The Tales of Witness

The Tales of Witness is a four-volume epic fantasy series by Steven Erikson that serves as a sequel to the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Taking place about ten years after The Crippled God, it features Karsa Orlong and his legacy, and was for a time unofficially referred to as the Witness Trilogy, the Karsa Orlong Trilogy, or the Toblakai Trilogy.

Unlike the main Malazan series, the The Tales of Witness "will be one giant novel split into three", according to Erikson. It marks a return to the style of the first four books in the main Malazan Book of the Fallen series, and the author says it will feature "a lot of characters we've met before" and will ultimately return to Darujhistan.

In March 2019, Erikson described progress on the series and warned fans that Karsa might not appear in the first or even second book of the series. He noted that Karsa had made a big impact on his world and the repercussions needed to be examined before returning to Karsa himself.

Erikson hopes that the trilogy will serve as an entry point for new readers who have never read any of the previous Malazan books.

STATUS: On 31 July 2024, Erikson announced he had sent the manuscript of No Life Forsaken to his publisher and was 75% of the way complete with writing Book 3. He had previously revealed that the Witness Trilogy was to become a four-book series. He said he "was writing [No Life Forsaken] when I realised it was actually two novels, and I have about a month's worth of writing [remaining] for each of those two novels. So I'll be able to deliver them to the publisher almost back to back."

On 23 November 2024, Erikson reported on Facebook that work on the untitled third Witness book was complete and turned in to his agent. And later, in response to a fan question, Erikson shared the title of that third novel: Legacies of Betrayal.

The Books

• The God is Not Willing (2021)
• No Life Forsaken (2025)
• Legacies of Betrayal (TBA)
• Book 4

Short Introductions

• The God is Not Willing sees a new Warleader rise among the Teblor of Karsa Orlong's old homeland on the Laederon Plateau. He has seen a stark future for his people and concludes it is time for the Teblor to bring war to the southlands. Meanwhile the Malazan XIVth Legion has taken a new post as support for the Silver Lake Garrison and is unaware of what is about to come their way.

Trivia

• Erikson initially planned to write the Witness series after he completed the Kharkanas Trilogy prequel series. But in October 2017 Erikson announced that Walk in Shadow, the concluding volume of the Kharkanas series, would be delayed while he instead worked on the first of the Karsa books. This decision was made after he became aware of the unexpectedly low sales of the first two books in the prequel series, Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light.
• Erikson discussed his work on the first book in the series in an essay called Life on Thin Ice: Updating my Progress on The Witness Trilogy.
• Erikson had a list of "survivors" from the Malazan Book of the Fallen series that he consulted to decide which will take part in the new trilogy. For preparation he had to reread and take notes on the first part of House of Chains as well as Toll the Hounds.
• According to Erikson, Spindle is "probably the only Bridgeburner who is going to be in the Karsa trilogy."
• One of the story elements involves the birth of the Black Feather religion based around Coltaine.

Notes and references

List of abbreviations • Paginations • How to reference an article