Book Review: Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen)

Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen
Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen

Like the last book House of Chains, this book too has a separate storyline. But where that one had it join up with the principle story somewhere in the middle, Midnight Tides dedicates the entire book to the Tiste Edur – the sorta kinda brother/cousins to the Tiste Andu. I can see the relevance it has to the main storyline – it gives the history of Trull Sengar whom we met under mysterious circumstances previously.

Having said that, I really like this thread. A lot has to do with the fact that the Malazan Book of the Fallen series isn’t about one person unlike every other fantasy novel I’ve read till now. It’s about a world – multiple worlds even. So I don’t feel that the author is cheating us or dragging things along. I get the distinct impression that all this is going somewhere and there’s a huge scheme afoot. Of course, I would love to hear more about guys like Anomander Rake and what happens to the ascended Bridgeburners :)

As I mentioned in my review of the previous book, the comedy here is something I’ve never seen before. The interactions between two characters Tehol Beddict and his manservant Bugg are so sardonic, so witty and hilarious that I read quite a few of the dialogues twice! Steven Erikson has real talent with kind of thing. It puts everything happening in perspective and prevent the story from getting too carried away with its own grandiosity.

For the first time, we learn something about Anomander Rake’s brothers. From what I hear, there’s more to come on that front too, so I’m really looking forward to everything ahead. But I really hope this is the last of the books where a completely new thread is introduced at length. I really liked it and the ending was very moving indeed but you know, I’m a slightly impatient sorta guy. But I’m giving this particular series a lot of slack because I know it’s different and was warned in advance.

It only sometimes gets a bit boring – the acquitor Seren Pedac’s bit was none too energizing. But barring that and the whole “new plot” thing, it’s fantastic.

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2 thoughts on “Book Review: Midnight Tides (Malazan Book of the Fallen)”

    • In reply to RenKiss

      I alternate between these and “hard” fiction novels like “The Jungle”, “Les Miserables” etc.

      But some of the fantasy books are series spanning 10-15 books so I read multiple fantasy novels at a stretch :)

      Reply

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