I look forward to receiving my contributor copies of these stories and setting aside a chunk of time to listen to them. In fact, out of sheer curiosity, I've just calculated how long it would take to listen to the entire saga. The answer appears at the bottom of this posting!
In the meantime, here are some details:
Tens of thousands of years of ice is melting, and the
land of Assail, long a byword for menace and inaccessibility, is at last
yielding its secrets.
Tales of gold discovered in the region's north circulate in every waterfront dive and sailor's tavern, and now adventurers and fortune seekers have set sail in search of riches. And all they have to guide them are legends and garbled tales of the dangers that lie in wait - hostile coasts, fields of ice, impassable barriers and strange, terrifying creatures.
But all accounts concur that the people of the north meet all trespassers with the sword - and should you make it, beyond are rumoured to lurk Elder monsters out of history's very beginnings.
Into this turmoil ventures the mercenary company the Crimson Guard. Not drawn by contract but by the promise of answers: answers that Shimmer, second in command, feels should not be sought.
Also heading north, as part of an uneasy alliance of Malazan fortune hunters and Letherii soldiery, comes the bard Fisher kel Tath. With him is a Tiste Andii, who was found washed ashore and cannot remember his past yet commands far more power than he really should. It is also rumoured that a warrior, bearer of a sword that slays gods and who once fought for the Malazans, is also journeying that way.
But far to the south, a woman patiently guards the shore. She awaits both allies and enemies. She is Silverfox, newly incarnate Summoner of the undying army of the T'lan Imass, and she will do anything to stop the renewal of an ages-old crusade that could lay waste to the entire continent and beyond.
Casting light on mysteries spanning the Malazan empire, and offering a glimpse of the storied and epic history that shaped it, Assail brings the epic story of the Empire of Malaz to a thrilling close.
Tales of gold discovered in the region's north circulate in every waterfront dive and sailor's tavern, and now adventurers and fortune seekers have set sail in search of riches. And all they have to guide them are legends and garbled tales of the dangers that lie in wait - hostile coasts, fields of ice, impassable barriers and strange, terrifying creatures.
But all accounts concur that the people of the north meet all trespassers with the sword - and should you make it, beyond are rumoured to lurk Elder monsters out of history's very beginnings.
Into this turmoil ventures the mercenary company the Crimson Guard. Not drawn by contract but by the promise of answers: answers that Shimmer, second in command, feels should not be sought.
Also heading north, as part of an uneasy alliance of Malazan fortune hunters and Letherii soldiery, comes the bard Fisher kel Tath. With him is a Tiste Andii, who was found washed ashore and cannot remember his past yet commands far more power than he really should. It is also rumoured that a warrior, bearer of a sword that slays gods and who once fought for the Malazans, is also journeying that way.
But far to the south, a woman patiently guards the shore. She awaits both allies and enemies. She is Silverfox, newly incarnate Summoner of the undying army of the T'lan Imass, and she will do anything to stop the renewal of an ages-old crusade that could lay waste to the entire continent and beyond.
Casting light on mysteries spanning the Malazan empire, and offering a glimpse of the storied and epic history that shaped it, Assail brings the epic story of the Empire of Malaz to a thrilling close.
©2016 Ian C Esslemont (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks
Running time: 22 hours 45 minutes
The accumulated running time for these seven stories is:
9,628 minutes or 160 hours & 46 minutes or... slightly over six and a half days of constant listening
...see you on the other side!
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