Ian C. Esslemont

Novels of the Malazan Empire

Night of Knives — (2004) Publisher: It gave the Empire its name, but the tiny island and city of Malaz is now a sleepy, seedy back-water port. However this night things are a little different. This night, its residents are bustling about, barring doors and shuttering windows. Because this night a once-in-a-generation Shadow Moon is due and threatens the good citizens of Malaz with demon hounds and other, darker, beings... And it was also prophesied that on this night the Emperor Kellanved, missing for all these years, will return. As factions within the greater Empire battle over the imperial throne, the Shadow Moon summons a far more alien and ancient presence for an all-out assault upon the island. Indeed the cataclysmic events that happen this night will determine the fate of the Malaz and of the entire world beyond.

Night of Knives

Any die-hard fan of the Malazan novels by Steven Erikson should know of Ian Cameron Esslemont. For the uninitiated, Mr. Esslemont and Steven Erikson are the co-creators of the Malazan world, which was originally conceived as a role-playing game.

I am a big fan of the Malazan novels. It was in 2004 that I first heard about the series thanks to the Science Fiction Book Club, which was featuring Gardens of the Moon when it was making its U.S. debut. When learning that the first five books were already available in the UK, I purchased them and immediately devoured all five novels, establishing the series as my personal favorite over the likes of GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time.

If you love any of the Malazan books by Steven Erikson, then I think you’re going to love Ian C. Esslemont's Night of Knives. Obviously, both writers are well-versed in Malazan lore, so that’s not a problem. Prose-wise, Mr. Esslemont is pretty similar to Mr. Erikson, though there are differences — Esslemont's writing is a bit more erudite and the characterization feels more intimate. Pacing is a bit uneven, especially in the beginning following the prologue when Mr. Esslemont is trying to establish the book’s two main characters, Temper and Kiska.

Once events get rolling, the pace really picks up and I thought that Esslemont did a good job of directing the converging storylines to their compelling apex, which is somewhat a trademark of the Malazan books (convergences and so forth). Personally, while Night of Knives may lack the grandiose scope of Gardens of the Moon (Night of Knives comes in at a succinct 304 pages), I thought it was a more cohesive and better constructed debut. (NOTE: I’ve heard of the editing problems with the original publication, but I don’t know how much was cleaned up or changed between the two versions. I had no issues with the new edition, but it would be interesting to explore.)

Chronologically, Night of Knives occurs after Gardens of the Moon, but draws on events mentioned in that book’s prologue. More specifically, Night of Knives takes place in the 1154th Year of Burn’s Sleep, the 96th Year of the Malazan Empire and the Last Year of Emperor Kellanved’s Reign. When you should read Night of Knives is a topic for debate. Since the book is basically a standalone story — chronicling the night of a Shadow Moon; All Soul’s Fest; the Night of Shadows when Kellanved (Ammanas Shadowthrone) and Dancer (Cotillion, the Rope) ascend to High House Shadow, Surly (Laseen) becomes the Empress of Malaz, and other pivotal events transpire — I think anybody can enjoy Night of Knives, veterans and newcomers alike, as both a complementary piece and a worthy introduction to the Malaz world.

For myself, I had read the first six novels in the series before taking on Night of Knives, so it was pretty cool getting to revisit familiar places like the Deadhouse, Y’Ghatan, Malaz Island, etc.; learning more about Kellanved and Dancer’s ascendance, Dassem Ultor’s assassination and Tayschrenn’s allegiances and motives; not to mention getting introduced to the Stormriders, and recognizing all of the other Malazan references like Claws/Talons, Bridgeburners, the Hounds of Shadow, Warrens, etc. It was especially rewarding to see such characters as Edgewalker, Temper, Kiska, Agayla and Obo in Night of Knives, after reading them, however briefly, in The Bonehunters. For those who’ve already started the series, I recommend that you at least read the first four Malazan novels by Steven Erikson before checking out Night of Knives, which, in my opinion would make The Bonehunters a more satisfying read because of the connections. For those who haven’t, I think it’s up to the reader’s preference whether to start with Night of Knives or wait until later. As I said before, I think either way will work, but since Night of Knives is a much shorter read, it’s a pretty good barometer by which potential fans can decide whether or not they’re going to like the series.

