I picked this up on Tuesday, and read the first 41 pages that day. It started well, reminding me a bit of Faded Steel Heat, which is one of my favorites. Both are longer tales (by Garrett standards), with a plot full of darkness. This one is full of creepiness from the get-go, due to the Tournament of Swords mentioned on the back cover.

 

I kept reading today, and holy ----, there's a major death early in the book! Caught me totally off guard. I'm very excited to see where the story goes from here. Anyone else started reading it yet?

 

On a side note, the third new Black Company story is now out in a new anthology. I haven't read it, or even seen it, but the new book is apparently slowly growing...