Customer Reviews

The Silver Spike: The Chronicles of the Black Company

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In many ways, this is my favorite Black Company novel, because I found Case to be the most believable and sympathetic narrator in the series. I am in no way trashing on Croaker... I just couldn't put myself in his shoes most of the time.

In many other ways, this is the weakest of the books, because the writing is (as other reviewers have noted) a bit spotty. Its reliance on Raven as a central character is a distinct weakness, as he was always the most one-dimensional character in the Company.

On the other hand, he was developed MUCH more thoroughly in the Silver Spike than in previous novels, so maybe using Raven ain't all bad.

Also, it was nice to see a bit more of the Black Company's world; things we wouldn't have seen if the story had revolved around the full Company, or around Croaker's, Murgen's or Sleepy's broken Companies.

On the whole, great concept! I can't re-read this book enough! But I really wish it had been stronger on its own merits, and not simply as an addendum to a fantastic series.

...Cook surprises me. I LOVED this book. I couldn't put it down. Let me just say that I think The Limper is one of the most unique characters Cook has ever created. He's ruthless, purely evil, self-serving, and incredibly powerful. But at the same time he was most definitely human once. The is a comic tragedy to his trials and tribulations, to his unwavering tenacity born of hate. An almost comic bumbling in his antics and frustrations. We almost feel empathy for him. And the plot by the cabal to steal the Spike was as morbidly fascinating to me as the stories of Maron Shed and Bomans in the previous two books. Toadkiller Dog, the Plain of Fear, the Tree God, the cabal intent on stealing the Silver Spike, the tragic end of Raven, ...this book is just bursting at the seams. The only criticism I can relate to is that Croaker is not the narrator in this one. But to me, it doesn't detract from the book at all. As a matter of fact, considering the last line of the book, it makes perfect sense...

This sideshow to the Black Company main show didn't work quite so well for me.

I like Raven, and was glad to read a book following up with him. It didn't surprise me that he comes to a bad end, though I would have liked a bit more characterization along the way.

I had some issues of believability with this one. The whole windwhales/menhirs thread has never been my favorite -- a bit too whimsical and surreal for me. As well, I struggled to believe that the layabout Smeds could somehow become a hardcore assassin, killing person after person with a single stab.

There was something more than usually vague and skipped-over about the writing, too. Exile, a potentially interesting character despite coming out of nowhere, gets only a scant glance before he's taken out (killed or wounded? we aren't told). More than once, Cook left it unclear whether a character had actually died in a scene.

To sum up, the book has interesting elements but feels a bit sloppy and rough. However, people who have been following the series will want to have a look at it.

Another great tale of the North, typically sparse but action-packed. The tenacity and malevolence of the Limper are epic.

One reviewer criticized the characters as one-dimensional, but I found the characters and their swinging moral compasses compelling. I also found the ending to be one of the most inspired in any of the series.

As in all the Black Company books, Cook does a very good job of establishing relative strengths and weaknesses and then developing the interplay in a gritty, realistic, and harshly practical sequence of events. Cook has the best grasp of basic human nature and the human condition of any fantasy author I have encountered.

It's interesting to note in passing that the South books hint much of The Silver Spike may have been compiled by Croaker from notes brought back by Otto and Hagop, which would also help explain its style being very similar to the other books of the North.

It's best to start at the beginning of the series with the first book "The Black Company". This series is well written, with excellent characterization, and well thought out plots.

I loved the first Black Company book. I found the second and third books to be entertaining, but not really in the same class. I read this book fourth, and found it to be hardly recognizable as the work of the same author. The characters are unsympathetic and one-dimensional, and the plot meanders without rhyme or reason. The climax is a yawner and the denouement is neither believable nor satisfying. From reading the other reader reviews it is clear that some Black Company fans enjoyed this one. . . I just hope that the later books in the series recapture some of the gritty, imaginative writing of the original.

Despite my ranking above, I really enjoy this series, turning to it when I am seeking pure, pleasurable and unabashed entertainment. Additionally, the series seems to be improving, and were I allowed, I would have given this outing 3.5 stars. Nonetheless, despite my enjoyment, this book, as has its predecessors, does not possess the depth of characterization or breadth of world building of the best, nor is its plot line particularly complex, driven along essentially by fast paced action that on occasion is propelled or changed through convenient coincidence, or altered almost at a whim. Cook has no difficulty involving his participants in events with scant explanation or substantiation, or introducing new characters that appear and as abruptly---sometimes inexplicably---disappear (cases in point here are Exile and Raven's two children). Nor let it be said that the author, once finished with a character or a scene, wastes words on situations or players that are spent---Bear Torque's death is learned only through a process of elimination while his brother simply walks away off the pages. At times the narrative seems as though it is being strung together as one goes along---in this book as in the previous "White Rose," the protagonists bounce back and forth all over the world essentially chasing each others' tails---and the author never hesitates if it will serve his purpose to resurrect a character from the dead: here, as previously with Raven, Limper rises again for at least the third time, and at book's end there still exists the possibility that we could one day see him again, at least as a visitor from another dimension. In like fashion, the author blithely borrows from his own established conventions, such as here drawing again from a journal though written by a different character that, despite his more impoverished background, nonetheless closely mimics Croaker both in style and tone of writing. Nonetheless, as long as one does not approach this series with too exacting a demand that events unfold following a certain rational and logical evolution, but instead allow the action and the many likeable scoundrels populating the narrative to carry the story along, one will enjoy many short hours simply and entertainingly spent.

