This was such a weird book. There was no conflict. At all. Piper Hect's journey in this book was like watching a Civilization match with godmode enabled. Literally. He was unchallenged constantly. All of the 'good guys' had everything they needed in order to accomplish their goals. It was tremendously boring. Piper himself became incredibly unlikable, and while I think that was the point (he lost his shadow, etc), it grew irritating because his POV was, as usual, the only good one.

The ending was great, but knowing that the series will likely never be finished due to these books not selling well is tough. Hopefully the next Black Company books come soon!