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The Chronicles of the Black Company #1.5
Port of Shadows
Glen Cook, the father of Grimdark, returns to the Chronicles of the Black Company with a military fantasy adventure in Port of Shadows.
The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs--and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.
The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. However, Croaker doesn’t trust any of the Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister…
The Chronicles of the Black Company
#1 The Chronicles of The Black Company
#2 The Books of the South
#3 The Return of The Black Company
#4 The Many Deaths of the Black Company
The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs--and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.
The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. However, Croaker doesn’t trust any of the Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister…
The Chronicles of the Black Company
#1 The Chronicles of The Black Company
#2 The Books of the South
#3 The Return of The Black Company
#4 The Many Deaths of the Black Company
396 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2018
223 people are currently reading
4250 people want to read
About the author
Glen Cook
157 books3,702 followersGlen Cook was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for 33 years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in 7th grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with malicious intent to publish in 1968, eventually producing 51 books and a number of short fiction pieces.
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook
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December 9, 2025
💀 Slightly Catastrophic Buddy read with my mercenary brothers and sisters Elena, Maria, Mark, and the Black Company Overlord Himself (BCOH™) 💀
Warning: I was recently told that my reviews read like they were written by a 13-year-old onacid Tumblr. So proceed at your own risk and stuff. Oh, I’m not 13, by the way, I’m 12. In case you were wondering.
Warning #2: I wanted to make this short but failed miserably. The Black Company is my favorite Fantasy series, so it was impossible for me not to talk about this disaster at length. Sorry. ← you might think I just apologized here, but I really didn’t. Go home, my Little Barnacles, you’re quite obviously drunk.
Brace your little selves, for here we go and stuff.
I tried to love this book. I really really REALLY did. I mean, I’ve been worshiping the ground Glen Cook walks on for3 years decades! He wrote some of the best books I have ever read in the entirety of my entire life! My devotion for the man is such that I even have a Goodreads shelf named “Glen Cook is a God,” for shrimp’s sake! But (and this is a BIG BUT). Glen Cook or not, there is only so much sexist, misogynistic crap I can take.
Okay. Let’s try not to get too pissed off right away and start at the beginning, shall we? So. The story alternates between the past and the present, which is a writing device I’ve always been a fan of (it keeps my two, ever-decaying grey cells stimulated, you see). There are therefore two—seemingly unrelated—plotlines, both of which are fairly intriguing at first, if not as squee-inducing as those of other installments in the series. So here I was, enjoying said plotlines andnaively happily reading along, blissfully unaware of the Debacle of Epic Proportions (DoEP™) 👋 waves at Sirantha Jax 👋 to come. I was gleefully cheating at playing tonk and getting drunk as a barnacle with my Croaker, Goblin, Silent, and the rest of the mushrooms mercenary gang. I was having a grand time seeing One-Eye getting stuffed in a pickle barrel. And meeting a new, potentially awesome female character with the coolest name ever. And also meeting a couple of kidnapping adoption-worthy kids. And a Super Suspicious Felidae (SSF™) with three eyes, too. Aaaannnnd reading about the Slightly Evil Siblings’ (SES™) younger days. And getting deliciously confused as fish about who might be who and how might be why and what might be huh, and me-no-understand-much-how-this-ties-in-with-the rest-of-the-series-and-stuff (spoiler: it’s a trap. It doesn’t). Then the sexist, misogynistic crap started happening. And I went from happily and most cheerfully reading along to feeling a bit like…
I did try to give Cook the benefit of the doubt at first. And to cut him some slack. I mean, I have read 20+ books of his to this day, and never-ever-not-even-once-nope-nope-nope have I come across misogynistic BS in his work. I know some people disagree with me here, and have harshly criticized Cook’s treatment of women in the past. I of the Wrong the Opinion (not my real name) actually happen to think Cook has created some of the most amazing female characters in Fantasy, and quite a few of them are safely locked up in my High Security Harem as a result. (If you want to read more about misogyny—and violence—in The Black Company, you should check out this blog post. It’s fairly short and offers an interesting point of view on the subject.)
Okay, back to this book. I don’t want to go into details here (because spoiler spoiler spoiler and stuff), so all I will say is that Port of Shadows features some of the most vulgar, distasteful, downright nasty, sexist, misogynistic crap I have ever come across in a book. Women here are nothing but objects to be used, abused, demeaned, and belittled. They are referred to in the crudest, most disrespectful way possible. To make things worse, the vast majority of female characters in the book are either underage or young adults, which takes the creepy-disturbing factor up 100 notches. At least. What else? Apart from the fact that our young female protagonists’ menses are basically the source of all evil, you mean? Oh, not much. Okay, so there’s also talk of mass rape and impregnation as a possible solution to pretty much all problems in the universe, rape-of-women-who-asked-for-it-so-it’s-okay-no-biggie-and-stuff, and ♫here a rape there a rape everywhere a rape♫ stuff (for the full Rape List of Doom™ and more, check out my Nefarious Daughter’s brilliant review of the book), but that’s not a huge deal, right? RIGHT. Long story short? Feminism committed suicide over and over again while I was reading this book.
Thisis was my pet bunny, Feminism. Requiescat in Pace and stuff, my furry friend.
Now. I understand what Cook was trying to do here. I really do. And I’m sane enough (don’t look at me like that) not to associate what an author writes in his/her/their/its/whatever books with his/her/their/its/whatever actual views. But (and it’s one of those BIG BUTS again). Cook seriously overdid it here. The above-mentioned young girls are central to the plot, and some unpleasantness was logically to be expected as far as they are concerned (again: spoiler spoiler spoiler), but Cook took things much too far. This would have worked, had he been more factual about it, as he did with (spoiler up to book 3 in the series, methinks) , but he wasn’t, so it wasn’t. Damn, he carried things so far here that some of the main characters in the series ended up turning into revoltingly sleazy, contemptible creeps! (Because yes, there is a difference between ruthless mercenaries with fished-up morals and downright vile slimeballs.) Sigh. Going all OTT on topics like this one (or on any topic, come to think of it) is so unlike Glen Cook that I don’t even know what to think anymore. I’m completely dumbfounded as to why he chose to write the book this way, to be honest. And let me tell you, it takes a whole bloody shrimping lot for a former nefarious breeder of murderous crustaceans to feel dumbfounded. Yes it does.
I kept my pincers crossed as I was reading the book, naively hoping that Cook would end up salvaging this disaster somehow. But he didn’t. There is a major plot twist (aka The Big 180) and shift in storytelling towards the end of the book, after which we are pretty much back to Black Company business as usual, but it was too little, too late.
And then the Epilogue That Further Ruined Everything (ETFRE™) happened. The first thing that came to my little part-French mind after reading it was: foutage de gueule intégral. Which loosely translates to mean: what, pray tell, is this complete, utter @$!?*#! bullshit rip-off of a book?! More or less. Again, I don’t want to reveal spoilery spoiler stuff, so all I can tell you about the epilogue is that:
1/ It makes the whole book utterly pointless.
2/ It’s a complete cop out.
3/ It’s a lame attempt to make the booknot fit into the series.
4/I’ve had it with this bloody mess of a total disaster.
Since I finished reading the book, quite a few people have asked me whether they should give it a try. I was reluctant to say no at first (especially to hardcore fans of the series who, like me, had been anxiously waiting for this book to be published) becausemuch I am chagrined to admit, I sometimes (albeit very rarely) read books wrong everyone reacts differently to books, depending on their sensitivity, experience, despicable book taste etc. As difficult as it is for me to come up with a straight yes/no answer here, I think there is a chance other fans of the series will enjoy the book and won’t find its contents as infuriating as I did. So my advice to them would be: be bold, be audacious, read the book! Now for those who are familiar with my views on feminism (and the treatment of women in books) and tend to agree with me on the subject, then I’d strongly advise you NOT to read this book. It is not relevant to the series at all and adds absolutely nothing to it. So forget it was ever published and relish in the utter gloriousness of the other installments in this series (The Silver Spike isn’t among them, obviously. Because the Silver Spike never happened and stuff).
Finally, to my mercenary brothers and sisters who are currently suffering from Acutely Severe Port of Shadows PTSD (ASPoSPTSD™), I say: we survived the battle at Charm, we will survive this book, too! Maybe.
· Book 1: The Black Company ★★★★★
· Book 2: Shadows Linger ★★★★★
· Book 2.2 (short story): Shaggy Dog Bridge ★★★★★
· Book 2.3 (short story): Bone Eaters ★★★★★
· Book 3: The White Rose ★★★★★
· Book 3.5: The Silver Spike ★★★★
· Book 4: Shadow Games ★★★★★
· Book 5: Dreams of Steel ★★★★★
· Book 6: Bleak Seasons ★★★★★
· Book 7: She Is The Darkness ★★★★★
· Book 8: Water Sleeps ★★★★★
· Book 9: Soldiers Live ★★★★★
· Book 10: Lies Weeping ★★★★
[Pre-review nonsense]
Read this and weep, my fellow mercenaries: compared to this book, The Silver Spike of the Pathetic Two-Star Rating is 20-star rating material. At least. I kid you not. I mean, what is the bloody point of having to put up with the downright revolting, distasteful, demeaning, sexist crap displayed in this book, only to have it all end like this? Why, Glen Cook? WHY?
Bloody shrimping hell of the stinking shrimp, I'm so pissed off right now, I'm considering complete destruction and total annihilation of all life on this puny planet of ours! Pretty sure that would help me vent the anger and frustration I'm feeling right now. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps.
Oops.
➽ Full Glen Cook What Hast Thou Done Crappy Non Review (GCWHTDCNR™) to come.
Warning: I was recently told that my reviews read like they were written by a 13-year-old on
Warning #2: I wanted to make this short but failed miserably. The Black Company is my favorite Fantasy series, so it was impossible for me not to talk about this disaster at length. Sorry. ← you might think I just apologized here, but I really didn’t. Go home, my Little Barnacles, you’re quite obviously drunk.
Brace your little selves, for here we go and stuff.
