NO LIFE FORSAKEN, the new MALAZAN novel from Steven Erikson, gets cover and release date

No Life Forsaken, the second book in the Witness quartet, has had its cover art and release date unveiled. The book will be released on 23 October this year.

The book picks up after the events of The God is Not Willing (2021) and sees the action switch to the Seven Cities subcontinent where, unsurprisingly, things are getting complicated for the local Malazan forces.

The official plot summary is as follows:

A goddess awakens to a new world, only to find that some things never change.

Amidst the ashes of a failed rebellion in Seven Cities, new embers are flaring to life.

There are furrowed brows at the beleaguered Malazan Legion headquarters in G’danisban for it would appear that yet another bloody clash with the revived cult of the Apocalyptic is coming to a head.

Seeking to crush the uprising before it ignites the entire subcontinent, Fist Arenfall has only a few dozen squads of marines at his disposal, and many of those are already dispersed - endeavouring to stamp out multiple brush-fires of dissent. But his soldiers are exhausted, worn down by the grind of a simmering insurrection and the last thing Arenfall needs is the arrival of the new Adjunct, fresh from the capital and the Emperor's side.

The man's mission may be to lend support to Arenfall’s efforts . . . or stick a knife in his back. 'Twas ever thus, of course. That a popular commander should inevitably be seen as a threat to the Emperor - such is the fatal nature of imperial Malazan politics.

And what of the gods? Well, as recent history has proved, their solution to any mortal mess is to make it even messier. In other words, it's just another tumultuous day in the chequered history of the Malazan Empire.

The good news is that Book 3, Legacies of Betrayal, is already complete and hopefully should be published in 2026.

Erikson is currently writing Walk in Shadow, the long, long delayed finale to his earlier Kharkanas Trilogy.