Toll the Hounds

“Extraordinarily enjoyable.… Erikson is a master of lost and forgotten epochs, a weaver of ancient epics.” —SalonIn 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, rotund 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, ruled by 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. A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue, and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the next chapter in Erikson’s monumental series—epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting.“Truly epic in scope, Erikson has no peer when it comes to action and imagination, and joins the ranks of Tolkien and Donaldson in his mythic vision and perhaps then goes one better.” —SF Site'This novel and all others in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series follow my own pronunciations of 'Malazan' words and names. My thanks to Michael and Jane and everyone at Brilliance Audio.' —Steven Erikson, Victoria, B.C. Canada, January, 2014