Night of Knives

I am reading the Malazan series by Erikson and Esslemont in publishing order. This means that after book five of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, it's now time for the first book of Esslemont in the Novels of the Malazan Empire series. The book is not very thick; in Malazan terms, it's almost a novella.

I have mixed feelings about this book.

The good:
As Erikson mentions in the introduction, this is not fan fiction. It is clear that Esslemont and Erikson together invented this world and are responsible for the depth of the lore. This is clearly noticeable. It is also striking that despite being two completely different writers, there are no discrepancies between the different plots of both authors. Esslemont deserves as much credit for this fantasy world as Erikson. If you're a fan of the Malazan series, you get some interesting background stories.

The not so good:
I found the book messy; this could be due to me or the writing style. I found it particularly strange that I thought the book was too long, even though it's a relatively thin book and is full of action. A lot of people run back and forth on the Malaz Island at night, and it's not always clear why exactly. This was probably supposed to contribute to the suspense, but I found it a lot of hassle for ultimately nothing.

It's almost inevitable that Esslemont is compared to Erikson. And in this book, the comparison doesn't work out so well for Esslemont. 3 stars.