Previous reviewers have already noted that this novel wraps up many of the threads left dangling after the conclusion of "The White Rose, bringing the stories of Darling, Raven, Silent, Toadkiller Dog and Bomanz to an end (though, again, in the case of the latter, Toadkiller Dog is implied to be almost invincible, and Bomanz was supposedly dead at the conclusion of the last book, so who knows---maybe we'll see them again). Unlike some of the others, I read this book after "The White Rose" and, even without having read "Shadow Games," had no trouble following the story. They are correct, however, that despite this book's appearance as a stand-alone novel, it does directly follow events established in the first three books in the series, and the reader will be lost without having begun there.

Regardless of my criticisms, I am thoroughly enjoying this series, especially this work and the earlier "Shadows Linger." Cook has created a delightful and amoral cast of distinctive if comparatively attenuated characters and uses them to good advantage to forward a pithy, often satirical and cynical world view, where great things happen as much by accident and despite the protagonists' intentions as by design. Fast paced, where the action rarely leaves you flagging, direct and uncomplicated in its appeal, read this when you are looking for a welcome respite from the volumes and volumes of dense, doorstopper fantasy.

Pretty good book. The Black Company is a nice idea that probably has been a bit over-written.

Silver Spike is the fourth book in a series on the the Black Company, a mercenary band in a sword and sorcery world. The Black Company is one of the great creations of modern fantasy. In a genre in which most stories are starkly black and white--really great good guys and really bad villans--the Black Company (contra its name) lives in grey. In a genre in which heroes are all-knowing and all-powerful, the Black Company is filled with fallible, vulnerable humans. Yet, they nevertheless are the baddest outfit around. Remember how we reworked Psalm 23 back in the '60s? "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil--for I am the baddest SOB in the valley!" That could be the Black Company motto.

One of the things I like best about Cook's novels is that the story line is more important than the individual characters. There are no Gandalfs here--no powerful wizards (who never seem to do anything with their power) that are all-good and all-powerful. Characters die--just like in real life. Good guys turn bad--just like in real life. Bad guys turn out to have socially redemming qualities--just like in real life.

The first three novels told the story of how the Company came into the service of Lady, a sorceress of great power who rules a purportedly evil empire in the northern part of the Company's world. Eventually the Company rebels against the Lady and joins the White Rose, a reincarnated hero who opposes the empire. At the end of book three, the Rose, the Lady, and the Company join forces to defeat an older evil known as the Dominator. A long (nine-plus) series of sequels follows the subsequent adventures of the Company.

In contrast, the Black Company is off the stage in Silver Spike, which follows the subsequent adventures of the Rose. The initial trilogy introduced a number of characters and plot lines that were not resolved. Here, Cook wraps up many of those loose-ends. Fans of the series will definitely want to read Silver Spike. Those who have not yet discovered the Black Company should NOt start here--you'll never get it. But I envy those folks--they get to discover the Black Company for the first time. My advice: buy this book, but pick up the first 3 Black company novels and read them first.

Poor Raven. That was one of my fist thoughts as I finished this book. I must agree with some of the other reviews here. If you have not read the first part books of the Black Company series at least, don't pick this one up. If you have, read it, but be forewarned: this is one of the darkest books Cook has written yet.

The book is sort of an aside to the series up to this point. It answers the questions of what happened to Darling and Raven. Raven has become a tragic figure. He has drunk himself into oblivion for many years straight. His companion begins to keep a journal inspire by Raven's stories of Croaker. Raven, Silent and Bomanz are the main subjects of this journal. Of course something happens to cause Raven to clean up and act the part of the hero to defend Darling, with the usual unusual twist to it.

In the meantime, Cook also follows Toadkiller Dog and his sometimes unwilling allies in a purely narrative style. As usual evil is relative and the reader finds themselves favoring one over the other. The reader, like Raven hears rumours and catche glimpses only of Croaker. This is not about the Black Company per se, but rather a wrap up of some characters and their futures and the beginning of a mystery for later. I personally liked the book a great deal, but missed the rest of the Company.