Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but rounded up.

So this is the spiritual/genre predecessor to Malazan, apparently. And I totally see that. Actually, the first book of the Malazan decalogy owes a tremendous amount to this. I'd have to reread it (Ha! Not going to happen anytime soon!), but I feel like that was *very* directly inspired by this in style and voice.

This is much better, in my thinking. An engaging world! Action! Characters! Less than 1100 pages long! Significantly less!

I want to read some of the other books in this series because it got me hooked, but I also burn out of this genre fast, so I will hold off/toss that on the "someday" pile. (While the "we took this commission, so we're finishing it, even if we all think it is serving 'evil,' but what can we do, the other side is 'evil' too, we're just a band of brothers, and we're pretty ugly ourselves, too, if you look even a little close..." thing works for some, and others claim it is 'more realistic', I find the whole thing a little bit trite.) ( )

Military fantasy. Gritty modern merc/SOF memoirs style + grimdark medievalist swords/sorcery. A highly inspiring if also slightly ponderous hybrid.

I think I may personally stop at this first instalment, but here the experiment was in fact time well spent, & the series well deserves its status as pioneering classic. ( )

it's a really neat story, glad it's a whole series. ( )

Bienvenido al lado más oscuro y crudo del Fantasy.
Nadie abandona la Compañía, excepto si es con los pies por delante.
La Compañía es el hogar.
«Somos la última de las Doce Auténticas Compañías. Hemos sobrevivido más de un siglo a las demás, pero temo que nos encontremos en nuestro ocaso. Siento que esta puede ser la última misión. Una página de la historia está a punto de pasar, y una vez lo haga, las grandes hermandades guerreras quedarán destruidas y olvidadas.»

Malazan fans might enjoy this series! ( )