Set as a prequel to the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Path to Ascendancy follows the early partnership of Dancer — a lethal and pragmatic assassin — and the eccentric mage who would become Emperor Kellanved, as they navigate the treacherous city-states of Quon Tali. Beginning with a simple contract that spirals into a collision of ancient powers, factions, and warrens, the series charts how two cunning survivors rose from mercenary obscurity to reshape an entire world.

Dancer is the consummate professional — cool, calculating, and fiercely protective of the small circle he trusts — whose POV gives readers a grounded counterweight to his partner''s chaotic brilliance. Kellanved (Wu) is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying: a seemingly bumbling Dal Honese mage whose intellect and ambition are always at least three moves ahead of everyone else, human or Elder.

Across four books the duo progress from scuffling through regional politics in Li Heng to launching a naval invasion of the Falari archipelago, each installment layering in deeper Malazan lore including the Azath, the Elder Races, and the nascent Bridgeburners. The tone shifts from intimate and witty to genuinely epic as the costs of empire-building accumulate and secondary characters like Tayschrenn and Dujek come into their own.