It gave the Empire its name, but the tiny island and city of Malaz is now a sleepy, seedy back-water port. However this night things are a little different. This night, its residents are bustling about, barring doors and shuttering windows. Because this night a once-in-a-generation Shadow Moon is due and threatens the good citizens of Malaz with demon hounds and other, darker, beings...And it was also prophesied that on this night the Emperor Kellanved, missing for all these years, will return. As factions within the greater Empire battle over the imperial throne, the Shadow Moon summons a far more alien and ancient presence for an all-out assault upon the island. Indeed the cataclysmic events that happen this night will determine the fate of the Malaz and of the entire world beyond.

Author Biography

Ian Cameron Esslemont was born in 1962 in Winnipeg, Canada and currently lives in Alaska with his wife and three sons. He has trained and worked as an archaeologist and travelled extensively in S.E. Asia and lived in Thailand and Japan for four years. He is currently completing a Ph.D in Literature and writing a second novel set in the world of Malaz.