Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen 2)

In the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising named the Whirlwind. Enslaved in the Otataral mines, Felisin - youngest scion of the disgraced House of Paran - dreams of freedom and vows revenge. The outlawed Bridgeburners Fiddler and Kalam conspire to rid the world of the Empress Laseen - although it seems the gods would, as always, have it otherwise.

And as two ancient warriors - bearers of a devastating secret - enter this blighted land, so an untried commander of the Malaz 7th Army leads his war-weary troops in a last, valiant running battle to save the lives of thirty thousand refugees.