Editing Dancer's Lament

{{Infobox book
| name         = Dancer's Lament
| image        = Dancer's Lament cover.jpg
| series       = [[Path to Ascendancy]]
| publisher    = Tor Books
| release_date = 25 February 2016 (UK)<ref>https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1099815/dancer-s-lament/</ref><br>31 May 2016 (US)<ref>http://www.tor.com/2016/03/21/new-malazan-novel-fall-of-light-coming-april-26/</ref>
| pages        = 416 pp
| isbn         = 978-0765379443 (UK)<br>978-0765379450 (US)
| preceded_by  = 
| followed_by  = [[Deadhouse Landing]]
}}
'''''[[Dancer's Lament]]''''' is the first book in the [[Malazan Empire|early-empire]] series, [[Path to Ascendancy]], written by [[Ian C. Esslemont]]. It was released in the UK on the 25th of February 2016 and in the US on the 31st of May 2016.<ref>https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1099815/dancer-s-lament/</ref><ref>http://us.macmillan.com/dancerslament/iancesslemont</ref><ref>http://www.tor.com/2016/03/21/new-malazan-novel-fall-of-light-coming-april-26/</ref>

==Publisher's summary==

It was once a land ravaged by war, minor city states, baronies and principates fight for supremacy, and then the rival cities of Tali and Quon formed an alliance and so [[Quon Tali (city)|Quon Tali]] came into being.

However that was generations ago, that dynasty has collapsed and the regional powers are now clawing at each others' throats once more. But at the heart of Quon Tali lies the powerful city state of [[Li Heng]] which has for centuries enjoyed relative stability under the guidance of the powerful sorceress known as the [[Shalmanat|“Protectress”]]. She is not someone likely to tolerate the arrival of two particular young men in her domain: [[Dorin Rav|one]] is determined to prove he is the most skilled assassin of his age; [[Wu (mage)|the other]] is his quarry - a [[Dal Honese|Dal Hon]] mage who is proving annoyingly difficult to kill. The sorceress and her cabal of five mage servants were enough to repel the Quon Tali [[Iron Legion]]s, so how could two such trouble-makers upset her iron-fisted rule?

And now, under a new and ambitious [[Chulalorn|king]], the forces of [[Itko Kan]] are marching on Li Heng from the south. His own assassins, the [[Nightblades]], have been sent ahead into the city, and rumours abound that he has inhuman, nightmarish forces at his command. So as shadows and mistrust swirl and monstrous beasts that people say appear from nowhere, run rampage through Li Heng's streets, it seems chaos is come - but in chaos, as a certain young Dal Hon mage would say, there is opportunity . . .

== Front matter ==

===Dedication===
For Gerri and the boys

===Acknowledgements===
I offer my deepest appreciation to A. P. Canavan, pre-reader and editor extraordinaire. Also, thanks as always to Simon Taylor and everyone at Transworld for their support; and to Peter and Nicky Crowther, and Howard Morhaim.

===Maps===
<gallery hideaddbutton=true>
File:DL City of LiHeng Map Kindle Version.jpg|City of Li Heng (Post-Quon Tali Hegemony)
File:DL Quon Tali Map Kindle Version.jpg|Quon Tali
</gallery>

==Editions==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!width="10em"|Publisher!!width="20em"|Format/Edition!!First published!!Pages!!ISBN-10!!ISBN-13||Notes
|-
|colspan="7"|'''UK and Commonwealth — Dancer's Lament'''
|-
|Bantam||Hard cover||25 Feb 2016||xxx||0593074343||978-0593074343||First Edition<br/>[[:Image:Dancer's Lament cover.jpg|Cover]] by [[Cover Artists#Steve Stone|Steve Stone]]
|-
|Bantam||E-book||25 Feb 2016||544||xxx||978-1473509627||Cover by Steve Stone
|-
|Bantam||Audio||25 Feb 2016||1009 min||xxx||978-1473541436||Cover by Steve Stone
|-
|Bantam||Mass market paperback||12 Jan 2017||544||xxx||978-0857502834||Cover by Steve Stone
|-
|colspan="7"|'''United States — Dancer's Lament'''
|-
|Tor||Hard cover||31 May 2016||416||xxx||978-0765379443||Cover by Steve Stone
|-
|Tor||Trade paperback||31 May 2016||416||xxx||978-0765379450||Cover by Steve Stone
|-
|Tor||E-book||31 May 2016||416||xxx||978-1466868588||Cover by Steve Stone
|}

== Plot summary ==
{{Chapters dl}}

<span style="margin-right:12px; float:left;">{{Eye closed}}</span> 
::<span style="color:#B00;">'''The following summaries contain spoilers'''<br />Please access individual chapter summaries via the Chapter infobox<br /></span>

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

{{Books}}
[[Category:Dancer's Lament]]
[[Category:Path to Ascendancy|1]]