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| Toll the Hounds: Book Eight of The Malazan Book of the Fallen | 
 enlarge | Author: Steven Erikson
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $14.99
You Save: $12.96 (46%)
New (28) Used (12) from $12.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 12125
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 832
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.8
ISBN: 0765310082
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780765310088
ASIN: 0765310082
Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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. 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
strong entry September 20, 2008
14 out of 29 found this review helpful
It has been six years since the last deity battle, but another one between competing Gods seems imminent in Darujhistan. The native Crippled God and the Dying God want a seat at the pantheon. Each uses expendable humans to gain an edge over their rival.
Meanwhile as these two Gods battle for supremacy and the prize, others converge on the city in which factions already are divided. No matter the outcome, the "City of Blue Fire" will burn. Assassins are everywhere trying to eliminate Malazans and other foes, and the hounds howl over the toll of death. Behind the scenes of the night the Son of Darkness warrior ruler Anomander Rake of Black Coral tries to manipulate the various foes. Finally the night arrives when the city will never be the same as violence and the dance of death are everywhere.
Overall this is a strong Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen especially when the focus remains in Darujhistan; however when a subplot moves the story line to the distant Black Coral city, it loses some of its fast pacing in spite of Night of Darkness Anomander insidious plotting. Still this is an exciting entry as readers return to the City of Blue Fire for an epic battle between Gods competing for a seat at the supreme pantheon.
Harriet Klausner
The Malazan Saga continues on...but with a struggle...3.5 Stars September 26, 2008
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is the 8th book in Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen" series.
Of all the books in the Malazan series, this is, without a doubt, my least favorite...I will explain
First, the pros;
Overall, this series is epic fantasy at its best; in fact 829 pages in this book alone. There is intrigue, magic, unexpected enemies and friends and even some erotic moments; not to mention the usual backstabbing and clandestine plotting. In this book we are reacquainted with some old friends from previous tales, e.g. Cutter, Druiker, Karso Orlong (Toblakai warrior), Anomander Rake and last but not least, the ever loquacious, forever famished, mound of round, Kruppe.
Erikson's strength is his use of prose to describe people and their surrounding, all the while weaving a tale his characters come alive in; this latest installment is no exception. However, this may be the first in all the books of this series that may be deemed somewhat overwritten, mainly because of some of these perceived strengths. Which leads me into commenting on...
The cons;
1.)As with previous Erikson works, the book starts off by given brief glimpses of several different developing stories. The problem here, in my opinion, is that unlike previous books, most of these story lines do not really develop into something resembling a plot until well after the first 200+ pages.
2.)In addition to the slow development, the writing seems disjointed and difficult to follow; I had to almost 'study' sections to try to figure out what Erikson had his characters doing and saying.
3.)I found I became 'weary' of trying to interpret the vague, unclear conversations and happenings that occurred through out most of the entire novel. Eventually I stopped trying to figure out the difficult passages and just concentrated on sections that I found easy to understand; I don't think I'd have finished the book otherwise.
4.)I never thought I'd ever hear myself saying this about an Erikson book; I found myself somewhat bored by some of the dragged out, confusing descriptions and tales; almost to the point of skimming them.
5.)And last, I can't remember the last time I've been so happy to have finally finished a book.
Conclusion:
An intriguing Malazan tale that had potential, but unfortunately got mired down with a sluggish beginning and middle; the last section (Toll the Hounds) was better...but overall, a somewhat 'difficult' read. That is not to say there weren't some great moments in this book, because there were, many in fact; and this was my main reason for rating the book as high as I did.
I seems to me that Erikson has 'stumbled' with this book; he knows what he's talking about, but I can't say the same for me. I wonder about other readers; I'm I the only one to notice this tendency towards 'unreadability'?
I hope Erikson gets back on track with his next installment; one more book like this and he may begin to lose some of his loyal followers.
Difficult to rate this book, so I settled for a 3.5 and rounded it up to a 4.0 (rather than down to a 3.0 ) because I decided to give Erikson the benefit of the doubt...for this one.
Ray Nicholson
Addendum Nov 15/08
For anyone who wished to continue to satisfy their "Malazan" addiction, or for that matter, want to read a Malazan story that's a little less confusing and has more action than the last book by Erikson, may I humbly suggest the newest novel by Ian C. Esslemont, 'Return of the Crimson Guard'. A book with a riveting story and some fantastic action; and written with a simplicity of language that I've started to miss with some of Erikson's latest books (especially 'Toll the Hounds')
IF your a 'Malazan' fan, you'll not be disappointed.
 Tedious September 20, 2008
6 out of 19 found this review helpful
I will say that so far this book has been extremely difficult to enjoy. Erikson's tendency to skip between characters and story lines in his series to date has never been a problem for me before as he has always introduced a compelling primary character to follow fairly early. He doesn't do that here. I have enjoyed all of the other books in this series and usually can't put them down and finish them in a few days at most, but after 4 days with this book I am still only a few chapters in because I just don't care, I can't sit down and read this book for any length of time and keep putting it aside looking for anything else to do. I plan to keep struggling through hoping for the story to take off but at this rate the next one will be out before I finish.
 If you can pick out what he actually is saying... September 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm a proud owner of all of the books set in the Malazan universe and a fierce partisan that promotes them tirelessly. However, I can't help but feel that this latest addition to the series is not quite up to par with previous books.
One of my main gripes with the book has to be its languorous writing style. I'm used to Erikson doing this to some extent and have always enjoyed parsing apart the occasional paragraphs where he has truly embellished. However, now it feels like every second paragraph requires a second read through and it really slows the book down in terms of reader weariness. This had the effect of obfuscating the plot unnecessarily.
That criticism aside, I did enjoy the book. Just not as much as I would have without the unnecessary fluorishes.
 As always September 22, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
As always, Erikson takes my breath away. I laugh, I cry, I goggle. His work is gritty, shocking and simply...amazing. I feel quite at home in his creation. (And I haven't yet decided what that says about my sense of humor and character.)
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