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Dreams of Steel

The Fifth Chronicle of the Black Company

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Dreams of Steel

By: Glen Cook
Narrated by: Rachel Butera
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About this listen

Croaker has fallen and, following the Company's disastrous defeat at Dejagore, Lady is one of the few survivors - determined to avenge the Company and herself against the Shadowmasters, no matter what the cost. But in assembling a new fighting force from the dregs and rabble of Taglios, she finds herself offered help by a mysterious, ancient cult of murder--competent, reliable, and apparently committed to her goals.

Meanwhile, far away, Shadowmasters conspire against one another and the world, weaving dark spells that reach into the heart of Taglios. And in a hidden grove, a familiar figure slowly awakens to find himself the captive of an animated, headless corpse. Mercilessly cutting through Taglian intrigues, Lady appears to be growing stronger every day. All that disturbs her are the dreams which afflict her by night--dreams of carnage, of destruction, of universal death, unceasing....

©1990 Glen Cook (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Action & Adventure Dark Fantasy Epic Fantasy Sword & Sorcery
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Story - 4/5

A great conclusion to the Books of the South. There wasn't as much action as in previous books, which has been one of this series' biggest assets, but what you get instead is a fantastic game of power, where Lady brutally plays the politicians, religious heads and faction leaders to re-establish the Black Company's power, and gain revenge on those who destroyed it.

I enjoyed the change of viewpoint in this story. We got so used to Croaker having a heart and caring for his men that having a cold and (almost) emotionless protagonist lead the company was quite refreshing.

The big discovery near the end didn't come as big of a shock to me as I think it was supposed to (although this may be different for others), but I loved it all the same, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series to see what comes of it. If you have enjoyed the books thus far, you are sure to love this one too.


Performance - 3/5

Although I understand the change of narrator for this audio book (the change of main character viewpoint from a man to a woman), I wasn’t a huge fan. Lady’s voice was dominant in the story, but we already had a good voice from Marc Vietor for this character, which I would have preferred them to continue using

Rachel Butera was good at reading the story; describing scenes and helping to build up the dark atmosphere, but some of her character voices were quite bad at times. Not all of them were awful, but some male characters were particularly bad, and it did detract from the story a little.


Overall - 3.5/5

A shame about the change of narrator

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Was worried about a new narrator as I’ve really enjoyed Marc Vietor up until now, but having a. Woman narrate when the majority of this book is from Lady’s perspective was something I enjoyed a lot

New narrator

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Awful narrator but story continues well. Really struggled with the reading but the book was ok

Decent story but poor narration

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The story itself is okay - although less captivating than the previous books - but that aside I just cannot get passed the performance. I almost feel bad saying it but it flops the whole book for me. This is my fourth try picking it up, as I’d like to finish the series. I’ve really enjoyed the rest of the series, but this choice of narrator just does not work.

Flop ending of great series

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Love these books. The change of narrator is very disappointing. Good idea to have a female voice but the chosen narrator read badly and is not good at male character voices.

Terrible narrator

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