A minor character in The White Rose who found himself attached to Raven, now he’s a primary character. The Silver Spike begins with Philodendron Case introducing and explaining himself. But at only 313 pages, there’s little space for the rambling the book is given to. Perhaps if Cook had written a giant, sprawling work, like one of today’s thousand-page tomes, he could have made it come together better. There’re lots of very cool bits of business, but The Silver Spike feels like several books jammed together rather inelegantly. Another storyline follows a new set of characters as they commit an act of great stupidity that leads to many deaths and horrendous destruction. Over here, several characters are chasing down a revived enemy only to be suddenly yanked away to face a different threat. It covers a lot of ground, constantly bouncing between several narratives and the better part of two continents. Concerned as much with giving ends to a host of characters as he is with the aftermath of the rebellion, Cook doesn’t tell a totally cohesive story. Published four years after The White Rose, The Silver Spike (1989) is a sort of odd book that attempts to tie up several loose ends. Raven, also in love with Darling, stayed behind too, but rejected, went off with Case, the young imperial soldier he’d befriended. The wizard Silent, in love with with Darling, chose to remain with her despite her not having reciprocal feelings.

The group - five veterans, the empire’s erstwhile ruler the Lady, and Croaker in the lead - decided to travel south and find Khatovar, the fabled home city of the Black Company.ĭarling, otherwise known as the rebel leader the White Rose, chose to remain in the North rather than accompany Croaker and the rest of her friends. The end of the third book, The White Rose, saw the storied mercenary company whittled down to a handful of survivors. But when the Company's old adversaries try to bring about the apocalyptic Year of the Skulls, the Company is brought to the edge of destruction.And so we come to end of the line for several of the main characters of the Black Company trilogy. Sleepy is now Captain, and no Black Company member has died in battle for four years. The series combines elements of epic fantasy and dark fantasy as it follows an elite mercenary unit, The Black Company, through roughly forty years of its approximately four hundred year history.Ĭroaker, no longer dictator of Taglios or Captain of the Company, resumes his old role as Annalist. Soldiers Live is the ninth novel in Glen Cook's ongoing series, The Black Company.

The silver spike glen cook