Another great thread to the story
|
I'm getting older and my memory is not as crisp and fresh as it once was, and for that reason i've been trying to ration the Malazan Books of the Fallen. The problem is that if I read all those currently in print, by the time the remaining parts are released I'll be struggling to remember what happened in the previous installments. As a result of all this, I've just completed Midnight Tides.
This novel takes you away from the previous events and characters of the previous four books and introduces another story thread to the whole saga. Initially I was a little disappointed by this, but that feeling soon evaporated once I'd read the first chapter or so.
The thing I enjoy most about Steven Erikson's writing/storytelling is the complexity of the plot involving a huge number of characters. The endings never feel rushed and neither do they drag or meander aimlessly, which is something that other multi-volumed fantasy sagas have been guilty of.
This particular part of the story maintained the complexity and it's possible to see where this will weave into the other story threads in one of the future parts. I read this in under a week, which is pretty good for me these days and it says a lot as to how much it gripped me to finish it in this time. It's not the best of the series so far (that was Memories of Ice for me) but still hugely enjoyable.
If you haven't read any of this series, and you enjoy a well rounded fantasy story, then you really don't need to look any further than this - go and order Gardens of the Moon and get started.
|
|
Not the best in a great series
|
Like all of Erikson's Malazan series this book took me a good while to get into. I'd rank it alongside the Deadhouse Gates (number 2) in that its good, interesting and keeps you reading. Compared to the others though it is weaker.
It certainly builds to an exciting crescendo of a finale and I was hooked by the time I finished it. So much so I went back and read it a second time.
|
|
A Triumph of Fantasy!
|
|
Its not often that I'm moved to write a review, nor do I often bandy about expressions of extreme praise easily, but I must say that this is one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. I recall thinking as I was reading this, that Erikson seems to have crossed that often too yawning a chasm that seperates genre writing from literature. The world-building is exceptional in its detail and cultural insight - one really gets a feel for the different cultures of Lether and the Edur. The characters are all exceptionally well-drawn and almost universally memorably presented. At different times you understand and sympathise with all the major protagonists in the tale. The plotting is tight, with a fair share of 'gee-wow!' moments, a constant sense of development, even while Erikson takes his time in setting the stage for the tragic climax. All in all, I could find no fault at all with this book. And while the tale had a satisfactory conclusion, there were many plot threads left open for the reader to be left wanting more. Some readers insist in comparing the different books in this series to each other. While Midnight Tides does not have an ending with the same kind of impact as 'Deadhouse Gates', or reach the breathless climax of the final battle in 'Memories of Ice', I would still rate it as the best one he has written so far. The balance of humour, drama, tragedy and excitement has never been as finely tuned as in 'Midnight Tides', and the cultures and societies never as intricately constructed. Neither has Erikson marshalled as varied and as finely wrought a cast of characters as he does here. I do feel this is his finest book. I've read all the major fantasy writers of the last twenty years (with the exception of R. Scott Bakker, something I intend to remedy soon) and I would really put Erikson at the top of the list. Thats not something I would have ever said after reading 'Gardens of the Moon', and I would have been reluctant to make such a claim even after reading 'Deadhouse Gates', but I have no reluctance in doing so now.... Mr. Erikson, hats off to you!
|
|
|
Getting Back on Form, But Still Not the Best
|
|
The fourth Malazan book, House of Chains, was a serious misstep in Erikson's writing, with a weak central plot propped up by far more interesting subthreads focusing on more interesting characters. Arguably the most interesting of those characters was Trull Sengar, the Tiste Edur warrior left to hang on a wall by his 'brothers'. In Midnight Tides we find out his backstory. It's a couple of years earlier, on a distant continent on the far side of the world to Genabackis, Seven Cities and Quon Tali. The Kingdom of Lether and the neighbouring Tiste Edur tribes are planning a peace conference to resolve their differences. The fearsome Tiste Edur Warlock King is actually keen on peace, having expended his strength and troops on uniting the tribes. However, one of his warriors concludes a dark pact with the Crippled God (the series' primary unifying force and the only 'person' whose presence is felt in all the novels) and is resurrected to become the new Tiste Emperor, equipped with sorcerous weapons of mass destruction, which are rapidly hurled in the direction of the Letheri capital. In the capital various political games come to a head as new characters take centre stage. Midnight Tides is extremely important to the rest of the series, despite not featuring any of the same characters (bar the Crippled God and Trull Sengar), as it sets up the Tiste Edur as the Crippled Gods' mortal empire on the Malazan world, heralding a possible confrontation with the Malazan Empire later on. As a plot, it's arguably the best in the series, challenged only by Deadhouse Gates and perhaps Memories of Ice. However, there are problems. As with House of Chains, Erikson is obviously becoming too popular to be edited. Some of the prose (particularly at the start of the book) is self-indulgent twaddle of the highest order. Several of the characters are so pretentious you want to hit them. Luckily, whenever anything gets too out of hand you can rely on Tehol and Bugg to pop up. Their witty sparrings and repartee are more Pratchett than Pratchett and give the book a much-needed lighter edge. The battle for Letheras at the end is also interesting, though completely lacking the epic scale and jaw-dropping horror of the Siege of Capustan in Memories of Ice. The ending is somewhat muddled as you ponder whose side you should be cheering (both sides have valid points of view and sympathetic characters) but that is probably the point. Midnight Tides is a good novel, readable and deserving of its (extreme) length. Erikson continues to show every sign of being the next great fantasy author. However, until he can get his page-count down and stop philosophising every other page, George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Paul Kearney and Jack Vance can sleep easy.
|
|
no no no
|
|
This book is simply dreadful. weak one dimensional characters that are wholly unlikeable. Amazing that this could be written by the same author as the rest of the series.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada