Tuesday 25 February 2020

New MALAZAN novel confirmed for this year

Transworld have confirmed that the next Malazan book to be published will be Ian Cameron Esslemont's The Jhistal, which is due in November 2020.

Artwork by Marc Simonetti

The Jhistal will be the fourth volume in the Path to Ascendancy series (despite early speculation it would be a continuation of the six-volume Malazan Empire series) and is presumed to focus on the Malazan Empire's expansion to the islands of Falar.

Steven Erikson's next Malazan novel, The God is Not Willing, the first book in the Witness Trilogy, is almost complete, with Erikson noting this week he'd reached the final chapter in the book. The book is currently scheduled for release in November 2021, but it is unclear if Tor and Transworld would be willing to bring forward the release date if it is indeed completed imminently.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone else a bit disappointed that Erickson left us hanging after publishing the first two books in The Kharkanas Trilogy? I get that he's eventually going to finish it, and supposedly he dropped it because of "poorer than expected sales" but ironically, that very thing may impact sales of a new trilogy. It definitely makes me hesitate to purchase the first book in his new trilogy and possibly get burned again. Not that he owes anyone anything...

Jcastle said...

Absolutely disappointed. I don't understand it either. I loved both Kharkanas books.

Craig said...

I'll put one in for the other side. The Malazan Books of the Fallen are my favorite fantasy series no question, and I enjoyed Esslemont's series as well. I found the Kharkanas books an absolute slog though for some reason. WIth each book in the Malazan series they seemed to grow just a little bit more self-indulgent though I still loved them all. The Kharkanas books and characters just didn't grip me anything close to Deadhouse Gates or any of the other books in the first series.

Unknown said...

He's possibly adjusting his writing style to avoid so much - way too much - internal monologue and philosophising. And since it is a style he like to write in perhaps having to change he figured it could wait. he is a grab it by the balls and screw what others think type of bloke.

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing that something has happened to this release. I can't find any info about it now and that link above no longer works. You would think there would be some hype with that date being so close.

Adam Whitehead said...

It appears to have been delayed with no explanation at this point.

Unknown said...

Definitely. The 1st 2 books in the series were not light reading. I admit it lacked some of the more wntertaining as the aMTaBotF but it was aboit the elder days and i think the writting style reflected that.to answer ur question yes i was seriously dissapointed to not get to be able to read the 3rd installment. You would of thought that after the success of eriksons 10 book malazan book of the fallen series he would of been able to tell his legal team to mind there own. Amd say if inwant to do this book i will.

Unknown said...

His weitting team said it was getting poor sales

Adam Whitehead said...

Erikson has now confirmed that he is writing WALK IN SHADOW, the final KHARKANAS novel. THE GODS IS NOT WILLING is currently listed for July (though that may fall back to the autumn).

THE JHISTAL is still MIA. I believe Esslemont has submitted it and it's possible it will appear in 2021 but there is no date listed.

DM Crimson said...

Cant wait for this to release. I am a huge Esslemont fan and actually prefer his books to Ericksons, though Steve's are great. I just prefer Esselmonts writing.