Midnight Tides

Midnight Tides (2004) is the fifth Fantasy novel in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, following House of Chains. In the previous volume, the Chosen One fell before her sister. Afterward, Pearl and Lostara Yil informed Adjunct Travore that her sister was dead. The survivors of the Army of the Apocalypse scattered back into the desert. Cussers fell here and there. Holy Raraku rose and became an inland sea. Karsa Orlong threw 'Siballe into the sea and then rode West into the wastes. In this novel, Hannan Mosag is the Warlock King of the Tiste Edur in the Six Tribes Confederacy. He has cowed the chiefs of all six tribes, although the Merode resisted the longest. Hannan is assisted by the K'risnan, the hostage sons of the chiefs and his apprentices in magic. Tomar Sengar is the husband of Uruth and patriarch of the Sengar Bloodline. He has four sons: Fear, Trull, Binadas and Rhulad. The eldest three are warriors, but Rhulad is not yet blooded. Feather Witch is a Letherii slave of the Sengar household. She is also a caster of the tiles and a reader of the Path of Holds. She reveals the future. Idinaas is a knotter of nets in the village. He had been a sailor on a Letherii whaler until the Tiste Ebur longboats caught them taking whales in their waters. The warriors left the whaler officers tied to the body of a whale for the sea predators to devour and took Udinaas and the other crewmen back as slaves. He also belongs to the Sengar household. Engara Diskanar is the King of Lether. He resides in the Eternal Domicile within Letheras the City. His Queen is Janall and Quillas Diskanar is his son and heir. Kuru Qan is the Ceda -- Palace Sorceror -- to the King. Triban Gnol is Chancellor of the King. Unnutal Hebar is Preda -- Commander -- of the Letheran Army. The Beddict siblings are the products of a marriage between a cowardly husband and a financial genius wife. It ended with the death of both parents, apparently by suicide. Hull is the eldest and is the Letherii Sentinel in the north. Tehol is the second son and a financial genius like his mother. Brys is the youngest, the best swordsman in the kingdom and much like his father. Seren Pedac is a Letherii Acquitor -- a guide and factor -- who has been hired to take Buruk the Pale and his party to the Tiste Edur tribes. Hull Beddict is also included within the party. They will stay over for the Great Meeting between the representatives of the Tiste Edur and those of the King of Lether. Errant is the remaining god of the Letherii. Elsewhere he has been replaced by the Oponn Twins. Errant never replies to his worshipers nor does he grant their prayers. But he does continue to meddle in their lives. In this story, Trull Sengar travels to the Calach shore to gather jade. He finds that the tusked seals have returned early to their breeding ground and are being harvested by nineteen Letheran ships. He returns to his village to spread the word. As he nears the villag

Steven Erikson does it again. By 'it' I mean that he has provided us with another masterpiece. That is praise I can't give to a lot of contemporary fantasy novelists, who, based on current offerings, seem to be pressed to release something readable. Erikson's ability to create and tell a story is criminal. How are we, as readers, supposed to function normally at home and work if he keeps us so engrossed in his stories. I can't even remember my girlfriend's name, and I definitely haven't gotten any work done this week. I'm lucky my boss hasn't caught me reading on the job. Honestly, I don't think I will last much past the next U.S. release of Mr. Erikson's. It's only been 10 minutes and 37 seconds since I finished reading Midnight Tides and I am already going through withdrawal. I only hope that Mr. Erikson stays well ahead of the U.S. publishing with his writing. Despite the long wait for his debut, american readers have definitely been spoiled with the rapid fire release of his novels, a new novel every 8 to 10 months. That being said, lets get to the fun stuff! While it only has a few of the characters that have appeared in previous episodes of The Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, and most of them only mentioned in passing, it exhibits a strong class of characters with whom the reader is immediately drawn to. As with previous novels, the black and white, good and evil dichotomy is ignored at the character level. Each character is likable or detestable based on their personal actions and merits. It has been said that each of the books in Steven Erikson's series can be read as a stand alone novel, which is true to a certain extent. Read them, you'll see what I mean. Erikson doesn't jerk his readers around with to 'be continued' episodes at the end of his books, and while prior knowledge about characters and preceding events helps orient the reader, it isn't as important with Erikson's Malazan saga. However, it is my opinion that each of the novels should be read in the sequence they have been released, with the exception of Midnight Tides. I could have started with this book and not noticed the difference. Although, I do believe that having a good introduction to the Malazan Empire and its major players is important, hence the release of the prior 4 novels. Midnight Tides takes place in a completely new geographic area and involves 1 new group of people, the Letherii, and 1 group of people that was briefly touched on in preceding novels, the Tiste Edur. Of the Tiste Edur we have already been introduced to Trull Sengar, as he played a significant part in the previous novel House of Chains. In fact, it appears that Midnight Tides has been released out of chronological sequence in the series, occuring at a period in Trull Sengar's life prior to his involvement in the story told in House of Chains. At the beginning of reading the book, fans of the `Bridgeburner' characters may be a little disappointed that none of them are involved in M

At first I couldn't get into this book of the Malazan Series. It started off with new characters and new plot lines. But, as you read you realize how it all ties in together with the other books, just like Karsa's story in House of Chains. In the end, I loved this book. The humor is more evident, especially between Tehol and Bugg. Their conversations can't help but make you smile and laugh! I tried to place this book in order of which books out of the series I liked best and I couldn't. It was right up there with Memories of Ice and House of Chains! If you've liked this series so far, you will not be disappointed with this one!

For the third time in the series, Erikson starts off a book with characters, setting, and history completely new to the reader. As deep into the series as book five, this would be considered taboo for most writers. Yet somehow, I came to enjoy each and every one of the new characters. The story is again epic, yet it seems extremely well managed and simple, as if Erikson is getting even more comfortable with his complex and broad scope of storytelling.Despite the fact the story tells of a tragedy spanning two empires, humour is abundant in this book. The amusing exchanges between Tehol Bennedict and pretty much anyone he meets keeps the mood light in the face of the dark nature of the novel as a whole. The book starts slow since the reader is unfamiliar with many of the characters, but like all the preceding books, it takes off a quarter of the way in, and builds to an incredible climactic ending which pulls together threads spanning a continent. Within the scope of the series, the only book I enjoyed more was Book 3, Memories of Ice. Within the scope of the entire fantasy genre, I'd still say the same. Including Tolkein, Jordan, Goodkind, Martin, Donaldson, Feist, and about 15 others I've read. Erikson is by far the best and brightest author to come into the fantasy scene since Martin (and better than Martin anyway). Warning however, to those who don't enjoy complexity in plots and ambivilant characterization in their main characters, for that is here. And that's why I'm going to stay here right until the end.

Ericson is an unbelievable author how has not been given enough coverage in the US. The first 5 books of this series have been out for a while in the UK and i ordered them from there and found them well worth it. The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is the best in fantasy, bar none. Do not hesitate to pick these up.Midnight Tides is the 5th book in the series that began with Gardens of the Moon. Is set on a distant continent that is about to break out into all out war between the Tiste Edur and the Kingdom of Lether, all put into motion by the Chain God. I havent gotten to the end of this yet, about 2/3rds of the way there and i cant put it down. Great characters, funny dialog in places, incredible battles and magic. Get this series!