Soldiers Live

Chronicles of the Black Company, Book 9

By: Glen Cook

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

When sorcerers and demigods go to war, those wars are fought by mercenaries, "dog soldiers", grunts in the trenches. And the stories of those soldiers are the stories of Glen Cook's hugely popular Black Company novels. If the Joseph Heller of Catch-22 were to tell the story of The Lord of the Rings, it might read like the Black Company books. There is nothing else in fantasy like them.

Now, at last, Cook brings the Glittering Stone cycle within the Black Company series to an end... but an end with many other tales left to tell.

As Soldiers Live opens, Croaker is military dictator of all the Taglias, and no Black Company member has died in battle for four years. Croaker figures it can't last. He's right.

For, of course, many of the Company's old adversaries are still around. Narayan Singh and his adopted daughter - actually the offspring of Croaker and the Lady - hope to bring about the apocalyptic Year of the Skulls. Other old enemies like Shadowcatcher, Longshadow, and Howler are also ready to do the Company harm. And much of the Company is still recovering from the 15 years many of them spent in a stasis field.

Then a report arrives of an evil spirit, a forvalaka, that has taken over one of their old enemies. It attacks them at a shadowgate - setting off a chain of events that will bring the Company to the edge of apocalypse and, as usual, several steps beyond.

Glen Cook is the leading modern writer of epic fantasy noir, and Soldiers Live is Cook at his best. None of his legion of fans will want to miss it.

Listen to more in the Black Company series.©2000 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dark and surprising, Cook's latest is free of pretension, but rich in characters and world building." ( Publishers Weekly)

"The author's wry wit and flair for understatement add a level of realism uncommon to the fantasy genre." ( Library Journal)

Good book but not as good as the others

Would you consider the audio edition of Soldiers Live to be better than the print version?

yes i like the way the reader dose the charaters.

If you’ve listened to books by Glen Cook before, how does this one compare?

not as excoting as other but still a good read

Have you listened to any of Marc Vietor’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

just as good as his others

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

nope

the last lines left me thinking

In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone, I remember. And they all live again.

eternity I don't think it's for me

Must listen for fantasy fan

This is about as good as it gets for epic fantasy series. On the same level as wheel, thrones, first law, blood song.

Do it

It just feels so real

I love this story. In every character I find something I recognize, something that makes me go "I know him, I served with him".

The black company tells a soldier's tale from the point of view of a real soldier, not some author's idea of what a soldier ought to be.

A fitting end to an excellent series.

I am sad these characters will not return. The Black Company books are a tour de force for great fiction and a realistic depiction of the camaraderie of fighting men and women.

the best

sad and exciting the conclusion to the company is here with so much you want to know and so much more you want to read but it's time croaker is old and sad but happy

Truly a treasure

If you have read all the books leading to this one I urge you enough to finish it. If you are reading out of order or just found a passing interest in the title or whatever fortune may have lead you to read this well you have found a treasure without even looking. Start from the beginning.

For those whom have follow read the books of the company.
An amazingly artful end, Glen Cook is one of the most under rated authors I have read. I have to say with this being the end to the Black Company I feel a sort of melancholy. Almost like I actually lost real people but I am sentimental.

A dark beautiful journey.

I loved this book! I picked up The Black Company books years ago and put them down for some reason over the past year I have followed Croaker and Lady and the rest. I couldn't be happier that I did.

Mehn!!! Like why?

A lot of good people died in this book. I felt like crying. Glen, come on when will you get a movie for your books?

loved it!

I have loved the entire series of the Black Company. I really think you will enjoy them if you like fantasy!