Fulminata reviewed The Books of the South by Glen Cook
Review of 'The Books of the South' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Thus begins the overlong tale of the Black Company's search for their origins as the "last of the Free Companies of Khatovar."
This collection follows up where the first trilogy (collected in Chronicles of the Black Company) leaves off. Twice actually, as the first two books cover the Black Company itself, while the third deals with what happened back North after they left.
As I write this I realize that I actually enjoyed the books in this collection nearly as much as the original, it's just that they lead to a conclusion that never actually seems to happen.
They also set up some new themes for the series which later proved to be annoying: namely the constant return of the same threats, over and over, no matter how well they seem to have been dealt with in their previous appearance. I suppose there's something here to be said about the …
Thus begins the overlong tale of the Black Company's search for their origins as the "last of the Free Companies of Khatovar."
This collection follows up where the first trilogy (collected in Chronicles of the Black Company) leaves off. Twice actually, as the first two books cover the Black Company itself, while the third deals with what happened back North after they left.
As I write this I realize that I actually enjoyed the books in this collection nearly as much as the original, it's just that they lead to a conclusion that never actually seems to happen.
They also set up some new themes for the series which later proved to be annoying: namely the constant return of the same threats, over and over, no matter how well they seem to have been dealt with in their previous appearance. I suppose there's something here to be said about the difficulty of eradicating evil, but it just didn't work for me.
Also, the thing that most attracted me to the series, the point of view of minions working for an evil overlord, is missing since the end of the original trilogy.
If the follow up to these books had been as good, then I would recommend them, unfortunately I have to say that stopping with the original trilogy is probably the better bet.
