Glen Cook : Omnibus : The Annals of the Black Company

They were the last of the great warrior brotherhoods. Many of them were cruel - men who found, as mercenaries, an outlet for their dark natures; some were men of honor who maintained high standards of professionalism, no matter how foul the deeds they performed; all of them were hard, for warfare hardens men... if they are to survive.

Bound together by history and tradition, the men of the Black Company were fiercely loyal to one another. But momentous events were about to occur, and the Company would be swept along. Not even its wizards foresaw the changes, though in truth there had been portents enough.

* * *

Allegiance to their employer was the cardinal rule for mercenary troops, but things in Beryl had fallen apart so rapidly, the Captain and men of the Black Company wasted no time mourning when the Syndic of that decadent city met his end. It was only afterward, as they sailed north under a new commission, that uneasiness assailed them.

For they were in the service of the Lady. And her legate - the masked, black-clad figure who now commanded the Company in her name - was the dreaded Soulcatcher.

It was the stuff of legend.

The Dominator and his Lady had ruled an empire of evil centuries earlier. They had compelled ten immensely powerful wizards to serve them, and those Ten Who Were Taken - Soulcatcher among them - had ruthlessly put down every challenge to the wicked sorcerers' reign... until they faced the White Rose. It was she who finally ended the Domination, but her power had been insufficient to destory the Dominator, the Lady and the Ten. Instead, she had interred them in a charm-bound barrow.

Somehow the Lady had escaped; she had freed the Taken and re-established her empire... an empire that now seethed with rebellion.

And so the Black Company found itself employed by a sorceress returned from the grave - sworn to battle a disjointed but zealous Rebel army fighting desperately for freedom....

Three enthralling novels in one volume: The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose.

Glen Cook is the leading modern writer of epic fantasy noir, tales of magical warfare and intrigue as seen, not from commanding heights of the great generals and wizards, but from the eyes of the soldiers and mercenaries who do their bidding and scramble to survive. Tough, astonishing, and often very funny, Cook's saga of the Black Company is like nothing else in modern fantasy.

They are the last of the great warrior brotherhoods: the Black Company, men of cruelty and men of honor, bound together by history and tradition, and to their employer by an oath of allegiance. But momentous events - changes not even the wizards foresaw - have swept them into the service of the country of Taglios, a mistrustful alliance at best. Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company finds itself battling a tenuous array of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all.

Flowing from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time offer him a unique perspective, this is a tough-minded, cinematically envisioned tale of portents and wonders, battle frenzy and blood lust, and of men driven to risk body and soul by chaotic times and complex motivations.

Glen Cook is the leading modern writer of epic fantasy noir, tales of magical warfare and intrigue as seen, not from the commanding heights of the great generals and wizards, but from the eyes of the soldiers and mercenaries who do their bidding and scramble to survive. Tough, astonishing, and often very funny, Cook's saga of the Black Company is like nothing else in modern fantasy.

They are the last of the great warrior brotherhoods: the Black Company, men of cruelty and men of honor, bound together by history and tradition, and to their employer by an oath of allegiance. But when momentous events swept them into the service of the country of Taglios, the Company found itself besieged by a motley assortment of sorcerers with the power to bring shadows to deadly life.

Now, regrouping in Taglios, the surviving members of the Black Company are determined to free their fellow warriors held in stasis beneath the glittering plain. Journeying there under terrible conditions, they arrive just in time for a magical conflagration in which the bones of the world will be revealed, the history of the Company unveiled, and new worlds gained and lost ... all at a terrible price.

When the dust settles, Croaker and his Company will find that old adversaries are still around, ready to do them harm --- and when one attacks them at the shadow gate, it sets off a chain of events that will bring the Company to the edge of apocalypse ... and beyond.