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  • Orb Sceptre Throne

  • Malazan Empire, Book 4
  • Written by: Ian C Esslemont
  • Narrated by: John Banks
  • Length: 25 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)

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Orb Sceptre Throne

Written by: Ian C Esslemont
Narrated by: John Banks
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Publisher's Summary

The tumult of great powers colliding has passed, and the city of Darujhistan and its citizens can at last get on with what matters: trading, bickering, politicking and enjoying all the good things in life. However, not all are ready to leave the past behind.

A treasure hunter digging amongst the burial grounds that surround the city is about to uncover a hidden crypt. He will open the last of a series of sealed vaults - the one that no other dared touch - and in so doing set free something so terrifying that the knowledge of its interment may have been systematically wiped from all history.

Fortune hunters are also at work far to the south. When a fragment of Moon's Spawn, once the home of Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, crashed into the Rivan Sea, it created a chain of small islands. Legends and rumours already surround them. The most potent of these is that here is hidden the Throne of Night, claimed by some to be the seat of Mother Dark herself.

Either way, all who seek this ancient artefact - renegade mages, hardened mercenaries, even a Malazan army deserter - believe it will bestow unlimited power upon the eventual possessor. The stakes are high, greed is rife, betrayal inevitable, and murder and chaos lie in wait....

©2016 Ian C. Esslemont (P)2016 Random House Audiobooks

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    4 out of 5 stars

Great Novel. Moranth!! Seguleh!!!

The most intriguing aspect of the world created by Esselmont and Steven Erickson is the different peoples populating it. Barghast. Imass. Tiste, Forkrul, K'Chain. This novel has several of them including my favorites. Not bogged down by too many plot threads, this story is fantastic. Loved it. 9/10 stars.

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    4 out of 5 stars

One of Esslemont’s Best

This is a fun book. Following Stephen Erikson’s Toll the Hounds it picks up the remaining character stories from Genebackis and wraps up most with a very satisfactory ending.
If you have not read Toll the Hounds recently I would strongly suggest it though, as otherwise a lot of the details and characters from there might be very confusing. This book really assumes you’re familiar with that story. This story takes place a few months after that, around the same time as Dust of Dreams. If you have not read Dust of Dreams yet (if you’re reading this between those two), that is ok - there is only one detail of the world that will be unexplained, but that’s to be expected for events happening across the world from each other in parallel.

My main criticism of Esslemont’s style remains (jumping around characters too much within a chapter instead of splitting chapters a little better), but overall he has improved. As well, the climax and convergence of storylines at the end more than makes up for it this time. The action sequences here are some of Esslemont’s best too.

Narration is good, although again I wish there was a little more coordination between narrators just to ensure that pronunciations are consistent (especially jarring is Kruppe’s name).

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