I tried to love this book. I really really REALLY did. I mean, I’ve been worshiping the ground Glen Cook walks on for
Okay. Let’s try not to get too pissed off right away and start at the beginning, shall we? So. The story alternates between the past and the present, which is a writing device I’ve always been a fan of (it keeps my two, ever-decaying grey cells stimulated, you see). There are therefore two—seemingly unrelated—plotlines, both of which are fairly intriguing at first, if not as squee-inducing as those of other installments in the series. So here I was, enjoying said plotlines and
I did try to give Cook the benefit of the doubt at first. And to cut him some slack. I mean, I have read 20+ books of his to this day, and never-ever-not-even-once-nope-nope-nope have I come across misogynistic BS in his work. I know some people disagree with me here, and have harshly criticized Cook’s treatment of women in the past. I of the Wrong the Opinion (not my real name) actually happen to think Cook has created some of the most amazing female characters in Fantasy, and quite a few of them are safely locked up in my High Security Harem as a result. (If you want to read more about misogyny—and violence—in The Black Company, you should check out this blog post. It’s fairly short and offers an interesting point of view on the subject.)
Okay, back to this book. I don’t want to go into details here (because spoiler spoiler spoiler and stuff), so all I will say is that Port of Shadows features some of the most vulgar, distasteful, downright nasty, sexist, misogynistic crap I have ever come across in a book. Women here are nothing but objects to be used, abused, demeaned, and belittled. They are referred to in the crudest, most disrespectful way possible. To make things worse, the vast majority of female characters in the book are either underage or young adults, which takes the creepy-disturbing factor up 100 notches. At least. What else? Apart from the fact that our young female protagonists’ menses are basically the source of all evil, you mean? Oh, not much. Okay, so there’s also talk of mass rape and impregnation as a possible solution to pretty much all problems in the universe, rape-of-women-who-asked-for-it-so-it’s-okay-no-biggie-and-stuff, and ♫here a rape there a rape everywhere a rape♫ stuff (for the full Rape List of Doom™ and more, check out my Nefarious Daughter’s brilliant review of the book), but that’s not a huge deal, right? RIGHT. Long story short? Feminism committed suicide over and over again while I was reading this book.
This
Now. I understand what Cook was trying to do here. I really do. And I’m sane enough (don’t look at me like that) not to associate what an author writes in his/her/their/its/whatever books with his/her/their/its/whatever actual views. But (and it’s one of those BIG BUTS again). Cook seriously overdid it here. The above-mentioned young girls are central to the plot, and some unpleasantness was logically to be expected as far as they are concerned (again: spoiler spoiler spoiler), but Cook took things much too far. This would have worked, had he been more factual about it, as he did with (spoiler up to book 3 in the series, methinks) , but he wasn’t, so it wasn’t. Damn, he carried things so far here that some of the main characters in the series ended up turning into revoltingly sleazy, contemptible creeps! (Because yes, there is a difference between ruthless mercenaries with fished-up morals and downright vile slimeballs.) Sigh. Going all OTT on topics like this one (or on any topic, come to think of it) is so unlike Glen Cook that I don’t even know what to think anymore. I’m completely dumbfounded as to why he chose to write the book this way, to be honest. And let me tell you, it takes a whole bloody shrimping lot for a former nefarious breeder of murderous crustaceans to feel dumbfounded. Yes it does.
I kept my pincers crossed as I was reading the book, naively hoping that Cook would end up salvaging this disaster somehow. But he didn’t. There is a major plot twist (aka The Big 180) and shift in storytelling towards the end of the book, after which we are pretty much back to Black Company business as usual, but it was too little, too late.
And then the Epilogue That Further Ruined Everything (ETFRE™) happened. The first thing that came to my little part-French mind after reading it was: foutage de gueule intégral. Which loosely translates to mean: what, pray tell, is this complete, utter @$!?*#! bullshit rip-off of a book?! More or less. Again, I don’t want to reveal spoilery spoiler stuff, so all I can tell you about the epilogue is that:
1/ It makes the whole book utterly pointless.
2/ It’s a complete cop out.
3/ It’s a lame attempt to make the book
4/I’ve had it with this bloody mess of a total disaster.
Since I finished reading the book, quite a few people have asked me whether they should give it a try. I was reluctant to say no at first (especially to hardcore fans of the series who, like me, had been anxiously waiting for this book to be published) because
Finally, to my mercenary brothers and sisters who are currently suffering from Acutely Severe Port of Shadows PTSD (ASPoSPTSD™), I say: we survived the battle at Charm, we will survive this book, too! Maybe.
· Book 1: The Black Company ★★★★★
· Book 2: Shadows Linger ★★★★★
· Book 2.2 (short story): Shaggy Dog Bridge ★★★★★
· Book 2.3 (short story): Bone Eaters ★★★★★
· Book 3: The White Rose ★★★★★
· Book 3.5: The Silver Spike ★★★★
· Book 4: Shadow Games ★★★★★
· Book 5: Dreams of Steel ★★★★★
· Book 6: Bleak Seasons ★★★★★
· Book 7: She Is The Darkness ★★★★★
· Book 8: Water Sleeps ★★★★★
· Book 9: Soldiers Live ★★★★★
· Book 10: Lies Weeping ★★★★
[Pre-review nonsense]
Read this and weep, my fellow mercenaries: compared to this book, The Silver Spike of the Pathetic Two-Star Rating is 20-star rating material. At least. I kid you not. I mean, what is the bloody point of having to put up with the downright revolting, distasteful, demeaning, sexist crap displayed in this book, only to have it all end like this? Why, Glen Cook? WHY?
Bloody shrimping hell of the stinking shrimp, I'm so pissed off right now, I'm considering complete destruction and total annihilation of all life on this puny planet of ours! Pretty sure that would help me vent the anger and frustration I'm feeling right now. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps.
Oops.
➽ Full Glen Cook What Hast Thou Done Crappy Non Review (GCWHTDCNR™) to come.
May 15, 2020
A welcome return.
The long-awaited addition to the series does appear to have become somewhat controversial, at least in my circles. I have several female friends whose reactions to the book were less than enthusiastic. While I can understand claims of misogyny in certain scenes, I must admit I did not find anything beyond what is almost a given in the crude military fraternity that the Black Company is (to the extent that I was wondering if sections were missing from my copy). I do, however, recognise that others found it to be so. And indeed, one could certainly include several trigger warnings tied to sexual violence, and as such it might be a tad worse than the less explicit older books, though for the most part the difference is extremely minor. But at the end of the day, we read books through our own lenses, genders, life experiences and attitudes while reading included.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed Port of Shadows as a chance to venture forth with the men of the Black Company once again, to see them on another strange mission for the Lady, and to peak into what in previous books has only been the mythic past. For this book provides glimpses of the history of the Domination, the making of the Barrowland and the developments between then and the Company’s present. Perhaps most intriguingly of all, it shows the Dominator and the Senjak family and their early scheme-ridden tense relationship.
All this is muddled up by the notion of voluntary repeated name-changing and potentially body-swapping. It is heavily implied that the now infamous Senjak Sisters from their early youth change names as a protective measure against the Dominator, each other, and anyone who could attempt to do them harm. We have seen the power of names in the series before. This means that anyone who is not familiar with the characters will have a hard time figuring out who’s who. But if you work at it, you get to enjoy the Postscript where in-world scholars fuck it up completely.
Even if left confused for large swathes of the reading experience, you can also take solace that Glen Cook’s writing is as good as ever. As one might reasonably expect, it has developed and changed, but just as in the main series, it seizes you and brings you in, deep into the twisted and gritty world, even after many years:
The night was silent but for the clop of hooves on wet cobblestones. A sliver of moon winked at the world from behind straggler wisps of cloud, silhouetting the grim spires of Grendirft. No light shone anywhere from that fortress.
The air was still and nearly chill now that the rain had gone away. A hint of corrupting flesh tainted the air of imperial Dusk.
Conclusively, while it certainly isn’t flawless, it certainly is a Chronicle of the Black Company.
Now it’s simply about waiting for A Pitiless Rain...
Series review from the beginning
Series review from the ending
The long-awaited addition to the series does appear to have become somewhat controversial, at least in my circles. I have several female friends whose reactions to the book were less than enthusiastic. While I can understand claims of misogyny in certain scenes, I must admit I did not find anything beyond what is almost a given in the crude military fraternity that the Black Company is (to the extent that I was wondering if sections were missing from my copy). I do, however, recognise that others found it to be so. And indeed, one could certainly include several trigger warnings tied to sexual violence, and as such it might be a tad worse than the less explicit older books, though for the most part the difference is extremely minor. But at the end of the day, we read books through our own lenses, genders, life experiences and attitudes while reading included.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed Port of Shadows as a chance to venture forth with the men of the Black Company once again, to see them on another strange mission for the Lady, and to peak into what in previous books has only been the mythic past. For this book provides glimpses of the history of the Domination, the making of the Barrowland and the developments between then and the Company’s present. Perhaps most intriguingly of all, it shows the Dominator and the Senjak family and their early scheme-ridden tense relationship.
All this is muddled up by the notion of voluntary repeated name-changing and potentially body-swapping. It is heavily implied that the now infamous Senjak Sisters from their early youth change names as a protective measure against the Dominator, each other, and anyone who could attempt to do them harm. We have seen the power of names in the series before. This means that anyone who is not familiar with the characters will have a hard time figuring out who’s who. But if you work at it, you get to enjoy the Postscript where in-world scholars fuck it up completely.
Even if left confused for large swathes of the reading experience, you can also take solace that Glen Cook’s writing is as good as ever. As one might reasonably expect, it has developed and changed, but just as in the main series, it seizes you and brings you in, deep into the twisted and gritty world, even after many years:
The night was silent but for the clop of hooves on wet cobblestones. A sliver of moon winked at the world from behind straggler wisps of cloud, silhouetting the grim spires of Grendirft. No light shone anywhere from that fortress.
The air was still and nearly chill now that the rain had gone away. A hint of corrupting flesh tainted the air of imperial Dusk.
Conclusively, while it certainly isn’t flawless, it certainly is a Chronicle of the Black Company.
Now it’s simply about waiting for A Pitiless Rain...
Series review from the beginning
Series review from the ending
December 30, 2021
So. Port of Shadows. Long-awaited throwback to the Company's happier times. For fans and readers who followed the ragtag gang in its journey to the South, I suppose the book was meant as a heartfelt reunion with old friends; for those who are approaching the series in chronological order, this is an occasion to get to know a bit better most of the players in the game before the general plot starts its crazy, heart-stopping gallop towards the epic finale.
