Darujhistan is once again a focal point of a great convergence of power in Toll the Hounds, the eighth book in the Malazan book of the fallen by Stephen Erikson.  As such, we get to spend ample time wading through Kruppe's long winded, yet deceptively insightful, blathering.  We get to spend time getting to know the Noms (Rallick, Torvald, and Bellam).  And we get personal with Crokus, aka Cutter.

Iskural Pust (Magus of Shadow) arrives on the scene, mostly as comic relief.  Honestly, for all the time we spent reading about this git, he did little more than act as messenger.  Even that he screwed up.

Black Coral is also a scene of activity, as a new god is born.  In fact, there's a surprising amount of shuffling amongst the gods in this book.  Another god is born in Dragnipur, and like the one in Black Coral, must decide on its purpose.  A few of gods die.  Old gods are drawn into the game.  And we get to see more of Shadowthrone and Cotillion in this book than usual.  Quite the little god fest this time 'round.

Mixed in the struggle for power is one group I enjoyed reading about (Karsa, Traveller, and Samar Dev), and one group I couldn't skim fast enough (Clip, Nimander, and the rest).  Only when Kallor crossed Clip's band was I actually interested.

I can't really talk about what is accomplished in this book, just that there were some surprises, and I'd probably rank it in the top three of the series so far, even though I skim read about 50% of it.  Maybe that's WHY!    House of Chains was my favourite of Erikson's books.  I don't recall skimming that one at all.

Although Erikson is a great writer, his books suffer from having way too many characters to follow.  He also keeps you stringing along with respect to the central plot question:  What is Shadowthrone scheming?  He and Cotillion have been lurking in the background, putting plans into motion and manipulating people and possibly gods to some end.  But what is the goal?

So unfortunately, as a reader who hasn't yet finished the series, I can't say what characters are important to follow, and which could have been trimmed.  But answering that is MY goal.

There is something to be said for a concise story.