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The Novels of the Malazan Empire are a series of epic fantasy books based in the same universe as the Malazan Book of the Fallen, often with overlapping characters, written by author Ian Cameron Esslemont. The series contains six books, starting with the small novel Night of Knives and progressively getting more complex. A number of the locations and storylines followed are alluded to in the Book of the Fallen but are not expanded upon, with the lands of Korel, Jacuruku, Assail and to an extent Quon Tali only explored in this series.

The Books[]

Short Introductions[]

The novels give background information to several events from the Book of the Fallen series as well as concluding some stories. A few of the groups mentioned in the main series, like the Crimson Guard, the Seguleh, and the Moranth are given a higher profile with the plotline for the Guard spanning several books for example.

  • Return of the Crimson Guard follows the civil war on Quon Tali where some surviving members of the Old Guard attempt to depose Laseen. At the same time, the Crimson Guard, united for the first time in decades, attempts to take back Quon, invading during the war.
  • Stonewielder involves a Malazan invasion of the Fist subcontinent and follows the Stormguard's protection of the Korelri during this period. Meanwhile, all is not as it seems regarding the continent's patron goddess, The Lady.
  • Assail, the final novel, occurs on the continent of the same name and follows the Crimson Guard once more as they search for their missing numbers. At the same time, characters from around the Malazan world converge on the continent and the storyline of the T'lan Imass, set up previously in Memories of Ice, is brought to a conclusion.

Trivia[]

Ian C. Esslemont notes that some readers question why the series is called Novels of the Malazan Empire when the Malazan Empire is often not the focus of the books. He says the series title is more "the name for the period" similar to the Roman Age or the Victorian Age. It's "a political entity that's lent its name to that period. So these tales come out of that period."[1]

Notes and references[]

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