I only recently discovered Glen Cook and his work and, while I'm hardly the expert some of my Goodreads friends are and didn't share the anxious wait for Port of Shadows with them since I started the series only a few months ago, I still have 12 of his books under my belt as I write and I definitely consider myself a Glen Cook aficionado. Something I really would not have been had I read Port of Shadows right after book #1 in the BC series: was that the case, I'm pretty sure I would have DNFed the fu*k out of this book and promptly headed back to Amazon for getting a refund while laughing my ass off at the author's OTT attempt at being grim, dark and all the things Wikipedia says a writer of grimdark fantasy should be.
I would have missed some of my favorite fantasy reads ever though - so all things considered I'm happy things played out the way they did: in the end, I only have to nurse a broken hearth, but nothing can take Water Sleeps away from me, not even Cook himself.
The problem I have with Port of Shadows is essentially that the book felt like a giant middle finger to my face as a female reader: rarely I've felt less welcome than this into the story I was reading. The blow is all the more painful since it's been delivered by an author that always had high regard for his female characters: a good portion of the major players in the Black Company game are in fact women - young and old, beautiful, plain and unattractive, powerful and crafty, empresses and princesses, deities, sorceresses, strategists, soldiers, spies, monsters, rebels, barmaids, rulers, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, lovers, crazy, ingenious, smart, devious, scheming, merciless, loving, tenacious, funny...
... in Port of Shadow there are only two kinds of women: the fuckable and the unfuckable ones. Cook makes it really easy on the readers to separate the two *phew!* because the semantic indicating them is immediately clear:
❶ the fuckable ones (aging from pre-teens to 21 years old): Kitten, kittens, clowder of, litter, split-tail, poontang, pretties, desirable, blessed up top, pretty pliable bed buddies, hauntingly beautiful, flocks of, pretty sheep, of breeding age, herd of, pussy, screaming desirable, pretty little bitches, etc.
❷ the unfuckable ones: fierce, ferocious, strong and scary, as wide as she was tall... you get the gist - they're ugly, masculine trolls and old to boot.
Oh, and I really shouldn't forget to mention: RAPE!
Cultural rape.
Mass rape.
Institutionalized rape.
Pragmatical rape.
Recreational rape.
Rape discussed, joked and dreamed about.
Inevitably, rape.
Rape rape rape rape rape rape.
Rape with a serving of pedophilia, incest and necrophilia just to make sure we've got it all covered. I'm actually shocked no female animals were defiled in the course of the story but a man's got to draw the line somewhere I suppose.
The fact that 85% in the vibe of the story abruptly changes, reverting back to tone readers of the series are used to - gritty and often brutal but never as gleefully vulgar and aggressively misogynistic as in Port of Shadows - and hints are given that we, readers and characters alike, have all fallen prey of some kind of sorcerous spell that had tempers and lusts flaring and civil manners forgotten, does very little to make up for the sad reality that I've just read a book whose major plot-twist revolves around the hysterical fear that delectable teens might have their menses sync-up thus triggering a magical apocalypse. A catastrophe that our merry gang considers avoiding by *dun dun duuun* yes, you got it: raping them until they're all pregnant, so as to give the Company guys some respite from the impending disaster and/or prevent the possibility that one of these girls might give birth to a great evil.
Nor the way Cook cleverly deals with the problem of continuity - Port of Shadows will work whether you approach the story from a cronological perspective or following the publication order, mostly because... well, it hasn't that much to say to beging with - and the introduction of several new awesome characters make up for the fact that another plot-point follows the adventures of Papa, a powerful necromancer, and his made-up family, taking its sweet time to describe how the poor man finally succumbs to the inevitable and *dun dun duuun* gets one of his adopted daughters - a reanimated corpse with the mind of a three year old but *yum!* the body of a kid at least ten years older - pregnant (she asked for it, in fact she insisted: she wanted to feel warm, she wanted so much and so often to feel warm that poor Papa had to resort to locking himself in his study to get some work done), thus starting yet another rapey subplot where their progeny engages in rape and incest as a scientific mean to advance in his studies of the dark arts (poor fellow, in truth his heart really wasn't all that much into it).
Despite the fact that the book is set during the gap in the narration between The Black Company and Shadows Linger, I really think readers new to the series would have a better understanding of what Cook did (or tried to do, not at all successfully in my opinion) here if they came to Port of Shadows after some more time spent in the company of these characters: as continuity goes, nothing much will be spoilt this way, I promise.
As for me...
... excuse me while I go back pretending Port of Shadows never happened.
No matter what I think of the book, a virtual hug to my friend Mark: thank you so, so much, you're the best ❤ !
I only recently discovered Glen Cook and his work and, while I'm hardly the expert some of my Goodreads friends are and didn't share the anxious wait for Port of Shadows with them since I started the series only a few months ago, I still have 12 of his books under my belt as I write and I definitely consider myself a Glen Cook aficionado. Something I really would not have been had I read Port of Shadows right after book #1 in the BC series: was that the case, I'm pretty sure I would have DNFed the fu*k out of this book and promptly headed back to Amazon for getting a refund while laughing my ass off at the author's OTT attempt at being grim, dark and all the things Wikipedia says a writer of grimdark fantasy should be.
I would have missed some of my favorite fantasy reads ever though - so all things considered I'm happy things played out the way they did: in the end, I only have to nurse a broken hearth, but nothing can take Water Sleeps away from me, not even Cook himself.
The problem I have with Port of Shadows is essentially that the book felt like a giant middle finger to my face as a female reader: rarely I've felt less welcome than this into the story I was reading. The blow is all the more painful since it's been delivered by an author that always had high regard for his female characters: a good portion of the major players in the Black Company game are in fact women - young and old, beautiful, plain and unattractive, powerful and crafty, empresses and princesses, deities, sorceresses, strategists, soldiers, spies, monsters, rebels, barmaids, rulers, mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, lovers, crazy, ingenious, smart, devious, scheming, merciless, loving, tenacious, funny...
... in Port of Shadow there are only two kinds of women: the fuckable and the unfuckable ones. Cook makes it really easy on the readers to separate the two *phew!* because the semantic indicating them is immediately clear:
❶ the fuckable ones (aging from pre-teens to 21 years old): Kitten, kittens, clowder of, litter, split-tail, poontang, pretties, desirable, blessed up top, pretty pliable bed buddies, hauntingly beautiful, flocks of, pretty sheep, of breeding age, herd of, pussy, screaming desirable, pretty little bitches, etc.
❷ the unfuckable ones: fierce, ferocious, strong and scary, as wide as she was tall... you get the gist - they're ugly, masculine trolls and old to boot.
Oh, and I really shouldn't forget to mention: RAPE!
Cultural rape.
Mass rape.
Institutionalized rape.
Pragmatical rape.
Recreational rape.
Rape discussed, joked and dreamed about.
Inevitably, rape.
Rape rape rape rape rape rape.
Rape with a serving of pedophilia, incest and necrophilia just to make sure we've got it all covered. I'm actually shocked no female animals were defiled in the course of the story but a man's got to draw the line somewhere I suppose.
The fact that 85% in the vibe of the story abruptly changes, reverting back to tone readers of the series are used to - gritty and often brutal but never as gleefully vulgar and aggressively misogynistic as in Port of Shadows - and hints are given that we, readers and characters alike, have all fallen prey of some kind of sorcerous spell that had tempers and lusts flaring and civil manners forgotten, does very little to make up for the sad reality that I've just read a book whose major plot-twist revolves around the hysterical fear that delectable teens might have their menses sync-up thus triggering a magical apocalypse. A catastrophe that our merry gang considers avoiding by *dun dun duuun* yes, you got it: raping them until they're all pregnant, so as to give the Company guys some respite from the impending disaster and/or prevent the possibility that one of these girls might give birth to a great evil.
Nor the way Cook cleverly deals with the problem of continuity - Port of Shadows will work whether you approach the story from a cronological perspective or following the publication order, mostly because... well, it hasn't that much to say to beging with - and the introduction of several new awesome characters make up for the fact that another plot-point follows the adventures of Papa, a powerful necromancer, and his made-up family, taking its sweet time to describe how the poor man finally succumbs to the inevitable and *dun dun duuun* gets one of his adopted daughters - a reanimated corpse with the mind of a three year old but *yum!* the body of a kid at least ten years older - pregnant (she asked for it, in fact she insisted: she wanted to feel warm, she wanted so much and so often to feel warm that poor Papa had to resort to locking himself in his study to get some work done), thus starting yet another rapey subplot where their progeny engages in rape and incest as a scientific mean to advance in his studies of the dark arts (poor fellow, in truth his heart really wasn't all that much into it).
Despite the fact that the book is set during the gap in the narration between The Black Company and Shadows Linger, I really think readers new to the series would have a better understanding of what Cook did (or tried to do, not at all successfully in my opinion) here if they came to Port of Shadows after some more time spent in the company of these characters: as continuity goes, nothing much will be spoilt this way, I promise.
As for me...
... excuse me while I go back pretending Port of Shadows never happened.
No matter what I think of the book, a virtual hug to my friend Mark: thank you so, so much, you're the best ❤ !
September 24, 2018
Jesus, after reading some of these reviews I had to write my own.
Here, I'm going to make this easy for you.
Are you someone that gets offended by every little thing that doesn't agree with your world view? Are you a Social Justice Warrior? Are you more concerned about what color to dye your hair prior to going to your Resistance meeting than actually having a conversation with someone that might disagree with you? Is everything wrong in your life not your fault, but due to someone hurting your feelings?
If this is you, don't read this book.
If, however, you are even remotely rational, and enjoy the Black Company, then by all means, read this book and smile over the fact that another BC book is finally in your greedy little hands.
Here, I'm going to make this easy for you.
Are you someone that gets offended by every little thing that doesn't agree with your world view? Are you a Social Justice Warrior? Are you more concerned about what color to dye your hair prior to going to your Resistance meeting than actually having a conversation with someone that might disagree with you? Is everything wrong in your life not your fault, but due to someone hurting your feelings?
If this is you, don't read this book.
