The Black Company, by Glen Cook.

Genre-wise, this series of multiple, connected books is essentially an interbreed of Military Fiction and Fantasy, and it happens to be an outstanding example of both. Over the course of multiple books the story follows the ups and downs, the triumphs and catastrophes, of a military unit in a fantasy world. Unique about it, compared to normal works of fiction, is the fact that, as a military unit, it does have casualties, and no small number of it. So I will try to avoid spoilers here, but this is one constant that follows the whole history of the Black Company and cannot be concealed in any way: People die.

The story is sometimes a little brutal (military, remember?), but it is very engaging and develops its characters, may they live long or short, with a good eye for real people. It also very naturally transcends multiple cultures as the outfit travels and incorporates or loses soldiers and even families on the way.

What is the Black Company?

The unit describes itself as “The Last of the Twelve Free Companies of Khatovar”, but as the first book starts their origin in Khatovar lies hundreds of years in the past and so not a one of them has any concrete idea what this Khatovar actually is, was, or should be, and what their purpose of a free company of it or him or her is supposed to be. They simply are.

And they are scraping by as a mercenary crew, a well-trained elite unit that is hired by an employer and kills for that employers’ goals, until he runs out of money and/or tries to get rid of them in some unsavory way.

They have the Captain, the Lieutenant, and the Annalist (which is important for the whole existence of the unit), and since this is Fantasy they have wizards in addition to the usual spears and swords and bows.

The Annalist

The Annalist of the Black Company is responsible of keeping the Company History. The Annalist records the events that happen, according to talent: Over the many years Annalists before the story have been terse or poetic, some have given detailed accounts, others have simply collected lists of equipment. Obviously, the more detailed the better, because the Annals these individuals kept are what keeps the Company together. They had good times and bad, they have been an army and they have been a small force, but all the while they clung to their identity as “The Black Company”.

Croaker

The current Annalist of the Black Company when book 1 starts, a guy named “Croaker”, who doubles as the medic, takes this job extremely seriously, and imprints the importance of the role onto his successor with great fervor, so the role remains very central and even becomes …. no, that would be too much of a spoiler.

Croaker holds regular “readings” for the Black Company, where the troops assemble and he reads from past annals: “In the Year XY, when the Company was in the service of ABC, it happened that…”

Unit Identity

Does this sound slightly religious? That is no accident! The Annals of the Black Company unite the unit and forge their identity. Being mercenaries and changing their employers, this is essential for the continuity of a roving mercenary band like the Black Company, as they cannot rely on other factors like an employer, patriotism, or the love of their homes as motivator: It must be the unit, their brothers in arms, and their shared history. So this history of the unit takes precedence over any other loyalty, long before family, heritage, faiths, criminal records, lovers or anything, really.

This has worked out for hundreds of years already, despite the loss of the early books (thus they have no knowledge of Khatovar) and the loss of several more books across the way (there are big gaps), but even so it works, and as long as it keeps working out the Black Company can exist.

Not only do the Annals provide history and the glue to give the unit its substance and identity, it also serves as a book (or library) of tricks: when in doubt, they can often ask the Annalist and he may remember that the Company has been ins a comparable situation at a time, and it may be recorded at least in some rough approximation how they acted then and how it turned out.

It might not be perfect, but it works.

The story

The books start with the Black Company in the process of fighting a difficult enemy, a monster that haunts a city. They have a rough time with it and lose a couple guys, including one of their wizards, and they feel pretty bad, when suddenly Soulcatcher shows up.

The North

Soulcatcher is one of the Taken, a sorcerer/sorceress of great power who collects the souls of people killed to the point where it appears to be impossible to pin down who or what the actual Soulcatcher really is or was. This creepy but also fascinating person comes from the North, where “The Lady” rules a sprawling Empire of Evil, commanding these “Taken”, her Lieutentants – Soulcatcher, The Howler, The Limper, The Hanged Man, and others with similarly unsettling names.

What do those horrific figures need the Black Company for?

They are fighting a war against a very determined resistance and there are Fates foretold in the classic inscrutable ways.

And no!

This is not one of those stories where our heroes are drafted by the evil empire, then see how horrible it is, find their morals and turn the tide to destroy evil and make a happy end.

And also no!

This is also not an evil story, as the Company soldiers are complete humans with hearts and minds and beliefs. And also not a slugfest where people will be killed willy-nilly without rhyme or reason.

It is much more fascinating. I mean yes, people die all the time and sometimes in great numbers, but it is all one grand, epic tale interwoven with continuity and disruption. Hard to explain without spoilers.

The Empire

It is a very complicated story, and worth daring it: They are hired by the Evil Empire and discover new information, meet new people, win some and lose some, suffer losses, win triumphs, have to flee into hiding and re-emerge to strike back … and all of this is just the beginning.

For, as stated earlier, the Annals and the unit are more important than any individual member of the crew. Even after a horrendous defeat, as long as there is someone who can carry on the Annals, the Black Company lives.

