardly, although the groundwork is laid for the issue to come to a head in later books.

There is more than a whiff of Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser here, especially as the Company moves from setting to setting–and echoes of Fritz Leiber‘s master-series are certainly a compliment to Cook.

#WhatIWishICouldDo

Just surrender to the pulpness of it all: The Black Company is a fun voyage, and to write that freely without concern for what is missing and with such commitment to the propulsive nature of the narrative is a joyful ride.