She Is the Darkness by Glen Cook is the "Seventh Chronicle" of the Black Company series and the second novel of the Books of Glittering Stone tetralogy. Murgen continues as Annalist following his debut in the prior novel, Bleak Seasons. It takes place 20 years after the first novel.
Glen Cook stated that the title comes from the lyrics of the song "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac which was released in 1976.
Plot summary[]
The narrative begins with Murgen the Annalist describing the Black Company's final preparations at the Palace of Taglios to march massive Taglian armies south. After 4 years in garrison doing meticulous logistics and training, their goal now is to finally bring about the end of the Shadowmaster wars. As in Bleak Seasons before, Murgen uses the disembodied ghost of a comatose wizard named Smoke to travel through time and space.
The Company's enemy is Longshadow – the last survivor of the 4 Shadowmasters and an unstable sorcerer with millions of shadows and armies of Shadowlanders at his disposal. Longshadow's chief minions and allies include: Mogaba and Blade, two genius generals who defected from the Black Company; the Howler, one of the powerful and notorious Ten Who Were Taken; and Narayan Singh, with his murderous cult of Deceivers and his bizarre adopted child known as the Daughter of Night.
As Croaker the Captain leads their southward march through enemy territory, a major initial engagement is the Battle of Lake Tanji, where the Company and their Taglian armies survive an avalanche of hellish shadows using Lady's fireball projectors. Next is the giant Battle of Charandaprash against Longshadow's conventional armies, commanded by Mogaba and Blade. Murgen also tracks Goblin's top-secret Shaded Road commando expedition, which has traveled an immense distance to bypass the Dandha Presh mountain range.
The fighting culminates during the climactic Siege of Overlook, which takes place in the quake-battered city of Kiaulune and the imposing fortress of Overlook itself. After the Prahbrindrah Drah's predicted betrayal of the Company is foiled and he is captured, the Company spends several relatively uneventful months camped just north of the mysterious Shadowgate. Finally, using the Lance of Passion, Murgen opens the gate, guiding Croaker and Lady's fateful crossing into the lethal, shadow-infested glittering plain. Looking for the Company's origins of fabled Khatovar but instead finding a desolate prehistoric fortress with no name, they are all trapped or killed when Soulcatcher springs a trap.
From the back cover[]
“ | The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid.
At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence. Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence. Stone cannot speak but stone remembers. So begins the next movement of Glittering Stone....
Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all. |
” |
Global publication and translation history[]
In addition to the editions listed in the infobox at the top of this article, She Is the Darkness also appeared in the following formats and translations.
Gallery of omnibuses[]
All of the omnibuses in which She Is the Darkness is known to have appeared are shown in this gallery. See Books of Glittering Stone for more details.
Single and double volumes and novel pairs[]
She Is the Darkness was also published in the following single- and double-volume editions, novel pairs, translations, and formats. They are listed in order of publication, earliest first; some reappearances of the same translation may be grouped together.
Polish[]
- Title: A imię jej Ciemność
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Polish
- Translator: Jan Karłowski
- Publisher: Rebis
- Pub date: 1998
- Cover art by: Oliviero Berni
- ISBN: 9788371205835 / 837120583X (paperback)
Russian (1998 AST Dragon Age Chronicles)[]
This edition was part of the publisher's Dragon Age Chronicles (Век Дракона Хроники / Vek Drakona Khroniki) series.
- Title: Тьма
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Russian
- Translator: Виталия Волковского (Vitaly Volkovsky)
- Publisher: АСТ (AST) and Terra Fantastica
- Pub date: 1998
- Cover art by: Luis Royo
- ISBN: Hardcovers: 5-237-00716-3 (ACT); 5-7921-0225-2 (TF)
Russian novel pair (2000 AST Golden Fantasy)[]
This single hardcover containing both She Is the Darkness and Bleak Seasons was part of the publisher's Golden Fantasy series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi).
- Title: Суровые времена. Тьма (Bleak Seasons & She Is the Darkness)
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Russian
- Translator: Виталия Волковского (Vitaly Volkovsky) SItD only
- Publisher: АСТ (AST) and Terra Fantastica
- Pub date: 2000
- Cover art by: Gary Ruddell (upper); Luis Royo (lower); unknown (left)
- ISBN: Hardcovers: 9785170034307 [5-17-003430-X] (ACT); 9785792103511 [5-7921-0351-8] (TF)
French 2 volumes (2004 L'Atalante)[]
The French translation, first published by L'Atalante, was divided into two volumes.
