She Is the Darkness

Chronicles of The Black Company, Book 7

By: Glen Cook

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid. At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the vastness comes a great, deep, slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence.

Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence. Stone cannot speak, but stone remembers.

So begins the next movement of Glittering Stone....The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other.

Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all.

Listen to more in the Black Company series.

©1997 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Excellent performance and a return to form.

If you were turned off by the last book then you may be pleasantly surprised by this one. The story is more linear and focuses on the interesting bits more. The reader also does an excellent job here, really makes you feel like Murgen is reading to you.

great

loved this book Glen Cook amazing. Johnathan Davis amazing as well. holy crap listen and enjoy

Good story, good enough reader

If you have gotten this far in the Black Company series, you are listening because you are committed to finding out their final fate. In case you came to this book without reading the previous 7 books, this book is in the middle of a very long story line, and even though you can read it as a standalone book, much of the references to prior events won't make sense. As a story, this is not the best nor is it the worst of the series. It is certainly worth a credit. though.

My main problem with this book and its predecessor in the series, Bleak Seasons, is the reader. Jonathan Davis is not the worst reader I have ever heard, and I am not unhappy enough to stop listening. He is, however, uninspiring as a reader. There is very little nuance to his voice, and it is incredibly hard to tell when the main character is thinking to himself or speaking to someone. There is just no aural cue to distinguish between the two. There are some characters where he uses nearly the same accents, so telling who is speaking is only possible by context clues in the dialogue. I would definitely not seek him out as a reader in other books. That said, I haven't been so annoyed that I felt the need to read the paperback copy I have on my bookshelf. So maybe a 5 out of 10.

tip: put it at .95x speed

I dont know why, but the audio is slightly sped up. Other than that, it was a super great performance.

A spectacle of storytelling craftsmanship

You can really tell that Jonathan Davis has settled into his role as Murgen in this entry in the series. He’s smoothed over the minor stumbling blocks he faced with Cook’s writing style in “Bleak Seasons”, especially in his tendency to use frequent small clauses in describing character actions. His voice has also grown into the role, where he subtly distinguishes each character.
As a novel I also have only glowing endorsements for this story. I personally enjoy Cook’s style of offering up large scale summaries of events (such as of the troop movements at the Battle of Charandaprash), but know that you will be in for having to really pay attention to the words to get a clear view of what’s going on. You may have to pause and back up a few times to map out events in your head, since Cook is an author who allows you to deduce the conclusions that characters may act on but not voice specifically. However, the high degree of interiority we get from Murgen helps this story feel very human-scale, where he is a semi-major player in events and is important to the most critical individuals.
Hey, if you’ve gotten this far (past the horrendous reading of Dreams of Steel in particular), may as well keep going.

Ok this book is the series back at it’s best

Great writing, compelling story, and our hero’s getting ground down that little bit more. This book made the previous two worth getting through

still going strong

really enjoy this series even after all they been through the company still has lots to offer

Worst reader ever

Seriously this guy is awful. I don’t need to describe it, just listen. Great story though. I LOVE this series. Bad experience though sadly.

best yet., Iv followed the Company since the begin

best yet., Iv followed the Company since the beginning , Saw what was left of the Company after the Barrow land and disparaged the end , oh no it's not ending the journey continues How can it actually get better? it has...

One for the Annals...

After reading so much fantasy over my lifetime, this series has left me firmly at home on the edge of my seat....