Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17616 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-28
• Released on: 2007-08-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 960 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780765348821
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Those with a taste for massive high fantasy epics will welcome Erikson's fifth entry in his Malazan Book of the Fallen saga (after 2006's House of Chains), though it largely deals with the calm between storms. In the north, the Warlock King has united the tribes of Tiste Edur into a formidable realm, though his four feisty sons may yet cause problems. In the south, the still more formidable kingdom of Lether is using both bribery and military threats to intimidate its neighbors and rebuild its ancient empire. Tiste Edur will have none of this, however, for reasons going back to bloody feuds of centuries past. The author has a rare talent for building character by internal dialogue without slowing the pace. The large cast may daunt new readers, but maps and a glossary help fill the gaps. The ending suggests there'll be a lot more action in the sixth book (out of a projected 10).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

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Customer Reviews

Perhaps the best in the series
Midnight Tides is the fifth book of Steven Erikson's 10-volume series The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Unlike other multi-volume big-book fantasy writers, Erikson's production has been consistent: about a volume per year and he has completed 7, of which five are available through his US publisher, Tor.

This book is somewhat different in tone and feel from the first four. This is partly because it introduces the third main story thread of the series after the Genabackis and Seven Cities plotlines from previous books. There are other major differences.

First, the action occurs before the events of volumes 1-4. Second, the characters, other than one from book four, House of Chains, are entirely new. Third, the story focuses on a distinct conflict between two peoples -- the Tiste Edur of the northlands and the human empire Letheras that seeks to expand and conquer. Fourth, the two sides are shown through two major families, the four Sengar brothers (Fear the elder, Trull the dutiful, Binadas the mysterious, Rhulad the covetous) of the Edur, and the three human Beddict brothers (Hull, who has been broken by his past; Tehol, who is an eccentric genius; and Brys the King's champion). Erikson displays family relations, political alignments within the two societies, bonds between brothers and the separate societies through these two lenses. This is one of the most emotionally charged books of the series.

Unlike Gardens of the Moon, which basically started after a cataclysmic event and revealed details of the situation later, Midnight Tides has a set beginning -- the Warlock King who has united the Edur tribes seeks a powerful talisman to maintain control, while the Letheras empire threatens to conquer the whole continent. Within this background are the numerous story threads in each Erikson book: political intrigue, gods and monsters interacting with "normal" people and references to the overall arc of the story which Erikson started to divulge in book 3. And of course, there's plenty of action: from small parties fighting in the arctic wilderness to major military battles.

This book is also flat-out funny -- the interaction between Tehol and his amazingly resourceful manservant Bugg is among the best comic relief in any major fantasy series and it enlivens book 7, Reaper's Gale (available in the UK and Canada) too.

The detractions are standard for the genre -- the books are long and completion is years away. All of the volumes except the first are more than 600 pages in trade paperback and they're getting longer -- book 7 is more than 900! But the quality of Erikson's work hasn't diminished, unlike so many other major "doorstopper" fantasy writers. And his publishing pace is good: it takes him 8 months to write each volume and he's hitting a one-per-year rate for new books (Tor is publishing US versions of previous UK editions every 8-9 months). So making the commitment is more rewarding than it is for some other works.

Overall, the series, and especially this volume, is highly recommended

I keep trying...
I'm sorry; I don't get it. This is the fifth of Erikson's books that I've read, and each one has yet to actually satisfy. His books are ambitious and the world building great, but his characters are flat and the magic "system" is seemingly incomprehensible.
This book is another display of that. The most interesting characters to me are the brothers Beddict, Tehol especially. Tehol's interactions with Bugg are especially amusing. However, this highlights a weakness of his: nearly every one of his bizarre characters (Tehol, Iskaral Pust, Kruppe) are bizarre in that they speak in strange inside jokes or other such eccentricities. Most other characters are stock; almost all soldiers are the exact same with highly introspective internal dialogue.
Like all of his other books, the plot moves along with either random interventions from gods or massively powerful and unexplained mages.
Personally, the most interesting plot point was Tehol and the Tolls. Unfortunately, it's never explained exactly how he gets control of the stock market and it never really figures into the story as he doesn't rig a collapse of the economy as the whole country is already in possession of the Edur. Also, the readers get a very distinct view of the author's view of capitalism: greed ruins the world and all capitalists are rapacious. He goes the Goodkind route on this and beats you over the head with his philosophy a few times with it; the relief is that it's not as heavy handed as Goodkind's.
In all, a book that had good ideas, yet fails to make it. Just like his other books.

Build a nest...Tear it down!
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!