The Black Company
core novel 1984 The Chronicles of the Black Company
Record
| First published | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.93 (56,589 ratings, collected 2026-09-12) |
| Page count | 319 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780812533705 |
Synopsis
The Black Company opens the first novel of the Chronicles in a dark fantasy world ruled by the sorceress known as the Lady, who commands the Northern Empire with the aid of her powerful lieutenants, the Ten Who Were Taken, against a rebellion called the Circle of Eighteen. The eponymous Black Company, the last of the old Free Companies, is initially hired by the city-state of Beryl to hunt a nearly unkillable shapeshifting predator called a forvalaka. When the Taken sorceress Soulcatcher offers the Company far more lucrative service under the Lady, the Captain accepts, a choice that draws the mercenaries into the empire's war against the Circle. The story is narrated by Croaker, the Company's physician and chronicler, whose growing, uneasy fascination with the Lady colors his account of the unit's campaigns, its treacherous employers, and the moral compromises soldiering for such a patron demands.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Chronicles of the Black Company
- Series: The Books of the North core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Glen Cook
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 North: position 1 of 3: next Shadows Linger (1984)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company_(novel)
← The Chronicles of the Black Company dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.