In the end, maybe I’m prejudiced since I love the Malazan books so much, but I had a blast reading Night of Knives and I highly recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the Steven Erikson novels so far. While I don’t think Ian C. Esslemont is on the same level as Mr. Erikson — if Steven’s books are the main course, then Esslemont’s are the appetizer — I understand that we haven’t really seen much from Mr. Esslemont yet, so as eager as I am for the remaining Malazan novels from Steven Erikson, I’m just as excited to read the remaining four Esslemont books. —Robert Thompson

Night of Knives

Night of Knives is Ian C. Esslemont's first contribution (in novel form — he was there from the beginning in terms of creation) to the Malazan universe, better known through the many large novels by Steven Erikson. Esslemont is writing several books in that world and Night of Knives, the first, takes us back to a hugely important night in the series’ history — the night the Emperor Kallenvad and Dancer ascended and entered the realm of Shadow as Shadowthrone and Cotillion.

 Night of Knives is much more constrained than the other Malazan novels — taking place over the span of a single night and set in a single small geography. It’s also much shorter and its point of view narration is limited to two: Temper, an old veteran of the Malazan Army who fought side by side with Dassesm Ultor, the Empire’s First Sword allegedly killed in the final battle of an overseas campaign; and Kiska, a young girl desperate to get off the island and thus willing to put her good but inexperienced talents to use in trying to become a player/observer in this night’s machinations.

And there are a lot of machinations: Surly’s attempt to kill Kallenvad and Dancer, their attempt to ascend, a fierce magical attack on the island by the semi-mythical Stormriders, war being waged between Surly’s Claw and Shadow Cultists, with a familiar archmage in the mix as well. While the book’s conciseness may seem a breath of fresh air from Erikson’s tomes, I think Esslemont’s brevity does him a disservice here — several plot points feel either a bit sudden in appearance, a bit rushed in conclusion, or too abstract in that they take place off-stage where all the reader sees is the aftermath. I admit to a little disappointment in the plot, especially in the finale. I also admit to a bit of frustration, similar to what I feel at times with Erikson, with the whole power scale deal with characters in this universe, as time and again characters do the “impossible” or take on the “unbeatable.” But at least it happens less in this shorter book.

Those fans of the series coming to it with hopes of “answers” to questions in Erikson’s novels will find little satisfaction — there are some answers, and important scenes are expanded, but as with Erikson, we’re getting certain points-of-views here and we’re not as readers necessarily clear on whose take is the “right” one. And certainly the book raises as many questions as it answers.

Where Night of Knives shines, though, is in its characterization. Kiska is endearing and likable and her confusion does a nice job of standing in for the reader’s own such, but the real compelling figure for me is Temper: compelling in his background, compelling in his unwillingness to lay down the burdens of responsibility and power, though he’s been trying, compelling in his inner thought processes.

Night of Knives does a nice job of filling in some gaps in the Malazan world and timeline and does so via strong characters, one in particular, though it falls down a bit in terms of plot. Fans of Erikson will find Esslemont a bit wanting, I’m guessing, but the comparison isn’t quite a fair one at this point as Erikson has had many years to hone his craft/stories. Certainly the potential is there for Esslemont as shown by the character of Temper; Night of Knives was slightly disappointing, but only slightly, and I look forward to Return of the Crimson Guard to see how his writing improves. I’m already happy it’s a longer book.
—Bill Capossere

Return of the Crimson Guard — (2008) Publisher: Casting thrilling new light onto an extraordinary creation, this is the second epic fantasy novel from the co-creator of the Steven Erikson world of Malaz. The return of the mercenary company the Crimson Guard could not have come at a worse time for the Malazan Empire. Driven by constant warfare, weakened by betrayal and rivalries, many see the grip of Empress Laseen beginning to weaken as conquered kingdoms and principalities test their old independence. Into this gathering civil war on Quon Tali, the Empire’s homeland comes the Guard. And with their return comes the memory of their hundred-year-old vow — undying opposition to the existence of the Empire. Yet rivalries and betrayals stalk the Guard as well; elements of its elite, the Avowed, scheme to open paths to even greater power, and ancient potent entities, Ascendants, also lend a hand exploiting all sides to further their own arcane ends.Meanwhile, a swordsman, Traveller, and his companion Ereko, move from one strange encounter to another in a mysterious dance meant ultimately to bring the swordsman to a final confrontation from which none has ever returned. As the Crimson Guard gathers from around the globe, Empress Laseen faces a more immediate threat from the generals and old commanders of her predecessor, Emperor Kellanved, who have lost patience with what they see as Laseen’s mismanagement. Yet there are hints that Laseen may be using the uprisings to draw out and finally eliminate these last irksome survivors of her predecessor’s rule.

Return of the Crimson Guard

Return of the Crimson Guard is the second of Ian C. Esslemont’s books set in the world he helped create with Steven Erikson, whose longer-established Malazan Empire series has been going for years (the tenth and final book is due out in January).

