Cook - Water Sleeps review

Glen Cook got his Black Company series back on track with the eighth volume. When we last met with the Company, Croaker had led most of them onto the Plain of Glittering Stone in order to find Khatovar. They brought along a few prisoners, including Soulcatcher, whom they did not feel they should leave behind unguarded. Unfortunately, it was a trap orchestrated by Soulcatcher and aided by the treachery of Willow Swan. The company was caught and buried in the caverns beneath the fortress at the center of the plain.

This volume picks up 14 years after the events of She Is The Darkness. With the Shadowmasters defeated and the Black Company lost on the Plain of Glittering Stone, Soulcatcher has taken the role of "Protector" in Taglios and is now the head of a new empire. She has control over the Radisha (princess) of Taglios and has been joined by the traitorous general Mogaba and slacker Willow Swan.

Fortunately, the members of the Company are not dead, just held in a sort of stasis, though Soulcatcher believes them to be dead. Also, some of the Company had not gone into the plain - namely the two sorcerers One Eye and Goblin who returned to the shadowgate too late to warn Croaker of the trap. The only other prominent member of the Company to have remained was Sleepy, Murgen's apprentice for the positions of Standardbearer and Annalist. She (yes, we learned that Sleepy was female in the last volume) had been held captive by Soulcatcher and escaped too late to join the Company in it's quest. Additionally, Murgen's wife Ky Sahra returns from the Nyeung Bao lands too late to reunite with Murgen.

This small group slowly and carefully plots against Soulcatcher and the Radisha to exact their revenge. Also, they plan on returning to the Plain to free their Captured brothers. They know of their plight because Murgen is still able to Ghostwalk while in stasis and has been able to keep in contact somewhat with the free members of the Company.

This volume is filled with the kind of sneaky ploys that made the earlier Black Company books so enjoyable. It also marks the return of One Eye and Goblin's long-running, and highly entertaining, feud. The feud is a bit sad, however, since the two sorcerers are beginning to get rather old, especially One Eye (he's well over 200 by this point), and don't have the energy or abilities they once did.

Sleepy, as the new (or interim) Annalist, provides the narration. She's quite different than the others, and that provides some very interesting themes throughout the novel. She had only been with the company for a few years, joining during the siege in Dejagore when she was just 14 or so. Now she's in her mid-thirties and often reflects on the meaning of family, religion, and ethics. Her narrative is much more philosophical than the very introspective narratives of Murgen and Croaker.

Overall, this volume is a return to the excellence of the earlier Black Company novels. After the last two, I was beginning to lose some interest, but Water Sleeps has certainly brought back my enjoyment. Well, one more book to go (not counting The Silver Spike which I will also read).


/ [Viking]

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