Books

I read several books in the series. At first I thought the story was pretty interesting...but then it just kind of seemed to stall out, not go anywhere really, and I lost interest. It's one of those books where it seems like there is a lot of background that is going to be cool to finally learn, but I never found that point and I got a little tired of being honeydicked.

Personally I'd say read the first book. I've suggested it to several friends with mixed responses. I should note that I had the same experience both times I tried to read through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I made it until book 6 or 7 and just lost interest. That's only happened to me with a handful of series over the years.

tl;dr I get people that hate The Black Company. I don't get people who think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But the first book or two are interesting reads and I recommend trying them out.