Shadows Linger is the second in Glen Cook's Black Company series, and is an excellent follow-up. It jumps ahead 6 years from the events of the first novel, and we find ourselves in a far-off western city called Juniper. It's less focused on the Black Company and Croaker, and instead splits the chapters, with half following the Company's activities and the other half following a Juniper local named Shed.

I think adding in the second perspective was a good move for this book. Chapters are shorter and flow better, and there's less volatile jumping around in the narrative. It flows better than the first book. Shed's point of view is written in a slightly different style, and it's interesting to get a longer look at an outsider's view of the Company.

There's no shortage of fighting and darkness, being a grimdark novel, but as in the first book there are shreds of hope and goodness strewn throughout and even a really nice redemption arc culminating in the novel's climax. Cook is really good at having little bits of humor here and there as well. The characters we follow and root for might not be good dudes, but this series definitely isn't as dark and hopeless as some of the more modern stuff that gets the grimdark label.

All in all a very good sequel that continues the larger plot form the first book, and it's left me really interested in continuing on. These books are just the right length to read pretty casually over a week or so, and I really appreciate when a book can tell its story without being a gigantic doorstopper.