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A review by sbaar
The Silver Spike by Glen Cook
5.0
If you thought the original [b:The Black Company|140671|The Black Company (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #1)|Glen Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389929874s/140671.jpg|390334] was too conventional, the second [b:Shadows Linger|400881|Shadows Linger (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #2)|Glen Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436464351s/400881.jpg|1761500] was almost comically understated in it's perspective, and [b:The White Rose|400906|The White Rose (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #3)|Glen Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327901074s/400906.jpg|390332] left too many plot threads open, then this book will hit the spot.
There is no central protagonist to carry things along. There are just self-interested groups acting on incomplete knowledge. Surprisingly, it is the newcomers who you end up rooting for, a bunch of low lifes who through quick thinking and a bit of luck realize "Wait a sec, this long dormant evil just tried to get out, was put down, and is now vulnerable for the next few weeks. We don't know what we're doing, but we are the closest ones who can take advantage of it before it's sealed forever or someone more powerful comes along." They are by no means the "best people" or "the most unlikely" people, but they are low level criminals who clearly know how to hustle. Through no special talents, they keep their cool and play off various forces against each other with subtle tricks and subterfuge. It actually makes up for the lack of Goblin and One-Eye.
The old cast of characters Croaker left behind comes back. Raven comes off as much more flawed without a Great Evil to fight or avenge. Observing him is a regular Imperial Soldier who narrates from the not-quite-epistolary not quite 3rd person narrative that Cook uses to middling success throughout the series. Later in the book it proves invaluable when so many different players cross each other's paths in complex situations. His disinterested take keeps things focused on what's actually important and stops the foibles from becoming melodramatic. However, in the first half, he is not full of great insights. "Raven was obsessed. Raven was angry. Silent was silent, but his sign language was hasty".
The party of Darling and Silent get the least love. They are as single minded as ever in protecting the realm and maintaining dominion over the Plain creatures. What exactly they were doing instead of looking after the Spike is left unsaid. What the imperials were doing instead of looking after the one piece of the Dominator left behind is left unsaid.
This is a better book than the White Rose, and more captivating than Shadows Linger. It feels like a real conclusion to the situation in the North. Curiously, the heart of the original trilogy was evenly split between the Company and the political situation, some just seem to forget that since the rest of the cast moved on in other books, so please do read if you care about these countries as much as you do about Croaker.
There is no central protagonist to carry things along. There are just self-interested groups acting on incomplete knowledge. Surprisingly, it is the newcomers who you end up rooting for, a bunch of low lifes who through quick thinking and a bit of luck realize "Wait a sec, this long dormant evil just tried to get out, was put down, and is now vulnerable for the next few weeks. We don't know what we're doing, but we are the closest ones who can take advantage of it before it's sealed forever or someone more powerful comes along." They are by no means the "best people" or "the most unlikely" people, but they are low level criminals who clearly know how to hustle. Through no special talents, they keep their cool and play off various forces against each other with subtle tricks and subterfuge. It actually makes up for the lack of Goblin and One-Eye.
The old cast of characters Croaker left behind comes back. Raven comes off as much more flawed without a Great Evil to fight or avenge. Observing him is a regular Imperial Soldier who narrates from the not-quite-epistolary not quite 3rd person narrative that Cook uses to middling success throughout the series. Later in the book it proves invaluable when so many different players cross each other's paths in complex situations. His disinterested take keeps things focused on what's actually important and stops the foibles from becoming melodramatic. However, in the first half, he is not full of great insights. "Raven was obsessed. Raven was angry. Silent was silent, but his sign language was hasty".
The party of Darling and Silent get the least love. They are as single minded as ever in protecting the realm and maintaining dominion over the Plain creatures. What exactly they were doing instead of looking after the Spike is left unsaid. What the imperials were doing instead of looking after the one piece of the Dominator left behind is left unsaid.
This is a better book than the White Rose, and more captivating than Shadows Linger. It feels like a real conclusion to the situation in the North. Curiously, the heart of the original trilogy was evenly split between the Company and the political situation, some just seem to forget that since the rest of the cast moved on in other books, so please do read if you care about these countries as much as you do about Croaker.