Return of the Crimson Guard
Ian Cameron Esslemont
PS Publishing (Bantam), 2008 (UK)
While Steven Erikson handles the “main” of the Malazan world his friend and co-creator Ian C. Esslemont handles events elsewhere. In his first novel, Night of Knives, Esslemont details the genesis of Malazan Empire as we know it by dealing with events surrounding the “death” of the Emporer and Dancer due to the machinations of Surly, the woman who would become Empress Lasseen. The timeline for Return of the Crimson Guard fits somewhere just after Erikson’s The Bonehunters and deals with the titular Crimson Guard and their vow to see the Malazan Empire fall.
