The Silver Spike A Retrograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey Glen Cook is perhaps best-known for his Black Company series. The Silver Spike is an offshoot of the Black Company books, taking place in the same world and involving some of the same characters. But it lacks all three of the above. It introduces a new first-person narrator, Philodendron Case. Neither of the main characters is really as likeable as Croaker, but both are interesting in their own right.
Case also undergoes change as a character, but in a more subtle way.
Of the previously-known characters, Raven and Silent are seldom viewed as much more than arrogant poseurs by Case, which limits our ability to sympathize with them much. There's another character or two that shows up, on the side of the bad guys. Toadkiller Dog, who got short shrift in the last couple of Black Company books, gets more credit in this book. And The Limper, in a final encore performance as a complete homicidal maniac, does as well as can be expected. And you'd be right.