Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Welcome back! We’re in the middle of a Malazan month, looking at all the books in the extended universe. Today we’re finally talking about the books by Ian C Esslemont, the second author working in this world.

These books are very different. With different strengths and different weaknesses to Steven Erikson’s books. In some ways, I liked Esslemont’s more! And yes, in some ways I like them less.

Today we’ll look at Esslemont’s main series, Novels of the Malazan Empire. We’ll look at what the story is about, how these fit into the wider series, and how the writing style differs between the two authors. Ultimately I want to help you decide if you want to read all of these books too.

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00:00 Intro
01:44 The Malazan Empire - The Concept
03:07 How are these books different?
07:18 Going Through the Books
08:00 1. Night of Knives
09:26 2. Return of the Crimson Guard
11:45 3. Stonewielder
13:46 4. Orb Sceptre Throne
15:43 5. Blood and Bone
16:39 6. Assail
18:33 Why Read This Series?
21:13 Reading Order
22:17 Outro