Synopses & Reviews
A new novella from
New York Times bestselling author Steven Erikson, set in the world of the Malazan Book of the Fallen,
The Wurms of Blearmouth.
Tyranny comes in many guises, and tyrants thrive in palaces and one-room hovels, in back alleys and playgrounds. Tyrants abound on the verges of civilization, where disorder frays the rule of civil conduct and propriety surrenders to brutal imposition. Millions are made to kneel and yet more millions die horrible deaths in a welter of suffering and misery.
But leave all that behind and plunge into escapist fantasy of the most irrelevant kind, and in the ragged wake of the tale told in Lees of Laughters End, those most civil adventurers, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, along with their suitably phlegmatic manservant, Emancipor Reese, make gentle landing upon a peaceful beach, beneath a quaint village at the foot of a majestic castle. There they make acquaintance with the soft-hearted and generous folk of Spendrugle, which lies at the mouth of the Blear River and falls under the benign rule of the Lord of Wurms in his lovely keep.
Make welcome, then, to Spendrugles memorable residents, including the man who should have stayed dead, the woman whose prayers should never have been answered, the tax collector everyone ignores, the ex-husband town militiaman who never married, the beachcomber who lives in his own beard, and the now singular lizard cat who used to be plural, and the girl who likes to pee in your lap. And of course, hovering over all, the denizen of the castle keep, Lord—Ah, but there lies this tale.
Review
Praise for The Malazan Book of the Fallen
“Erikson ranks near the top of the epic fantasy pantheon.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A multilayered tale of magic and war, loyalty and betrayal. Complexly drawn characters occupy a richly detailed world in this panoramic saga.”—Library Journal
“The kind of epic narrative that will have you scrambling for more.”—Stephen R. Donaldson
“Erikson is a master of lost and forgotten epochs, a weaver of ancient epics.” —Salon
“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
About the Author
STEVEN ERIKSON is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop. His previous novels in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series—Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters, and Reapers Gale—have met with widespread international acclaim and established him as a major voice in the world of fantasy fiction. He lives in the United Kingdom.