In Northern Genabackis, just before the events recounted in Gardens of the Moon, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flatlands. Their intention is to wreak havoc among the despised lowlanders, but for the one named Karsa Orlong it marks the beginning of what will prove an extraordinary destiny.

Some years later, it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Coltaine, revered commander of the Malaz 7th Army, is dead. And now Tavore, eldest sister to Ganoes Paran and Adjunct to the Empress, has arrived in the last remaining Malazan stronghold of Seven Cities. Untested and new to command, she must hone a small army of twelve thousand soldiers, mostly raw recruits, into a viable fighting force and lead them into battle against the massed hordes of Sha´ik's Whirlwind. Her only hope lies in resurrecting the shattered faith of the few remaining survivors from Coltaine's legendary march, now veterans one and all.

In distant Raraku, in the heart of the Holy Desert, the seer Sha´ik waits with her rebel army. But waiting is never easy. Her disparate collection of warlords - tribal chiefs, High Mages, a renegade Malazan Fist and his sorcerer - is locked in a vicious power struggle that threatens to tear the rebellion apart from within. And Sha´ik herself suffers, haunted by the private knowledge of her nemesis, Tavore ... her own sister.

So begins this awesome new chapter in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen - an epic novel of war, intrigue, magic and betrayal from a writer regarded as one of the most original, imaginative and exciting storytellers in fantasy today.