On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 1:28 PM, Michael Llaneza <maserati@speakeasy.net> wrote:

I have to agree, as an argument I present "The Silver Spike". Croaker
is barely on the map for most of this story and leaves it in the
course.I don't think he ever even heard about the events. And it's one
of Cook's very best.

I had forgotten The Silver Spike - which was one of the better books... To be honest, I was thinking mostly of Water Sleeps - a book which has very little Croaker.

As for the "Lady vs The Truth", that was fun to read, but in both of those books Croaker featured heavily. And we learn more from some of those books - if Croaker had been the only narrator we would have never known that he has the eyes of a psycho killer - which he appears not to know (none of his friends will tell him, and others - well you don't go around pissing off the psycho with the sword, do you?).

Maybe I miss the Old Company too much... Or maybe there was too much death for the Company's character to be maintained?

Who's left from the old days? Going further, who's left from the first books of the South? There's Lady playing with her new powers, Croaker watching and writing everything, and... well who else is left? The Company we knew is gone, as are the villains they fought. In the new books there won't be any Limper, or even Shadowmasters. The new 'rulers' of the empire are weak sisters compared to the Lady's new Taken, can't hold a candle to Whisper, and Soulcatcher would eat them for lunch - so what eldritch force stands againt them?

Then again, Cook might pull it off - give us a New Crew to follow. If anyone can do it then he can.

Richard