Product Description

The Seven Cities Rebellion has been crushed. Sha'ik is dead. One last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y'Ghatan and under the fanatical command of Leoman of the Flails. The prospect of laying siege to this ancient fortress makes the battle-weary Malaz 14th Army uneasy. For it was here that the Empire's greatest champion Dassem Ultor was slain and a tide of Malazan blood spilled. A place of foreboding, its smell is of death. But elsewhere, agents of a far greater conflict have made their opening moves. The Crippled God has been granted a place in the pantheon, a schism threatens and sides must be chosen. Whatever each god decides, the ground-rules have changed, irrevocably, terrifyingly and the first blood spilled will be in the mortal world. A world in which a host of characters, familiar and new, including Heboric Ghost Hands, the possessed Apsalar, Cutter, once a thief now a killer, the warrior Karsa Orlong and the two ancient wanderers Icarium and Mappo, each searching for such a fate as they might fashion with their own hands, guided by their own will. If only the gods would leave them alone. But now that knives have been unsheathed, the gods are disinclined to be kind. There shall be war, war in the heavens. And, the prize? Nothing less than existence itself...Here is the stunning new chapter in Steven Erikson magnificent "Malazan Book of the Fallen" - hailed an epic of the imagination and acknowledged as a fantasy classic in the making.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199633 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 912 pages

From the Inside Flap
The Seven Cities Rebellion has been crushed. Sha’ik is dead. One last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y’Ghatan and under the fanatical command of Leoman of the Flails. The prospect of laying siege to this ancient fortress makes the battle-weary Malaz 14th Army uneasy. For it was here that the Empire’s greatest champion Dassem Ultor was slain and a tide of Malazan blood spilled. A place of foreboding, its smell is of death . . .

But elsewhere, agents of a far greater conflict have made their opening moves. The Crippled God has been granted a place in the pantheon, a schism threatens and sides must be chosen. Whatever each god decides, the ground rules have changed, irrevocably, terrifyingly, and the first blood spilled will be in the mortal world.

A world which contains a host of characters, familiar and new, including Heboric Ghost Hands, the god-possessed Apsalar, Cutter, once a thief now a killer, the extraordinary warrior called Karsa Orlong and the two wanderers Icarium and Mappo – each searching for such a fate as they might fashion with their own hands, guided by their own will. If only the gods would leave them alone. But now that knives have been unsheathed, the gods are disinclined to be kind. There shall be war, war in the heavens.And the prize? Nothing less than existence itself . . .

Here is the stunning new chapter in Steven Erikson’smagnificent Malazan Book of the Fallen – hailed as an epic of the imagination and acknowledged as a fantasy classic in the making.

From the Back Cover
The Seven Cities Rebellion has been crushed. Sha’ik is dead. One last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y’Ghatan and under the fanatical command of Leoman of the Flails. The prospect of laying siege to this ancient fortress makes the battle-weary Malaz 14th Army uneasy. For it was here that the Empire’s greatest champion Dassem Ultor was slain and a tide of Malazan blood spilled. A place of foreboding, its smell is of death . . .

But elsewhere, agents of a far greater conflict have made their opening moves. The Crippled God has been granted a place in the pantheon, a schism threatens and sides must be chosen. Whatever each god decides, the ground rules have changed, irrevocably, terrifyingly, and the first blood spilled will be in the mortal world.

A world which contains a host of characters, familiar and new, including Heboric Ghost Hands, the god-possessed Apsalar, Cutter, once a thief now a killer, the extraordinary warrior called Karsa Orlong and the two wanderers Icarium and Mappo – each searching for such a fate as they might fashion with their own hands, guided by their own will. If only the gods would leave them alone. But now that knives have been unsheathed, the gods are disinclined to be kind. There shall be war, war in the heavens.And the prize? Nothing less than existence itself . . .

Here is the stunning new chapter in Steven Erikson’smagnificent Malazan Book of the Fallen – hailed as an epic of the imagination and acknowledged as a fantasy classic in the making.

