Overdue book reviews
Mar. 9th, 2006 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluedaisyHere's another "three paperbacks stapled together" book---"The Black Company Goes South". It has two books about the Company going South, and one about the people who didn't go south with the company. (One of these things is not like the others, one of these things is not the same...)
Shadow Games
I'd stopped reading the series, and when I started this book I couldn't remember why. It was as rich as the Garrett series, with interesting foreshadowing (that the characters frequently miss), neat villains, neat kinda-villains, and good (if sometimes reluctant) heroes. The first hints at the Evil Past of the company and the power of the lance which bears the Black Company's standard make me want to tear through the books until I find where he explains what's going on, but I don't want to skip anything---it's that good.
I really like the clever battle plans, and how they sometimes work, and are sometimes out-clevered by the enemy, or outnumbered, or whatever.
Dreams of Steel
I think I passed from the last book into this one without really noticing that I changed books and not just chapters. When I looked at some back-cover summaries online, though, it was clear where they split. Dreams of Steel has the first book of Lady, since Croaker is missing and presumed dead, and Murgan is under siege in Dejagore. (Apparently we get his book later, in Bleak Seasons).
Croaker's capture and eventual return is fascinating---I really want to see what Soulcatcher has in mind for her sister, other than just tormenting her a bunch and trying to steal Croaker.
The Lady's involvement with the Kina cultists is... well, she's clearly being set up to get way more involved with the dark goddess. I fear that this will end up with us losing the almost-nice, if brutal, Lady and getting back the villain (with the added disadvantage that Croaker is in love with her). Maybe love will redeem them... maybe not.
The Silver Spike
This is where I remembered why I stopped reading the Black Company series. So, I didn't make myself finish it. I got about halfway.
I never liked Darling, and for some reason I really couldn't get to like, hate, or express any interest whatsoever in Raven and the other guy. (I totally can't remember the narrator's name.)
Ah well. It was worth carrying around to have the other two books.
Also, what is a book about people who are not the Black Company stealing the silver spike doing in an omnibus called "The Black Company Goes South"??? It does not belong. Clearly this is why it was so bad... or something. They should have published The Silver Spike separately, and put Bleak Seasons in this instead.
Books in 2006: 8.5
Shadow Games
I'd stopped reading the series, and when I started this book I couldn't remember why. It was as rich as the Garrett series, with interesting foreshadowing (that the characters frequently miss), neat villains, neat kinda-villains, and good (if sometimes reluctant) heroes. The first hints at the Evil Past of the company and the power of the lance which bears the Black Company's standard make me want to tear through the books until I find where he explains what's going on, but I don't want to skip anything---it's that good.
I really like the clever battle plans, and how they sometimes work, and are sometimes out-clevered by the enemy, or outnumbered, or whatever.
Dreams of Steel
I think I passed from the last book into this one without really noticing that I changed books and not just chapters. When I looked at some back-cover summaries online, though, it was clear where they split. Dreams of Steel has the first book of Lady, since Croaker is missing and presumed dead, and Murgan is under siege in Dejagore. (Apparently we get his book later, in Bleak Seasons).
Croaker's capture and eventual return is fascinating---I really want to see what Soulcatcher has in mind for her sister, other than just tormenting her a bunch and trying to steal Croaker.
The Lady's involvement with the Kina cultists is... well, she's clearly being set up to get way more involved with the dark goddess. I fear that this will end up with us losing the almost-nice, if brutal, Lady and getting back the villain (with the added disadvantage that Croaker is in love with her). Maybe love will redeem them... maybe not.
The Silver Spike
This is where I remembered why I stopped reading the Black Company series. So, I didn't make myself finish it. I got about halfway.
I never liked Darling, and for some reason I really couldn't get to like, hate, or express any interest whatsoever in Raven and the other guy. (I totally can't remember the narrator's name.)
Ah well. It was worth carrying around to have the other two books.
Also, what is a book about people who are not the Black Company stealing the silver spike doing in an omnibus called "The Black Company Goes South"??? It does not belong. Clearly this is why it was so bad... or something. They should have published The Silver Spike separately, and put Bleak Seasons in this instead.
Books in 2006: 8.5
