Dreams of Steel

Chronicles of the Black Company, Book 5

By: Glen Cook

Narrated by: Rachel Butera

Croaker has fallen and, following the Company's disastrous defeat at Dejagore, Lady is one of the few survivors - determined to avenge the Company and herself against the Shadowmasters, no matter what the cost. But in assembling a new fighting force from the dregs and rabble of Taglios, she finds herself offered help by a mysterious, ancient cult of murder--competent, reliable, and apparently committed to her goals.

Meanwhile, far away, Shadowmasters conspire against one another and the world, weaving dark spells that reach into the heart of Taglios. And in a hidden grove, a familiar figure slowly awakens to find himself the captive of an animated, headless corpse. Mercilessly cutting through Taglian intrigues, Lady appears to be growing stronger every day. All that disturbs her are the dreams which afflict her by night--dreams of carnage, of destruction, of universal death, unceasing....

Listen to more in the Black Company series.©1990 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Worst narrator ever

On the one hand it was nice having the "Book of Lady" read by a woman. On the other hand the narrator was a chore to listen to. Her pronunciations of Dejagore for example, did not match the previous narrator and she pronounced it at least 3 different ways during the course of her read.

Her male voices sounded like 13yo girls. Her voice for Croaker was utterly repulsive.

All in all Rachel Butera completely ruined what was my second favorite book the the series. If I never again have to hear her voice it shall be too soon.

No Marc Vietor, No purchase.

I love reading, but I listen to books when I'm too busy to sit down with a hard copy. That being said, I will not buy another Black Company book that isn't narrated by Vietor. Those i'll purchase and read when I have down time...Such a shame...Rachel Butera was obnoxiously bad. Returned it as fast as I could. Absolutely love Cooks books though. Why fix something that's not broken?!

Performance could've been better.

Just not the same as the previous books. Rachel But era is good but some times she just didn't portray the rest of the characters as well as she did Lady. Still an interesting novel though. Good plot despite leaving us hanging without a proper settlement.

loved it

A great book seeing different points of views. the struggle foe the black company is real!

It was good!

I was worried to listen through this one because of other reviewers, this was just as good as the others in the series. I thought the narrator did a good job and it made sense to have a female reader as this addition to the series is mostly from a female perspective.

Terrible reader puts blemish on book

I can't get a good feel on the book since the reader so ineptly spoiled the material. emphasizing the wrong words. Awkward, abrupt, dramatic Shatner readings on single lines. No distinction in voice between characters, well aside from one. The above put me to sleep more than not. 5 stars for background noise.

Again, although I've listened to the book twice now, I can't remark on the book itself since I can't recall much. But much is covered since I'm lost completely starting the next book.

Good Listen

Would you try another book from Glen Cook and/or Rachel Butera?

No, after listening to Marc Vietor for the last 4 books, it was tough getting used to Rachel Butera's narration.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Lady because the whole book was concentrated mostly on her.

What three words best describe Rachel Butera’s performance?

Contrary, flimsical, valley.

Was Dreams of Steel worth the listening time?

It was a decent listen mostly due to Glen Cooks excellent ongoing story of the Black Company.

Any additional comments?

I feel Rachel Butera was not the right voice for this kind of story. This is gritty and dark fantasy; Rachel's voice didn't do the story justice because it was to nonchalant, there was an air of levity her voice brought to moments that needed a more serious and dire approach, which I did not feel that from her.

The narrator was horrendous.

the previous narrator did a wonderful job of dustigusing character voices. this one however was cringeworthy at best. 40+ year old warriors and wizards had the voice of a pubescent teen with their nose plugged. She attempted to add in laughs where the narrative placed them, but they sounded so forced and pitched so wrong I physically was pained.

It's awesome tha they casted a woman narrator for the perspective of The Lady, but their choice was not a good one.

Good story shit voice

Coming from the last audio book to this voice actor is intolerable. She is horrific. Ruins the whole book. Re-record with Siri

Narrator fine; plot fail

Since every other review complains about her, I'll start with Butera's narration.

It's ... okay!

By which I mean, her Lady and Soulcatcher are fine; her Croaker is terrible; minor characters are hit or miss.

Her Croaker is no worse than Vietor's atrocious Soulcatcher, and while many people seem to love Vietor's Croaker, I found it one-note and boring after four books.

Butera's Lady is a bit one-note, too, but her tone seemed appropriate for a character who is basically semi-sociopathic, unable to empathize and so old she's become blasé about matters of apocalyptic importance. Her Soulcatcher and Frogface were fun.

As for the story, it seemed like Cook started writing at page one and either ran out room or time before what should have been the conclusion.

Spoilers ahead!!!

What should have been the emotional and narrative climax of the book — Naryan's betrayal of Lady — incomprehensibly takes place off screen, at the very end of the book, described second-hand in an epilogue! WTF.

I actually enjoyed much of the plot, and the internal exploration of Lady who has always been my favorite character in the series. I was looking forward to seeing how she'd handle motherhood, then finding out what she'd given birth to, and the Deceiver's real game. Instead, she slept through it, and we get a few lines of exposition in place of a climax.

The culmination of the book's secondary plot — Soulcatcher's confrontation with Longshadow's assassin — at least happens live, but it's also a let down. Soulcatcher isn't even really involved in the chase, and Frogface has basically no trouble with it. This arc is still more satisfying that Lady's, and I enjoyed that (like every Cook character who lives long enough) Soulcatcher became a little sympathetic by the book's end.

But still, it's baffling that the book's two main and most interesting character got such rushed climaxes, and so much time was wasted on one-dimensional plot-movers like Swan and the royal siblings.

I get that this is a middle book in a long arc, and much of it is setup for subsequent novels. But Book 4 was basically all setup for this one, and the long journey is turning into a bit of a slog without compelling arcs in between.

If I keep going it'll mostly be because Jonathan Davis is voicing the next installments. Forget the Butera-Vietor debate; Davis's narration of Book 5 was the only inspired performance in the series to date.