Dreams of Steel (sixth novel in the Black Company series, counting The Silver Spike as fourth)

(Originally posted on Thursday, 3 September 2009)

My rating: 8/10 (low re-reading value)
Please read my post from April 2009 to find out about my rating.
Please read my post from May 2009 to learn about Glen Cook’s style of writing.

Originally I rated this novel 9/10 and I thought it to be the second best book in the whole series. Now I decided to get rid of this book because the mood of the story is very dark and there is one very shocking scene which disturbs my concience every time I think about it. I don't want to spoil anything so I can't explain.

The Captain has to create a whole army from people who are not soldiers and have no fighting experience. What’s worse those people have different religions, which are hard to reconcile. It’s really interesting how the captain manages to do this and to build a whole army from the scratch. That’s what I enjoyed the most about that book: very strong and well thought out military elements. Great stuff.

Glen Cook introduces one more side of the puzzle: a new cult, which worships the death goddess Kina. These are the bad guys, who are hated by everyone else and have to hide their real beliefs. This cult has its hidden members in the rest of the society. We learn much about this cult because the Captain tries to use it and pretend involvement in its cause. It’s very creepy to see how such an evil cult is functioning. It makes this book even more dark.

I know that many readers didn’t liked the change of the narrator, but the new storyline required that change. It just had to be this way. Considering its low re-reading value to me I still rate Dreams of Steel as a novel more than just good.
(8/10)