#5 of 9 in The Chronicles of the Black Company

Dreams of Steel

Glen Cook

1990 • 354 pages

Ratings36

Average rating4.3

Dreams of Steel is Book 5 in Glen Cook's fantasy masterpiece, The Chronicles of the Black Company. 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... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres

Want to edit this book?Become a Librarian

Series

9 primary books11 released books

#5 in The Chronicles of the Black Company

The Chronicles of the Black Company is a 11-book series with 9 released primary works first released in 1984 with contributions by Glen Cook.

#1.5

#3.5

Series

2 primary books3 released books

#2 in The Books of the South

The Books of the South is a 3-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 1989 with contributions by Glen Cook.

#0.5

Series

13 primary books

#6 in Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire

Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire is a 13-book series with 13 released primary works first released in 1984 with contributions by Glen Cook.

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Dave

Continuing the saga of what is very little left of a recognizable Black Company. More company lore was revealed through the Books of the South, as the Lady is forced to pick up the pieces and rebuild after Croaker , well - croaks! I enjoyed reading the book of the Lady, but did find myself missing Croaker's point of view. The Lady is just too unrelateable, too crass, too harsh. Croaker has a personable feel to him, a human quality the Lady just can't match.

Keeping with tradition, the author keeps you guessing not by clever storytelling but my obfuscation that you have to fight through to figure out. In the end I was happy to get the story of each party in the book, but again spent the first half of the book trying to keep the characters and places straight. It doesn't help that the Shadowmasters are former taken and go by multiple names or that the Shadowmasters renamed places to “shadow” + something. Thusly, locations can get referenced by multiple names, depending on who is speaking (same with Shadowmasters). It can get frustrating quickly.

As usual, if you can fight through the first half of the book, the second half is great! Everything really came to a head by the time you're about 90% of the way through the book. I'm chomping at the bit to get into the next one, which I guess is probably the author's main objective!

Let's recap. Lady tries to rebuild after finding out Croaker's croaked. Gets in with some strangler cult (who's goddess probably does exist?). Soulcatcher is back, disguised as chaos, with intentions to mess with her sister (the Lady) - nurses Croaker back to health secretly. Mogaba (the new leader of what he considers the Black Company) has gone mad inside of Dejagore and has resorted to cannibalism. Yada yada yada. Lady's pregnant, the end! Now on to the epic tri-finale! Books of glittering stone, ahoy!