#Ian C. Esslemont

[chloristoflora]

An old man in tattered brown woollen robes, hefting a tree limb as a staff. He was bald but for strands of long wild white hair in a fringe over his ears.

He glowered down the lenght of a long hooked nose. "What's this?" he muttered, as if he'd stepped on a cow turd.

Kiska blinked up at him. Who was this doddering oldster? Surely not Obo, the malevolent ogre of legend. "Who in the Queen's wisdom are you?" she asked warily, and climbed to her feet, watching the man all the while.

"Who am I?" the fellow squawked. "Who am I? Some guttersnipe invades my home and questions me?"

"Your home?"

"Yes, my home." The old man swept his staff up at the tower and Kiska saw that it now rose massive and undamaged into a night sky gleaming with stars but free of any moon. She peered around - the familiar hillsides ran down to the sea while to the north the cliffs rose like a wall - yet no city surrounded them. Not one building marred a field of wind-swept marsh grasses and nodding cattails.

"Where are we?"

The old man jabbed her arm with the staff. "Are you dense? My tower."

"You're Obo?"

The old man screwed up his mouth in anger and raised his staff.

Kiska snatched it from his hands and threw it to one side.

The old man gaped at her. "Why you...! That was my stick!"

Night of Knives, by Ian C. Esslemont (Novels of the Malazan Empire #1)

[jidaryat]

Mysteries intrigue us. That which we cannot easily understand or explain away holds our attention; we return to it repeatedly. Conversely, the simple and easily grasped is quickly consumed and dismissed. So it is that she remains. She defies all explanation, refuses to conform to our human, craven, self-serving need to explain ourselves. To be liked. To be 'understood'. And so of course we are all mortally offended and hate her.

Ian C. Esslemont, Return of the Crimson Guard

[joelchaimholtzman]

Book Cover I was commissioned to paint by Tor Books / Macmillan.

Forge of the High Mage: A Novel of the Malazan Empire, written by Ian C Esslemont.

The book was actually released before I got to work on it, and the cover was initially made with stock imagery before I was asked to paint it from scratch.

A bit different than my usual work, but hope you still like it,

Cheers!

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

5 and 37 for the ask game?

5: Books or authors that influenced your style the most

When I was a teenager, I read this high fantasy series called the Malazan Book of the Fallen, written by Steven Erikson (and Ian C. Esslemont, but I've only read the Eriskon half of the series). It's very dense and honestly kind of hard to keep track of all the different characters and plot lines and lore, but one thing Erikson does really well is that he makes you feel how much vastly older and larger the world is than the story that's taking place around the characters. I wouldn't say that my writing resembles Erikson's stylistically, and I honestly don't particularly want it to, but whenever I'm world-building, I try to create that sense that there's a complex, lived-in world that exists beyond the story I'm telling and that will continue to exist after it's over.

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

I don't know if this counts as an inspirational quote, but it's what I thought of when I saw this question (also spoilers for Susanna Clarke's Piranesi):

People were walking up and down the path. An old man passed me. He looked sad and tired. He had broken veins on his cheeks and a bristly white beard. As he screwed up his eyes against the falling snow, I realised I knew him. He is depicted on the northern wall of the forty-eight western hall. He is shown as a king with a little model of a walled city in one hand while the other hand he raises in blessing. I want to seize hold of him and say to him: In another world you are a king, noble and good! I have seen it! -Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

[book-ramblings]

MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN

A couple of weeks ago I finished The Crippled God, the tenth and final book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. What a journey that series turned out to be!

I loved it. I’m not the biggest fan of military campaigns, and there is a lot of that in the books, but they were soooo good! I’m now looking forward to moving on with Ian C Esslemont’s Malazan Empire series, and all the other, shorter series in the world.

Instead of following a handful of characters, there are hundreds. Some show up in book after book, some only for a scene. Some of the characters I love are Tattersail, Fiddler, Whiskeyjack, Kalam, Quick Ben, Lostara Yil, the Paran siblings, Mael, Brys and Korlat to mention a few.

The series is often talked about as difficult, I did not find it so. It is very complex, and you probably have to accept the idea you’re not going to get and/or remember everything immediately. Of course, I have studied some literature at university, and have read a lot my whole life from many different genres, including classic books. Maybe that helps.

And there are so many great quotes! I’m giving one example that stuck with me. In the last book two people are talking and the first person asks a question:

“‘Will you all die in the name of love?’ The question seemed torn from something inside him.

‘If die we must, what better reason?’”

I’ve had an extremely stressful time at work, so I’ve not written anything in a long while, but I’m going to try to do better going forwards. Also, is there a way to recover a deleted post, I may have accidentally deleted a post from this blog.

