This is odd. I really don't know how I feel about this. Prediction: there's going to be a lot of "but on the other hand ... " in this review. 
 So, this is the first book of a long series. Nine or ten books, I believe? I'm not foaming at the mouth to go read the next installment, but I do intend on continuing with it. That's a good sign. On the other hand, a lot of this book felt, I don't know, superficial to me. There's basically no setup here ... we get thrown into what feels like an ongoing story, and things just happen. People do things or say things, battles are fought and won (or lost, it doesn't seem to matter), but everything moves so fast. There's not a lot of showing going on here ... but there's also not a lot of telling. 
 Part of my reaction is due to my own background - I was a relative latecomer to reading fantasy. So, instead of cutting my teeth as a young person on the likes of David Eddings or Weis and Hickman, my initial forays into fantasy were with GRRM and Robert Jordan. I think that was formative, and so now when I read fantasy, the expected default is the worldbuilding-focused, detail-oriented writing I'm used to. I've since read a lot of the fantasy I missed out on as a kid, and I love it, but it feels a little superficial to me. That's true for The Black Company as well. There's some good things here that make me want to continue - particularly the main character Croaker, the mysterious Lady, and the Taken - but I'm hoping this first book is the introduction to better things. 
 (Addition - in trying to explain to Brendan what this book is like, I told him, "It's like the prophecy-heavy feeling of the Belgariad, but with the battle-weary soldiers from Gears of War as the main characters." I think that sums it up nicely.)