[Hazmandoo]

Took a couple of attempts to get through GoTM but ended up loving it. Smashed through Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice. Enjoyed House of Chains, though it's not quite as epic as the two before it, and started gleefully on into Midnight Tides.

I felt really jarred with the huge change in time, location and characters, despite the amazing prologue, partly because I've never really bonded with Trull the same way I have others in the series. It has been a little bit of a struggle picking up the book for the first 6-7 chapters or so but I have never read a book where I have so strongly gone from boredom and disinterest to literally not wanting to put it down.

Just cleared Chapter 11 last night and now I'm at work just praying for 5pm so I can go home and continue reading!

[Kanubis]

It can take you like that for sure. Did Tehol and Bugg help turn your opinion of the book around?

[Hazmandoo]

Not so much Tehol & Bugg, though I do like their relationship and it's nice having some genuine comic relief thrown in to all the despair and angst.

More the revelation with Rhuland Sengars resurrection and the development I can feel coming next with the Azath tower.

The best and worst thing about this series is RAFO

[Traveller]

Or more often than not, re-read later and find out.

[Hazmandoo]

I'm already planning on rereading again after I finish the Crippled God and including the ancillary books by ICE, etc

[Stormcat]

I was so skeptical about MT I only started it because I HAVE to read things in order. It completely blew me away and I consider it one of my favorites.
And Tehol and Bugg... just wait.

[nacht]

The secret to MT is to take it slow.
If you rush to find resolutions for themes from the previous books then you will be sorely disappointed. This is what I experienced. The reread was exquisite though.

[HoosierDaddy]

I remember when I first read the book description I read T'lan Imass as Tiste Edur for some reason. I was confused as hell, as at least the T'lan Imass had been introduced and we knew they were on a different continent.

Then I read the book. And then I read it again. And then again.

Midnight Tides is probably THE best single contained Malazan novel. We can fight about it if you want.

Go team T&B!

(I'm pretty sure I make the same point in every MT thread, but it needs restating for the doubters who start out, over and over again. You'd think the "Holy shit this thing is awesome! threads would do it. But they don't.)

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: 28 January 2014 - 05:44 AM

[Hazmandoo]

Ok so I'm still progressing with MT and I have a question that hopefully can be answered without any spoilers for the future.

I have just gone past the chapter where Iron Bars has saved Seren and now they are on their way to Letheras. What I am confused about is that Iron Bars mentions Kellanved but I thought MT takes place thousands of years before the Malazan empire has risen? Am I missing something?

[TheSeguleh]

Hazmandoo, on 28 January 2014 - 01:06 PM, said:

Ok so I'm still progressing with MT and I have a question that hopefully can be answered without any spoilers for the future.

I have just gone past the chapter where Iron Bars has saved Seren and now they are on their way to Letheras. What I am confused about is that Iron Bars mentions Kellanved but I thought MT takes place thousands of years before the Malazan empire has risen? Am I missing something?

Yea, that can be confusing. MT takes place around the same time as a couple of the first four books (not sure which ones off the top of my head sorry). Its just taking place in a different location.

[Hazmandoo]

TheSeguleh, on 28 January 2014 - 02:18 PM, said:

Hazmandoo, on 28 January 2014 - 01:06 PM, said:

Ok so I'm still progressing with MT and I have a question that hopefully can be answered without any spoilers for the future.

I have just gone past the chapter where Iron Bars has saved Seren and now they are on their way to Letheras. What I am confused about is that Iron Bars mentions Kellanved but I thought MT takes place thousands of years before the Malazan empire has risen? Am I missing something?

Yea, that can be confusing. MT takes place around the same time as a couple of the first four books (not sure which ones off the top of my head sorry). Its just taking place in a different location.

Whaaaaaaaat! I knew it was taking place on a new continent but for some reason I had the impression that it was taking places a long time ago, I thought that Trull had spent thousands of year shorn whereas now I assume it isn't that far out of the timeline that starts in GoTM.

[HoosierDaddy]

Time passes more quickly and more slowly in some of the Warrens. The Nascent being one of those. That being said, it is a bit of artistic license by Erikson.

[Sinisdar Toste]

Hazmandoo, on 24 January 2014 - 10:24 AM, said:

Not so much Tehol & Bugg, though I do like their relationship and it's nice having some genuine comic relief thrown in to all the despair and angst.

More the revelation with Rhuland Sengars resurrection and the development I can feel coming next with the Azath tower.

The best and worst thing about this series is RAFO

i always felt like it was this moment that kicked MT into gear too. it's just a perfectly written scene and the relationship with udinaas that comes of it is one of the most heart-wrenching in the entire series imo.

just off the top of my head, i can't say i've ever read a resurrection scene so intensely and disturbingly personal. it's probably one of my favourite scenes from any book i've read.

speaking about the the timeline (which really doesn't matter), i'm pretty sure MT and GotM are meant to somewhat overlap, how much i'm not sure, but they're within a two to three year time period of each other, as a rough guess.

