The Black Company
by Glen Cook · first published 1984
62% recommend33% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Low-fantasy series told as the annals of a band of misfit mercenaries, with morally ambiguous sides and unexplained magic. Its terse, moody prose is a change from typical fantasy; the first book is especially praised.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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.
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…guy couldn't have written a believable character to save his life, but he had some cool physics ideas. RIP. For fantasy, which I didn't see mentioned, I'd add Scott Lynch, most stuff by Jack Vance, the black company series (Glen Cook), Joe Abercrombie and Vlad Taltos (Brust). Dawkins' Selfish Gene has been mentioned. Steven Pinker was interesting. Edit: Re Schoeder, I've heard good things but not read anything…
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗I would suggest Glen Cook's Black company series[1] It is written from the perspective of mercenary grunts, so they are no "heroes" in the usual sense since they are not always hired by the good guys (and it is hard to real divide the world between…
on “Entitlement issues (2009)” ↗Glen Cook's The Black Company. Really moody, terse writing style; very refreshing contrast to your typical fantasy novel.
on “Ask HN: What are some good books you have read lately?” ↗Glen Cook has an absolutely fantastic series called The Black Company where the entire series is framed as being the recorded annals of a mercenary company, with who is writing them switching occasionally between books to different characters, which let's you see the narrating…
on “The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark – The Lost Version” ↗…(Robert Louis Stevenson) - Ringworld (Larry Niven) - Cthon (Piers Anthony) -- Trippiness level approaching Philip Jose Farmer ;-) - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (Douglas Adams) - The Black Company (Glen Cook) - there's one particularly good post-cyberpunk series that takes place in a world in which Canada emerged as a major world power, but for the life of me I can't rememeber the title. - the…
on “Ask YC: favorite books” ↗The Black Company by Glen Cook[1]. Gritty low-fantasy story about a more-or-less lovable band of misfit mercenaries. The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough[2]. Account of the history of the building of the Panama…
on “Ask HN: What are the best books you've read this year?” ↗…liked David Edding's Belgariad series, along with the Mallorean series, the most. I reread them, regularly, and go through all ten books, in a couple of weeks. They are an easy read. Also, Glen Cook's Black Company books are awesome. It's a toss-up, between them. Eleven books, in that series. His Garret PI series are fun, but really kind of "filler."
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗…"real world" where the existence of magic™ must be extensively explained. Well now if we're drifting, I don't consider "fantasy" has to explain everything like it were an AD&D manual. Take Glen Cook's Black Company series where magic just happens without explanation. Compare with something like Brandon Sanderson who describes "magic systems" in great detail always. I find the former enticing and the latter boring.…
on “The cultural decline of literary fiction” ↗There's certain books that I've been rereading for decades. Right now, I'm getting to the end of Glen Cook's The Black Company series (11 books). I've read it many times, but I keep on enjoying it, each time, as if it's the first time. I do not get the same from movies or shows. I have a few favorites that I watch over, but…
on “Rereading books” ↗The Black Company series by Glen Cook.
on “Ask HN: What books have you read & liked in 2012 till now?” ↗Also: a little more widely known, but the Black Company series by Glen Cook.
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗I don't see the Black Company brought up often, but it sure is a good read. I rank it akin to Malazan, though markedly different.
on “The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark – The Lost Version” ↗I liked the first Belgariad book I got, but after a few more, I felt like reread the same book over and over. Same for Mallorean. The Black Company is great, especially the first book.
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗…every book. I mean, the first 8 Stephanie plum books were fun...but it gets old. The hobbit/LOTR? I'd never recommend those today. I loved thr Thomas Covenant stuff back in the day, but today? No. But The Black Company and Garret PI series are the gifts that keep on giving. Capturing that in a one dimensional measure is impossible...but it's been Good Enough for years. But you can try to make it better.
on “Show HN: I built a modern Goodreads alternative” ↗I don't know if they could do much more with it, but that was a darn enjoyable video game. I've recently read some of Glen Cook's "Chronicles of the Black Company" and I think that was very much in line with the story in Myth in some ways. It was kind of like reading a novelisation of the game, only to find out the novel was written 15+ years ahead of the game!
on “Bungie departs from Activision” ↗