The Black Company cover art

The Black Company

Chronicles of The Black Company, Book 1

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The Black Company

By: Glen Cook
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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About this listen

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hardbitten 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....

©1984 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Dark Fantasy Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Military
All stars
Most relevant
Excellent reading. Thoroughly enjoyed this 1st rmtale of The Black Company. Some dark shit in this.

Stunning

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I found the prose confusing to start, but I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did.

Great Story

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An underrated fantasy book from the 80s. The narrator did a good job at capturing the gritty feeling of living in a company of mercenaries who work for nefarious overlords.

It rewards a careful listener as some key details are revealed quickly and “zoning out” for a few minutes may sometimes leave you confused, however, even if you do miss something then that is part of the experience as you see the world through the eyes of an old soldier who is often just as baffled by events and characters as the reader.


My only complaint would be that the narrator could do with differentiating the voices used for characters slightly more, though realistically I imagine most of the characters in the black company would sound fairly similar, and rarely did I get any of the characters mixed up.

Looking forward to the rest in the series.

Great atmosphere and a unique perspective

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Honestly not really worth it, I can appreciate it's importance in defining a certain sub-genre of fantasy, but I really didn't enjoy it. The plot is so choppy, the characters unrelatable, and the pacing awkward. I found myself zoning out then having to go back and re-listen to sections, and still not really getting what was going on.

Couldn't finish it

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I got this book with the view to read the series as it appears on some recommended book lists I follow.
Looking more closely at the reviews on here it appears people fall into two camps either loving or hating it.
After listening to more than half the book I have to admit I just could not get into it.
I'm distracted by the narrator and poor voice acting in my opinion, bad writing, poorly developed characters, story that jumps all over the place and is difficult to follow.
Personally I just put it down to the fact that it was written in the 80s and we've moved on.
The just pales in comparison the the Joe Abercrombie books I just finished listening to.
I just can't recommend this.

I also don't get it

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