Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

 

I Love Books, A Christmas Video

Purchase Links:

Alden and the Trash Truck

A Parent's Struggle: Helping Children Understand Alcoholism

A Lab Of A Different Color

A Quirky Christmas

The Mighty Pranksters of Bright Lives Academy

Dizzy's Diary

The Puppy Mill Escape

Hardy Belch and The Gold Train

If reviewing a product, it may have been received free of charge. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned

Dancer's Lament by Ian C. Esslemont

This author is fond of complexity and that forces you to pay attention. Li Heng is a city-state protected by the Protectress and her mages. Dorin, a professional assassin is trying to establish his “rep”.   To establish a reputation you need to assassinate someone notable or difficult.  On his journey, he meets Wu an aspiring mage who may be insane.  The two of them end up in Li Heng where they discover a surfeit of opportunities for wealth, knowledge, and reputation. 

 

Esslemont provides plenty of interesting characters such as the NightBlades, and Jaghuts that may or may not be the offspring of higher beings.  There is an allusion to another dimension.  One which seems to have had a devastating war. For unknown reasons, Wu wants to go there or at least control the beings he finds there.  They both run afoul of Li Heng’s criminal environment with disastrous results. The Kanese have decided to add Li Heng to their string of conquests.  They then besieged the city and challenged the mighty sorceress, the Protectress.   

 

Dorin has had his humanistic side burned out by his training.  He is befriended, much to his dismay, by a healer of birds.  She brings out normal human feelings that he was unaware of having.

 

The book provides a decent enough closure that you could read it as a standalone.  It is the first book in a trilogy that precedes another trilogy so their hooks aplenty to get you to buy the next book. 

 

Due to Esslemont’s attention to detail and the complexity of the plot, I would recommend reading the books in order. 

 

I recommend the book.This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you click on a purchasing link below.#CommissionsEarned