Dreams of Steel
core novel 1990 The Chronicles of the Black Company
Record
| First published | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.11 (11,579 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 346 |
| First-edition ISBN | 0812502108 |
Synopsis
Dreams of Steel picks up after the Company's defeat in the previous volume, with the former sorceress Lady and Croaker separated on opposite sides of a swollen river that keeps them from reuniting. Lady, now effectively leading what remains of the Black Company, sets about rebuilding Taglios's shattered army, forging an uneasy alliance with Narayan Singh, a leader of the Deceivers, a shadowy religious sect devoted to the death goddess Kina. Croaker, meanwhile, remains a captive of Soulcatcher, the Lady's vengeful and unpredictable sister among the Taken, who is intent on both healing herself and sowing chaos around her. As Lady navigates the risks of her new allies and Soulcatcher's schemes ripple outward, the rival sorcerers Longshadow and Howler maneuver in the background, drawing the separated leaders and Taglios itself deeper into a widening conflict.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Chronicles of the Black Company
- Series: The Books of the South core; position 3 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Glen Cook
Notes
- From the series record (The Books of the South): Includes The Silver Spike (spin-off).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Books of the South: position 3 of 3: previous Shadow Games (1989)
Sources
← The Chronicles of the Black Company dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.