I gave up. I have really enjoyed reading the previous books about the Black Company, but I think Cook lost his way somewhere between # 7 and #8. ( )

Hard fantasy- dark, vibrant and gritty. Complex universe creation ( )

Reagrupados en Taglios, los miembros de la Compañía Negra están decididos a salvar a sus compañeros, prisioneros de la diabólica Atrapa Almas. Emprenden un viaje en condiciones terribles, y llegan justo a tiempo para la mágica conflagración en la que la carcasa de la tierra será descubierta, la historia la Compañía desvelada y el mundo ganado y perdido... a un precio desmesurado.

Continuing to be a strong read, really only hampered by the odd feeling of the volume ending after a long denouement following the natural climaxes and even the slow beginnings of the next story. This has been the case with every Black Company book since they left the North, and is likely related to the practical restrictions of the formula of an in-world narrator needing to pass the torch in-story trumping the expectations of the reader. Hopefully the final volume will have a satisfying conclusion to wrap it all up. I enjoyed Sleepy's narration a lot -- I quite liked Murgen, Croaker and Lady, too, but something about Sleepy's personality made for a very satisfying prism, and gave the book a lot of additional flavour. I also thought the insurgency angle was fun and different, though the actual conclusion could perhaps have been a bit bigger on the sense of peril and drama. ( )

The only complaint I had about this book, was that towards the end Sleepy really began to annoy me. I loved her at the beginning but by the end I just wanted her to shut up. Her continual insistence that "this can't be happening! My g-d would never approve!" became tiresome after awhile and I'm thankful that the next book with go back to atheist Croaker so I don't have to read any more crisis of faith stuff. Other than that, Water Sleeps was as enjoyable as all other Black Company books. ( )