The Black Company by Glen Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Black Company is heralded as a dark and gritty work--Glen cook has been called the grandfather (father maybe?) of Grimdark—and it is definitely gritty and at times dark. Glen also writes detective fiction and though I have not read any of his detective fiction there are definitely elements of the hardboiled detective novel in his work.
There is a certain joy at discovering the sources of ideas for later authors. Steven Erikson list’s Glen Cook as a major influence on his Malazan Book of the Fallen. The influences range from the gritty military fantasy atmosphere to naming conventions for soldiers and even to the possible character seed of Quick Ben in the taken Soulcatcher.
There is an abundance of military action, intrigue, magic great and small, and character’s with varying degrees of development. I enjoyed the first installment very much and will be purchasing the Tor omnibus editions as a result.


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