Dust of Dreams

November 30, 2009
Ragged armies and gods old and new collide in the dizzyingly complex penultimate tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen (following 2008's Toll the Hounds
). After a traumatic reading of the tiles, Adjunct Tagore of the Malazan decides to quit the Letherii capital. To placate neighboring territories, Brys Beddict and a contingent of Letherii escort Tagore and her army through the Wastelands on their way to the port of Kolanse. The Barghast find their own reasons to head for the Wastelands, as do the T'lan Imass, a group of bloodthirsty Jaghut, and the army of the K'Chain Che'Malle. Gods tweak the players on this continent-sized chess board even as they themselves are manipulated. Erickson begins to reel in the long lines of his huge plot, giving enough hints to leave readers impatient for the 10th volume.

January 15, 2010
Adjunct Tavore commands the exiled Malazan army on the Letherii continent as it marches through the hostile Wastelands, knowing little of their enemy or the precise reason for their perpetual war. Saving the multibook saga's resolution for the final volume, "The Crippled God", the author provides a realisticsometimes brutal, sometimes heroiclook at the actions of an army cut adrift and left to do the one thing it does best: fight. VERDICT Erikson's massive opus of fallen empires reveals his talent for both action and narrative. Rich with vivid descriptions and filled with a backstory reminiscent of the works of Stephen R. Donaldson and Robert Jordan, this title belongs, along with its series predecessors, in the collections of most epic fantasy readers.

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