Esslemont’s first Malazan book, Night of Knives, took place a bit back in the pre-history of Erikson’s series, set on the night that the old emperor Kallenvad and his companion Dancer ascended into the realm of Shadow and Laseen became empress. It was a much more constrained book than Erikson’s: much shorter with fewer points of view and focused on a single night and locale as opposed the sweep of time and geography we tend to see in the longer series. In my review of Night of Knives, I said I thought that brevity hurt the book a bit, with some abrupt or rushed sections. Return of the Crimson Guard goes in a completely different direction, one Malazan fans are more used to: it’s twice as long (over 700 pages), has multiple narrators, and covers much more space and time than Night of Knives. Did these major narrative changes make for a better book? I’d say “yes, but...” as Return of the Crimson Guard is I think a much better book, but one with a good number of flaws, some held over from Night of Knives and others new to Return of the Crimson Guard.

Return of the Crimson Guard jumps ahead in time (just after Erikson’s book six, The Bonehunters) to an empire coming apart at the seams. Its far-flung campaigns have taken their toll, some ending in near-disaster with huge loss of life (Seven Cities). Now, weakened, the Empire faces rebellion in its heart as formerly conquered or dead nations rise again on the continent of Quon Tali, some led by Malazan “Old Guard”— those loyal to Kellenvad who now seek to bring down Laseen. As if civil war at its core wasn’t enough, the Empire also faces an old, old foe: The Crimson Guard, a mercenary group so dedicated to the Empire’s destruction that a century or so ago they swore a vow to never rest (or die) while the Empire existed. Now the Guard, which has fought the Empire across the world, is regrouping and returning at the Empire’s weakest moment (though the Guard itself faces inner division).

In general, the far greater length of this book is better suited to the scope of events, allowing Esslemont the time to develop plot and not rush through things as was the case in Night of Knives, making this a more enjoyable read. Esslemont’s ambitious undertaking of such a huge book, though, comes with problems in pacing, transitions between scenes, and structure. The book sometimes stuttered in places where either the amount of time spent with a particular storyline didn’t seem justified or where entire storylines themselves seemed unnecessary or a bit out of place. It’s possible (or probable) that some of these kind of orphaned plotlines will bear fruit for later books, but they needed to be more seamlessly connected here, such as a plot line detailing a young woman, Gehlel, the sole remaining heir to a pre-Empire ruling family.

There was also a bit of a sense of “and then... and then... “ happening in the latter part during the big convergence of events, where perhaps cutting a few events and being more selective would have served him better. The same holds true somewhat for the battles, which take up a large, perhaps too large, part of the book. So I guess after complaining that his first book was too short by a 100 or so pages, I’m now complaining that his second is too long by 200 or so: there’s just no pleasing some people it seems. I do think some of this is due to a relatively new writer feeling his way toward his craft and I expect Esslemont’s third book will show improvement in all these areas.

The characters, like the plot, are a bit hit and miss. Ereko, Traveler’s companion, is a sharply drawn, moving character whom I wish Esslemont had done a bit more with, especially at the end. Kyle, a young recruit in the Crimson Guard, mostly acts as a witness to events (though he has some major moments of his own) and so isn’t particularly interesting; he certainly didn’t do much for me. A group of mages in the otatoral mines are just not given enough face time for us to care too much, we come and go to them in such scattered fashion, and they’re so severed from the rest of the plot that it’s hard to care much. When they do play a role in the larger plot, it’s a dramatic one but I’m not sure it was a necessary one, save for possibly one result. It felt more of a desire to add one more “topper” to the “and then... and then” convergence of events.

Where Esslemont does shine with characters is two places in particular. One is the city of Li Heng in a plot line involving the characters Hurl, Storo, Rell, and others. The other place is with a group of Malazan sappers/grunts, in particular Sergeant Jumpy. The book truly comes alive with these characters, who speak like real people and whose actions are funny, moving, gripping, tragic, and inspiring. Cutting this book of some of the extraneous scenes and characters would have been like cutting a diamond and letting these characters shine all the brighter. As it is, they really carried me through the narrative, acting as bright beacons through those parts where the structure, the characters, the plot lines, the overabundance of alliances and characters and battles or battle plans made me feel I was wading through just too much.

Return of the Crimson Guard doesn’t match Steven Erikson’s books, but as I said in my review of Night of Knives, that’s really an unfair comparison as they are two authors at very different stages. Return of the Crimson Guard is absolutely an improvement on Night of Knives, and where it falls down, which it does perhaps a bit too often, it’s more a matter of ambition and reach by a young author still learning his craft. Those are the kinds of flaws I can live with, especially when Esslemont shows (with Sergeant Jumpy et al.) the potential for becoming an extremely strong writer.

