The Black Company
The Black Company by Glen Cookby Glen Cook
Shares rank 19 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
Fantasy readers recommend it strongly, and one re-reads the original Chronicles of the Black Company books.
Fantasy readers recommend it strongly, and one re-reads the original Chronicles of the Black Company books.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strongly recommended for fantasy fans
“Great books! Strongly recommend for anyone into fantasy stuff.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “My payment agent is named George, not stripe-agent” Re-read by a fan
“I re-read the original 10 (+1) books of Chronicles of the Black Company”
Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” Named among favourite books
“some of my favourite books”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “My payment agent is named George, not stripe-agent”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| The Black Companyby Glen CookThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I re-read the original 10 (+1) books of Chronicles of the Black Company”
“Great books! Strongly recommend for anyone into fantasy stuff.”
“some of my favourite books”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.