The Black Company Reading Order

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itsel… 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... read more

The second volume in an epic military fantasy series following a group of hard-bitten mercenaries waging war on behalf o… The second volume in an epic military fantasy series following a group of hard-bitten mercenaries waging war on behalf of The Lady, who may be the very infestation of evil itself The Black Company stands against the rebels of the White Rose. They are tough men, proud of honoring their contracts. The Lady is evil, but so, too, are those who falsely profess to follow the White Rose, reincarnation of a centuries-dead heroine. Yet now some of the Company have discovered that the mute girl they rescued and sheltered is truly the White Rose reborn. Now there may be a path to the light, even for such as they. If they can survive it. read more

The third volume in an epic military fantasy series following a group of hard-bitten mercenaries caught in the middle of… The third volume in an epic military fantasy series following a group of hard-bitten mercenaries caught in the middle of a war between The Lady and The White Rose She is the last hope of good in the war against the evil sorceress known as the Lady. From a secret base on the Plains of Fear, where even the Lady hesitates to go, the Black Company, once in service to the Lady, now fights to bring victory to the White Rose. But now an even greater evil threatens the world. All the great battles that have gone before will seem a skirmishes when the Dominator rises from the grave. read more

...embedded in the trunk of the scion of the godtree, it contains the essence of the maddest of the Ten Who Were Taken..… ...embedded in the trunk of the scion of the godtree, it contains the essence of the maddest of the Ten Who Were Taken...The Dominator. Defeated by the Lady and cast from this world, all that was left of him was a foul trace of lingering evil. But the graveyard that was once the Barrowland contains more secrets than dead. All who would possess the power of the Dominator are drawn to the spike. A foolhardy band of thieves is the first to reach it, and a rapacious and malign spirit is unleashed on an unwary world. The forces gather, sides are drawn, and mortal men can only die as the Dark Lords battle for domination. read more

After a devastating battle at the Tower of Charm, Croaker now leads the greatly diminished Black Company on a desperate… After a devastating battle at the Tower of Charm, Croaker now leads the greatly diminished Black Company on a desperate journey south. Their perilous quest is to recover the lost Annals, ancient records detailing the Company's grim history. But to return them, they must reach Khatovar, a legendary city thousands of miles away that may exist only in myth—the fabled origin of the first Free Companies. Hounded by relentless enemies and battling unforgiving lands, this hardened band of morally grey mercenaries must endure impossible odds to reclaim their past, or be forever lost to the annals of history themselves. read more

After a crushing defeat at Dejagore leaves the legendary Black Company shattered, Lady finds herself a desperate survivo… After a crushing defeat at Dejagore leaves the legendary Black Company shattered, Lady finds herself a desperate survivor amidst the ruins. Consumed by a burning desire for vengeance, she vows to make the dreaded Shadowmasters pay for their devastation, no matter the personal toll. Forced to forge a new army from the downtrodden and discarded rabble of Taglios, Lady must navigate treacherous alliances and constant betrayal. As she embarks on a brutal journey of survival and retribution, the line between justice and ruthless ambition blurs, threatening to consume what little remains of her soul. read more

In a world ravaged by ceaseless conflict, a morally grey mercenary struggles to survive amidst the brutal realities of w… In a world ravaged by ceaseless conflict, a morally grey mercenary struggles to survive amidst the brutal realities of war. As empires crumble and political machinations threaten to devour all, they are thrust into a desperate fight for more than just their lives. Betrayals lurk around every corner, and the line between friend and foe blurs under the weight of impossible choices. With the very fabric of civilization fraying, the stakes are nothing less than the future of a dying world. read more

Glen Cook's She is the Darkness is the second book in the fast-paced Glittering Stone military fantasy series. The wind… Glen Cook's She is the Darkness is the second book in the fast-paced Glittering Stone military fantasy series. The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid. At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence. Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence. Stone cannot speak but stone remembers. So begins the next movement of Glittering Stone.... The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other. Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all. read more

One of the greatest fantasy epics of our age continues in Water Sleeps, the ninth installment of Glen Cook's Chronicles… One of the greatest fantasy epics of our age continues in Water Sleeps, the ninth installment of Glen Cook's Chronicles of the Black Company. Regrouping in Taglios, the surviving members of the Black Company are determined to free their fellow warriors held in stasis beneath the glittering plain. Journey there under terrible conditions, they arrive just in time for a magical conflagration in which the bones of the world will be revealed, the history of the Company unveiled, and new world gained and lost...all at a terrible price. read more

Glen Cook's epic fantasy noir Chronicles of the Black Company continues with Soldiers Live. When sorcerers and demigods… Glen Cook's epic fantasy noir Chronicles of the Black Company continues with Soldiers Live. When sorcerers and demigods go to war, those wars are fought by mercenaries, "dog soldiers," grunts in the trenches. And the stories of those soldiers are the stories of Glen Cook's hugely popular "Black Company" novels. If the Joseph Heller of Catch-22 were to tell the story of The Lord of the Rings, it might read like the Black Company books. There is nothing else in fantasy like them. Now, at last, Cook brings the "Glittering Stone" cycle within the Black Company series to an end . . . but an end with many other tales left to tell. As Soldiers Live opens, Croaker is military dictator of all the Taglias, and no Black Company member has died in battle for four years. Croaker figures it can't last. He's right. For, of course, many of the Company's old adversaries are still around. Narayan Singh and his adopted daughter--actually the offspring of Croaker and the Lady--hope to bring about the apocalyptic Year of the Skulls. Other old enemies like Shadowcatcher, Longshadow, and Howler are also ready to do the Company harm. And much of the Company is still recovering from the fifteen years many of them spent in a stasis field. Then a report arrives of an evil spirit, a forvalaka, that has taken over one of their old enemies. It attacks them at a shadowgate--setting off a chain of events that will bring the Company to the edge of apocalypse and, as usual, several steps beyond. read more