In the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising named the Whirlwind.
Enslaved in the Otataral mines, Felisin - youngest scion of the disgraced House of Paran - dreams of freedom and vows revenge.
The outlawed Bridgeburners Fiddler and Kalam conspire to rid the world of the Empress Laseen - although it seems the gods would, as always, have it otherwise.
And as two ancient warriors - bearers of a devastating secret - enter this blighted land, so an untried commander of the Malaz 7th Army leads his war-weary troops in a last, valiant running battle to save the lives of thirty thousand refugees.
In this thrilling second chapter in the epic story of the Malazan empire, war and betrayal, intrigue and roiling magic collide, shaping destinies and giving birth to legends . . .