Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Malazan Book of the Fallen, 8)

SUMMARY: In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned andnbsp;the hunters become the hunted. nbsp;Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing. nbsp;A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic,Toll the Houndsis the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting.

There is a saying in Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, that love and death shall arrive together, dancing . . .

It is summer and the heat is oppressive. However the discomfiture of the small round man in the faded red waistcoat is not entirely due to the sun. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city’s streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins still skulk in alleyways, but the hunters have become the hunted. Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus, and strangers have arrived. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of hounds. All is palpably not well. And in Black Coral, where Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness rules, memories of ancient crimes are stirring, intent on revenge. Could it be that Love and Death are about to arrive . . . hand in hand, and dancing?

This new chapter in Erikson’s monumental series is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, and storytelling at its most exciting.

Publishers Weekly

Book eight in the intensifying Malazan series (following 2007's Reaper's Gale) sees the grinding, bloody clash of newly created deities against longstanding, increasingly powerful Gods. The Crippled God, born in the city of Darujhistan, and the Dying God, who bleeds a poison that enthralls and addicts his followers, both vie for a place in the formal pantheon, using humans and the goddess-descended Tiste Andii as pawns in their unholy, greedy game. Warrior-hero Anomander Rake subtly manipulates the factions from the sidelines. Finally, the gods' slaves and representatives and the common people of the Darujhistan meet in one dark, thunderous, transformative night. This is a praiseworthy entry in the massive series encompassing multitudes of characters, complex plot lines and grotesque violence, but it's not lightweight in tone or in heft, and new readers will be entirely at sea. (Sept.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The eighth book in Erikson's extraordinary, acclaimed and bestselling fantasy sequence.It is said that Hood waits at the end of every plot, every scheme, each grandiose ambition. But this time it is different: this time the Lord of Death is there at the beginning...Darujhistan swelters in the summer heat and seethes with portents, rumours and whispers. Strangers have arrived, a murderer is abroad, past-tyrannies are stirring and assassins seem to be targeting the owners of K'rul's Bar. For the rotund, waistcoat-clad man knows such events will be dwarfed by what is about to happen: for in the distance can be heard the baying of hounds.Far away, in Black Coral, the ruling Tiste Andii appear oblivious to the threat posed by the fast-growing cult of the Redeemer - an honourable, one-mortal man who seems powerless against the twisted vision of his followers.So Hood waits at the beginning of a conspiracy that will shake the cosmos, but at its end there is another: Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, has come to right an ancient and terrible wrong... A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting. In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned and the hunters become the hunted. Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing. While the city of Darujhistan becomes increasingly subject to assassins, tyrants, and the oppressive summer weather, Anomander Raks, Son of Darkness, plots a deadly revenge from the distant city of Black Coral