I found a cheap copy of
Night of Knives at Amazon marketplace and ordered it a few days ago. I came in the mail yesterday while I was at work, and it cracked me up - instead of being a Canadian import from an American shop, it got shipped to me from England.
Even with the overseas shipping it was under $13.
So it was about a third of what it was going for just a few weeks ago.
I am not planning on reading it until I finish up the Elric series by Moorcock. I did look at it, though. It is between 400-500 pages and the story supposedly takes place over a 24 hour time span. There is an introduction by Erikson (which I did read and which explains the origins of the Malazan world and Esselmont's place in its formation), and at the end there is the prologue and first chapter to Esselmont's next book,
Return of the Cruimson Guard, which I believe will be out in Commonwealth countries late this summer. Like Erikson, Esslemont is a Canadian, and has worked as a professional archaeologist. My page count does not include the preview stuff from the upcoming book, so I am mystified by the fact that so many people call it a novella.