The Malazan Book of the Fallen: the story so far

Seven years after Empress Laseen had the Emperor and Dancer assassinated, Dujek Onearm's Second Army was still besieging Pale on Genabackis. The city held because Anomander Rake, Lord of the Tiste Andii, had his floating fortress Moon's Spawn above it. Rake withdrew after a ferocious sorcerous battle and Pale fell, at the cost of most of the Bridgeburners and the cadre mages the High Mage Tayschrenn spent to do it. The cadre mage Tattersail survived it, then died fleeing across the plain and was reborn, through a soul-shifting ritual, as the child Silverfox.

The empire turned to Darujhistan, the last Free City. Sergeant Whiskeyjack's surviving Bridgeburners went in to undermine it from inside. Captain Ganoes Paran, the officer assigned to them, was stabbed in the street by the recruit Sorry, a fishergirl possessed by Cotillion, patron of assassins, and lived only because the gods of chance had taken an interest in him. Adjunct Lorn and the undead T'lan Imass warrior Tool went to the hills to wake a Jaghut Tyrant against Rake.

In the city the fat and mysterious Kruppe, the thief Crokus, the assassin Rallick Nom and the alchemist Baruk's cabal all pulled in different directions. The Tyrant, Raest, marched on the city and was caught by an Azath House that grew out of the ground to imprison him. Lorn loosed a demon lord in the streets, Rake cut it down with his sword Dragnipur, and Lorn herself died in a back alley. Cotillion let Sorry go, and the girl, now Apsalar, left with Crokus, the sapper Fiddler and the assassin Kalam to be taken home to Itko Kan.

Dujek and Whiskeyjack declared the Second Army outlaw and turned to Rake and Caladan Brood as allies against the Pannion Domin rising in the south. On the far continent of Seven Cities, a rebellion was beginning.

Seven Cities rose in the Whirlwind, the rebellion prophesied in the Book of Dryjhna and led by the seer Sha'ik out of the Holy Desert Raraku. The Wickan warleader Coltaine, commanding the Malazan Seventh Army, gathered tens of thousands of Malazan refugees and marched them across the continent towards the capital, Aren, fighting the rebel armies the whole way. The historian Duiker walked with them. The march became known as the Chain of Dogs.

Felisin Paran, the youngest sister of Ganoes and of the new Adjunct Tavore, had been sent to the otataral mines by Tavore's own hand. She escaped with the handless ex-priest Heboric and the thug Baudin, and crossed the desert. Heboric touched a buried jade giant and came away with ghostly hands. Baudin died protecting her. When Sha'ik was assassinated, Felisin took up the mantle and the goddess of the Whirlwind, and became Sha'ik Reborn.

Kalam carried the Book of Dryjhna to the desert, then sailed for Unta to kill Empress Laseen. He reached her, and left her alive. Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar crossed Raraku with the Trell Mappo and his companion Icarium, whose rages could level cities and whose memory was wiped after each one, and passed through the Azath House Tremorlor.

Coltaine brought the refugees to Aren. The High Fist Pormqual, advised by the priest Mallick Rel, kept the gates shut. Outside them the rebel general Korbolo Dom's army destroyed the last of the Seventh and crucified Coltaine, and an archer on the walls put an arrow in him to end it. His spirit passed into a Wickan newborn. Pormqual then marched his ten thousand out of the city, surrendered on Rel's advice, and every one of them was nailed up along the road. Duiker among them. Sha'ik's army withdrew into Raraku to wait for Tavore.

Dujek's outlawed army allied with its old enemies, Anomander Rake's Tiste Andii and Caladan Brood's host, to march on the Pannion Domin, a fanatic empire of cannibal legions ruled by the Pannion Seer. Whiskeyjack and the Tiste Andii Korlat became lovers. The child Silverfox, reborn from Tattersail, grew unnaturally fast and summoned the T'lan Imass to her, along with the ancient undead wolves, the T'lan Ay. Ganoes Paran, sick with a Hound's blood in him, was made Master of the Deck of Dragons.

At Capustan the Grey Swords, mercenaries sworn to the Boar of War, held the city against the Domin at appalling cost. Their god Fener had been torn from his realm by Heboric's touch, and the young warrior Itkovian, his Shield Anvil, carried the dead's grief without a god to give it to. The caravan guard Gruntle became the Mortal Sword of a new war god, Treach. The allies broke the siege.

