Port of Shadows

A Novel of the Black Company

By: Glen Cook

Narrated by: Brian Troxell

Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Port of Shadows is the newest dark fantasy audiobook in Glen Cook's esteemed Chronicles of the Black Company series.

The father of Grimdark returns…

The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs, and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all.

The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain, to break a rebel army. However, Croaker doesn’t trust any of the Taken, especially not ones that look so much like The Lady and her sister…

The Chronicles of the Black Company
#1 The Chronicles of The Black Company / #2 The Books of the South / #3 The Return of The Black Company / #4 The Many Deaths of the Black Company

©2018 Glen Cook (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

excellent recording

This is a wonderful story and it is beautifully well recorded. The events described can seem somewhat disjoint from the rest of The Black Company story arc, but it all maked sense in the end.

don’t read if creepy old men scare you.

I’ve been binging the black company sense before christmas. it seems like glen cook is living vicariously through his male characters. he probably got his idea for mischievous rain from a cartoonishly inaccurate halloween costume the japanese kimono ones. but dang son I love the loyalty that the company has for each other, metal gear solid made me love narratives about private militaries.

No disrespect but I personally prefer Marc Vietor

I'm just here to piss and moan about the narrator. Ostensibly the reason Marc was not casted for this project was because of the change in publishing- Audible V. Macmillan. The new narrator gives the story a feeling of Black Company fanfiction. I started following the Black Company after book three of the Malazan series when they replaced Ralph Lister with Michael Paige and this juxtaposition is just as jarring. Paige is phenomenal in the Lies of Locke Lamora, as I'm sure Troxell is in other series, but this ain't it chief.

Nice to be back with the company.

It was a good story with many members of the old company that were missed in later books. The captain, elmo and the lieutenant to name a few. the only complaint was story was a bit difficult to follow as there were so many characters and branches at the end. half way through thebold company seemed to disappear and it was Croaker love story.

Nice short story

It’s exactly what you expect of the black company. This has always been one of my favorite audio books and remains so. I was really happy just to get another story after so long

wow

I did not think the Black Company could make me cry. but it did!

Spookiest sequel ever?

I hate sequels, but this book nimbly evades all clichés with a mind-twisting plot (not a figure of speech) and Cook's signature blend of hardass wit and a rare kind of poignancy that does not cloy. Military fantasy noir with a brain and a heart.

If you're not already familiar with the series, this is a lousy place to begin. Seems like a nice independent novel: really isn't.

Classic Cook

Interesting story sort of Black Company book 1.5.
I have enjoyed the Black Company for over 30 years. All of the books have been interesting reads.

It gets better

Having started my second pass thru the audio books, the change in narrator and pace was definitely jarring; and I get what others wrote about it feeling like fan fiction. That being said, it smoothed out midway and finished fairly well with interesting characters along the way.

Unsatisfying storyline

Where to begin. Most won’t mind another Black Company story I’m sure. The problem with this book is that it’s disjointed and clunky. Unlike many of the other books this one seems unnecessary to fill in blanks. If the author wanted to continue the Croaker led saga then imagine a way to have him and Lady finding a way to morph himself from the demon body into a real man again. Then have the relatives of the killed goddess raise up an army of dark monsters led by demons chase them back into the north country. Where they have to choose between releasing the Dominator into the world or something else.