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. It is available now (UK, USA). 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.
Cracking read. Launched into my first re-read of the Book of the Fallen as a result. Already finding continuity errors though- Dujek is 79 at the siege of Pale, Tattersail 219, not sure a 140 year age gap is apparent in Deadhouse Landing :)
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