Toc the Younger came out of a chaos warren carrying the wolf god Togg inside him, travelled with Lady Envy, Tool and three Seguleh, and was captured and tortured in the Seer's keep. The two armies converged on the Seer's stronghold at Coral. Kallor, an ancient warlord secretly serving the Crippled God who was the real power behind the Domin, cut Whiskeyjack down. Rake dropped Moon's Spawn out of the sea onto the city. Quick Ben took the Seer alive.

The Seer was a Jaghut child driven mad by centuries entombed, and his sister was set free by Paran's mercy. Itkovian took the T'lan Imass's whole burden of grief into himself and died of it. Toc's body died and his soul went with Togg. The fallen Bridgeburners were laid in Moon's Spawn and it was set adrift, and the survivors opened a bar in Darujhistan, where Duiker told them about the Chain of Dogs.

Karsa Orlong, a giant Teblor warrior, came down from his mountains on Genabackis to raid the lowlands with two companions. Both died. Karsa was taken by the Malazans, shipped as a slave to Seven Cities, freed himself, and joined the rebellion in Raraku, where he became the bodyguard called Toblakai who had guarded Sha'ik through Deadhouse Gates.

Adjunct Tavore Paran landed at Aren with the Fourteenth Army, mostly raw recruits, to march into the desert and end the Whirlwind. She did not know that Sha'ik Reborn was her own sister Felisin, whom she had sent to the mines. Only Heboric, now called Ghost Hands, knew. In the rebel camp the priest Bidithal, the traitor Korbolo Dom and the mage Kamist Reloe schemed against each other and against Sha'ik, and Felisin kept the girl Felisin Younger close.

Apsalar and Crokus, now Cutter, were sent by Cotillion to Drift Avalii to guard a throne against the invading Tiste Edur, and afterwards Apsalar walked into Cotillion's service. The Edur Trull Sengar, shorn from his people and chained on a broken shore, was freed by the T'lan Imass Onrack and the two travelled together. Kalam went into Raraku alone.

The night before the battle the rebel army fell apart. Karsa killed Bidithal. Kalam cut down Korbolo Dom's assassins and delivered Dom and Reloe to Tavore in chains. The ghosts of the Bridgeburners rose in the sand to defend the Malazans. The goddess in the Whirlwind was destroyed and Felisin was freed of her, and in the morning walked out in Sha'ik's armour to face the Adjunct in single combat. Tavore killed her sister without ever knowing who she was. The desert flooded as an ancient sea returned. Leoman of the Flails fled with the remnants, Karsa rode away alone, and Trull and Onrack arrived at the First Throne of the T'lan Imass.

Long before the other books, on the continent of Lether, the Tiste Edur and Tiste Andii had fought the K'Chain Che'Malle together, and afterwards the Edur leader Scabandari Bloodeye stabbed his ally Silchas Ruin in the back and slaughtered the Andii. In the present, the Edur tribes were united under the Warlock King, Hannan Mosag, and the Letherii Empire, a nation that ran on debt, was preparing to swallow them.

Mosag sent the four Sengar brothers, Fear, Trull, Binadas and young Rhulad, to recover a sword. Rhulad took it, died holding it, and the Crippled God, who had sent it, raised him. He came back mad and gold-coined, Emperor of the Edur, and every time he was killed he returned. He deposed Mosag, took the throne, and marched on Lether. Trull's doubts about his brother grew until the Edur shorned him from the people. Hull Beddict, a Letherii who had betrayed his own kind, joined Rhulad.

In the capital Letheras, Hull's brother Tehol Beddict, apparently a penniless eccentric living on a roof with his manservant Bugg, was quietly buying up the empire's debts to crash it. Their brother Brys was the King's Champion. The Acquitor Seren Pedac guided the Edur delegation and watched everything go wrong. Beneath the city the dying Azath House was kept alive by an undead child, Kettle, and the slave Udinaas released the imprisoned Silchas Ruin.

The Edur took Letheras. Trull killed the Ceda. Brys cut Rhulad apart in single combat, then was poisoned by a chalice and died, and King Diskanar drank the same. Rhulad came back, Hull was killed, and Trull chose to stay with his brother. Bugg saved Tehol from assassins and revealed himself as Mael, Elder God of the seas, before walking off to have words with the Crippled God.

