For reasons I don’t totally understand I didn’t like this book. I like The Black Company but this one just didn’t do it for me.

At the end of the original trilogy of The Black Company, the ancient evil of the Dominator is defeated, and the Company parts ways. This standalone sequel follows what happens next to those who left the Company, as well as a small group of local criminals who get in way over their head stealing the talisman housing the remnants of the Dominator's evil. The book, surprisingly, is at its strongest when following these new characters. The four of them get trapped in a city where everyone from warlords and wizards to cut-throats and soldiers are looking for the item they've stolen, and circumstances get more and more dire with every passing day. I loved this. The moral dilemmas of the viewpoint character among the four, the lingering certainty of eventual betrayal from his cousin and (to my mind) the ever-increasing awe at the cunning and steel of the quietly dignified Old Man Fish.

You'll get more out of the (less impressive) secondary plotline following the Black Company characters if you've read the previous novels, but the heart of this book is following these four criminals in their self-inflicted plight, and that can be enjoyed without any context at all. Warmly recommended. ( )

I actually really liked this. I can see why the first four books are bunched together as a quadrilogy; this book ended the whole arc pretty well, despite some big characters from previous not present. Very fun, and a good pov in my opinion too. ( )

I was hesitant about starting this book because it lacked Croaker and Lady, and contained my least favourite characters, Darling and Silent. However I was engrossed within the plot and had gorwn fond of other characters long before the White Rose gang made it's appearance. Smeds, Old Man Fish, Case, and Toadkiller Dog was all enjoyable characters to read about, and I found myself wishing there was a way they could all win by the end. The only criticism I have of the book is the ending. It seemed abrupt and a pit too pat, like Cook wanted to make sure he could never go back to the characters. It wasn't bad, just a let down after such a fabulous book. ( )

I was turned off by the first couple chapters because I thought this was going to end up a pointless detour from the main thread of the story and I wanted to see what Croaker & Lady were going to do about the big off-screen dramatic moment at the end of Dreams of Steel. But in the end it was a fun detour from the main thread of the story. And I think most of my disappointment has to do with the fact that I read it in the Books of the South collection, which has it as #6 in the series, when it looks like it was published 4th.

So yeah, I still like the characters. Still want to know where this is all going. ( )