Midnight Tides
Ratings157
Average rating4.5
Un curieux paradoxe fait que je lis moins pendant mes vacances que le reste du temps. C’est ce qui a ralenti ma lecture de ce cinquième tome du cycle Malazan Book of the Fallen. Pourtant, j’ai beaucoup aimé la confrontation mise en scène dans ce roman, ainsi que le propos politique autour de l’empire de Lether. C’est peut-être même mon tome préféré jusque là.
I am a caster of nets. Tyrants and emperors rise and fall. Civilizations burgeon then die, but there are always casters of nets. And tillers of the soil, and herders in the pastures. We are where civilization begins, and when it ends, we are there to begin it again.
Midnight Tides is the fifth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, but despite that, it can almost be read as a stand-alone. The plot unfolds like a classic tragedy.
The book explores various themes. The most prominent is the theme of imperialism, but not through the Malazan method, rather through the Letherii method. It depicts an extremely capitalist society where almost everything is expressed through debts. Erikson holds a mirror to the current capitalist society without being very specific in his allegory.
Furthermore, the book delves into family, family ties, loyalty, and fidelity. This is evident in the storylines of the Sengar and Beddict brothers. Simultaneously, it explores deception, influence, use, abuse, and power. This dynamic is expressed on multiple layers.
In addition to these rather heavy themes and sometimes extreme violence in the book, it is also very humorous. Erikson weaves a very funny storyline, in the style of Terry Pratchett with a Wodehousian touch to it. There have been several moments when I laughed out loud. In between the cyclones of bones.
All of this is tightly composed into a very focused story, with minimal digressions. The pacing is immaculate. The ending may not be what you would expect from a high fantasy book with aspects of military fantasy, but it is fitting. It leaves the reader with the question of whether, despite everything changing, anything has actually changed. Very well-written book. 5 stars.
”Destiny is a lie. Destiny is justification for atrocity. It is the means by which murderers armour themselves against reprimand. It is a word intended to stand in place of ethics, denying all moral context”
I had heard that this book would go to a different place than the first four, so I was prepared for that, though I wasn't sure I would like it. I did like it quite a lot. We met Trull Sengar in the last book, and I wasn't that interested in him. But this book does deepen his character and I now find him quite compelling.
Other interesting characters were Udinaas, Seren Pedac, Iron Bars and Corlo. My favourite characters this time around though were probably Brys Beddict, and especially Tehol Beddict and Bugg.
Dit is waar ik bij mijn eerste doorlezing een tijd gestopt was met The Malazan Book of the Fallen, denk ik. Erikson maakt het een mens ook niet gemakkelijk: deel vijf van de reeks heeft weinig of niets te maken met de eerste vijf delen, en het is pas ergens zeer diep in het boek (hoofdstuk 12, rond het midden) dat duidelijk wordt hoe de omgeving van het boek past in de wereld — dat “the Errant” een collectieve naam voor de Forkrul Assail is, dat er ook hier massieve ruzie was tussen T'Lan Imass en Jaghut, en dat het hier allemaal gaat om de nazaten van Tiste Edur en een nieuw volk, de Letherii.
En gedoe met the Crippled God, en dat Hood blijkbaar geen plaats heeft op Lether, en zoals bijna altijd Elder Gods die zich voordoen als gewone mensen.
Oh, en een krijger die met zijn broers er op uit wordt gestuurd om een magisch zwaard te vinden voor zijn koning, maar dan blijkt dat de jongere broer het kwestieuze zwaard aanraakt — wat hij expliciet niet mocht doen — en dan wordt die jongste zoon op gruwelijke wijze onsterfelijk (thanks, Crippled God!) en kroont hij zichzelf keizer.
En nog allemaal andere onsterfelijke of ondode karakters, waaronder één die echt niet liever wil dan enorm griezelig zijn en mensen bang maken, en zeer graag lange nagels zou kopen en puntige tanden.
Om te zeggen dat het bij momenten zeer grappig is, en bij momenten zeer pakkend, maar ik heb het moeilijk gehad, en het heeft lang geduurd eer het uit was. Er zitten stukken in die vintage Erikson zijn en zeer aangenaam om lezen, maar ik had meer dan eens het oncomfortabele gevoel dat hij gewoon moeilijk aan het doen was om moeilijk te doen.
Boek zes en zeven zijn hier een rechtstreeks vervolg op, dat maakte ze voor zover ik me herinner ook minder lastig. Serieus: een reeks schrijven en dan op het einde van boek vier alles in medias res laten staan, en een volledig ander verhaal beginnen in boek vijf. Trr.
Executive Summary: I'm surprised to be giving this book 4 stars. It started as a 2 for me. My enjoyment slowly built as the book when on, and in the end I enjoyed it overall.Full ReviewSo I gave this book 4 stars, which means I liked it, but I'm going to start off with a bit of a rant about this series that has been festering for the last 6 weeks or so as I've read this book.[a:Steven Erikson 31232 Steven Erikson http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1219169436p2/31232.jpg] writes some of the WORST beginnings to books I have ever read. And it's not because he can't write them. [b:House of Chains 55398 House of Chains (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #4) Steven Erikson http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316729521s/55398.jpg 836472] shows that he can write a straightforward and comprehensible beginning, despite changing locations and introducing many new characters. I enjoyed that book all the way through.No book in the series so far has shown this fact more than this one. I was about ready to quit the book in frustration. He introduced what seemed like 20 new characters in the span of maybe 2 chapters. This book has all of one character in it from the previous 4 books. And he was a relatively minor character that I was pretty indifferent towards. None of it made much sense to me.I'm apparently not the typical Malazan fan in this. Everyone else seems to enjoy being thrown into the deep end at the start of each book. I don't. I'm pretty tired of it by now as my rant may indicate. I just don't get why all the hardcore Malazan fans do. I guess that means I'll never be one of them. Then again there are still 5 more books to go.I'm really enjoying this series so far, but Mr. Erikson seems to go out of his way to alienate potential fans in my opinion. I don't mind all the layering and complex foreshadowing he does. I certainly don't get even a third of it, but it doesn't bother me. It just makes me feel pretty dumb/unobservant in a group reading setting.OK, now that I got that off my chest. This book is sort of odd. The whole thing is a flash back. It's hard to say exactly when it occurs. It seems like the near past. I feel like this story might better have been told earlier in the series. Maybe it's beginning would have frustrated me less then, but probably not.There are some really great characters in this book though. They are largely responsible for my enjoyment of this book. Mr. Erikson seems to have this obsession with pairs of characters, and Tehol and Bugg are now only second to Quick Ben and Kalam as my favorites.Iron Bars is probably now one of my favorites as well. I wish we had gotten to see more of him in this book that we did. Hopefully we'll see more of him later in the series.This book is much less action-packed than the previous four. There is a lot more politics in this one. That doesn't make it any less gruesome and dark. Just like the rest of the series, there are some truly disturbing scenes in this book.As I got my feet about me again and got past the horrible beginning, I moved into a solid 3 territory. The ending of this was quite enjoyable, and the book became hard to put down. This bumped it to a 4 star by the end, which is saying a lot since I started at barely a 2.I can't wait to jump into [b:The Bonehunters 478951 The Bonehunters (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #6) Steven Erikson http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320434864s/478951.jpg 3898723], especially since most of my favorite characters look to be back. Likely to die in some horrible fashion the way this series seems to be going, but I'll continue to read in morbid fascination.