Malazan Book of the Fallen. Book 5. Midnight Tides

The warlike kingdom of Letherii, expanding its borders, has captured almost the entire continent, one of six on the planet, isolating itself from the Malazan Empire and the rest of the world with a deafening wall, while preserving the customs... and magical rituals of antiquity. The only unbroken ones on the continent are the Tiste Edur, once a great tribe, now in decline. Hannan Mosag, the sorcerer-king, ruler of the confederation of Tiste Edur tribes, wishing to revive the former glory of his people, makes a pact with the Wounded God to obtain a sword that makes its bearer invincible. But the sword falls into the hands of the ambitious Rulad Sengar, a simple warrior, who, declaring himself emperor, challenges the Letherii kingdom. Meanwhile, the day approaches when an ancient prophecy about the resurrection of the First Empire is to be fulfilled. But is it possible? After all, the First Empire was destroyed many millennia ago and moreover, on another continent…