Tavore's Fourteenth Army chased Leoman of the Flails to Y'Ghatan, the city where Dassem Ultor had died. Leoman soaked the buildings in olive oil, let the Malazans in, and burned the city with them inside, then escaped through a bargain with the Queen of Dreams. Thousands died. A handful of marines under Fiddler, guided by the mage Bottle through a rat's senses, dug out through the ruins days later, and the army that came out of that fire named itself the Bonehunters.

A plague ran across Seven Cities from the goddess Poliel's temple. Dujek Onearm died of it and Ganoes Paran, arriving as Master of the Deck, killed Poliel and took command of the Host. Cutter, Heboric, Scillara and Felisin Younger were ambushed by the Crippled God's undead servants: Heboric was killed and Felisin Younger taken. Mappo was thrown off a cliff and replaced at Icarium's side by Taralack Veed, who steered the amnesiac Jhag into the hands of the Tiste Edur fleet as a champion for their emperor. Karsa went with the same fleet by choice. At the First Throne, Trull Sengar and Onrack held off the Edur until Icarium went berserk, and only the Eres'al stopped him. Quick Ben, dragged in by Shadowthrone, was beaten down beside them.

The Bonehunters sailed home to Malaz City to find Empress Laseen sitting with Mallick Rel and Korbolo Dom, the two men who had destroyed the Chain of Dogs, and the Wickans declared enemies of the empire. Tavore refused to hand over her army. She, Kalam and T'amber fought their way through the Claw to the harbour. T'amber died on the docks. Kalam was shot with a poisoned quarrel by Pearl and left for Shadowthrone to carry into the Deadhouse. Apsalar killed Pearl. The Bonehunters sailed away belonging to no empire.

Lether under Emperor Rhulad was a police state run by the Chancellor Triban Gnol and the Patriotists' inquisitor Karos Invictad, while Tehol and Bugg, who was Mael, finished quietly bankrupting it. The Edur fleet brought home champions to fight the undying emperor: Icarium, held in check by Taralack Veed, and Karsa Orlong with the witch Samar Dev. Karsa cut off Rhulad's sword arm, followed him to the Crippled God's island where the emperor was reborn, killed him there, refused the sword, and walked out through a portal towards home.

Adjunct Tavore's Bonehunters invaded Lether. Marines were dropped along the coast to raise havoc and the young mage Beak burned himself out to shield them from the Letherii cadre. Fiddler's squad reached the capital's coliseum, where Trull Sengar found his brother dead and was stabbed from behind by the guard Sirryn Kanar. Beak's sacrifice let the marines take the citadel.

Silchas Ruin led Seren Pedac, Fear Sengar, Udinaas, Kettle and the Tiste Andii Clip to the Refugium in search of Scabandari's soul. Fear died at Clip's hands. Ruin stabbed Kettle, who had been an Azath seed, and used her to bury Scabandari forever. Seren carried Trull's child. On the plains the Awl leader Redmask was executed by his own K'Chain guardians, the Letherii massacred the Awl, and Toc the Younger died again saving their children, with Tool watching. Twilight, revealed as the Shake's princess Yan Tovis, fled up the coast.

Brys Beddict was returned from death. Hannan Mosag was killed and the Errant drowned Feather Witch. Tehol was made King of Lether. Icarium tried to forge new warrens as K'rul once had and the attempt ruptured, sending a white wave through Letheras that killed Triban Gnol and Taralack Veed among thousands.

Cutter came back to Darujhistan with Barathol, Scillara, Chaur, Mappo and Iskaral Pust, and found it changed. The retired Bridgeburners at K'rul's Bar were attacked by the Assassins' Guild and Mallet and Bluepearl died. Murillio, now a duelling instructor, went looking for Stonny's lost son Harllo, sold to a mine, and was killed there by the councillor Gorlas Vidikas. Cutter rode out and put two knives in Vidikas, and Vidikas's wife Challice, who had been Cutter's lover, threw herself from her tower. Harllo escaped the mine and came home.