About the Author
Archaeologist and anthropologist Steven Erikson is a graduate of the celebrated Iowa Writers' Workshop. His first fantasy novel, the critically acclaimed Gardens of the Moon, marked the opening chapter in the epic Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence, and was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award. It is published by Bantam, as are the equally acclaimed subsequent volumes, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains and Midnight Tides. Steven Erikson lives in Canada.

Customer Reviews

Do not jump in...
While I initially found this book exciting, it quickly turned into a chore to read. I think the main issue was that I read this first, and thus did not get a lot of the back story I'm sure becomes general knowledge from the previous 5 books. In my defence I bought it on a whim at the Airport book shop.

Do not jump into this story at book 6, read the others first.

best book ive read so far.
erikson is undoubtedly my favourite author i started reading gardens of the moon at high school and have fantically followed the series since then. though this is my favourite so far the tale of the bonehunters is brilliant in all ways i wont say too much so as not to spoil it for those who havent read it yet but its amazing have read it more than a dozen times and could easily read it a dozen more even though it would take me long enough to as in the usual erikson way it is pretty massive.

Another Great Tale of the Malazan
This is part 6 of a planned ten novel story by Stephen Erikson. I was tempted to wait until the final instalment to read these books again, but could not wait so picked up a copy. The story begins with the obligatory ominous beginning where an evil being is unleashed onto the land to commit evil acts.

Once again there are many stories which interlink with each other and the overall storyline.

After the defeat of Shaik, the remnants of the rebel army are being chased across the seven cities by the imperial army. They are lead by the infamous Leoman of the flails who decides to make a last stand at the city of Y'Ghatan. A city which has ominous history for the pursuing Malazan army.

The Malazan army is led by the ever distant Adjunct Tavore. The army are unsure of her motivations and her abrupt manner and closed emotions do nothing to assist this. She is untested in real battle and the murmurs about her allegiance grow in the lead up to the siege. Tavore is an intriguing character in that she is so guarded with her emotion and motives, any flashes of feeling are extremely interesting.

The siege itself is described in detail as both sides take horrible losses. Savage clashes in the city as the Fourteenth try and take the city. Leoman's fanatical followers refuse to fall. Tavore watches on as Leoman's defence plan unfolds. Erikson description of battles, both with sword and sorcery, is easily as good as any other writer I have read. The siege is another fine example of this.

The army itself contains some old favourite characters such as Fiddler, Quick Ben and Kalam. The banter between some of the soldiers is extremely amusing, though never quite touching the comic heights of Midnight Tides.

Captain Ganoes Paran is feeling his was into the role "master of the deck", he was one of my favourite characters from the first book and it is good to see him take up a leading role here. His extremely human reactions whilst in the thick of supernatural events and facing different gods are superb. "Do not mess with mortals" is the warning.

Another side story follows the brutal Toblokai, Karsa Olong. His unrelenting violence and doubtless confidence are back in effect here. His interaction with the `children' as he terms the humans is almost comedic. There is a great scene where he encounters a lizard creature that is almost twice as big as him, his reaction is to charge in and wrestle with it.

Icarium continues his journey in this book, as more of his past is revealed, will he unleash his hidden rage upon the world? His long time keeper Mappo attempts to keep him under control.

The only down point of the story for me is the journey if Herboric and his band. This slowly draws to its conclusion, and I think that it could have been brought to an end earlier without letting down the storyline.

Another thing that Erikson excels at is building up the stories to huge earth-shattering conclusions in the book. This one is the return to the Malazan Empire for some of the characters. They slowly realise that their return will not be welcome as they once thought. The tension builds as the characters ponder on choices they will face, and they will not be easy. In fact I was outraged at the treatment of some of the characters (fans of Deadhouse gates will understand my point) at the end. After the tense build up Erikson does not disappoint with the finish. Action, twists, turns, betrayals and deaths all around.

As a firm fan of the series, it is hard to be objective, however I would comment on the following:
This is a real fantasy book and I do not think someone new to the genre would have the easiest time following the magic systems, large number of characters and races. Additionally, Erikson is not the easiest to read, though he has improved from his first book.
Overall this is a fantastic book, my only fear is whether he can keep up the standard and tie up all of the many loose ends by the tenth book.