‘Dancer’s Lament: Path to Ascendancy Book 1’ – Ian C. Esslemont (Bantam Books)

Another book that I’ve read, fairly recently, but not posted about here, hiding in plain sight on a bookshelf. It might take a little while but I will track them all down, I promise you that!

Erm… Sorry, I’m not sure what just happened there. Anyway…

As much as I love the ‘Malazan’ books, and I really do, I’ve never quite been able to finish the main series so find myself nibbling away at the books lurking around the edges (which may become ‘main series’ themselves one day, who knows…) It took me a while to get into but I finally managed to polish off ‘Dancer’s Lament’ (that’s on me rather than the book, there was a lot going on at the time) and I’m really glad that I did. It was very much a case of rediscovering all the things that got me into the ‘Malazan’ books in the first place and I’ve promised myself that I won’t leave it too long before I get stuck into ‘Deadhouse Landing’...

It was once a land ravaged by war, minor city states, baronies and principates fighting for supremacy. But when the rival cities of Tali and Quon formed an alliance, Quon Tali came into being.

However that was generations ago, that dynasty has collapsed and the regional powers are now clawing at each others throats once more. But at the heart of Quon Tali lies the powerful city state of Li Heng which has for centuries enjoyed relative stability under the guidance of the powerful sorceress known as the "Protectress".

She is not someone likely to tolerate the arrival of two particular young men into her domain: one is determined to prove he is the most skilled assassin of his age; the other is his quarry – a Dal Hon mage who is proving annoyingly difficult to kill.

And now, under a new and ambitious king, the forces of Itko Kan are marching on Li Heng from the south. His own assassins, the Nightblades, have been sent ahead into the city, and rumours abound that he has inhuman, nightmarish forces at his command. So as shadows and mistrust swirl and monstrous beasts run rampage through Li Heng's streets, it seems chaos is come - but in chaos, as a certain young Dal Hon mage would say, there is opportunity…

You know those books where even though you’ve only just picked it up, it feels just like you’ve come home? You just sit down and read like it’s the most natural thing in the world? Yep, that was me and ‘Dancer’s Lament’. It did take a little getting into (but like I said up the page, there were a number of things that had nothing to do with the book) but once I was in, I wasn’t going anywhere until the book ended.

‘Dancer’s Lament’ has all the things that made me fall in love with the Malazan world in the first place, minus the bits that still have me bogged down in the ‘Book of the Fallen’ series. The perils of ‘Long Series Fatigue’ and all that. No, we’re starting right at the beginning of the story of two pretty prominent players and that sense of freshness bleeds over into the rest of the book. The world is reassuringly familiar but new at the same time, there’s a lot of history that hasn’t happened yet but there’s still enough here to immerse you back into a world that still has plenty of history to go round. My favourite moments of this were when we got to see Ryllandaras but that’s just a couple of moments out of many. There’s a fine balance that Esslemont strikes between that epic past and a future that we all know but is only hinted at here. It’s watching our two leads find their feet in the setting that keeps the pages turning. That and a growing feeling that the rest of the world is going to have to readjust quite suddenly when these two players really get going.

Add outbreaks of war, both outside and within the walls of Li Heng, and you’ve got a plot that just purrs along to a satisfying conclusion, once again striking a fine balance between rounding off the events of Li Heng and hinting at further adventures to come. Based on what I’ve read here, I’ll be following this series with a lot of interest.

I think you could start your Malazan journey here, if you wanted to, but you might just be better served chucking yourself in at the deep end first with ‘Gardens of the Moon’ and catching all the little details there, ‘Dancer’s Lament’ might be all the better for it. Either way, and I seem to be saying this a lot… If you’re a Malazan fan then you’ve probably read ‘Dancer’s Lament’ already. If not, well… you know what I’d say to that… ;o)