[Traveller]

There may be a topic on this elsewhere, but I can't find it.

I've just finished reading the first book in the chronicles of the Black Company, and although I know a lot of other people have already read it, and (I'm pretty certain) that SE has said that it was his inspiration for the BB's, but I was astounded at just how many aspects of the Black Company have made it into SE's work. In a good way, I mean.

- For a start, the style - brief or scant descriptions of characters; soldiers with hidden pasts and a new name that describes them.
- The narrator - Croaker is put up front to 'witness' and record, and ends up in the front line a lot anyway.... very much like Duiker in
many respects. Both Coltaine and The Lady want the battles witnessed and recorded.
- The Captain.... grey haired, slightly mysterious veteran with a clever side and an understanding nature... so very WhiskeyJack.
- Hard-as-nails soldiers that can stand up to incredible odds fighting, occupy themselves with card games when things are quiet,
assisted by slightly crazy mages.
- A person that is anathema to magic/has magic deadening properties.
- The Plains... a dried up sea, with coral remains scattered across it. Raraku?
- The Lady... same in name, not much in common with the one in SW though.
- Organic buildings - the castle that grows from a seed as it feeds on lives. The Azath are pretty similar
- 'Tracker' .... Stranger appears, with astounding sword skills, and dodgy unknown past... Traveller?
- The Dominator. Big evil being too powerful to kill, so interred in a Barrow, and sealed in with wards and fetishes. Able to cut huge swathes of distruction with a single gesture. Jaghut Tyrant?

I have REALLY enjoyed reading this, it was like reading a novel about the sort of thing the Bridgeburners got up to before GotM. When I first started reading MBotF, it was the BB's I wanted to read more about, although that feeling receeded as more and more interesting characters were introduced, and everything got more... complex.

If you liked the Bridgeburners and you enjoy SE's writing style but you haven't gotten round to reading any read Glen Cook yet, you should check it out. Of course SE deals with a wider picture and many more themes, but The Black Company is a great read, full of covert ops, mage assisted battles, and creepy, evil nasties... that are all somehow familiar.(SoulCatcher is a really creepy concept, different voices for different moods...)

Anyone else see this as a real inspiration for SE while they were reading it?

This post has been edited by First Tiger: 18 February 2011 - 09:25 AM

[rhulad]

I read this while I was on my honeymoon... I have to agree that it was indeed a great read and there are many similarities to be found between some of the characters. I would recommend it to anyone that hasn't yet read it.

[Salt-Man Z]

How about Old Father Tree being a powerful alien entity pulled into this world from another dimension? My mind was blown when I got to that.

Also, I'm one of those rare people who enjoy the later BC books more than the early ones, and part of that is I think that the Glittering Stone sequence has more of that dark, brooding, more mythological feel that much of the Malazan books have.

[Mentalist]

just finished the last omnibus.

Suffice it to say, that's the type of ending i'd expect for MBotF

[drinksinbars]

currently reqading this and although i see the influence i have to say its not as engaging or entertaining as erikson as too much happens off the page and is mentioned in passing. the focus is firmly on the characters but at the expense of the story sometimes. Maybe it gets better, but it really does suffer from tell not show.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Well, I think that's the result of the fact that it's written as a sort of 'diary' more than anything else...

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 07 February 2011 - 11:14 AM

[Sinisdar Toste]

Briar King, on 07 February 2011 - 05:46 PM, said:

One thing I dont like is there are no maps in any of these books. I like seeing where Im reading about.

the only drawback to tBC, imo. i've gone through the whole series to this point, taking notes on geography and trying to work out a map of the two continents covered

[D'rek]

Sinisdar Toste, on 07 February 2011 - 06:08 PM, said:

Briar King, on 07 February 2011 - 05:46 PM, said:

One thing I dont like is there are no maps in any of these books. I like seeing where Im reading about.

the only drawback to tBC, imo. i've gone through the whole series to this point, taking notes on geography and trying to work out a map of the two continents covered

Or just use google...

[Sinisdar Toste]

huh, thats the first i've seen of the top map in that form. used to be just a plain green thing with cities on it.

either way, the distances between landmarks is fine, but the blandness still afflicts the southern map. coastlines especially

[D'rek]

Sinisdar Toste, on 07 February 2011 - 06:43 PM, said:

but the blandness still afflicts the southern map. coastlines especially

Use your imagination.

[Sinisdar Toste]

D, on 08 February 2011 - 03:11 AM, said:

Sinisdar Toste, on 07 February 2011 - 06:43 PM, said:

but the blandness still afflicts the southern map. coastlines especially

Use your imagination.

and thats what i'm doing! so we're back to where we started.