In the end, I'm giving Return of the Crimson Guard 3.5 stars, the same as Night of Knives. While it still has enough flaws that I can't quite bump it up to a 4, the difference is that its much greater length allows those flaws to be outweighed by a decent amount of good writing, while NIght of Knives' brevity works against it in this case, with the flaws less balanced by better writing. I recommend Return of the Crimson Guard with the above caveats and, based on the improvement he’s shown from his first to second book, look forward even more to Ian Esslemont’s third novel. —Bill Capossere

Stonewielder— (2010) Publisher: Greymane believed he'd outrun his past. With his school for swordsmanship in Falar, he was looking forward to a quiet life, although his colleague Kyle wasn't as enamoured with things outside the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard. However, it seems it is not so easy for an ex-Fist of the Malazan Empire to disappear, especially one under sentence of death from that same Empire. For there is a new Emperor on the throne of Malaz, and he is dwelling on the ignominy that is the Empire's failed invasion of the Korel subcontinent. In the vaults beneath Unta, the Imperial capital, lie the answers to that disaster. And out of this buried history surfaces the name Stonewielder. In Korel, Lord Protector Hiam, commander of the Stormguard, faces the potential annihilation of all that he holds dear. With fewremaining men and a crumbling stone wall that has seen better days, he confronts an ancient enemy: the sea-borne Stormriders have returned. Religious war also threatens these lands. The cult of the Blessed Lady, which had stood firm against the Riders for millennia, now seeks to eradicate its rivals. And as chaos looms, a local magistrate investigating a series of murders suddenly finds himself at the heart of a far more ancient and terrifying crime — one that has tainted an entire land...

Stonewielder

Stonewielder is Ian C. Esslemont’s third book in the Malazan series co-created with Steven Erikson, and which Erikson has been exploring for years with his own series. If you look over my reviews for Esslemont’s first two Malazan books, Night of Knives and Return of the Crimson Guard, you’ll see I’ve given them mixed reviews, though I thought Return of the Crimson Guard was an improvement on Night of Knives and boded well for the next book in the series. That prediction turned out to be mostly accurate, as Stonewielder is, in my mind, clearly the best Esslemont has turned out so far, though it’s still not without its flaws.

As one might expect for a world and storyline that have so far served over a dozen books as well as a few novellas, the background plot is a bit dense. Stonewielder is set on the island continent of Korel, which the Malazan Empire invaded decades ago under the leadership of Greymane (the eponymous Stonewielder). The Malazans are the third major force on Korel, along with the mysterious Stormriders, creatures who rise out of the sea and who have been attacking the island for generations; and the Blessed Lady, a goddess that has protected the island from both the Stormriders and the Malazans. Disgraced and labeled a traitor after trying to treat with the Stormriders, Greymane is now hiding out with Kyle (from RotCG). Meanwhile, the Stormwall (a bulwark against the Stormriders) has been steadily weakening, as has the force (the Stormguard) that mans it.

Now, under Mallick Rell, the Empire is again invading Korel and has called back Greymane to lead the invasion once more. He’ll have to deal with the previous army – the 6th – which has set itself up as an independent entity on Korel, led by the overlord (their highest officer) who is supported by his cadre mage and a contingent of Black Moranth (the Blues are with the Malazans). Parallel to the invasion, Lord Protector Hiam, Stormguard commander, tries to stave off what may be the most dangerous attack ever by the Stormriders (making cruel use of the Crimson Guard’s Bars, the newest Stormwall Champion forced into service). Meanwhile, civil/religious war is breaking out on the continent between followers of the Blessed Lady and a ragtag army, which includes a pacifist Toblakai. In two smaller plot lines, in one of Korel’s major cities a local assessor tries to solve a series of abductions/murders and a group of Crimson Guard make their way to Korel to rescue their comrades. And finally, way off to the side, Kiska (from NoK) is partnered with Leoman (yes, that one) as she tries to find Tayschrenn, which involves a march through Shadow to the edge of chaos, where they’ll meet some strange fellow travelers.

That’s a lot to handle, but one of the improvements in Stonewielder over the other books is in pacing and structure. While still not wholly perfect, for the most part Esslemont juggles the multiple plot strands well, moving among them relatively smoothly and with good balance. Kiska’s story is really the outlier of the novel, sticking out a bit in its lack of connection to the rest of the plot lines, but it’s clearly setting us up for other events to come. And while it’s a pretty weak storyline at its start, a bit slow to get going, by the end of the book in many ways it’s the most interesting and compelling, not least for the introduction of another character picked up along the way.