Volume I:
- Title: Elle est les ténèbres, I
- Page shown: Front & back covers
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: L'Atalante
- Pub date: January 2004
- Cover art by: Didier Graffet
- ISBN: 9782841722587 (paperback [broché])
Volume II:
- Title: Elle est les ténèbres, II
- Page shown: Front & back covers
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: L'Atalante
- Pub date: January 2004
- Cover art by: Didier Graffet
- ISBN: 9782841722594 (paperback [broché])
Lithuanian[]
The Lithuanian translation – like the French – was divided into two volumes. This was the last Black Company novel to be translated into Lithuanian.
Volume I:
- Title: Tamsa - tai ji: Pirma knyga
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Lithuanian
- Translator: Anita Kapočiūtė
- Publisher: Eridanas
- Pub date: 2006
- Cover art by: Luis Royo
- ISBN: 9789986971504 (paperback)
Volume II:
- Title: Tamsa - tai ji: Antra knyga
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Lithuanian
- Translator: Anita Kapočiūtė
- Publisher: Eridanas
- Pub date: 2006
- Cover art by: Luis Royo
- ISBN: 9789986971535 (paperback)
Spanish[]
- Title: Ella es la oscuridad. Un libro de La Compañía Negra. Segundo libro de Piedra reluciente
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Spanish
- Translator: José Quiroga Fernández
- Publisher: La Factoría de Ideas
- Pub date: 10 March 2008 (paperback); December 2014 (e-book)
- Cover art by: Nicholas Jainschigg
- ISBN: 9788498003598 (paperback); 9788490184615 (e-book)
Russian novel pair (2008 AST Dragon Age 2)[]
This single hardcover containing 2 novels was part of the publisher's Dragon Age 2 series (Век дракона 2 / Vek Drakona 2).
- Title: Суровые времена. Тьма (Bleak Seasons & She Is the Darkness)
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Russian
- Translator: Виталия Волковского (Vitaly Volkovsky) SItD only
- Publisher: АСТ (AST); АСТ Москва (AST Moscow); Хранитель (Guardian); Харвест (Harvest)?
- Pub date: 2008
- Cover art by: Luis Royo
- ISBN: Hardcovers: 978-5-17-049549-8 (ACT); 978-5-9713-7665-1 (АСТ Москва); 978-5-9762-6728-2 (Guardian); 978-985-16-4844-9 (Harvest?)
French 2 volumes (2009 J'ai lu)[]
The same French translation previously published by L'Atalante (seen above) was republished by J'ai lu in smaller paperback format [poche] and was again divided into two volumes. The first reprints featured cover art by Johan Camou (left), which was replaced years later by the more abstract art of Slava Gerj (right) when the publisher did a cover refresh.
Volume I:
- Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire 8: Elle est les ténèbres, Première partie
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: J'ai lu
- Pub date: 8 April 2009
- Cover art by: Johan Camou (left); Slava Gerj (right)
- ISBN: 9782290012710 (small paperback [poche])
Volume II:
- Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire 9: Elle est les ténèbres, Deuxième partie
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: French
- Translator: Frank Reichert
- Publisher: J'ai lu
- Pub date: 7 October 2009
- Cover art by: Johan Camou (left); Slava Gerj (right)
- ISBN: 9782290012727 (small paperback [poche])
Bulgarian[]
- Title: Тя е тъмата: Втора книга за Блестящия камък (Хрониките на Черния отряд VIII)
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
- Language: Bulgarian
- Translator: Пепа Соколова (Pepa Sokolova)
- Publisher: Лира Принт (Lira Print)
- Pub date: 2011
- Cover art by: Nicholas Jainschigg
- ISBN: 9789548610803 (paperback)
Persian[]
- Title: گروهان سياه کتاب هفتم (او تاريکي است)
- Page shown: Front cover
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Persian
- Translator: آيدا کشوري (Aida Keshvari)
- Publisher: کتابسرای تندیس، (Tandis Publishing)
- Pub date: 2019
- Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
- ISBN: 9786001825620 (paperback)
Audiobooks[]
English audiobook[]
- Title: She Is the Darkness
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: English
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hours 12 minutes
- Format: Audible digital audiobook
- Publisher: Audible Studios
- Pub date: 31 August 2010
- Cover art by: Nicholas Jainschigg
- ISBN: (ASIN: B0041RF60M)
Russian audiobook[]
- Title: Тьма
- Author: Glen Cook
- Language: Russian
- Narrated by: Всеволод Кузнецов (Vsevolod Kuznetsov)
- Length: 16 hours 43 minutes
- Format: MP3 download
- Publisher: СОЮЗ, Покидышевъ и сыновья (Soyuz, Pokidyshev and Sons)
- Pub date: June 2022
- Cover art by: (unknown)
- ISBN: 4066338994028