[Vengeance]

I'm all verklempt, talk among yourselves. Here is a topic Dancers Lament

[Vengeance]

To get you started here is the Amazon burb.

ook 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.


and Here is the cover.

[Esa1996]

The blurb's been on the wiki for some months IIRC, but the cover is new. And epic. Dorin sounds so normal and non-epic though (Not a bad name or anything, but it doesn't sound like the ultimate badass that I see Dancer as) Names deceive...

[Hetan]

Heh.. Dorin, Kyle... (sigh)

Still I am not going to let it interfere with my good time and I liked what I read from the blurb, so bring it on. Also, Dancer & Shadowthrone are 2 of my favourite characters.

Edit to add - Thanks to our Overlords for the new book forum.

This post has been edited by Hetan: 05 January 2016 - 10:34 PM

[The Hust Legion]

CANNOT WAIT reading NoK now read RotCG. DAMN I WANT THEIR BACK STORIES. from that blurb I'm assuming kellanved is the conniving sneaky bastard he is in MBotF minus the godhood and probably a fraction more insane considering how characters speak of how he was during his rule. I'm more interested in dancer IMO hear a lot about what he did rather than how he acted. also dorin sounds like he belongs in the hobbit not in a blood soaked series like this

This post has been edited by The Hust Legion: 06 January 2016 - 12:15 AM

[worry]

On my reread of RotCG it struck me that a lot of the Li Heng stuff was actually pretty well-defined -- and had some pretty intriguing ties to Osserc/Light -- so delving into it is gonna be exciting.

This post has been edited by worry: 06 January 2016 - 12:26 AM

[Gorefest]

Wonder if those beasts are going to be Ryllandaras. And inhuman forces; demons? I cannot imagine that Itko Kan could have T'Lan Imass backing, their ruler surely cannot have access to the First Throne because at that point it should have been moved to the caverns beneath Li Heng already. Unless of course the city it originally was moved to was Itko Kan, not Li Heng.

[Aptorian]

The slathering beasts has to be Hounds of shadow. Inhuman forces I assume is T'lan Imass, what else could it be that hasn't been brough up in the series before?

[Gorefest]

Why would there be Hounds of Shadow? Surely they weren't running wild all over the place before ST and Cots ascended? And Tulas Shorn at that point hadn't been their master anymore in ages.

[Aptorian]

Going by Night of Knives the Hounds have "always" been around. They show up when convergences are happening or the moon is right or what ever mystical mumbo jumbo you want to make up.

In NOK they aren't controlled by anyone specific. They're just there because it's the right time and right place.

This post has been edited by Apt: 06 January 2016 - 02:56 PM

[Spoilsport Stonny]

I see the gentleman has his beverage ready for him. He should be quite happy.

[Gorefest]

Apt, on 06 January 2016 - 02:54 PM, said:

Going by Night of Knives the Hounds have "always" been around. They show up when convergences are happening or the moon is right or what ever mystical mumbo jumbo you want to make up.

In NOK they aren't controlled by anyone specific. They're just there because it's the right time and right place.

That's a good point actually, copmpletely forgot that in NoK it was also pre-ascension.

[Ribald]

This is great.

Thanks for putting the sub-forum in.

This set of stories has been the ones that I have been looking forward to the most, so I am pretty excited to see this one hit the shelf.

I also love the cover. It fits in with the style of the rest of the books, is pretty damn evocative, and I think it looks really cool. Thankfully no ships

[Aptorian]

How dare you! Those ship covers were awesome.

[Kanese S's]

Needs more boat.

[Kanese S's]

Also no wonder he changed his name.

Dal Hon mage: obviously Kellanved.

Interesting that Dorin/Dancer is not specified as being from Dal Hon. Was it ever mentioned in the Book of the Fallen or Novels of the Malazan Empire where he was actually from?

[Vengeance]

Kanese S, on 07 January 2016 - 10:25 PM, said:

Also no wonder he changed his name.

Dal Hon mage: obviously Kellanved.

Interesting that Dorin/Dancer is not specified as being from Dal Hon. Was it ever mentioned in the Book of the Fallen or Novels of the Malazan Empire where he was actually from?

Not that I recall.

[Gorefest]

He has pale skin though, so obviously not Dal Honese.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 08 January 2016 - 03:45 PM

[Aptorian]

Hey, he could have a pigmentation issue! Check your melanin privilege, shitlord.

[Bulwyf]

ooooh, exciting!!

Can't wait to read more into my favorite universe!
Kellanved & Dancer 4tw!! Looking forward to seeing the origins of the mightiest empire there ever was!!