The Black Company Books in Order
Part ofGlen Cook Books in OrderThis page lists The Black Company novels by Glen Cook in order, with book summaries, key story arcs, and background on the Company's long, brutal campaigns.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
10 books
Shadows Linger
by Glen Cook
1984
Ordered to investigate a growing black fortress in the decaying city of Juniper, the Company uncovers a plot that could free the Dominator, while deserter Raven and the mute girl Darling pursue their own dangerous path toward prophecy.
The Black Company
by Glen Cook
1984
The Black Company, last of the Free Companies of Khatovar, takes service with the Lady, ruler of a reviving evil empire, while company doctor Croaker records their compromises and campaigns in Annals that matter as much as any spell or sword.
The White Rose
by Glen Cook
1985
Hiding in the Plain of Fear, the Black Company now protects the White Rose against both the Lady and the awakening Dominator, marching toward a final showdown at the Barrowland where the fate of empire, rebels, and the Company itself will be decided.
Shadow Games
by Glen Cook
1989
After the northern wars, a shattered Black Company marches south under Croaker and the now-mortal Lady, searching for its legendary origin in Khatovar and becoming entangled in Taglios’s politics and a looming conflict with the inhuman Shadowmasters.
The Silver Spike
by Glen Cook
1989
This spin-off follows ex-Company men, the White Rose’s followers, and a crew of small-time crooks as they chase and guard a silver spike that imprisons the Dominator, while armies, sorcerers, and old enemies scheme to seize its terrifying power.
Dreams of Steel
by Glen Cook
1990
Separated from the Company after the disaster at Dejagore, Lady claws her way back to power by rebuilding Taglios’s army, even as Croaker is trapped by Soulcatcher and both are unknowingly drawn into the death cult of the goddess Kina.
Bleak Seasons
by Glen Cook
1996
Narrated by standard-bearer Murgen, this volume loops through the siege of Dejagore and its aftermath, showing the Company hemmed in by enemies, betrayed by supposed allies, and haunted by visions that hint at deeper sorcery and a coming shift in the war.
She is the Darkness
by Glen Cook
1997
Continuing the Glittering Stone arc, the Black Company fights across the plain of glittering stone toward Longshadow’s last fortress, while Murgen’s drifting perspective reveals gods, Taken, and Nyueng Bao intrigues tightening around Croaker and Lady.
Water Sleeps
by Glen Cook
1999
Years after most of the Company is trapped beneath the glittering plain, guerrilla leader Sleepy and a handful of survivors in Taglios steal forbidden magic and launch a desperate campaign to free their comrades and finally confront Soulcatcher and Kina.
Soldiers Live
by Glen Cook
2000
The concluding volume of the original Black Company saga finds Croaker back as Annalist as the Company faces old foes and new godlike threats, fighting one last series of brutal campaigns that push them beyond prophecy and through the Shadowgates.
Series background & context
The Black Company sequence proper begins with the small northern arc that made Glen Cook’s name. These books introduce the Company as the last of the Free Companies of Khatovar, a hard-bitten band that sells its swords to whoever can meet the payroll and keep them alive a little longer.
In The Black Company, the outfit abandons a decaying city-state and signs on with the Lady, an immortal sorceress intent on rebuilding her wicked empire. The story is told by Croaker, the Company doctor and historian, who records not just victories and defeats but petty arguments, inside jokes, and doubts about whether they are on the wrong side. His Annals give the books their distinctive feel, half war diary and half confession.
Shadows Linger splits the narrative between the marching Company and desperate civilians in the rundown city of Juniper, where a haunted black fortress is feeding on corpses. That castle may be the Dominator’s way back into the world, and the choices made there push the Company onto a collision course with prophecy and rebellion. By The White Rose, the mercenaries have switched sides, sheltering a magically immune young woman whose very existence threatens both the Lady and her buried husband.
This core arc reads like dark epic fantasy told from the back ranks. Sorcerers known as the Taken float over battlefields; rebellions rise and fall; ancient trees and demon gods take sides. But what you mostly see are sergeants arguing over rations, card games in muddy tents, and veterans who keep marching because they cannot imagine any other life. Couple that with Cook’s tight, conversational prose and you get books that feel unusually close to real-world soldiering despite all the necromancy.
Readers who start here will meet many of the series’ most important figures: Croaker, Lady, the feuding wizards One-Eye and Goblin, the mute girl Darling, and the terrifying Ten Who Were Taken. Later volumes spin off from the fallout of their decisions, but this sequence is where the tone and moral knots of the whole saga are set.
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