Has anyone read The Black Company books?

[Phoenix Dark]

I was looking up fantasy books and came across it, with this description

“With the Black Company series Glen Cook single-handedly changed the face of fantasy—something a lot of people didn’t notice and maybe still don’t. He brought the story down to a human level, dispensing with the cliché archetypes of princes, kings, and evil sorcerers. Reading his stuff was like reading Vietnam War fiction on peyote.” —Steven Erikson, author of Gardens of the Moon

I did a research paper on the Vietnam war ages ago, and in the process I wound up reading a lot of fiction and non-fiction concerning the conflict; needless to say it was pretty damn intriguing. Has anyone read the Black Company stuff, and if so how is it? I plan on picking up Gardens of the Moon and possibly the first book in this series this weekend 

[MrAngryFace]

Erikson rox all

[Fragamemnon]

I loved the Black Company books. They were very good page turners and I really dug the characters. Erikson's books clearly takes some hints from them in his books.

For added fun, after reading the first three Black Company books, go play Bungie's Myth: The Fallen Lords, which rips Cook off 1000%.

[Van Cruncheon]

yeah, the black company stuff is fun, fast, and really well-paced. if any series started the whole gritty war fantasy trend, it was cook's.

[Phoenix Dark]

Badass, I'm getting this. I definitely have nothing against the more traditional fantasy stuff, but RR Martin's stuff really blew me away due to him pissing over many traditional aspects.

I'm gonna get Chronicles of the Black Company since it has the first three books in it for $10 fuuuck.