Snakewood

This book is about the retired members of a legendary band of mercenaries called 'Kailen's Twenty' being hunted down and murdered for reasons unknown. As such, the surviving members must figure out who the hell is killing them all. It's a grimdark premise, and its delivered in grimdark fashion, with the characters being flawed, broken down, realistically battered ex-warriors. The story is told in first person from the perspective of these people, and their voices are all clearly distinct. It's interesting in that the main character confesses early on that he isn't good with words, and this lends his narration a genuine, raw flavor. The setting is low-magic, but the combat is livened up by the presence of 'fight-brews', drugs made from plants that imbue combatants with supernatural abilities, but then leave them debilitated with all the drawbacks of real drugs. The POV of the antagonist is give, and she's great fun to read about. Grimdark books either need an antagonist so appalling that they're monstrous, or one that makes you wonder if the protagonist/s you're following are actually the 'good guys', and in this case it's the latter. Read this book if you want to read about a hardened band of drug-using mercenaries well past their prime. And how they get murdered.