From: bcfd36@cruzio.com   
      
   I just finished it. It started a little slow but it picked up. I REALLY   
   think I have to go back an reread Soldiers Live and Port of Shadows.   
      
   I also just finished a Black Company short story, Cranky Bitch. No   
   question, I liked this one. It has "the old Brothers" as they are   
   referred to on the escape from Juniper. The Lieutenant, Candy, Otto,   
   Silent, One Eye, Goblin, Darling, and of course Croaker. I like the   
   cynical, sarcastic tone in which Cook writes Croaker.   
      
   See comments below:   
      
   On 12/30/25 22:06, Robert Woodward wrote:   
   > This is the first book in a new sub-series of his Black Company series   
   > (will he live long enough to finish it?).   
      
   I have the same question. And, is he doing most of the writing or is he   
   getting help from a ghost writer?   
      
   > It takes place shortly after   
   > the events of _Soldiers Live_, the 4th title of the Glittering Stone   
   > sub-series. There are two basic threads. The first is focused on the   
   > Black Company which had moved back to the camp/city it had resided in at   
   > the start of _Soldiers Live_. This is recorded by the diary entries of   
   > Akrana and Shukrat Voroshk (two teenage girls that the Black Company had   
   > acquired from another world during _Soldiers Live_). Being cousins and   
   > teenagers, the entries contain a significant amount of sniping at each   
   > other.   
   >   
   > The other thread is the musings of Shivetya New (as he refers to himself   
   > - at the end of _Soldiers Live_, Croaker and Shivetya changed bodies,   
   > thus Croaker is now an immortal with near-divine power and Shivetya is   
   > an old man). Why did Shivetya do this? It appears that he had plans, but   
   > did he survive Shukrat going all Warthog on him on the last page?   
   >   
   > As for the Black Company thread, people are plotting against the Black   
   > Company, but the only significant attacks were blocked. The Lady returns   
   > to her home world to the site where the two plot threads of _Port of   
   > Shadows_ merged. We have to wait for another book to find out what she   
   > is up to.   
   >   
   > Shievtya New does a deep dive into the timeline of the Domination,   
   > discovering much of the events of the Domination thread of _Port of   
   > Shadows_. BTW, I wonder if somebody has forgotten the reveal of the   
   > Lady's true name in chapter 58 of _The White Rose_;   
      
   I had the same question. Silent spoke her name. That little anomaly   
   still has me confused. Maybe it is addressed in the next book.   
      
   There was a little too much introspection by New S. but that is probably   
   just me.   
      
   > I hope it wasn't Glen Cook.   
      
   Me too! He's got too much left to do to check out now.   
      
   >   
      
      
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   Dave Scruggs   
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