The tumult of great powers colliding has passed and the city of Darujhistan and its own citizens can at last get on with what issues: trading, bickering, politicking and enjoying all the good stuff in life. Nevertheless, not all will be ready to leave the past behind. A treasure hunter, digging between the burial grounds that surround the town, is about to uncover a concealed crypt. He will open the last of a series of sealed vaults – one that no other dared touch – and, in so doing, set free of charge something about Orb Sceptre Throne so terrifying that the data of its internment might have been systematically wiped from history.

Fortune hunters are also at work much to the south. When a fragment of Moon’s Spawn, once the house of Anomander Rake, Kid of Darkness, crashed into the Rivan Ocean it developed a string of little islands. Legends and rumours currently surround them. The strongest of these is normally that here’s hidden the Throne of Evening, claimed by some to be the seat of Mother Dark herself. Either way, all who seek this ancient artefact – renegade mages, solidified mercenaries, a good Malazan army deserter – believe it will bestow unlimited power upon the eventual possessor. The stakes are high, greed is certainly rife, betrayal inevitable, and murder and chaos rest in wait .

Epic and fascinating, Ian Esslemont’s fresh novel is an enthralling new section in the thrillingly imagined world of Malaz.