Dust of Dreams (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #9)

by Steven Erikson

‘A state that employs torture invites barbarism and deserves nothing better than to suffer the harvest of its own excesses.’

there is no universal law that places a greater value upon human life over that of a wild beast. Why would you ever imagine otherwise?

All the complications we suffer through are hatched inside our own skulls.’

But I want a world without soldiers. I want to see them all kill each other. I want to see kings and generals standing alone – not a single soul within reach of their grasping claws. No weapon to back their will, no blade to sing their threats. I want to see them revealed for the weak, miserable creatures they truly are.