[luartemisfowl]

La notte dei coltelli di Ian C. Esslemont

Salve e benvenut* alla mia tappa del review party dedicato a La notte dei coltelli di Ian C. Esslemont. Un grazie a Valeria per aver organizzato l’evento e alla casa editrice per la copia in anteprima, che non ha influenzato in alcun modo le mie opinioni. La piccola isola di Malaz e la sua città hanno dato il nome al grande Impero, ma ormai sono poco più di uno squallido porto dimenticato.…

[filipmagnuswrites]

Five Fantasy Series I Hope To Read In 2022

Five Fantasy Series I Hope To Read In 2022

Another weekend is close to an end and so it’s time to once more look to the future! Before your regularly scheduled Sunday Star Wars posts make their long-awaited return, let me inspire you to read more by talking about a few of those THICC fantasy series I hope to get through in the coming ten and a half months! Mistborn: Wax & Wayne I read The Alloy of Law perhaps two, even three years ago,…

[tionitro]

Malazan Empire #6 | Assail (Assalto) - Ian C. Esslemont | Resenha, Citações, Mapas, Ilustrações, Resumo da Trama | NITROLEITURAS - Guia Tio Nitro da Saga Malazan #resenha #releitura #malazan

Malazan Empire #6 | Assail (Assalto) – Ian C. Esslemont | Resenha, Citações, Mapas, Ilustrações, Resumo da Trama | NITROLEITURAS – Guia Tio Nitro da Saga Malazan #resenha #releitura #malazan

Este é o 6º post de minhas resenhas da saga MALAZAN EMPIRE, a série que complementa a saga Malazan: Book of the Fallen, escrita pelo amigo do Steven Erikson, o Ian C. Esselmont!  E este é também o 16º  post do meu projeto GUIA TIO NITRO DA SAGA MALAZAN, uma RELEITURA de todos os livros da saga Malazan – Book of the Fallen de Steven Erickson e uma leitura dos livros da saga Malazan Empire de Ian…

[chloristoflora]

Beyond, the sands gave way to bare mounded granite which descended to a lake of smooth water that reflected the dull sky like a mirror. An immense wall of ice reared on the opposite shore; the glacier that earlier had been nothing more than a distant line on the horizon. Now the ice stretched like a vast plain. Lights played over it such as she had seen in the southern night skies: rainbow banners and curtains that flickered, dancing.

Had she moved, or had the ice? "This is Shadow," she told the being. It inclined its desiccated head in agreement. "I shouldn't be here."

"Yet you do seem most persistent."

She studied the empty dark sockets where its eyes should have been; had that been a joke? "And you can send me back again?"

"You may say that is my duty."

"Before you do - what is it? That thing?" Kiska gestured to the quartz-like heap of crystals.

"That is Shadow House. The heart of Shadow, so to speak."

"Really? That? But it's-"

"Alive. Quite so. And very dangerous."

"Dangerous? But what of - of those who would claim it?"

It shrugged its thin shoulders. "Occupants of the throne come and go." It raised a clawed hand to the glacier across the lake of meltwater. "But that. That is the true danger."

Night of Knives, by Ian C. Esslemont (Novels of the Malazan Empire #1)

[gsnoveladventures]

[theseadoesnotdreamofyou]

Some of you never got imprisoned in Dragnipur, doomed to unknown ages of backbreaking work and it shows.

[i-laugh-all-the-way-to-hell]

Dancer’s Lament by Ian C. Esslemont.

nice!

[windblownleaf]

I fear spring’s been cancelled. As has summer.

Ian C. Esslemont, Assail (Novels of the Malazan Empire, #6)

[torpublishinggroup]

Happy Release Day! Here's what went on sale today.

[rafyki]

I just finished reading Deadhouse Landing and let me tell you, that book is amazing. (Spoiler ahead! Minors, but still spoilers). Definitely the best of Esslemont's works, and probably one of the best in the whole saga. I loved every word and every scene (well, almost every scene, bc i don't particularly like Kallor and also the scene with the executions on Kartool are disgusting, but nonetheless I appreciate them).

Dancer and Kellanved are fantastic. I love Cotillion and Shadowthrone and I love Dancer and Kellanved just as much. Every interaction they have is simply brilliant and almost always hilarious. And Dancer being so protective of Kellanved made me so happy???? I love how he went from wanting to kill him to wanting to protect him (yes, i ship them, sue me).

I also loved Dassem a lot, like a whole lot. He's such an amazing character. He's the Mortal Sword of Hood, he is probably the most deadly character and still he is also probably the only true good person. He is so pure????? The scene at the bridge when he fight on his own against the Napan is beautiful, there's something very poetic about it, about the fact that Dassem feels sadness because of what he has to do.

These three I loved the most, they are definitely my favourite. Tbh of my fave part is when they meet again (yes, ot3, i ship it).

But I also loved everyone else. The Napans, Nedurian, Tattersail, Tayschreen, and Agayla and Nightchill. I love how you don't really understand who is who until they change their name, like Shimmer in the first book and now Opal, and also Tattersail at the beginning. (And the way Kellanved chooses his name???? Lmao that made me laugh so much)

I love how everything fit together, how everything comes into place. I especially love how they're starting to become a family, and honestly knowing how everything will end and how everything will play out (especially with Surly and Dassem) breaks my heart. I want them to be happy????? Is that so much to ask???? Yes, It is, i know It. But tbh, thinking about that scene in Toll The Hounds (i think????) when Dassem and Cotillion and Shadowthrone meet again just breaks my heart. Why does everything have to be so sad with these books???? Dassem, especially, they don't call him the Lord of Tragedy for nothing.

So, I'm in love with this book. As always with these books there are some things that confuses me, but that's one of the thing that I like about this series, the fact that they don't explain everything and that I have to think about it. (So, who wants to come here and fangirl with me??? °v°)

Tbh, now i just want to re read the whole series °v°

[ryvnemunson]

"When you do not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge."

- Ian C. Esslemont, Stonewielder