Path to Ascendancy is a three volume epic fantasy series written by Ian C. Esslemont that serves as a prequel to both the author's six volume Novels of the Malazan Empire series and Malazan co-creator Steven Erikson's ten volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series. The trilogy is set in the early days of the foundation of the Malazan Empire. In a November 2017 interview, Esslemont said the trilogy could be extended to more books if sales and interest warranted.