[D'rek]

Sinisdar Toste, on 08 February 2011 - 04:25 AM, said:

D, on 08 February 2011 - 03:11 AM, said:

Sinisdar Toste, on 07 February 2011 - 06:43 PM, said:

but the blandness still afflicts the southern map. coastlines especially

Use your imagination.

and thats what i'm doing! so we're back to where we started.

You were expecting vivid descriptions of coastlines the characters never once visit...?

[Sinisdar Toste]

just looking for clues really, but seriously, this discussion has gone off the rails big time. feels like i'm being interrogated

[D'rek]

Sinisdar Toste, on 08 February 2011 - 05:51 PM, said:

just looking for clues really, but seriously, this discussion has gone off the rails big time. feels like i'm being interrogated

You are. I am interrogating you to discover why you have an irrational need for descriptive coastlines when they are both unimportant and perfectly imaginable.

[Sinisdar Toste]

all right... i admit it... i like maps and enjoy creating them, wtf is ur deal?

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Sinisdar Toste, on 08 February 2011 - 10:01 PM, said:

all right... i admit it... i like maps and enjoy creating them, wtf is ur deal?

NO, WTF IS YOUR DEAL FOR ENJOYING SOMETHING? GOSH DARNIT.

[Ceda Cicero]

Rather than "Read the Black Company," my primary take away after reading this thread is "Don't fuck with D'rek."

[MWKarsa]

I can understand wanting to use maps to get a better appreciation of the story regardless of whether or not it is all vital to the story or not. Probably because I was a history major and when studying a certain era, expansion of different countries or wars it helped me greatly to understand the geography of the story or history being told to formulate it better in my imagination when trying to understand the scope of the story and various details.

Either way who cares if someone wants more detailed maps or not? It doesn't affect me at all.

Back to the point of this thread- I just ordered the first 2 books of The Black Company and am very much looking forward to getting into the series but I bought A Cruel Wind using a in-store discount and was wondering how that series compares to TBC. Anyone read both and have any insight? Thanks.

[Traveller]

One of the main points about the style that i like, and compared to SE, is the lack of uneccesary detail.

A lot of authors, especially new ones, make the mistake of trying to describe everything in minute detail, in order to paint a full picture. What I love about SE, and now Glen Cook, is the way they create a great story, great characters, and a believable landscape, with accumulative small details.

I'm on book 2 of the Chronicles, and although there has been scant description of the physical attributes and looks of many of the main characters, I still have a very clear picture of what they all look like. You could compare it to painting - some artists believe they have to paint every detail of a subject, while the best ones can make a single brushstroke make something look real.

As to the maps - I like maps in books, especially accurate ones in historical novels, and in fantasy ones where the geography can get complicated. However... I have not wanted or needed to look at a map once while reading The Black Company - it kind of tells you where everything is. I get a bit tired of maps in fantasy books, which just have a load of generic fantasy place names like Mountains of Terror and Seas of Storms and Forests of whatever.

Can't remember 'em now, but Stonewielder had quite a few too many of these. It's not like they're needed, no one went there or anything.

This post has been edited by First Tiger: 09 February 2011 - 10:31 AM

[D'rek]

First Tiger, on 09 February 2011 - 10:30 AM, said:

One of the main points about the style that i like, and compared to SE, is the lack of uneccesary detail.

A lot of authors, especially new ones, make the mistake of trying to describe everything in minute detail, in order to paint a full picture. What I love about SE, and now Glen Cook, is the way they create a great story, great characters, and a believable landscape, with accumulative small details.

I'm on book 2 of the Chronicles, and although there has been scant description of the physical attributes and looks of many of the main characters, I still have a very clear picture of what they all look like. You could compare it to painting - some artists believe they have to paint every detail of a subject, while the best ones can make a single brushstroke make something look real.

As to the maps - I like maps in books, especially accurate ones in historical novels, and in fantasy ones where the geography can get complicated. However... I have not wanted or needed to look at a map once while reading The Black Company - it kind of tells you where everything is. I get a bit tired of maps in fantasy books, which just have a load of generic fantasy place names like Mountains of Terror and Seas of Storms and Forests of whatever.

Can't remember 'em now, but Stonewielder had quite a few too many of these. It's not like they're needed, no one went there or anything.

Agree except for using SW as an example (spoilers, kinda)

Spoiler

Because a lot of those places are named without being visited or spoken of in other books (Theft, Katakan, Ice Range in RotCG, the oceans, etc) and the geography itself gives clues about the world (lots of crater-shaped inland seas = The Fall, etc.)