In North Genabackis, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends in the mountains in to the southern flatlands. Their intention is usually to wreak havoc between the despised lowlanders, but also for the one named Karsa Orlong, it marks the beginning of what is going to prove to be an extraordinary destiny. Some years later, it’s the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Tavore, the Adjunct to the Empress, has arrived within the last remaining Malazan stronghold of Seven Cities. New to order, she must hone about Home of Stores twelve thousand military, mostly raw recruits but for a small number of veterans of Coltaine’s renowned march, into a power capable of demanding the massed hordes of Sha’ik’s Whirlwind, who rest in wait around in the center of the Holy Desert. But waiting is by no means easy. The seer’s warlords are locked into a power struggle that threatens the soul from the rebellion, while Sha’ik herself suffers, haunted by the knowledge of her nemesis: her own sister, Tavore. Therefore begins this awesome section in Steven Erikson’s acclaimed Malazan Reserve from the Fallen….

“This masterwork of imagination may be the high watermark of epic fantasy. This marathon of ambition has a depth and breadth and sense of vast gets to of inimical time unlike other things on the market. The Black Company, Zelazny’s Amber, Vance’s Dying Earth, and other mighty drumbeats are but foreshadowings of this dark dragon’s hoard.” – Glen Cook