Way back in 2019, before everything stopped, I was lucky enough to meet Glen Cook and buy the final omnibus of the Black Company. In both my 2013 and 2014 retrospectives, I reported that I did not enjoy that the previous offerings. Going so far as nothing that I don't think I will read any more of this series [...]. The characters become stale and boring.
The sequel is Water Sleeps. This installment is very much a transition book, setting up the final mega climax of the series. Truth be told as much as I disliked the previous, this one seemed to provide more answers than the previous two which did not answer anything. They were just a slow build-up, building up towards nothing.
Water Sleeps moves to the endgame. Finally some answers are given, and though not everything is revealed, the final book, Soldiers Live should be filled with explosions and world-shattering events. I can't wait to read it.
I said the previous characters were stale... Well now most of them are gone! And ten years have passed! And the Black Company is "no more."
Okay Glen, you have my attention. I'm reading.
My one strike against this one is that it FEELS like a setup for the next book rather than a complete story. Most of the threads are still on-going, and we see a few resolution.
So a score?
I was stumped. This was NOT the best book ever, but I enjoyed it more than a little. So I did the following: I went to my list of other ratings on this blog and looked at the entries. Comparing to others, I can give this one a 4/5.
Yes, I will read the next installment in the series! I have an omnibus!
I've met Mr. Cook at our local con, even got him to sign one of his books for me that I bought from him.
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