My Cultural Diet

The Black Company is the most elite mercenary group in all the land, but they’ve fallen on hard times as of late. When a new opportunity presents itself, they leap at the opportunity — only to discover that their new employer might just be an ancient evil that’s beginning to reawaken. Glen Cook’s debut novel helped to establish the “grimdark” genre with its tale of mercenaries willing to do whatever it takes to survive and ancient sorcerers who barely seem human. (Tolkien, this most certainly is not.) The Black Company was inspired by Cook’s own experiences as a soldier, and as such, is less focused on traditional world building and more concerned with the mercenaries — colorful characters, every single one of them — and their own struggles to stay alive, no matter what. Some might find Cook’s terse, even perfunctory storytelling appealing and even refreshing compared to high fantasy, but it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.

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