If, however, you are even remotely rational, and enjoy the Black Company, then by all means, read this book and smile over the fact that another BC book is finally in your greedy little hands.
Read
July 19, 2024In the past year, Glen Cook has quickly become one of my favorite authors; I consider books like The White Rose and She is the Darkness to be among my favorites in the fantasy genre.
That said, I didn’t enjoy this book...at all.
The story starts out on a promising note, with some One-Eye and Goblin antics, as well as a backstory that hints at exciting revelations about the Senjak family. At around the 20% mark, things started to fall apart.
First, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: the sexually-perverted and misogynistic content. The specifics of this have been addressed in other reviews far better than I could accomplish, and so I’ll try not to spend too much time rehashing that here. But let’s just put it this way: one of the major plot points of the book revolves around
The frustrating thing is that Glen Cook has written many strong female characters in this series, and generally seems to show a respect for women. Without going into spoiler territory, much of the book is supposed to be offensive as part of a plot device. That said, authorial intent doesn’t make it any more enjoyable to read, or any less infuriating. The problematic content goes on for far too long, and is wrapped up in a manner that doesn’t do enough to reverse its damaging impact. Too little, too late. I understand that Glen Cook likes to experiment in his novels...Bleak Seasons comes to mind immediately. I just think this experiment failed, and it feels particularly tone-deaf in the midst of the #MeToo movement. Whatever point he was trying to make was taken way over the top, and didn’t feel to me like it was trying to explore some complex theme; it felt like shock value. This novel also deeply offended some people I care about, and of course I will stand by them...I’m not sure what Cook was trying to do by purposely angering a portion of his readership.
Beyond the above-referenced issues, the story itself wasn’t even that compelling to me. It lacked the excitement and epic undertone that I’ve come to expect from a Black Company book. I found myself getting bored and zoning out on multiple occasions, something which has never happened to me in a BC novel; Cook usually writes the most gripping, page-turning stories.
Finally, nothing that happens in this novel actually matters within the larger scope the series. Yes, it was obviously written years after the main books so we can’t expect it to fit in 100% seamlessly, but I assumed it might try to retcon some things or expand the overall world-building. Because of the way it ended, everything kind of just starts back to square one. Even the confusing “revelation” in the epilogue that
There you have it. The latest Black Company book is, by far, my least favorite. I still recommend the series as a whole; new readers will find some of the best the fantasy genre has to offer. But this volume didn't add anything new or exciting, and was honestly just not enjoyable to read.
That said, I didn’t enjoy this book...at all.
The story starts out on a promising note, with some One-Eye and Goblin antics, as well as a backstory that hints at exciting revelations about the Senjak family. At around the 20% mark, things started to fall apart.
First, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: the sexually-perverted and misogynistic content. The specifics of this have been addressed in other reviews far better than I could accomplish, and so I’ll try not to spend too much time rehashing that here. But let’s just put it this way: one of the major plot points of the book revolves around
The frustrating thing is that Glen Cook has written many strong female characters in this series, and generally seems to show a respect for women. Without going into spoiler territory, much of the book is supposed to be offensive as part of a plot device. That said, authorial intent doesn’t make it any more enjoyable to read, or any less infuriating. The problematic content goes on for far too long, and is wrapped up in a manner that doesn’t do enough to reverse its damaging impact. Too little, too late. I understand that Glen Cook likes to experiment in his novels...Bleak Seasons comes to mind immediately. I just think this experiment failed, and it feels particularly tone-deaf in the midst of the #MeToo movement. Whatever point he was trying to make was taken way over the top, and didn’t feel to me like it was trying to explore some complex theme; it felt like shock value. This novel also deeply offended some people I care about, and of course I will stand by them...I’m not sure what Cook was trying to do by purposely angering a portion of his readership.
Beyond the above-referenced issues, the story itself wasn’t even that compelling to me. It lacked the excitement and epic undertone that I’ve come to expect from a Black Company book. I found myself getting bored and zoning out on multiple occasions, something which has never happened to me in a BC novel; Cook usually writes the most gripping, page-turning stories.
Finally, nothing that happens in this novel actually matters within the larger scope the series. Yes, it was obviously written years after the main books so we can’t expect it to fit in 100% seamlessly, but I assumed it might try to retcon some things or expand the overall world-building. Because of the way it ended, everything kind of just starts back to square one. Even the confusing “revelation” in the epilogue that
There you have it. The latest Black Company book is, by far, my least favorite. I still recommend the series as a whole; new readers will find some of the best the fantasy genre has to offer. But this volume didn't add anything new or exciting, and was honestly just not enjoyable to read.
Read
November 15, 2018It pains me to say this, but I could not finish this novel. It isn't bad, but it isn't very interesting either. The term "meh" comes to mind. I'll definitely incorporate it into any future reread I have of the Black Company series, but as a stand alone book, this is a huge dud for me personally. Glad others enjoy it of course, just not for me, I guess.
Read
September 19, 2018Fuck it. DNF at 96 pages. No rating.
November 14, 2022
So back in 1984, Glen Cook published The Black Company, the first in a series of (eventually) ten novels -- nine directly following the exploits of the Company (mercenaries, last of the Free Companies of Khatovar, very competent and not always very choosy about their employers) and one (The Silver Spike) telling a sort of side-story about some of the wreckage they left in their wake. And in 2000 came Soldiers Live, the final volume in the story of the Black Company.
And now, 18 years later, we have Port of Shadows, which actually falls chronologically between the first two books (The Black Company and Shadows Linger). And let me start by saying: It's pretty great!
And let me continue by saying: If you've never read any Black Company books before, this is probably not a great place to start (it presupposes a fair amount of familiarity with the Company and their associates); and, in fact, if you're reading the series for the first time, I might recommend holding off on this book at least until after you've read the initial trilogy because it will reveal things that are better learned over the course of the original books.
So having said all of that: As mentioned, this book takes place shortly after the events of the very first novel -- the Black Company is in service to the Lady (the Big Bad who, after being inadvertently resurrected by a not-very-bright wizard, hired them to rout the Rebels who oppose her because she is, in fact, not a nice lady, and the Resurrectionists, who oppose her because they want to bring back her husband, the Dominator, an even Bigger Bad still sleeping wrapped in chains and spells in his barrow). They have been sent to the city of Aloe, first to capture a Rebel general, Tides Elba; and then, when she comes back as the Taken Mischevious Rain, to deal with what appears to be a major Resurrectionist plot (the titular "Port of Shadows" being something or someone that would allow the Dominator to manifest).
Most of the book is written, as per usual, by our old friend Croaker, who is both the company medic and the company Annalist (responsible for writing & maintaining records of their action); although there are also interstitial sections (labeled "Once Upon a Time" or "Long Ago and Far Away") that tell of events that happened, well, long ago and far away but with impact on the events the Company is dealing with in the here & now.
And the entire story is a bit ... odd. It turns out that there are very good in-universe reasons why nobody seems to remember these events in subsequent volumes, and there are revelations (or are there?) that might cause some major rethinking of characters we thought we knew. But it takes place in such complete isolation that it's hard to say.
But still: I was very happy to hear more from Croaker -- he's still not nearly as cynical and world-weary as he pretends to be -- and to read about Goblin and One-Eye and Silent and the Lieutenant and the Captain and the rest, and to see the Taken doing their thing; it was a joyous sitting down with old but extremely disreputable friends.
And now, 18 years later, we have Port of Shadows, which actually falls chronologically between the first two books (The Black Company and Shadows Linger). And let me start by saying: It's pretty great!
And let me continue by saying: If you've never read any Black Company books before, this is probably not a great place to start (it presupposes a fair amount of familiarity with the Company and their associates); and, in fact, if you're reading the series for the first time, I might recommend holding off on this book at least until after you've read the initial trilogy because it will reveal things that are better learned over the course of the original books.
So having said all of that: As mentioned, this book takes place shortly after the events of the very first novel -- the Black Company is in service to the Lady (the Big Bad who, after being inadvertently resurrected by a not-very-bright wizard, hired them to rout the Rebels who oppose her because she is, in fact, not a nice lady, and the Resurrectionists, who oppose her because they want to bring back her husband, the Dominator, an even Bigger Bad still sleeping wrapped in chains and spells in his barrow). They have been sent to the city of Aloe, first to capture a Rebel general, Tides Elba; and then, when she comes back as the Taken Mischevious Rain, to deal with what appears to be a major Resurrectionist plot (the titular "Port of Shadows" being something or someone that would allow the Dominator to manifest).
Most of the book is written, as per usual, by our old friend Croaker, who is both the company medic and the company Annalist (responsible for writing & maintaining records of their action); although there are also interstitial sections (labeled "Once Upon a Time" or "Long Ago and Far Away") that tell of events that happened, well, long ago and far away but with impact on the events the Company is dealing with in the here & now.
And the entire story is a bit ... odd. It turns out that there are very good in-universe reasons why nobody seems to remember these events in subsequent volumes, and there are revelations (or are there?) that might cause some major rethinking of characters we thought we knew. But it takes place in such complete isolation that it's hard to say.
But still: I was very happy to hear more from Croaker -- he's still not nearly as cynical and world-weary as he pretends to be -- and to read about Goblin and One-Eye and Silent and the Lieutenant and the Captain and the rest, and to see the Taken doing their thing; it was a joyous sitting down with old but extremely disreputable friends.
September 25, 2018
Buddy read with the Mercenaries of BB&B.
I wish I never read this book. I should have DNFed this weeks ago. But the masochist in me reared her ugly head and made me finish this atrocity to the greatness that is the Chronicles of the Black Company. There were a lot of problems with this book but the one that destroyed my enjoyment was the inconsistent characterization with the other volumes of the first story arc. And it kills me because I loved Croaker's voice and his minimalistic narration. As for the rest of the things that slowly murdered my enthusiasm I neither have the will nor the inclination to talk about. This book just sucked the energy out of me. Now excuse me while I go reread some book I know will make me forget the disappointment.
I wish I never read this book. I should have DNFed this weeks ago. But the masochist in me reared her ugly head and made me finish this atrocity to the greatness that is the Chronicles of the Black Company. There were a lot of problems with this book but the one that destroyed my enjoyment was the inconsistent characterization with the other volumes of the first story arc. And it kills me because I loved Croaker's voice and his minimalistic narration. As for the rest of the things that slowly murdered my enthusiasm I neither have the will nor the inclination to talk about. This book just sucked the energy out of me. Now excuse me while I go reread some book I know will make me forget the disappointment.
