Toll the Hounds Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Steven Erikson — 2008

A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting. In 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 round 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, where rules 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. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Reviews

Abdul H@abdul

Aug 14, 2022

Wonderful read all the way through.

Charles Siboto@charles_s

Aug 5, 2022

As per usual Mr Erikson's annoying me to begin with because I'm still confused as to what's really happening. That might have something to do with 50 odd pages missing from the text though... Not too sure what to do with that one. Other than that Kruppe's being cool and Rallick Nom's back in the picture to add awesome crumbs to the mix. Finally done and Erikson breaks my heart in the last 200 or so pages. I'm in love and sad all in one.

Sheila@duchess

Feb 7, 2022

I haven't cried this much at the ending of a book since Dumbledore died (and, for that matter, at the end of Moreta)

Jenna Kathleen@jennarator

Nov 26, 2021

I'll be honest, the first part 60~70% of this book felt pretty dragged out to me. The stories were all over the place with seemingly no way to come together, and I think knowing a lot of the characters at the beginning (for once) made most of the book pretty easy to follow compared to previous books. It was great to finally feel comfortable starting a Malazan book and not being thrown into mass confusion, and it was even better to see characters I love, but the chaos and confusion of starting a Malazan book is something that has really grown on me and made the series very unique. That being said, this was still a fantastic book and the last 25~30% of the novel was one of the best endings of the series. I think the more story lines seem distant and separate from one another, the more amazed I am at how it all comes together at last. I really cannot express how great that ending was. Throughout the first long 70%, I was just hanging on to my experience that Erikson always delivers, and oh man, he knocked it out of the park with this ending. My favourite story lines were Karsa and Traveller, Cutter (still angry about this name) and of course, the one and only Anomander Rake. I especially loved Rake's POV because throughout the series he is always a major player, but one that tends to lurk in the background as we hear about things he does from other characters.

Ben Nathan@benreadssff

Sep 15, 2021

I was really slow to get into this one, but oh my. The second half was amazing. The last few chapters were mind blowing and some of the most insane and amazing things happened. Just wow. Two books to go and I'm hyped.