The Black Company is one of the foundations of modern gritty fantasy, and a classic in its own right. The titular company is a band of mercenaries who find themselves under contract to an empire ruled by 300 year old sorcerers: Soulcatcher, The Lady, The Limper, Stormcaller, etc. With the northern front falling apart, they're the only effective unit fighting against the Rebels and their sorcerer-generals, holding the line in a desperate retreat and last stand at the fortress of Charm.

Our viewpoint is Croaker, field surgeon and company annalist. He has a wonderful tone balanced between cynicism and the limited morality of mercenaries: honor the word of the contract, pay for supplies, don't fight to the death if there's another way (because that death might be yours). There are no heroes in war, just various shades of grey, as he chronicles the soldiers and wizards of the Black Company.

The best part is the magic. Sorcery is terrifying, literally dehumanizing. The hedge-wizards attached to the company and their little illusions and feuds are merely odd. The top figures of the The Lady's empire, the Ten Who Were Taken, are monsters out of myth, their deadly intrigues cutting back and forth with the company in the center. Though magic melts stone to lava and sends poisonous clouds racing across the battlefield, sorcerers mostly cancel each other out, and it's up to poor bloody infantry to save the day. And behind it all is the legend of the White Rose, a young girl who will lead the Rebels to victory, and the undead hand of the Dominator, a sorcerer-king who would break the world.

What a book!