Looking For a Good Book

I have a shelf full of ‘Black Company’ books that I have;t read yet, but because I’ve read and really enjoyed some shorter works by author Glen Cook I knew it was just a matter of time before I got to reading them. When I received the opportunity to read this – the first book in a new ‘Black Company’ series, I decided this would be a good place to start.

Perhaps I was wrong.

The Black Company has retreated to Hsien – once the Company’s most secure haven but now not quite the relaxing space it once was. The annals of the company are being recorded by Arkana and Shukrat – two of the younger, female members of the group. At first there isn’t much to report and the teens write, diary-like, of the personal problems they have with others (and specifically each other). But slowly, judging by how it’s noted in the annals, an evil is creeping its way into Hsien and the Black Company.

Arkana and Shukrat comment on fellow company member, Tobo, who’s been groomed to be the future of wizards in the company. But Tobo is burned out after an encounter with vampires and he’s now in no shape to take on the new evil that is approaching and maybe the teen girls are going to be the only ones capable of taking it on.

One of the biggest problems with a book told in epistolary form is building action. That problem is on full display here. Though honestly, it doesn’t help that there’s very little happening until much later in the book. The early chapters are really a ‘dear diary’ style character building. When things do begin to happen the book becomes much more interesting but I still wanted to feel more like I was in on the action and not getting it afterward.

The other problem I had was constantly feeling like I really needed to know more about this world and the people. It’s a first book in a series, but not a first book set in this world. Who are Croaker, the Lady, Soulcatcher? Their importance seems to come from their history (ie previous books).

I really think that fans of the series will be most interested in picking up a new Black Company book, but newcomers, such as myself, are going to wonder what’s going on. And because it moves slowly, it takes a long time to figure that out.

Looking for a good book? I was excited to jump into Lies Weeping by Glen Cook – a new Black Company novel, but as this was my first foray into the world, I was disappointed.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Lies Weeping

author: Glen Cook

series: The Chronicles of the Black Company #10

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN: 9781250397997

hardcover, 384 pages