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Fiction General

Dancer's Lament

Path to Ascendancy, Book 1

by (author) Ian C. Esslemont

Publisher
Transworld
Initial publish date
Mar 2016
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780593074350
    Publish Date
    Mar 2016
    List Price
    $26.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780593074343
    Publish Date
    Mar 2016
    List Price
    $42.95
  • CD-Audio

    ISBN
    9781511376990
    Publish Date
    May 2017
    List Price
    $29.99
  • CD-Audio

    ISBN
    9781511377003
    Publish Date
    May 2016
    List Price
    $81.99
  • CD-Audio

    ISBN
    9781511377027
    Publish Date
    May 2017
    List Price
    $21.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Description

Book 1 in the Dancer's Lament - Path to Ascendancy trilogy.        
    For ages warfare has crippled the continent as minor city states, baronies, and principates fought in an endless round of hostilitites.  Only the alliance of the rival Tali and Quon cities could field the resources to mount a hegemony from coast to coast -- and thus become known as Quon Taili.
    It is a generation since the collapse of this dynasty and regional powers are once more rousing themselves.  Into this arena of renewed border wars come two youths to the powerful central city state that is LiHeng.  One is named Dorin, and he comes determined to prove himself the most skilled assassin of his age; he is chasing the other youth -- a Dal Hon mage who has proven himself annoyingly difficult to kill.
     Li Heng has been guided and warded for centuries by the powerful sorceress known as the "Protectress" and she allows no rivals.  She and her cabal of five mage servants were enough to repel the Quon Tali Iron Legions -- what could two youths hope to accomplish under their stifling rule?
     Yet under the new and ambitious King Chulalorn the Third, Itko Kan is on the march from the south. He sends his own assassin servants, the Nightblades, against the city, and there are hints that he also commands inhuman forces out of legend.
     While above all, shadows swirl oddly about Li Heng, and monstrous slathering beasts seem to appear from nowhere to run howling through the street.  It is a time of chaos and upheaval, and in chaos, as the young Dal Hon mage would say, there is opportunity.

About the author

IAN C. ESSLEMONT grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has studied archaeology and creative writing, has traveled extensively in Southeast Asia, and lived in Thailand and Japan for several years. He lives in Alaska with his wife and children and writes novels set in the world of Malaz, a world he co-created with Steven Erikson, including Blood and Bone and Assail.

Ian C. Esslemont's profile page