Want to read
December 29, 2017I need this more than air
I need this more than life
I need this more than anything in the world....
OH, HOW I NEED THEE!!!!!
I need my boys back, and I need them so bad!!!
I need this more than life
I need this more than anything in the world....
OH, HOW I NEED THEE!!!!!
I need my boys back, and I need them so bad!!!
October 28, 2018
Port of Shadows is the first Black Company installment in seventeen years. This more or less stand-alone tale was meant to be the perfect place to start for newbies not familiar with Glen Cook's signature series and an opportunity for long time fans to rejoice. Unfortunately, this new book failed to deliver on basically every front. The father of Grimdark Cook may be, but his latest effort was a total failure to launch.
Readers who have yet to get acquainted with the motley crew that is the Black Company should give this novel a wide berth and go for The Chronicles of the Black Company omnibus instead. And existing fans should simply try to forget that Port of Shadows was published. Indeed, it was that underwhelming.
Here's the blurb:
The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs, and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.
The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. However, Croaker doesn’t trust any ofthe Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister…
The chapters "Tides Elba" and "Smelling Danger" and "Bone Candy" first appeared in various SFF anthologies between 2010 and 2014. Glen Cook fans were happy to see the author write new short fiction pieces featuring the endearing members of the Black Company. Personally, I thought that this particular story arc would continue to be explored through short stories every once in a while. But I reckon it was inevitable that a novel-length project would one day see the light. Problem is, I'm not sure the author had enough material to warrant a full novel at this point and it shows in several portions of Port of Shadows. This definitely was a case of all filler and no killer.
As far as I'm concerned, Croaker has always been the true voice of the Black Company. As a narrator, his witty and sardonic observations remain one of the highlights of the entire saga. The man is aware of his strengths and his flaws, and it's always a joy to follow his narrative. Hence, to have Croaker back as the narrator in Port of Shadows was, at least early on, a lot of fun. It felt as though Mischievous Rain would be a great new addition to the cast, but she soon became a dead end character. In many ways, it's the interaction between the members of the Black Company that has always made the characterization so special in this series. Unfortunately, fan favorites such as Goblin and One-Eye play very limited roles in the plot of this new book, and the focus remains more on the new faces comprising the supporting cast. Which would have been no problem had Cook taken time to develop them a bit. Alas. . .
Split into three distinct timelines that come together at different junctures in the plot, the structure of Port of Shadows takes a while to get used to. The "Once Upon a Time" section features the perspective of a necromancer who may have been nearly as powerful as the Dominator. The "Long Ago and Far Away" section features the point of view of young Credence Senjak. "In Modern Time" features Croaker's narrative, as the Black Company enjoys some downtime in Aloe until things take a turn for the worse.
There is no way to sugarcoat it. The pace is often absolutely horrendous. It feels as though Glen Cook is making everything up as he goes along. Port of Shadows is a meandering and occasionally downright boring work that has little in common with previous Black Company installments. Add to that all the misogynistic content, the rape, and the sexually perverted stuff like incest and necrophilia, and you can understand why this novel has many a fan, especially female readers, up in arms. There also appears to be continuity errors regarding the Senjak sisters that fans are not pleased with.
Finally, having everyone's memory wiped following the events of Port of Shadows to explain how no one can recall what happened in Aloe and in the Ghost Country was a half-assed plot device. In the end, like Croaker and the rest of the crew, I just wish I could forget about everything found within the pages of this novel. It was a chore to go through and took everything I had to reach the end. The endgame and the finale offer little satisfaction, so here's to hoping that no other Black Company novel-length projects are in the pipeline for the near future unless they can live up to the hype generated by their predecessors.
A major disappointment. . .
For more reviews, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
Readers who have yet to get acquainted with the motley crew that is the Black Company should give this novel a wide berth and go for The Chronicles of the Black Company omnibus instead. And existing fans should simply try to forget that Port of Shadows was published. Indeed, it was that underwhelming.
Here's the blurb:
The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs, and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.
The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. However, Croaker doesn’t trust any ofthe Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister…
The chapters "Tides Elba" and "Smelling Danger" and "Bone Candy" first appeared in various SFF anthologies between 2010 and 2014. Glen Cook fans were happy to see the author write new short fiction pieces featuring the endearing members of the Black Company. Personally, I thought that this particular story arc would continue to be explored through short stories every once in a while. But I reckon it was inevitable that a novel-length project would one day see the light. Problem is, I'm not sure the author had enough material to warrant a full novel at this point and it shows in several portions of Port of Shadows. This definitely was a case of all filler and no killer.
As far as I'm concerned, Croaker has always been the true voice of the Black Company. As a narrator, his witty and sardonic observations remain one of the highlights of the entire saga. The man is aware of his strengths and his flaws, and it's always a joy to follow his narrative. Hence, to have Croaker back as the narrator in Port of Shadows was, at least early on, a lot of fun. It felt as though Mischievous Rain would be a great new addition to the cast, but she soon became a dead end character. In many ways, it's the interaction between the members of the Black Company that has always made the characterization so special in this series. Unfortunately, fan favorites such as Goblin and One-Eye play very limited roles in the plot of this new book, and the focus remains more on the new faces comprising the supporting cast. Which would have been no problem had Cook taken time to develop them a bit. Alas. . .
Split into three distinct timelines that come together at different junctures in the plot, the structure of Port of Shadows takes a while to get used to. The "Once Upon a Time" section features the perspective of a necromancer who may have been nearly as powerful as the Dominator. The "Long Ago and Far Away" section features the point of view of young Credence Senjak. "In Modern Time" features Croaker's narrative, as the Black Company enjoys some downtime in Aloe until things take a turn for the worse.
There is no way to sugarcoat it. The pace is often absolutely horrendous. It feels as though Glen Cook is making everything up as he goes along. Port of Shadows is a meandering and occasionally downright boring work that has little in common with previous Black Company installments. Add to that all the misogynistic content, the rape, and the sexually perverted stuff like incest and necrophilia, and you can understand why this novel has many a fan, especially female readers, up in arms. There also appears to be continuity errors regarding the Senjak sisters that fans are not pleased with.
Finally, having everyone's memory wiped following the events of Port of Shadows to explain how no one can recall what happened in Aloe and in the Ghost Country was a half-assed plot device. In the end, like Croaker and the rest of the crew, I just wish I could forget about everything found within the pages of this novel. It was a chore to go through and took everything I had to reach the end. The endgame and the finale offer little satisfaction, so here's to hoping that no other Black Company novel-length projects are in the pipeline for the near future unless they can live up to the hype generated by their predecessors.
A major disappointment. . .
For more reviews, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
February 11, 2023
If you want to read this book after finishing the first trilogy thinking it will expand on the lore, before the surroundings change in the sequels, don't bother. Author pulls the rug under everything that happened in the last chapter saying the most revealing lore parts are to be dismissed completely... The rest is inconsequential. Read it after you're done with the rest and feel like visiting your friendly neighborhood annalist for a new tale.
There are slight spoilers for the first three main Black Company books as well as Port of Shadows below so beware!
I did not have big expectations from this story as when I was deciding whether to continue with Books of the South or jump to this mid-pre-side-whatever-quel no one was praising it as much as what I will call the main series. Nevertheless, I love the bare bone style of writing unique to Cook and Croaker is great main character.
However, it's sort of a waste of time. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved Croaker as "family man" and every scene with Beloved Shin. I laughed out loud more than with any other BC book I've read so far too. But what was the point? I don't want to hate on Cook because "how dares he write a book". Not at all. I'm glad he's still writing and fully admit I'm relieving my frustration mostly because my expectations were different.
I wish the book mattered. It's written 20+ years after the series began, takes place between the first and second novel and there was certainly a lot of space to expand on the lore, flash out characters like some of the Taken, Captain, Elmo... (If you know you know...) But instead it takes place in one region, has a new Taken it completely focuses on, action is mostly off screen even during the climax of the story, and when it's time to wrap up, everything is magically forgotten, characters disappear and author leaves us to contemplate what was real and what not.
There's a side story that takes place during the time of The Domination that doesn't fit with the narrative from the main story and while I was reading it I was wondering how will this fit together at the end. Well... it doesn't! Narrator says in the last chapter that it was probably a made up story.
Had I read it after I finished the main series I probably would not be as disappointed because it would return me to the beginning, although only a little bit. But reading it after first three novels it feels like a waste of time. It's a fan fiction written by the creator of the series and cleverly set in the time between The Black Company and Shadows Linger, loosely wrapped by spell of amnesia so that it doesn't disturb the already written story.
My recommendation is to read this after the main series, maybe wait a bit, and when you feel like you want to read some more misadventures of Croaker and The Black Company pick this one up if you don't feel as re-read of main series is in order just yet. You will enjoy it a bit more that way and I think that's kind of what Cook was aiming for.
There are slight spoilers for the first three main Black Company books as well as Port of Shadows below so beware!
I did not have big expectations from this story as when I was deciding whether to continue with Books of the South or jump to this mid-pre-side-whatever-quel no one was praising it as much as what I will call the main series. Nevertheless, I love the bare bone style of writing unique to Cook and Croaker is great main character.
However, it's sort of a waste of time. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved Croaker as "family man" and every scene with Beloved Shin. I laughed out loud more than with any other BC book I've read so far too. But what was the point? I don't want to hate on Cook because "how dares he write a book". Not at all. I'm glad he's still writing and fully admit I'm relieving my frustration mostly because my expectations were different.
I wish the book mattered. It's written 20+ years after the series began, takes place between the first and second novel and there was certainly a lot of space to expand on the lore, flash out characters like some of the Taken, Captain, Elmo... (If you know you know...) But instead it takes place in one region, has a new Taken it completely focuses on, action is mostly off screen even during the climax of the story, and when it's time to wrap up, everything is magically forgotten, characters disappear and author leaves us to contemplate what was real and what not.
There's a side story that takes place during the time of The Domination that doesn't fit with the narrative from the main story and while I was reading it I was wondering how will this fit together at the end. Well... it doesn't! Narrator says in the last chapter that it was probably a made up story.