[Bulwyf]

Hazmandoo, on 28 January 2014 - 04:28 PM, said:

TheSeguleh, on 28 January 2014 - 02:18 PM, said:

Hazmandoo, on 28 January 2014 - 01:06 PM, said:

Ok so I'm still progressing with MT and I have a question that hopefully can be answered without any spoilers for the future.

I have just gone past the chapter where Iron Bars has saved Seren and now they are on their way to Letheras. What I am confused about is that Iron Bars mentions Kellanved but I thought MT takes place thousands of years before the Malazan empire has risen? Am I missing something?

Yea, that can be confusing. MT takes place around the same time as a couple of the first four books (not sure which ones off the top of my head sorry). Its just taking place in a different location.

Whaaaaaaaat! I knew it was taking place on a new continent but for some reason I had the impression that it was taking places a long time ago, I thought that Trull had spent thousands of year shorn whereas now I assume it isn't that far out of the timeline that starts in GoTM.

What probably threw you off is that they still use the tiles and elder gods on that continent, when the malazan's have moved onto the deck. (we the reader know that the tiles are "outdated" but the denizens of that continent don't (well, the gods etc do ))

[Hazmandoo]

So I finished the book, final verdict is that it was fantastic. It's a wierd thing with these Malazan books, I feel like I want to finish the series as soon as possible just to start reading them again with a deeper understanding of things. I've never had that before with a series of books.

Anyway, the traditional post read couple of questions/thoughts;

1/ I felt the ending was a little open ended re Trull, I guess we assume that Rhulad orders his banishment (re HoC) due to not killing him after the fight with Brys?

2/ What was with the Owls? There seemed to be numerous owl references without any payoff.

3/ I was a little disappointed with the 5 Tarthenal 'gods'. They were built up throughout the book as another apocolyptic enemy, killing others in the Azath to get free, etc and then they were nullified by one man (albeit an Avowed which I guess we'll learn more about later) and one mortal version of themselves. I was satisfied with Silchas ending them off screen, it seemed appropriate, but I was hoping they'd run rampant a little first, demonstrate some of what we were being led to worry about.

4/ Tehol & Buggs conversation after Tehol has been healed might be my favourite character interaction in all the books so far.


I know there is alot more that was rolling around in my head but to be honest I think that the answer tends to be RAFO

[Gothos]

1) That and generally speaking up against the regime and his decisions. More on Rhulad's wonderful family life in later books.

2) I didn't even remember any of those. Huh.

3) Well it's a common theme in the books where some ancient horrors come out of imprisonment fully sure they'll conquer the world, only to very soon be informed that there's a lot of new players on the board and the old guys ain't really worth shit no more. Besides, if you spent a couple dozen millenia buried in the ground, you'd be a bit stiff jointed too.

4) Thelo & Bugg IS pretty much the best character pairing I've read in any book.

as for your last sentence, this series is basically made entirely out of RAFO and eldritch horrors.

[worry]

The Owl references continue into the next Lether book and "pay off" there.

[Kanese S's]

Hazmandoo, on 28 January 2014 - 01:06 PM, said:

Ok so I'm still progressing with MT and I have a question that hopefully can be answered without any spoilers for the future.

I have just gone past the chapter where Iron Bars has saved Seren and now they are on their way to Letheras. What I am confused about is that Iron Bars mentions Kellanved but I thought MT takes place thousands of years before the Malazan empire has risen? Am I missing something?

Only the prologue does. Similar to Memories of Ice.

This seems to be a common error, but I can't even imagine how confusing the rest of the book is if one is operating on the assumption that it's all in the same era as the prologue.

[Kanese S's]

Hazmandoo, on 31 January 2014 - 09:19 AM, said:

So I finished the book, final verdict is that it was fantastic. It's a wierd thing with these Malazan books, I feel like I want to finish the series as soon as possible just to start reading them again with a deeper understanding of things. I've never had that before with a series of books.

Anyway, the traditional post read couple of questions/thoughts;

1/ I felt the ending was a little open ended re Trull, I guess we assume that Rhulad orders his banishment (re HoC) due to not killing him after the fight with Brys?

2/ What was with the Owls? There seemed to be numerous owl references without any payoff.

3/ I was a little disappointed with the 5 Tarthenal 'gods'. They were built up throughout the book as another apocolyptic enemy, killing others in the Azath to get free, etc and then they were nullified by one man (albeit an Avowed which I guess we'll learn more about later) and one mortal version of themselves. I was satisfied with Silchas ending them off screen, it seemed appropriate, but I was hoping they'd run rampant a little first, demonstrate some of what we were being led to worry about.

4/ Tehol & Buggs conversation after Tehol has been healed might be my favourite character interaction in all the books so far.


I know there is alot more that was rolling around in my head but to be honest I think that the answer tends to be RAFO

1. Rhulad's reign has just started. Since we've all seen what happens whenever people manage to kill him, he has plenty of time to continue to fuck up.

2. Not sure. RAFO I guess.

3. Common occurrence in Erikson's books. Some ancient terror gets loose on the scene, thinking to dominate everything, only to find out that new badasses have sprung up in the meantime, and the newcomers are a lot tougher than expected.

4. Tehol and Bugg are awesome.

[Muley]

Theol and Bugg.. no one better in my opinion.