It shows him coming into his power as he pushes himself beyond what he thought was his limits, only to discover an almost limitless supply of power on the other side of his mental barricades.

He has a degree in Creative Writing, studied and worked as an archaeologist, travelled extensively in South East Asia, and lived in Thailand and Japan for several years. I also can't help but wonder if he might eventually become someone we already know from the main Book of the Fallen Series?

I thought maybe Path of Ascendancy would follow every step of empire-making, but that would take forever and I’m guessing the goal is to touch upon the most important moments of the expansion. Esslemont also admits he fell behind in the writing because he "found it difficult to do justice to the project and so it slowed down. Forge of the High Mage is a book that I have been eagerly awaiting since I finished my early review copy of Kellanved’s Reach in January 2019. The cataclysmic ending is a tad contrived, but the various storylines sync well and everything Malazan and Crimson is in fine form.

This book involves the continued conquests of Emperor Kellanved, as he takes over all of Quon Tali and turns his sights onto Falar. Eventually with the help of some other readers we settled on Forge of the High Mage, and I was happy with that. That's great, as it gives us more backstory and there are SO many stories to tell in the Malazan timeline.

Either way the threads between the two are beginning to tie together in a way that only Malazan books do.

It is loaded with set pieces, contains wonderful dialogue, witty exchanges, explosive showdowns, unlikely alliances, and features some of the finest character creations that the genre has to offer. Here, then, in the tracts of the Ice Wastes and among the islands of Falar, the Empire of Malaz faces two seemingly insurmountable tests - each one potentially the origin of its destruction . Since the main Malazan armies are otherwise engaged in Quon Tali, a collection of orphaned units and broken squads has been brought together under Fist Dujek - himself recovering from the loss of an arm - to fight this new campaign. One minor criticism that I have with Forge to the High Mage, though, is that we spend less page time with the duo of Kellanved and Dancer, whose interactions are always memorable. When reading Forge of the High Mage, like previous entries in this series, it is easier to keep track of the people, places, and the plot.One question I was left with was the amount of time passing between the start of this series and the beginning of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Our main character, who takes centre stage in this Malazan tale, is a young High Mage Tayschrenn, leads the Malazan infantry alongside High Fist Dujek to reach Falar, he is untested and doesn't realise how powerful a mage he is until he comes up against very powerful elder magics. This book really dumbs down the series and the characters, delivering a bunch of epic events and confrontations with hardly any of the emotion that the series is known for. It is still very enjoyable, especially because we have all of the old guard (Kellanved, Dancer, Dassem, Tayschrenn etc) and we get to see them in action.

As mentioned, Forge of the High Mage frequently features showdowns, sometimes between some of the most powerful beings in the Malazan Universe.Awaiting them in or approaching their destination are a powerful religious faction that worships the elder god, Mael, the tribes of the Jhek that includes soletaken wolf and bear warriors, formidable Crimson Guard mercenaries, and something mysterious and ancient that, if left unchecked, could cause devastating damage to the surrounding environment and those within the vicinity. By the time of a March 2022 interview, the writing was completed and the manuscript was in the hands of his editors. Kellanved is so fun to follow around with how you absolutely have no idea what he's going to do next. The storyline was good and has advanced the Malazan Empire as well as individuals such as mainly Tayschren (and of course MR).