The tumult of great powers colliding has passed, leaving the city of Darujhistan and its good citizens to get one with their lives of politicking, bickering, trading and above all enjoying the good things it has to offer. However, this peace is illusory because a treasure hunter, digging amongst the ancient burial grounds that surround the city, is about to uncover a hidden crypt, full of sealed vaults. Armed with magic-deadening otataral, he will open the last vault - the one no other dared touch - and in so doing will set free the most powerful and destructive of the Jaghut tyrant kings... And fortune hunters are also at work far to the south of the Malaz. A fragment of Moon's Spawn, once the home of Aonmander Rake, Son of Darkness, crashed into the Rivan Sea and created a chain of small islands. Legends have already arisen around them, the most potent of which is that here is hidden the Throne of Night - claimed by some to be the seat of Dracoinus, ruler of Eternal Night, and by others to be the throne of Mother Dark herself. Either way, all who seek this ancient artifact - from magic-wielding mages and battle-scarred warriors to a Malazan army deserter called Grift - 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...