The first three books (available as one book) of the Black Company series by Glen Cook. It follows a band of mercenaries serving BBEG told from the perspective of Croaker, the company's sawbones.
It's an interesting series because the power level is so disparate. This is a setting where resurrection, daemonic possession, and displays of fire wizardry on par with WW2 bombing are normal, yet the best the company can manage is chopping up their undead immortal enemies and burying the body parts far enough apart that it'll take a few years to be a threat again.
I never ever read fantasy and I blew through the first two Black Company Books and am making quick work of the third. Only seven more to go. Actually came in here to make the same recommendation.
Consider the entire series as a bowel movement. The first three books (the books of the north) were solid and well formed. The subsequent installments (the books of the south) were chunky explosive diarrhea. And then once they started traveling the plain between worlds it found some substance again, but it's now rainbow colored and the blood pressure of constant exertion has made your brain see stars and you can hear the refrain of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds playing in the distance.
Yeah I've heard similar sentiments about the later books. Guess I'll have to see for myself.
Though I will say, the structure of the third book is a little infuriating. He seems to mount tension, then immediately break it by flashing back to incredibly dull scenes of an old guy sipping tea with his son. It's pretty obvious to me he churned these books out without a second glance at the manuscript, since he put out the first three in... What... Two years' time?
The first three books (available as one book) of the Black Company series by Glen Cook. It follows a band of mercenaries serving BBEG told from the perspective of Croaker, the company's sawbones.
It's an interesting series because the power level is so disparate. This is a setting where resurrection, daemonic possession, and displays of fire wizardry on par with WW2 bombing are normal, yet the best the company can manage is chopping up their undead immortal enemies and burying the body parts far enough apart that it'll take a few years to be a threat again.
I never ever read fantasy and I blew through the first two Black Company Books and am making quick work of the third. Only seven more to go. Actually came in here to make the same recommendation.
It gets weird after the books of the north.
Consider the entire series as a bowel movement. The first three books (the books of the north) were solid and well formed. The subsequent installments (the books of the south) were chunky explosive diarrhea. And then once they started traveling the plain between worlds it found some substance again, but it's now rainbow colored and the blood pressure of constant exertion has made your brain see stars and you can hear the refrain of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds playing in the distance.
Yeah I've heard similar sentiments about the later books. Guess I'll have to see for myself.
Though I will say, the structure of the third book is a little infuriating. He seems to mount tension, then immediately break it by flashing back to incredibly dull scenes of an old guy sipping tea with his son. It's pretty obvious to me he churned these books out without a second glance at the manuscript, since he put out the first three in... What... Two years' time?
It just keeps going downhill.
The books of the north are a complete story, more or less. Don't press on and you'll never need to know how much worse it got.