The Black Company by Glen Cook

[meganbmoore]

 A while back, telophasedid a writeup of this book that, in complete honesty, pretty much says most of what I would say.  So go read that.

Set 400 years after the normal Great Epic Fantasy Story wherein some hero or other (ok, the White Rose) trounced the evil Dominator and his Lady, and locked them up.  Except, this being a normal (if slightly darker0 fantasy world, all those wizards and what-not running around have caused the spells to wear thin.

Enter the Black Company, the last true mercenary bands of what was once twelve bands, the group's current contract is running out, and they're hired by a person named Soulcatcher to track down all of the Lady and the Dominators old flunkies.  Along the way, they hire two new people, one of whom, Raven, is an extra ruthless and badass mercenary, who, as tends to happen with the sort, seemingly randomly takes in a little girl named Darling.  We all know that type is prone to random attacks of "must take in and protect this little thing that's out of it's league ad kill any who threaten to harm it" in fiction.  And then all sorts of fun things happen.

 The book is told exclusively through the POV of Croaker, the chronicler and doctor of the band.  He has more than a bit of a crush on the Lady, and event writers what amount to Gary Stu self-insert fanfic with her, something he probably regretted even before the band had working for her as taunting ammunition.  Instead of your standard first person past tense POV, the book is written almost as if it were what Croaker is writing in the company's annals, so massive parts of the story are his briefly narrating events, and important characters are mentioned only in the context of his saying "and so-and-so was sent to do this and this happened as a result."  Scenes that are "normal" scenes are events he decided to write out in more detail.  In short, it's telling instead of showing actually working and being the stronger narrative choice.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have to say that Raven is the exception that proves the rule for my Thing about tough characters accompanied by a cute wee thing.

Although, come to think of it, I may have placed the entire Black Company in the role of the tough character accompanied by a cute wee thing.

(My personal favorite character is Croaker himself, followed by Goblin and One-Eye. XD)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think it's because we don't see much of Raven. Aside from acquiring and running off with Darling, we mostly see him sulking at Darling talking to Croaker and such. And, you know, we know Croaker better.

They were largely all about "OMG SHE'S SO CUTE! But we will never admit it!"