The plot strand involving Hiam and the Storm Guard goes the other way for me, starting out quite strong as we sense the urgency and the staving off of despair as this man watches his world literally crumble around him. His earned dignity is made much more complex by the inherent cruelty of the way they press people into service; you’re both attracted and repelled by this whole structure. But this storyline felt a bit stretched by the end of the novel. As did the assessor’s plot line. As a storyline, it’s a basic mystery whose solution is obvious to the reader relatively early and it feels a bit repetitive. It succeeds more as a character study, as we watch the assessor open his eyes slowly to what’s around him, though a bit too slowly. It felt like much more could have been done with this strand. A much smaller plot strand involving a group of mages being killed off also suffers a bit from some head-scratching obviousness of the “wouldn’t they just... “ sort.

One’s views on the pacing of the religious war and the invasion itself will probably be determined by one’s love of battle scenes, of which there are plenty. There’s no doubt these scenes are quite well-written, and exciting on their own, especially the naval battle which has a lot of freshness to it as we rarely see those in fantasy. But strong as they are individually (and they are) I’ll confess I could have done with fewer of them when taken together. Your mileage on that score will vary.

Despite those hedges, and despite the entire book lagging a bit toward the end in some of the strands, and standing to lose 50-80 pages or so, for the most part Stonewielder is an intriguing and enjoyable read in terms of plot, with some relatively subtle allusions to current events, as when a character muses on the effect of occupation on the occupiers. And the big events at the very end pay off quite nicely. In usual Malazan fashion, we get some questions answered and some new ones born (including a bit of a trite dying moment almost-reveal: “But Batman, you’re, you’re,” choke, die).

The characterizations are mostly strong. Some will be familiar — the grunts and sappers who give a real-person feel as well as some humor. Despite their familiarity as character types, they’re fully engaging. As mentioned, Hiam is another strong character, and a bit more original than some of the others. The same is true for Ussu, the 6th’s cadre mage, though I thought his conflicts could have been explored more fully. The introduction of Manask throws another person into the mix for funniest-character-in-the-series debates. Warran, met by Kiska and Leoman in the quest for Tayschrenn, is simply a delight as a character, for several reasons. Somewhat surprisingly, the “big name” characters such as Greymane, Kyle, the Crimson Guard folks, and “main” characters such as Bakune are less fully fleshed out and/or less interesting than many of the side characters or newer characters. But as there are more than enough of those strong characters, that doesn’t hurt the book at all.

To be honest, were this series the first one out there set in Malaz, I’m not sure I would have stayed with it based on my very mixed experiences with the first two. It was wanting to learn more about Malaz that kept me going past Night of Knives and then again past Return of the Crimson Guard — that, and the incremental growth from book one to book two. I had some quibbles with Stonewielder. Some of the storylines lag a bit here and there, some parts feel a bit stretched or repetitive, but there’s no doubt Stonewielder is not simply an improvement but a big jump up in class and the first of Esslemont’s Malazan books I can fully recommend. If the small improvement from NoK to RotCG boded moderately well for Stonewielder, I have to say I’m quite excited for Esslemont’s next work. Well-recommended.
—Bill Capossere

Orb Sceptre Throne — (2012) Publisher: The epic new chapter in the history of Malaz — the new epic fantasy from Steven Erikson's friend and co-creator of this extraordinary and exciting imagined world. Darujhistan, city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all, enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity. While, as ever at the centre of everything, a thief in a red waistcoat and of rotund proportions walks the streets, juggling in one hand custard pastries, and in the other the fate of the city itself. Far to the south, fragments of the titanic Moon's Spawn have crashed into the Rivan Sea creating a series of isles... and a fortune hunter's dream. A Malazan veteran calling himself 'Red' ventures out to try his luck — and perhaps say goodbye to old friends. But there he finds far more than he'd bargained for as the rush to claim the Spawn's treasures descends into a mad scramble of chaos and bloodshed. For powers from across the world have gathered here, searching for the legendary Throne of Night. The impact of these events are far reaching, it seems. On an unremarkable island off the coast of Genabackis, a people who had turned their backs upon all such strivings now lift their masked faces towards the mainland and recall the ancient prophesy of a return. And what about the ex-Claw of the Malazan Empire who now walks the uttermost edge of creation? His mission — the success or failure of which the Queen of Dreams saw long ago — is destined to shape far more than anyone could have ever imagined.