I read the trilogy in basically one sitting after reading the interesting opening to _The Black Company_ on Tor.

I enjoyed the first book a great deal: it's in a fairly stock medieval setting, but it handles the dark fantasy well and the plot quickly curdles into something more complex than expected as we gain entree via Croaker to the plotting of the Taken and the Lady, clever gambits & strategies, all ending in the resolution of all plots, defeat of the Dominator, and incidentally, the discrediting of the stock fantasy trope of a Joan-of-Arc-style messiah who will lead their forces to victory over the evil oppressor. It's also interesting wondering what Croaker is concealing from us, what his sins are: he tells us, the readers of his Annals, that he has concealed a great deal and softened other parts.

The downsides are few since it's a quick read: we see entirely too much of the Company's wizards (how many times do we need to be told that Silent is silent? or that One-Eye has just one eye? or that Goblin gets the better of One-Eye?), and it doesn't do a good job putting any real doubt into our minds about whether the Lady is the least of evils in the North, since she countenances quite a bit and the rebels' sins seem like the usual sort of thing which happens in war and then the wild dogs are put down during peacetime.

Book 2, _Shadows Linger_, was in some respects even better than _The Black Company_. While almost all the Taken are gone and so the scope for plotting has diminished considerably, instead we get a cozy intense little drama set in Juniper, of plotting & murder & corruption with the black castle in the background rewarding & driving it all with its tempting silver as it works towards its own little doomsday (you might call it a collective action problem!). Shed's plot thread is considerably more compelling than Croaker's this time, as we watch him give in to weakness, folly, and bad luck time and again, each time helping the castle grow a little closer to completion and finally triggering an epic battle destroying the entire town and shattering the Black Company. (The focus on the locals also has the benefit of not over-exposing the Company wizards and letting us see them from an 'outsider' perspective to restore their sheen of interest.) While admittedly the black castle is more than a little contrived (the Dominator foresaw his defeat and this was the only countermeasure? the castle took 700 years to mature? he didn't foresee the Juniper death cult before entrusting his last best hope of resurrection to it?), the plot overall still works well, and the creatures of the castle start to give an impression of why allying with the Lady might be a good idea.

Book 3, _The White Rose_, sees it all fall apart. We're plopped on the Plain of Fear at the heart of the renewed rebellion, which is OK enough, and we start learning what happened with Bomanz to release the Lady & the Ten which is even better. But the rebellion is a tawdry little affair, and the plot unengaging. Raven's foolishness is difficult to credit. The White Rose's power is almost too powerful. Parts don't seem to hang together (how do Tracker & Toadkiller Dog arrive *with* Raven's letter if they are only released by his interference?). The final alliance is too easily accomplished. The new Taken are only names. The finale is a succession of deus ex machinas - Father Tree's offspring on top of the silver spike on top of the true effect of naming (if all it takes to destroy someone's powers is to name them, why did this never happen before, and why were we told that true names merely allowed penetrating a magician's spells and defenses?) On top of that, the finale is almost anti-climactic: they dismantle the defenses and neutralize the Dominator using the Rose, and bury him more thoroughly. Oh. Well, OK... The book isn't so much bad, as disappointing since it features none of the intricacy of the previous books, is almost oddly streamlined and 'easy', and takes some easy way outs. I had come to expect more from Cook.