Erikson plunges us into a Sword And Sorcery world. Exit the company composed of the thief, the magician, the priest and warrior who will save the world from the terrible army of evil creatures. Wait to you a realistic universe and black, has a little black company Cook, or the characters are neither good nor bad, but trying to survive in a world at war. While the reading is not obvious. Different groups of adventurers cross and act through the events that seem to want to reunite. It is indeed of a complex cycle and if you have not read the preceding volumes, you lack of the elements. Similarly some of your questions will find answers in the following volumes.
The writing is not random as some readers seem to think. Erickson intertwines the adventures of its hero was a little Pulp Fiction.
Only one thing, quickly leaving 3rd volume, which I think will reveal the mysteries leashes suspended in 2 ... and say that once again delay years on the rest of the world at the publication.