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The four novels of the Books of Glittering Stone form the third story arc of the Black Company series. They take place after the Books of the South. The novels are:

  1. Bleak Seasons (April 1996)
  2. She Is the Darkness (September 1997)
  3. Water Sleeps (March 1999)
  4. Soldiers Live (August 2000)

This story arc describes the Black Company's participation in the Shadowmaster wars from the Siege of Dejagore onward, and next, their subsequent journeys across the glittering plain and three of the worlds interconnected by it: the homeworld, Hsien, and the Voroshk world.

Regarding his composition of this story arc, series author Glen Cook revealed that it was initially envisioned as a single novel that would be called Glittering Stone, which later "had a litter" and transformed into the tetralogy that was printed. The reason it expanded seems to be because of his transition from typewriter to computer during this time period. In another interview, he explained that the last three novels in this arc (She Is the Darkness, Water Sleeps, and Soldiers Live) are each substantially larger than any of the other preceding books in the Black Company series because of this transition.

2-volume omnibuses[]

All printed omnibuses encompassing the Books of Glittering Stone are divided into two volumes. There was also an e-book bundle of all 4 books in Spanish. They are grouped below by languages; the languages with the earliest publications are listed first.

English omnibuses[]

The first pair of omnibuses of the Books of Glittering Stone in any language was the Science Fiction Book Club's English-language hardcovers. Released in 2000, they were available only to SFBC members and are no longer in print:

Glittering Stone Vol 1


Glittering Stone Vol 2


The next pair of English-language omnibuses are still in print (first printed in 2009 and 2010 respectively) from Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books imprint) and are widely available in e-book format:

The return of the black company
  • Title: The Return of the Black Company
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: English
  • Translator: (none)
  • Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books imprint)
  • Pub date: 15 September 2009 (paperback); October 2012 (e-book)
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9780765324009 (paperback); 9781429985475 (e-book)


The Many Deaths of the Black Company
  • Title: The Many Deaths of the Black Company
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: English
  • Translator: (none)
  • Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books imprint)
  • Pub date: 5 January 2010 (paperback); October 2012 (e-book)
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9780765324016 (paperback); 9781466831131 (e-book)


French omnibuses[]

The French L'Atalante trade paperbacks, published in 2007 and 2008 respectively:

Books of Glittering Stone Part 1 (L'Atalante 2007) Cover
  • Title: Les Livres de la Pierre Scintillante 1
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Alain Robert, Frank Reichert
  • Publisher: L'Atalante
  • Pub date: 23 May 2007
  • Cover art by: Didier Graffet
  • ISBN: 9782841723669 (paperback)


Books of Glittering Stone Part 2 (L'Atalante 2008) Cover
  • Title: Les Livres de la Pierre Scintillante II
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Frank Reichert
  • Publisher: L'Atalante
  • Pub date: 28 March 2008
  • Cover art by: Didier Graffet
  • ISBN: 9782841724253 (paperback)


The French J'ai Lu trade paperbacks (published in 2016) are still in print and both are available in e-book format:

Books of Glittering Stone Part 1 (J'ai lu 2016) Cover
  • Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 3
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Alain Robert, Frank Reichert
  • Publisher: J'ai lu
  • Pub date: February 2016
  • Cover art by: Johann Blais
  • ISBN: 9782290102404 (paperback); 9782290102411 (e-book); 9782290102428 (PDF)


Books of Glittering Stone Part 2 (J'ai lu 2016) Cover
  • Title: Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 4
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: French
  • Translator: Frank Reichert
  • Publisher: J'ai lu
  • Pub date: September 2016
  • Cover art by: Johann Blais
  • ISBN: 9782290102435 (paperback); 9782290102442 (e-book); 9782290102459 (PDF)


Polish omnibuses[]

The Polish paperbacks and e-books, published by Rebis:

Polish omnibus 3 Rebis


Polish omnibus 4 Rebis


Russian omnibuses[]

The Russian omnibuses published by Азбука are available as both hardcovers and e-books:

Russian omnibus 3 Glittering Stone 1 front
  • Title: Возвращение Черного Отряда
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
  • Language: Russian
  • Translator: Виталия Волковского (Vitaly Volkovsky), Дмитрия Старкова (Dmitry Starkov)
  • Publisher: Азбука-Аттикус (ABC-Atticus)
  • Pub date: 7 June 2019
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9785389114807 (hardcover); 9785389168558 (e-book)


Russian omnibus 4 Glittering Stone 2 front
  • Title: Хроники Черного Отряда. Книги Мертвых
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Глен Кук (Glen Cook)
  • Language: Russian
  • Translator: Беллы Жужунавы (Bella Zhuzhunava), Андрея Новикова (Andrey Novikov)
  • Publisher: Азбука-Аттикус (ABC-Atticus)
  • Pub date: 5 February 2020
  • Cover art by: Raymond Swanland
  • ISBN: 9785389114814 (hardcover); 9785389178779 (e-book)


1-volume omnibus[]

Spanish omnibus[]

The Spanish-language e-book bundle containing all 4 volumes of the Books of Glittering Stone (Estación en Penurias, Ella es la oscuridad, El agua durmiente, y El retorno de los soldados):

Glittering Stone Spanish ebundle
  • Title: Saga la piedra reluciente
  • Page shown: Front cover
  • Author: Glen Cook
  • Language: Spanish
  • Translator: Antonio Calvario Márquez; José Quiroga Fernández; Raquel Faes Díaz; David Cruz Acevedo
  • Publisher: La Factoría de ideas
  • Pub date: 15 March 2015
  • Cover art by: Jan Patrik Krasny; Nicholas Jainschigg
  • ISBN: 9788490187753 (e-book)
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