Review: Dancer’s Lament (Path to Ascendancy Book 1) by Ian C. Esslemont

Shorter Review:

A great fantasy novel that is quintessentially ‘Malazan’ but in a streamlined, more story-centred form.  The three main POVs give a tight focus to the first step of Shadowthrone and Cotillion’s legendary journey.  A brilliant entry point to the Malazan universe for new readers as well as established Malazan fans.

Longer Review:

When Ian C. Esslemont and Steven Erikson whiled away the hours on archaeological digs by creating the intricate fantasy world of the Malazan Empire and gaming adventures in it with the GURPS system, they also created the bedrock for one of the most engaging secondary world Epic fantasies in the genre.  It is rare that two authors share ownership of a world and continue to produce well-crafted stories that intertwine and overlap, but never repeat.  While co-creators they each possess their own writing style, and with Dancer’s Lament Esslemont demonstrates his command of both the fictive reality and a tightly focused, story-centric narrative.

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