The Black Company by Glen Cook

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her... So begins one of the greatest fantasy epics of our age—Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company.

It takes a while to sort out (and remember) the character, places, pretty much everything and keep it all straight. Don’t read this and expect to know what’s going on, just take the story as it is told. I know I said this already, but it’s really important. I’ll probably say it again before the review is through.

A couple of disadvantages? Well, I felt the card games (a game called Tonk) were a bit more detailed than I would have liked. Also, there are two characters, Goblin and One Eye, whose constant antics I think were suppose to be much more amusing than I found them to be. I can have a slightly off-kilter sense of humor, so perhaps that’s just me. But I tend to not care for spotting humor in books that I just don’t find all that humorous. I mean, it wasn’t horrible, just more of me wishing that part would end so they could get back to what I felt was the real story.

I know I said this is a love it or hate it type of book, but I truth be told, I am sort of in the middle, though much closer to the love side. In all honesty, I suspect there’s a good chance I could swing firmly to the side of love when I read more in the series because I felt the more I read, the further into the story I got, the more I enjoyed it, the more I wanted to keep reading. The end of this book is pretty much a set up for the larger story and I’m interested, I’d like to know where it goes. Unfortunately, I was not able to move straight into the second book when I finished this one, but it’s on my list. I’m starting to try and make more time to go back and read sequels for series like this, so some day, I will get to continue. I definitely would recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of dark and/or military fantasy. Also, for anyone looking for a book written 30 years ago that still holds up well today. Just remember to go with the flow with this one. Take it as the story comes.