The South

After the North suffers through the bloody civil war we get to see up close how a ruined city fares and how refugees and surviving soldiers keep it together. Then the Black Company travels south and follows the historical roots of their predecessor who came from there. They discover that at some places farther south there are still legends about them, sometimes legends that are problematic for them because “The Return of the Black Company” is herald to a great catastrophe according to local legends, and so they find enemies where they don’t know anyone.

Sometimes they find sudden friends and new recruits to bolster their ranks, sometimes they find new homes, as they set their minds to trying to find this Khatovar and discover what their whole raison d’etre actually was.

They get followed by old and bitter enemies from the north, entangled in local politics, and held up. They train people and grow to become an army again, as back in the earliest books they own.

The Glittering Plains

Old enemies, very old enemies, new enemies, getting stabbed in the back: The Black Company gets beaten down to size again and has to dig in, they run into bad times and must bide their time to reach their goal, and setbacks that would destroy any lesser unit are thrown in front of them.

New Friends turn to their most efficient enemies yet, but weird enemies or even random captives sometimes turn into great assets. The future is ever in the dark. Like in real life, the only reliable rule is that big surprises can happen at any time. Big dreams can be shattered, and impossible dreams can become true.

That’s almost too many spoilers already, but it is still so vague that you won’t know anything.

Malleable Culture, Stable Identity

Travelling so far south as they do while losing people and recruiting new ones, that means that the composition and language of the Black Company changes over time. They start out as foreigners and recruit locally, then move on. The new recruits lose their homes, but find a new family. Sometimes in more than one way.

That means: Wherever they go, the Black Company is a mishmash of locally recruited and then uprooted people. Some of them survive longer, others less long, and so the Black Company contains soldiers from almost all across the globe, forged together to be one.

And the biggest catastrophes change the whole language of the Black Company, as the vast majority of soldiers shares a new tongue – and the Annalist decides it is time to translate the old books into the new mode of communication to ensure the survival of tradition and identity with a new generation… as it has happened before, and before, and before.

Characters

I cannot say who the most long-lived characters are, that would give away too much. But there are a number of persons that have the time to grow on the reader, and others that quickly grow on the reader, and there are those that have the time to become really annoying, and those that start out pretty cool, become a real pain, and then manage to earn great sympathy despite their deeds.

An apprentice annalist turns out to be a woman and turns out to play another key role. A child turns out to be more valuable than a prince. A displaced population turns out to be key to survival. An enemy turns out to be key to survival. An enemy turns out to be more tenacious than it ever should have any business to be. And love may shatter, but it may also stand the test of time.

Humans are complicated, and the better you get to know them the more complicated they are. Every person is a universe, and this is also true here. Obviously the book cannot and does not attempt to take the time to delve into everyone. It just dips in here and there, but that is enough to load up characters with unique life.

It is a great talent of the author that he infuses characters with personality very quickly and keeps developing them all without fail. Not one of the many faces we meet remains static and bland as time goes by, be it friend or foe.

Style

Since the books are written more or less (mostly more) as POV of the Annalist, they differ in style depending on who wrote them. Some Annalists are more terse, others more flowery, some add insight about people and zoom in on friends, others keep it more to the “me” or the strategy.

I would like to say more but that would bring spoilers I don’t want to drop.

World Building

The world feels quite real, especially in the sense that it cannot ever be fully explored. The whole adventure is a bit of a mix of first person narrative with dialogues, staying very close to the people at all times. They are not omniscient and have no clue what happens somewhere else. (except when magic helps) and they lose coherence and overview especially in battles.

We only know the places they visit, but we always have the clear feeling that there are other places just around the corner or beyond the horizon. We even hear about these other places, from hearsay or from scouts, but our view is limited.

There is room enough in this world for multiple more books with completely different characters at different places, largely unaware of what is happening in these volumes. Just like in real life.

Magic

In addition, the world, based on ours in many ways, is full of outstanding wonders. Shadowgates, Flying monsters, God-Trees, Skinwalkers, and of course: wizards who do magic that we as POV-characters don’t truly understand.

Except when a magic user happens to be Annalist, which happens. But at that point she does not deign us with explanations of her craft. She just reports the actions of the Black Company and their tactical decisions at the time, and describes merely the effects of magic employed.

Magic remains mysterious – as it should.

Time – our real one

I have no clue how many pages these stories encompass … it must be thousands. So reading it all takes time.

But water sleeps. Soldiers live. It is time well spent.

Film

There is always talk of putting this onto film, or a miniseries or whatnot.

Many fans seem to fervently hope for it.

I dearly hope they won’t do that. It is a whole universe, much of what is going on is not very visual, others extremely so. And they cannot easily do that justice on film.

I get the wish. But it must disappoint. They would need lifetimes, billions, and they would need much better directors and writers than our era has to offer.

With luck, they could maybe capture a sliver of it, and what’s the use of that?

What now?

Was this all way too vague and do you know not more now than you did when you started up there?

Read the books.

It will be worth it.