Had I read it after I finished the main series I probably would not be as disappointed because it would return me to the beginning, although only a little bit. But reading it after first three novels it feels like a waste of time. It's a fan fiction written by the creator of the series and cleverly set in the time between The Black Company and Shadows Linger, loosely wrapped by spell of amnesia so that it doesn't disturb the already written story.
My recommendation is to read this after the main series, maybe wait a bit, and when you feel like you want to read some more misadventures of Croaker and The Black Company pick this one up if you don't feel as re-read of main series is in order just yet. You will enjoy it a bit more that way and I think that's kind of what Cook was aiming for.
September 24, 2020
I first discovered Glenn Cook 30 years ago. I've read everything he has published and loved nearly all of it. This book, by far is the worst he has ever produced. No, really this could be considered Did Not Finish material. If you loved the characters of the Black Company, you will not find them here. Sure the names used are the same but the personalities and actions of those characters do not come across at all. All interactions are very superficial and half of it is just a straight rehash of them posted on from the other books, poorly.
It seems like he's trying to write this as unreliable narrator. He ends up with a muddled mash making very little sense. Nothing is gripping, there is no feeling of build up, impending dread or doom. I'm guessing he's somehow finagled himself to getting published without letting an editor within a 100 feet of the manuscript.
I think he's interjecting himself into the story with the whole, something is making people forget and become confused because it certainly feels like Glen is writing while suffering from early senility.
Maybe somebody can correct me but if I remember correctly, we know the Lady's true name. Yet she is killed in the first chapter hundreds of year in the past. I'm guessing he is trying to be cutsie by trying to play with the Senjak sisters and who everyone really is still but ultimately it's is amatureish and poorly done.
Sometimes it's best to walk away from some of your best characters and start new ones.
There you have it, this book is garbage compared to almost all his other works. Don't buy it, you won't want to finish it.
It seems like he's trying to write this as unreliable narrator. He ends up with a muddled mash making very little sense. Nothing is gripping, there is no feeling of build up, impending dread or doom. I'm guessing he's somehow finagled himself to getting published without letting an editor within a 100 feet of the manuscript.
I think he's interjecting himself into the story with the whole, something is making people forget and become confused because it certainly feels like Glen is writing while suffering from early senility.
Maybe somebody can correct me but if I remember correctly, we know the Lady's true name. Yet she is killed in the first chapter hundreds of year in the past. I'm guessing he is trying to be cutsie by trying to play with the Senjak sisters and who everyone really is still but ultimately it's is amatureish and poorly done.
Sometimes it's best to walk away from some of your best characters and start new ones.
There you have it, this book is garbage compared to almost all his other works. Don't buy it, you won't want to finish it.
September 16, 2018
I want more
Wow, just like your favorite jeans. This book reminded me of catching up with an old friend, everything just seemed perfect. It's been way to long since we've heard from Croaker and the Company, characters were just as you would expect,the writing was in line with the rest of the books and the plot was unique. Although there was not as much action as I would of liked,there is some very interesting back story that reveals a lot about the Lady and family. A must read for any Black co fan. Hopefully, there will be a few more additions the to this series.
Wow, just like your favorite jeans. This book reminded me of catching up with an old friend, everything just seemed perfect. It's been way to long since we've heard from Croaker and the Company, characters were just as you would expect,the writing was in line with the rest of the books and the plot was unique. Although there was not as much action as I would of liked,there is some very interesting back story that reveals a lot about the Lady and family. A must read for any Black co fan. Hopefully, there will be a few more additions the to this series.
December 25, 2018
This is not the Black Company you are looking for. Skip it.
There are two narratives. One deep in the past, one current told by Croaker.
The past involves a necromancer, Papa, the dead body of Dorotea Senjak and her sister Credence and the centuries they spent together and what became of them.
Croaker tells the story of the Port of Shadows, a way to awaken the Dominator.
Not much happens in the book which takes place in Aloe for about 4 years.
The Company is in a peaceful town, the rebels destroyed and unwilling to bother them much.
The biggest surprise in the book is the one that makes the least sense.
The Company captures a rebel captain Tides Elba. She is sent off to the Tower of the Lady
About a half year later, Tides returns as the new Taken Michievous Rain. With her are what she claims are her twin children. We later learn the father of these children is none other than Croaker.
(Seems the Tower is like elf-hill, time spent there can be completely different than time outside of the tower. The Lady manipulated time, Rain and Croaker to create the children.)
The narratives come together. they stop the Port from being activated, and EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK IS ERASED FROM THE MEMORY OF THE ENTIRE COMPANY.
There is a post script written as if by a scholar.
The story was pieced together from fragments found after a cyclone destroys much of the town and oral history from those still alive and who remember..
Company Annals captured after Queen's Bridge, show a blank of four years. No mention of anything that ever happened.
This is a Black company novel in name only.
The characters you know do not conform to those you know.
Croaker is clueless and gets dumber as the story slogs on.
One-Eye and Goblin are for the most part subdued. (No wizardly battles)
The Captain seems hostile toward Croaker.
The book tries to muddy the identities of the Senjak Sisters and creates hundreds?? of copies.
What happened to all of them? They clearly have power...
I could go on and on.
Bottom line - Disappointment.
There are two narratives. One deep in the past, one current told by Croaker.
The past involves a necromancer, Papa, the dead body of Dorotea Senjak and her sister Credence and the centuries they spent together and what became of them.
Croaker tells the story of the Port of Shadows, a way to awaken the Dominator.
Not much happens in the book which takes place in Aloe for about 4 years.
The Company is in a peaceful town, the rebels destroyed and unwilling to bother them much.
The biggest surprise in the book is the one that makes the least sense.
The Company captures a rebel captain Tides Elba. She is sent off to the Tower of the Lady
About a half year later, Tides returns as the new Taken Michievous Rain. With her are what she claims are her twin children. We later learn the father of these children is none other than Croaker.
(Seems the Tower is like elf-hill, time spent there can be completely different than time outside of the tower. The Lady manipulated time, Rain and Croaker to create the children.)
The narratives come together. they stop the Port from being activated, and EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK IS ERASED FROM THE MEMORY OF THE ENTIRE COMPANY.
There is a post script written as if by a scholar.
The story was pieced together from fragments found after a cyclone destroys much of the town and oral history from those still alive and who remember..
Company Annals captured after Queen's Bridge, show a blank of four years. No mention of anything that ever happened.
This is a Black company novel in name only.
The characters you know do not conform to those you know.
Croaker is clueless and gets dumber as the story slogs on.
One-Eye and Goblin are for the most part subdued. (No wizardly battles)
The Captain seems hostile toward Croaker.
The book tries to muddy the identities of the Senjak Sisters and creates hundreds?? of copies.
What happened to all of them? They clearly have power...
I could go on and on.
Bottom line - Disappointment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2019
Port Cieni to przyjemny powrót do uniwersum Czarnej Kompanii...i właściwie to tyle. Dla mnie nie wnosi nic nowego na tyle, bym dał się porwać historii. Podobnie jak w przypadku Sezonu burz, gdzie był to powrót po latach do postaci Wiedźmina, nie niósł on dla mnie ładunku emocjonalnego. Wszystko przez umiejscowienie czasu akcji pomiędzy wydarzeniami, których finał jest nam dobrze znany. Przekładając na język filmowy, Port Cieni to takie materiały bonusowe i dodatki. Fajnie, że są, ale jakby ich nie było to też nic by się nie stało. Port Cieni to jak sam autor pisze we wstępie to głównie opowiadania, które już gdzieś kiedyś się ukazały. Ponadto ja Kroniki Czarnej Kompanii czytałem na studiach, dobre kilka lat temu. A że nie mam wielkiej pamięci do fabuł to wiele było dla mnie już nieczytelne, a zależności między bohaterami niejasne. Dlatego dobrze, że Port Cieni mogą przeczytać osoby, które zaczną przygodę z uniwersum Glena Cooka. Czytając po kolei i na bieżąco, na pewno będą miały większą przyjemność z czytania. Mnie za to zachwyciła szata graficzna. Zachowanie oryginalnej okładki, z dodanymi złotymi literami i zdobieniami, które mamy w poprzednich czterech zbiorczych tomach, robią naprawdę cudowne wrażenie. Podsumowując Port Cieni jak najbardziej polecam. Zwłaszcza nowym czytelnikom Kronik Czarnej Kompanii, by zachowując kolejność czytania, wyciągnąć z Portu Cieni więcej frajdy. Dla stałych czytelników lepsze będzie sięgnięcie po Port Cieni może przy okazji ponownej lektury całych Kronik? Mi na pewno by się to przydało.
September 27, 2018
Alas!
Glen Cook is a fine writer, and the prose is certainly Glen Cook's. The nostalgia of returning to one of my favorite series (penultimate to the best period of that series) was keen.
Unfortunately, this revival should have remained buried. I labored through far too much harkening back to banter better written in the original volumes; I pressed on past filler that, if cut, would have left the remainder a serviceable short story; I held my nose and skimmed an unsettling amount of misogynistic horrors; only to be rewarded by an ending that made the entire trial worthless to the greater saga.
The Black Company books are brilliant. This volume in no way serves to edify its companions. You'll do yourself a disservice avoiding the other books, but you'll do yourself a favor skipping Port of Shadows.
Glen Cook is a fine writer, and the prose is certainly Glen Cook's. The nostalgia of returning to one of my favorite series (penultimate to the best period of that series) was keen.
Unfortunately, this revival should have remained buried. I labored through far too much harkening back to banter better written in the original volumes; I pressed on past filler that, if cut, would have left the remainder a serviceable short story; I held my nose and skimmed an unsettling amount of misogynistic horrors; only to be rewarded by an ending that made the entire trial worthless to the greater saga.
The Black Company books are brilliant. This volume in no way serves to edify its companions. You'll do yourself a disservice avoiding the other books, but you'll do yourself a favor skipping Port of Shadows.
