From Publishers Weekly

The ragged but effective group of sorcerers and soldiers known as "the Black Company" (Dreams of Steel, 1990, etc.) return in their sixth book, the first of a new trilogy. The members of the Black Company fight for hire as mercenaries, but also uphold a centuries-old tradition that includes solidarity and keeping a chronicle called "the Annals." Murgen, Standardbearer and current keeper of the Annals, narrates this story, with visions back and forth in time, often involuntary. Cook provides a rich world of assorted races, cultures and religions; his characters combine the mythic or exotic with the realistic, engaging in absorbing alliances, enmities and double-crosses. Unfortunately, all his good work is undercut somewhat by narrative dependence on the earlier books-which, after six years, most readers may not recall-and by a cliffhanger ending that won't be resolved until future books.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

From the author of Tower of Fear (1989), the first hardcover appearance for an established paperback military fantasy series about the Black Company, a sort of extended family of mercenary warriors. This particular adventure is narrated by their standard- bearer, Murgen, who has a problem: His awareness keeps jumping into the past, where he is forced to relive the siege of the stone city Stormgard by the evil wizard Shadowspinner and his forces. Within the city, the Black Company is split between the Old Crew--Murgen and friends--and the Nar, cannibals and death-goddess worshippers, whose leader, Mogaba, attempts to betray the Old Crew and claim the leadership of the entire Company. Allied with the Old Crew are the Nyueng Bao, a wandering band of pilgrims and expert swordfighters. In the present, meanwhile, the Black Company and the Nyueng Bao must battle the evil wizard Soulcatcher and her hordes of Strangler assassins--and also try to discover what's making Murgen jump about in time. Some good ideas, and intriguingly structured, but theatrical and with far too little action to attract readers unfamiliar with the series. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.