Took me a while to get used to the way it was written and things were presented, but I absolutely fell in love with this book and the series, and plan to get the third one whenever I can. A very well-put together fantasy, one that I can revisit time and time again.
The characters were incredibly interesting, the magic sublime, the plot easy to follow and I did want to follow it! Recommend to all who love "smart" epic fantasy novels that aren't just fantastical tales of magic and swordplay. ( )

Excellent continuation of the first set of books. DEVASTATING cliffhangery ending to the second part. Need to get my hands on the 3rd omnibus A S A P ( )

The first two books in this get into a thorny quest for the Black Company's roots, the perils of which every shifty character in the book seems to know except the Black Company. Add to that the return of some old villains and a bloodthirsty destroyer goddess and this is good stuff. I did make a frowny face when the narration shifted from Croaker to Lady in the second book, but I liked her and it worked. Dreams of Steel ended on a mean-ass cliff and off I went hoping to get closure.

However. The third book, The Silver Spike, takes a detour. It returns to Darling, Raven, Silent, et al. It gets a bad rap: distracting, jarring, irrelevant, that sort of thing. It is a crazy story. It moves fast and doesn't slog through details the way other books in the series tend to do. The povs shift all over the place, making it hard to follow at times, especially at the end when all hell breaks loose. But it features a full complement of shady, creepy, nasty, outlandish characters—one of the most endearing things about these books. I liked it. I really did, even though what initially drove me was the aforementioned cliff-hanger.

All in all, I love this series and am looking forward to the next installment. ( )

"We’re going to have such fun. The whole world thinks we’re dead. You can get away with anything when you’re dead.” ( )

this trilogy is written better, but it has a desultory feel, mostly because the company itself has fallen apart. time to quit on this series, i'm thinking. ( )