Deadhouse Landing: Path to Ascendancy, Book 2 (A Novel of the Malazan Empire) (Path to Ascendancy, 2)

ICE’s introducing the backstories is so welcome. Light yet solid read, very unlike SE’s style but very enjoyable. A must read for all Malazan fans.

Wow Esslemont is improving continuously. This novel is superbly written. For a Malazan fan it's impossible to keep down.We meet all our favorites here and learn how the Malazan high command was formed.A must read.

Slow novel.

Amazing book

Empires are usually born from great deeds and mighty events, order and victories rather than chaos and shadows. But a new power now stands on the brink of realisation. A crew of renegade Napans have washed ashore on remote Malaz Island and formed an alliance of convenience with a mad mage and an assassin. From the mainland comes a swordsman without equal. On neighbouring Kartool Island a high priest in the cult of D'rek is betrayed and seeks a new home where he can belong. Great powers are drawn to Malaz City, where a new empire will be born when it is least expected and, at its heart, lies the mysterious ruin known as the Deadhouse.Dancer's Lament, the first novel in the Path to Ascendancy series, introduced the characters of Wu and Dorin, whom history will remember as Kellanved and Dancer, Ammanas and Cotillion, Shadowthrone and the Rope. That book chronicled their first meeting, their first acquaintance with Dassem Ultor, the Mortal Sword of Hood, and their first explorations of the mysterious Realm of Shadow. Deadhouse Landing is its direct sequel but in many respects is the book that I think more established Malazan fans were expecting first time out.Deadhouse Landing is, simply put, the story of how Kellanved and Dancer recruited their "old guard" of friends and allies and took control of Malaz Island. It turns out this was less pre-planned than previous novels indicated, with Kellanved and Dancer's rise to power emerging from a sequence of improvisations, holding actions and comedies of error, most of them stemming from the idiocy of those who try to oppose them.This is, remarkably, a slightly shorter book than Dancer's Lament (already one of the shortest books in the Malazan canon) but one that has a much bigger cast. As well as Dancer and Kellanved, the book focuses on the Napan refugees led by Princess Sureth (now reduced to a reluctant barmaid named Surly), Dassem Ultor's journey from Li Heng to Malaz City via a chance meeting with the Seguleh, the misadventures of the priest Tayschrenn in Kartool and the long-suffering indulgences of Tattersail, the mage-mistress of Mock. These are all major figures from the Malazan novels, legends we meet now in their younger days when they were far less wise, less seasoned and more human. We also see some pretty major events alluded to in later books, such as Kellanved's first entry to the Malaz Deadhouse and the running battles through the streets of the city with various criminal gangs.These struggles in the Malaz City criminal underworld feel a bit overindulged, but at the end of the book makes it clear why we are spending so much time with these knife-hands and thugs, as many of them also show up in Steven Erikson's novels (particularly the early ones), almost all under different names.Prequels can often feel creatively stifled, the author stymied by the import of actually depicting events which later books talk about as hushed legends. Esslemont has no such reluctance here. Instead, as with Dancer's Lament, this book fairly overflows with enthusiasm and energy. We lose the tight focus of the earlier novel on just three core characters, with the story rotating through a larger number of characters, with less time for each one. But Esslemont makes this work with short and punchy chapters which relate the story with relentless inevitability.The book doesn't have too many weaknesses. One Malazan fan-favourite villain shows up but doesn't really accomplish anything. His story feels like it could have been dropped in favour of more focus on one of the other storylines, but then this isn't a long book and his total number of pages in the novel isn't very high. Others may complain that too many characters in this book show up to be previously-established Malazan characters from the chronologically later novels, but then that's kind of the point. These are the events that drew the "old guard" and many other famous faces together, so that's less of a bug and more of a feature.Ultimately, Deadhouse Landing (****½) is another tight and enjoyable read, all the best for its focus and short length even as it describes the mighty events that shaped the Malazan Empire. It builds on the very fine foundation stones laid by Dancer's Lament. The third book in the Path to Ascendancy series has the working title Kellanved's Reach and should be out in late 2018 or early 2019.

We are now getting more of the characters we recognize as the pair collect various oddballs to themselves and we get some insight into Surly.The various magical confrontations and characters are interesting especially the way the Hounds are dealt with.The ending goes in the direction that it had to eventually for the empire building.A fun read with some battles and politics and magic.

Great series, Esslemont is expanding an interesting idea whilst Erikson seems mired in the dullest part of the Malaz world/lore. Finished the first book too quickly and same again here. Never thought the two writers would swap positions but for me this is the man to look forward to at the moment.

another great contribution from Esslemont to the Malazan world. The long mysterious characters of emperor and dancer get fleshed out, but not as much as I hoped. Whilst you get some parts of their story filled in I don't feel that they get much character development.The story is entertaining, of everyone Tatersail is the most interesting to follow through but really this one is for those that love the lore of the world rather than seeing the characters become how they will be.

A great follow up to Dancers Lament. The beginning of an empire is truly started here. I had many laughs. Great fight scenes. I got goosebumps at the thought of some scenes.A must read for all fans of the Malazan world. In addition, this trilogy may be a good starting point into the series. Once complete, read A Night of Knives then Garden of the Moon and all should be fairly straight forward from there.