January 11, 2023
It is with great sadness that I admit that I really didn’t like this book. I love the series, especially the original three books and The Silver Spike. This novel should have been a great addition, coming at a time in the storyline that saw the Black Company at the top of their game, but the sad truth is that it never really held my attention. The tale is broken up into three narratives two of which revolve tightly around the Lady and her sisters growing up in the world of the Dominator. Unsurprisingly the Dominator’s world is a bleak one filled with violence, rape, and other nastiness that is casually sprinkled throughout the stories as the reader tries to glean some context for the evolution of the Lady and Soulcatcher into two fearsomely powerful despots. The stories are confusing and probably don’t hold together under strict scrutiny. (I’m not positive they don’t because I didn’t enjoy the book enough to give it that strict scrutiny.)
The final storyline follows the Black Company in the modern day and it is disjointed and confusing and frankly not a lot of fun. I’m rereading the series now, and I remember that I wasn’t thrilled with all of the original books, but I don’t remember being this disappointed in any of the others.
The final storyline follows the Black Company in the modern day and it is disjointed and confusing and frankly not a lot of fun. I’m rereading the series now, and I remember that I wasn’t thrilled with all of the original books, but I don’t remember being this disappointed in any of the others.
December 13, 2024
3.5 stelle
Il libro di per se non è assolutamente brutto.. Lo stile particolare di Glen di legge che è una meraviglia.. stringato, sintetico, ma che allo stesso tempo trasmette dinamismo e divertimento.. i vari scambi tra i soldati sono la cosa più divertente di tutte.. e ci sono anche alcune trovate narrative carine..
Il problema più grande secondo me è la trama, che è piuttosto povera, a tratti un po' confusa, e anche se alla fine si capisce tutto, in molti punti non è affatto avvincente..
Molte delle cose importanti succedono off screen, ma non vengono spiegate, ne le capiamo.. Succede qualcosa ok, ma non si sa cosa o come o perché.. Se questo da un lato non inficia sulla comprensione globale della storia, in molti punti però rende la storia proprio noiosa..
Aspettare insieme a Croacker mentre gli altri fanno cose e lui no, diventa un po' ripetitivo e di poco appeal..
È un romanzo interquel, che sembra realizzato proprio per tappare dei buchi nella storia principale, mancando di quella grinta e creatività tipici della storia principale..
Il libro di per se non è assolutamente brutto.. Lo stile particolare di Glen di legge che è una meraviglia.. stringato, sintetico, ma che allo stesso tempo trasmette dinamismo e divertimento.. i vari scambi tra i soldati sono la cosa più divertente di tutte.. e ci sono anche alcune trovate narrative carine..
Il problema più grande secondo me è la trama, che è piuttosto povera, a tratti un po' confusa, e anche se alla fine si capisce tutto, in molti punti non è affatto avvincente..
Molte delle cose importanti succedono off screen, ma non vengono spiegate, ne le capiamo.. Succede qualcosa ok, ma non si sa cosa o come o perché.. Se questo da un lato non inficia sulla comprensione globale della storia, in molti punti però rende la storia proprio noiosa..
Aspettare insieme a Croacker mentre gli altri fanno cose e lui no, diventa un po' ripetitivo e di poco appeal..
È un romanzo interquel, che sembra realizzato proprio per tappare dei buchi nella storia principale, mancando di quella grinta e creatività tipici della storia principale..
September 21, 2018
After many years Glen Cook returns to his hugely popular Black Company series. This book goes back to a time when the Black Company is still in service to the Lady. It takes place between book one, "The Black Company", and book two, "Shadows Linger". This one is once again told from the perspective of Croker, the Black Company's Annalist. He has stated many times that some of the Annals are missing and parts of the Company's history are unknown. Little did he know that part of his own history with the Black Company is missing along with his memories as well as those of the entire Black Company. This story is pieced together from documents hidden away by Crocker and others and found many years later. Documents were also found that relate some of the story of an earlier time when the Dominator was still in power and how the Senjak sisters were involved. Much information that was hinted at in the first three Black Company books is revealed in this one. All the old familiar characters are back such as Croker, One-Eye, Goblin, Silent, The Captain and many more. This book is a must-read for all Black Company fans.
September 16, 2018
The easiest, no brainer, 5 stars I’ve given this year
September 24, 2025
The latest installment of The Black Company series takes place between book one (The Black Company) and book two (Shadows Linger). The Company is in service to the Lady, and some extreme weirdness starts happening.
Of all the 11 Black Company books, this one is by far the most involved. Memory issues, unreliable narrators, and incomplete information all serve to cloud what exactly happened during this book. The in-world postscript just clouds things even more—it seems to be written many years after the events of book three (The White Rose), yet it clearly contradicts some of the things that happened in The White Rose.
This will be a book that causes rampant speculation among long-time readers of The Black Company. For new readers who read this before Shadows Linger, it's going to cause some serious confusion.
Either way, this was a fun, exciting return to Croaker and the Company. It's full of mystery and left me with a similar feeling to the end of Soldiers Live: there's still so much more than could be explored in this world, and we got some tantalizing new hints of what that could be.
Of all the 11 Black Company books, this one is by far the most involved. Memory issues, unreliable narrators, and incomplete information all serve to cloud what exactly happened during this book. The in-world postscript just clouds things even more—it seems to be written many years after the events of book three (The White Rose), yet it clearly contradicts some of the things that happened in The White Rose.
This will be a book that causes rampant speculation among long-time readers of The Black Company. For new readers who read this before Shadows Linger, it's going to cause some serious confusion.
Either way, this was a fun, exciting return to Croaker and the Company. It's full of mystery and left me with a similar feeling to the end of Soldiers Live: there's still so much more than could be explored in this world, and we got some tantalizing new hints of what that could be.
September 20, 2018
74 years young and still kicking ass! Cheers to you Mr.Cook!
October 27, 2018
This Black Company installment from Glen Cook (chronologically #1.5, but published >#10) will be enjoyed by long-term fans much more than newer folk reading the books in order. I came from reading only the first book and recommend skipping it (I am still intrigued to read Shadows Linger eventually). As part of group read in the Goodread's Sword & Sorcery group, series fans suggest reading the original trilogy first (Chronicles of the Black Company) and reaffirm that the other books are more engaging.
1- The Black Company (1984)
1.5- Port of Shadows (2018)
2- Shadows Linger (1984)
3- The White Rose (1985)
Some spoilers follow as I explain why Port of Shadows is alluring Fake News
To quote the main narrator Croaker (physician and official historian of the group): "I had no idea what this ferocious campaign was all about. Well, yes, there were Rebels and Resurrectionists in need of butchering out here. Hints from the wife and kids suggested a possible connection to the Port of Shadows business, but … I could not help suspecting that something more was afoot.
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories."
Alfred Hitchcock once said, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after but the audience don't care"; the titular "Port of Shadows" is not quite a MacGuffin--but it's pretty close: the mysterious "Port" is the focus of the Black Company's quest/conflict, but ample threads/arcs regarding the danger stemming from it are consistently left unexplained or shown to be not dangerous.
Ostensible conflict (excerpt): "…if the Lady had spoken truly, Tides Elba was a threat to the whole world. She could become the port through which the hideous shadow known as the Dominator could make his return. No doubt she was sought by and beloved of every Resurrectionist cultist hoping to raise the old evil from his grave. No doubt she was the prophesied messiah of darkness."
We are told (not shown) that the Port is an exposed pathway for the evil Dominator to be resurrected--yet as a reader I was never engaged. For one, the Dominator's evilness is not demonstrated, nor do the flashbacks really feature him or his behavior; secondly, the "Port" and all its possible incarnations are not really dangerous (we are told, not shown, many times that the possible Ports are causing mayhem, but the Black Company and our narrator Croaker never seem to be in any danger); and lastly, any such resurrection (i.e., use of the Port) never seems close. Nothing ever seems to be at stake.
A lack luster tale told in a confusing fashion: The tale is told via a weave of historic (long time ago) and present-day chapters. The initial 1/3rd is great, but the mysterious "Just follow my command and do a mysterious task without explanation" [given by the Lady or the Black Co Captain to Croaker] starts to fall flat thereafter. Suspicious activity from the magician One-Eye and the Taken Limper introduced in the beginning are ultimately just snippets for old time fans to relish. Although entertaining, any tension from having untrustworthy companions is not capitalized on.
Fake News: We learn lots of what is going via journalistic accounts (not direct witnessing) as characters touch base with Croaker. This makes sense since he is the Annalist, but also keeps the reader distant. The alternating shifts in time also change point of view (first person with Croaker and third person). Within one yarn, there is time travel (forward and back) in which people are transported via time.
Everyone is unreliable, either because they are mischievous, possessed/"not acting like themselves," are clones, impostors, twins, or alternative incarnations of themselves (Mischievous rain had at least three version of herself; Laissa at least two, Ankou shapeshifts, etc.). The confusion does not seem to be unfurled intentionally (i.e., in a Phillip Dick story). Instead we are given a huge swath of characters, all unreliable, most only appearing for a short time, most with multiple instances of themselves… and none of them know what is going on (see below excerpts).
I am assuming that the following stories in the series follow through and make this feel more complete, but as a standalone novel, and even as a sequel, it feels incomplete.
Excerpts (a.k.a., Fake News headlines):
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories.
We’re into something unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We don’t know what it is. That’s why we keep talking and talking. I can’t even express it. It’s something that we can’t handle the way we usually do. We can’t trick it. We can’t crush it by being the nastiest killers on the field. It’s all inside. Insidious.
Nobody knows what’s going on. Anything that we think we know is almost certainly not…
"…You don’t know anything more than I do. And now I’m beginning to think that maybe even the Taken is without a clue.” Our mistress was known for playing lives-long games that only she could fathom.
The Captain deployed his ingenuous smile, neither denying nor confirming, just suggesting that he knew something that would remain a mystery to everyone else.
Nothing was what it looked like. Nothing stayed the same. Nothing went the way that it should.
Somebody keeps making us forget stuff
I had no idea what this ferocious campaign was all about. Well, yes, there were Rebels and Resurrectionists in need of butchering out here. Hints from the wife and kids suggested a possible connection to the Port of Shadows business, but … I could not help suspecting that something more was afoot.
From the Old Man down to the Third and local kid Gurdlief Speak, folks keep asking me for news they need to make sense of a time that no surviving memories make sensible.
the Black Company must have been smacked with a widespread, savage, and utterly, angrily deliberate memory assault.
None of the Senjak sisters were described accurately. None of them were identified by their correct names.
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories.