Karsa Orlong and Samar Dev crossed the plains with Traveller, who was Dassem Ultor, walking to Darujhistan to kill Hood. Kallor walked the same way, believing a throne awaited him. Nimander Golit led his kin and the poisoned Clip towards Black Coral and destroyed the Dying God in Bastion, only for it to possess Clip. At Black Coral the pilgrims' camp around the Redeemer's barrow was corrupted with the god's black drink, and the Seerdomin died and gave his soul to the Redeemer to defend it. Spinnock Durav held Kallor off with a sword for a whole night.

On the last night of the Gedderone Fête, Hood walked into Darujhistan and Anomander Rake beheaded him with Dragnipur, then fought Traveller and let Dragnipur split his own skull. Inside the sword, Hood's legions of the dead under Whiskeyjack held back Chaos while Rake gave himself up so that Mother Dark would return to her children and take the Gate of Darkness to Black Coral. Karsa, Barathol and the Seguleh Second fought off the Hounds of Light in the streets. Caladan Brood buried Rake and shattered Dragnipur with his hammer, freeing Draconus. Nimander became Lord of the Tiste Andii.

In Letheras the Bonehunters rested under King Tehol while Adjunct Tavore made Fiddler read the Deck of Dragons, a reading so charged that dragons burst out of an inn and the Errant came to claim the Deck and was faced down. Tavore then told her officers the plan: east across the Wastelands to Kolanse, where the Crippled God lay chained and the gods meant to drain him, and where the Forkrul Assail were bleeding a whole population for a gate. Brys Beddict brought a Letherii army as escort, with the Atri-Ceda Aranict. The Khundryl fought their way through Bolkando and its Queen Abrastal came along. The Perish Grey Helms marched to join them under a dying man's warning of betrayal.

On the plains Onos T'oolan, alive and warleader of the Barghast, found his clans falling apart. He killed himself to spare his escort, and rose again as a T'lan Imass. In the camp behind him his wife Hetan was hobbled and raped, and Toc the Younger, dead and riding for Hood, saved her children. Two arcane storms wiped out the Barghast and Akrynnai armies, and out of the second walked Draconus, free of Dragnipur.

A snake of starving children led by Rutt and Badalle crossed the Glass Desert from Kolanse. The Shake under Yan Tovis and her brother Yedan Derryg walked the Road of Gallan back to ruined Kharkanas and found the First Shore, where Mother Dark's realm met a sea of Light. Kalyth, sole human among the K'Chain Che'Malle, took Gesler and Stormy as their Mortal Sword and Shield Anvil. Icarium woke inside a dead sky keep.

The Nah'ruk, the Che'Malle's ancient enemy, fell on the Bonehunters and slaughtered them. Icarium sealed their gate with an Azath grown from the Errant's eye, and Sinn and Grub burned the last sky keeps out of the sky. Whether Tavore lived was not known.

The Forkrul Assail Pure named Calm chained the unconscious Icarium. Ganoes Paran brought the Host to Kolanse. The old gods Kilmandaros and Sechul Lath freed Korabas, the Otataral Dragon, whose flight killed magic beneath her and drew every dragon alive to hunt her, and Draconus killed them both for it.

Tavore laid out her strategy: the Bonehunters and the Khundryl would cross the impassable Glass Desert to pull the Assail armies out of place, while the Letherii, Bolkando, Perish and K'Chain Che'Malle went around to strike the Spire at Kolanse, where the Crippled God's heart was about to be drained. Her goal was to free him. Thirst killed them until the children of the Snake joined them and Tavore opened water with Bugg's knife. At Kharkanas Yedan Derryg held the First Shore against the Tiste Liosan and their dragons until he died of it, and Silanah and the Tiste Andii finished the invasion.

The Perish turned, then turned back after Tanakalian killed Setoc and Krughava killed him. Brys Beddict poured out the names of forgotten gods to break the Pure Diligence and died in a pool of seawater. Karsa smashed Fener's altar in Darujhistan and the boar god's blood rained on the battle, reviving the Imass. Sinn, Stormy and Gesler died on the Spire, Hood killed Sister Reverence, and the assassin Gu'Rull carried the heart away.

The Great Ravens fell around Tavore's planted sword and became the Crippled God's body. Fiddler's marines held the hill against everything until Quick Ben and Kalam came. Korabas fled to them, breaking the god's chains, and he chained her in turn with Heboric's ghost hands. Cotillion released him from his broken body. Hetan was returned to Tool alive. Mappo was killed by Calm defending Icarium, who woke with no memory and walked away.