Chronicles Of The Black Company

This was one of the first gritty fantasies to hit the shelves. To appreciate this work fully, imagine what it must have been like to encounter the kind of dark fantasy that we're used to reading now. Now imagine that you've only ever read novels where good is perfect and bad is more evil than a Lucifer/Donald Trump wrestling team up.Why it made the listOther than its status as a revolutionary title, it's also impossible to put down. This is a book about survival, about trying to make the right decision in a world where there is no clear division between right and wrong. There are no heroes here, just mercenaries fighting to maintain their place in a world gone dark.The characters in the book are survivalists. No, not the kind that enjoy rattlesnake sushi a la Bear Grylls. The life and death types that are caught in a war where there are no good choices and to survive, they do what they must. The kind of moral ambiguity that this creates is the reason for the pervading darkness of the series. Despite this, Cook makes sure that we see the world through the eyes of the Black Company – where each individual has a reason to be doing what they think is the best. Even if it's one we'd consider bad.Considering the darkness that surrounds the characters, their interactions are the most enjoyable aspect of the series. There's a cast of many different people and each is treated with equal importance and serves a purpose.