1- The Black Company (1984)
1.5- Port of Shadows (2018)
2- Shadows Linger (1984)
3- The White Rose (1985)
Some spoilers follow as I explain why Port of Shadows is alluring Fake News
To quote the main narrator Croaker (physician and official historian of the group): "I had no idea what this ferocious campaign was all about. Well, yes, there were Rebels and Resurrectionists in need of butchering out here. Hints from the wife and kids suggested a possible connection to the Port of Shadows business, but … I could not help suspecting that something more was afoot.
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories."
Alfred Hitchcock once said, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after but the audience don't care"; the titular "Port of Shadows" is not quite a MacGuffin--but it's pretty close: the mysterious "Port" is the focus of the Black Company's quest/conflict, but ample threads/arcs regarding the danger stemming from it are consistently left unexplained or shown to be not dangerous.
Ostensible conflict (excerpt): "…if the Lady had spoken truly, Tides Elba was a threat to the whole world. She could become the port through which the hideous shadow known as the Dominator could make his return. No doubt she was sought by and beloved of every Resurrectionist cultist hoping to raise the old evil from his grave. No doubt she was the prophesied messiah of darkness."
We are told (not shown) that the Port is an exposed pathway for the evil Dominator to be resurrected--yet as a reader I was never engaged. For one, the Dominator's evilness is not demonstrated, nor do the flashbacks really feature him or his behavior; secondly, the "Port" and all its possible incarnations are not really dangerous (we are told, not shown, many times that the possible Ports are causing mayhem, but the Black Company and our narrator Croaker never seem to be in any danger); and lastly, any such resurrection (i.e., use of the Port) never seems close. Nothing ever seems to be at stake.
A lack luster tale told in a confusing fashion: The tale is told via a weave of historic (long time ago) and present-day chapters. The initial 1/3rd is great, but the mysterious "Just follow my command and do a mysterious task without explanation" [given by the Lady or the Black Co Captain to Croaker] starts to fall flat thereafter. Suspicious activity from the magician One-Eye and the Taken Limper introduced in the beginning are ultimately just snippets for old time fans to relish. Although entertaining, any tension from having untrustworthy companions is not capitalized on.
Fake News: We learn lots of what is going via journalistic accounts (not direct witnessing) as characters touch base with Croaker. This makes sense since he is the Annalist, but also keeps the reader distant. The alternating shifts in time also change point of view (first person with Croaker and third person). Within one yarn, there is time travel (forward and back) in which people are transported via time.
Everyone is unreliable, either because they are mischievous, possessed/"not acting like themselves," are clones, impostors, twins, or alternative incarnations of themselves (Mischievous rain had at least three version of herself; Laissa at least two, Ankou shapeshifts, etc.). The confusion does not seem to be unfurled intentionally (i.e., in a Phillip Dick story). Instead we are given a huge swath of characters, all unreliable, most only appearing for a short time, most with multiple instances of themselves… and none of them know what is going on (see below excerpts).
I am assuming that the following stories in the series follow through and make this feel more complete, but as a standalone novel, and even as a sequel, it feels incomplete.
Excerpts (a.k.a., Fake News headlines):
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories.
We’re into something unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We don’t know what it is. That’s why we keep talking and talking. I can’t even express it. It’s something that we can’t handle the way we usually do. We can’t trick it. We can’t crush it by being the nastiest killers on the field. It’s all inside. Insidious.
Nobody knows what’s going on. Anything that we think we know is almost certainly not…
"…You don’t know anything more than I do. And now I’m beginning to think that maybe even the Taken is without a clue.” Our mistress was known for playing lives-long games that only she could fathom.
The Captain deployed his ingenuous smile, neither denying nor confirming, just suggesting that he knew something that would remain a mystery to everyone else.
Nothing was what it looked like. Nothing stayed the same. Nothing went the way that it should.
Somebody keeps making us forget stuff
I had no idea what this ferocious campaign was all about. Well, yes, there were Rebels and Resurrectionists in need of butchering out here. Hints from the wife and kids suggested a possible connection to the Port of Shadows business, but … I could not help suspecting that something more was afoot.
From the Old Man down to the Third and local kid Gurdlief Speak, folks keep asking me for news they need to make sense of a time that no surviving memories make sensible.
the Black Company must have been smacked with a widespread, savage, and utterly, angrily deliberate memory assault.
None of the Senjak sisters were described accurately. None of them were identified by their correct names.
The most reliable information about the late empire is not reliable at all. It, too, is consensus guesswork woven from untrustworthy fragmentary records and hand-me-down oral histories.
October 23, 2020
Tabavaid ja leidlikke võrdlusi ja tähelepanekuid oli oluliselt vähem, need olid asendatud meeletu koguse lihtlausetega. Nt "Vaip maandus metsa lähedal. Seal oli palju sõdureid. Nad tegid tööd. Töö oli raske. Leedi astus vaibalt maha. Tüdrukud järgnesid talle. Kõik kolm pöördusid mind vaatama." Nagu loeks lapsega pildiraamatut, krt.
Croaker oli kohutav viripunn ja muidu ei olnud tore. Hea, et kõik selle loo lõpus ära unustavad, ma juba ei mäletagi.
Croaker oli kohutav viripunn ja muidu ei olnud tore. Hea, et kõik selle loo lõpus ära unustavad, ma juba ei mäletagi.
June 19, 2022
3.5 stars? What a bizarre ride, even by TBC standards. We've got three perspectives and two(?) timelines that were written into the story almost 20 years after the previous title. In that time Cook may have let the whole 'father of grimdark' thing get to his head because this one is very grim and dark, with a hearty serving of family life between Croaker and one of The Taken used as a smokescreen to hide their identity?
PoS is a sort of interquel between the first two books but there is so much inferred that you'd likely miss unless you've finished the main series...and even then this one can throw you through a loop.
There's the story of Dorotea a young sorceress from a VERY important family in the series, trying to recover her sister's abused and discarded body from The Dominator.
Then there's the mad necromancer, who happened to claim the said body and resurrects her as his daughter, this gets really grim, dark, uncomfortable, and gross...like Frankenstein meets Lolita levels creepy...
Finally, we've got the good ol' Black Company who spend the first third of the book playing pranks on the Limper, then Croaker gets married to one of The Taken and inherits some kids?! These parts are by far my favorite
then we learn about the Port of Shadows...again this gets pretty grim and dark and weird...but pans out to be a pretty interesting story, with a mostly "good" ending.
This kinda brings me back to what I said earlier, I think the time between writing these novels may have skewed Cook's vision. There is way more misogyny, rape, and compared to the rest of the series. If you were to read TBC for the first time and went in chronological order I could see this really turning some people away from the series because of its shock value. That being said
PoS is a sort of interquel between the first two books but there is so much inferred that you'd likely miss unless you've finished the main series...and even then this one can throw you through a loop.
There's the story of Dorotea a young sorceress from a VERY important family in the series, trying to recover her sister's abused and discarded body from The Dominator.
Then there's the mad necromancer, who happened to claim the said body and resurrects her as his daughter, this gets really grim, dark, uncomfortable, and gross...like Frankenstein meets Lolita levels creepy...
Finally, we've got the good ol' Black Company who spend the first third of the book playing pranks on the Limper, then Croaker gets married to one of The Taken and inherits some kids?! These parts are by far my favorite
then we learn about the Port of Shadows...again this gets pretty grim and dark and weird...but pans out to be a pretty interesting story, with a mostly "good" ending.
This kinda brings me back to what I said earlier, I think the time between writing these novels may have skewed Cook's vision. There is way more misogyny, rape, and compared to the rest of the series. If you were to read TBC for the first time and went in chronological order I could see this really turning some people away from the series because of its shock value. That being said
September 23, 2018
This was interesting to read as a return to the Black Company; the series was originally published in the 80s/90s as dark military fantasy about a mercenary group that signs on to work for the evil empire and gets caught up in the sorcerous crossfire between the various factions of evil overlords ruling the place. It's very much a progenitor of the Grimdark fantasy genre, about fighting being bloody and awful, self-interest being rewarded far more than good intentions, and the overall dog-eat-dog nature of the world; it's also vaguely mysogynist in that way where women are good for something, over there off the page, and we can just think of them as sex objects, and a woman with enough power to not be a sex object is objectively terrifying. So this is the world we're returning to, in a story set in the middle of events that we've already known how they turn out, which makes for an interesting challenge; there are some things the characters worry about that we know can't happen, and others that they discover that the reader already knew going in. It's not predicated on any foreknowledge -- it'd probably be a decent entry-point for new readers, with a bit of extra suspense and a bit of extra confusion and revelation for those not familiar -- but it's certainly an experience to come back to the characters, knowing where they'll end up in a few books. I'd probably recommend the old books as a start instead, though, if only because this doesn't get up to quite as many tricks and surprises as the original trilogy. Also. it's very true to those characters, which makes it strange to read their dismissal and objectification of the women at the heart of the story here in 2018; I'm not sure how you could correct that given the very close first-person nature of the writing, but I wish Cook could have somehow. If you have nostalgia for the Black Company this is worth a look, or if you've heard of the series but don't want to actually embark on a, granted, short by modern fantasy standards, ten-book read (and there's omnibuses now, too) it does hit all the major beats. Other than that, it won't necessarily astound you, but it's a competent dark fantasy.
December 12, 2018
A story that takes place during the Company's service to Lady, before the destruction of the Dominator. Fans of the Annals of the Black Company will almost certainly enjoy it. I have no idea if people unfamiliar with the series would understand it, but they're in luck! They get to read the Annal of the Black Company for the first time. It gives the most in-depth look at the time of the Domination yet.
October 1, 2018
WTF, Glen? This ... this was not a Black Company book. I dunno what this was. Reminiscent of one of Brust’s time-bending, who knows wtf is actually going on, later Taltos books. And just, really, not great. NOT Black Company. Unfortunately (and I thought this with his later (prior to this one) Black Company books too), seems Cook has really lost the thread with this series.
January 4, 2019
If you’re big time in BC lore and characters, this is the book for you! To others this book may just seem like “filler” to me it’s a treat! I greatly enjoyed going back to this world and getting to know these awesome characters again!
Highly recommended for BC fanatics like me!
Highly recommended for BC fanatics like me!
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