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velcrocee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
wouterk's review
5.0
Another amazing and crazy entry in the Book of the Fallen. In this fifth book of the series, Erikson manages to give us a story on an entirely new continent with, yes, only one character from the previous books (Trull Sengar), if you even remember him. And it is an amazing story, and really, I feel it might work as a standalone as well.
The story follows the unfolding conflict between the Tiste Edur and their neighbours the Letherii. It is the key conflict but of course in the background we get to see some meddling by the crippled God and also meddling from other gods. And of course Erikson masterfully balances between meaningful dialogue, learning about culture and history, and super epic battles and strange or mysterious creatures. For this round we have of course Soultaken/D'ivers, but also spontaneous undead, and many powerful creatures trying (and sometimes succeeding) to escape an Azath houses grip; We have Dark deep sea gods/demons, other bound demons, shadow magic, crippled god magic, super flashy white mist/fire magic and at some point even Jaguth Ice magic. And one of my personal favorites is Iron Bars, the avowed of the Crimson Guard, who somehow seems to me like the malazan version of John Wick.
And this book had a lot of humour. I feel the characters of Tehol Bedict and his manservant bugg make for such entertaining and still plot-relevant and interesting scenes. Both their interaction with each other and their meddling in Letheras (the Lether capital), really keeps the book in balance with the more heavy-hearted vibes of the Edur and Tehol's other brothers.
One very pregnant theme in this book, which I loved, was a very critical look at the moral, cultural and economic systems of Lether. As Lethers values and workings very much resemble those of capitalism and the United States as its pinnacle. I love how Erikson litteraly fillets a free market, debt-based society that has innovation and growth and individualistic meritocracy as its core values. And yet showing some compassion by relating part of it to human nature itself. Actually, I'm dunking on the US here, but I believe that the Chinese government has read Midnight Tides thoroughly. Their conduct in African and countries in their new Silk Roads, much resembles the Letherii's way of conquering nations through creating debt. But I digress. Erikson really shows well how these values and the current neoliberal approach affects people in a negative way.
Somehow we follow a large part of this story by exploring the complex dynamics between brothers, which to me was another theme. On the Edur side we have the Sengar brothers: Fear, eldest and commander of the army; Trull, an esteemed and excellent spear fighter; Binadas a wandering mage; and Rhulad, unblooded young arrogant and desperate for recognition. On the Letherii side we have de Bedict brothers: Hull Bedict, wanderer and hateful of Lether's conquering tendencies; Tehol Bedict, a poor man with only a shabby house and his manservant bugg, (both not what they seem); and Brys Bedict, Champion of the King.
While the Sengar brothers are mostly together, the Bedict brothers are mostly apart and we explore what that does with the dynamics. How disagreements, faith and trust etc. affect relationships and behaviours. How the more traditional Edur culture and the very individualistic liberal Lether culture influences such relationships and how it is still the same in some ways.
This book also had two Male characters that experience forms of sexual assault/abuse. To be clear, this book or this series is by no means riddled with these type of scenes, I just wanted to adress something about it.
As with the women that experience this in the Malazan books, Erikson does not use it gratuitously and really spends time to show us how it affects people (in the moment and/or in the long term). I also really like how Erikson limits the descriptions of these instances to the minimum necessary to get the emotional impact and understanding the character.
However, I noticed a difference with the men that got me pondering. One of the male characters is denied his experience when discussing it, while another is being laughed at and told they should be happy they were this lucky. On the one hand, it fits Eriksons style for this book - presenting it to us as it is. And it is a fact that Male SA is generally being ignored or laughed away by authorities as well as many emotionally less avaialble/developed men. On the other hand, it kind of irked me that when a woman goes through such a trauma in the book, we see it play out with justifying revenge and emotional turmoil, while these men are just left to deal with it and get no resolution at all to what happened to them. Basically, it fails to address the perpetrator. Probably just the irk, I was supposed to feel.
A final theme that I was captured by is that of agency. How we have it, but also how it may be limited by others (slavery, power), ourselves (self-defeating thoughts, honour, insecurity), and fate (sometimes you can only witness). Studying this of course helps in developing compassion, which is an overarching theme of the series.
Well, finally, even without all the themes it is an amazing story, with very interesting and flawed characters. I truly loved it and am looking forward to Bonehunters.
The story follows the unfolding conflict between the Tiste Edur and their neighbours the Letherii. It is the key conflict but of course in the background we get to see some meddling by the crippled God and also meddling from other gods. And of course Erikson masterfully balances between meaningful dialogue, learning about culture and history, and super epic battles and strange or mysterious creatures. For this round we have of course Soultaken/D'ivers, but also spontaneous undead, and many powerful creatures trying (and sometimes succeeding) to escape an Azath houses grip; We have Dark deep sea gods/demons, other bound demons, shadow magic, crippled god magic, super flashy white mist/fire magic and at some point even Jaguth Ice magic. And one of my personal favorites is Iron Bars, the avowed of the Crimson Guard, who somehow seems to me like the malazan version of John Wick.
And this book had a lot of humour. I feel the characters of Tehol Bedict and his manservant bugg make for such entertaining and still plot-relevant and interesting scenes. Both their interaction with each other and their meddling in Letheras (the Lether capital), really keeps the book in balance with the more heavy-hearted vibes of the Edur and Tehol's other brothers.
One very pregnant theme in this book, which I loved, was a very critical look at the moral, cultural and economic systems of Lether. As Lethers values and workings very much resemble those of capitalism and the United States as its pinnacle. I love how Erikson litteraly fillets a free market, debt-based society that has innovation and growth and individualistic meritocracy as its core values. And yet showing some compassion by relating part of it to human nature itself. Actually, I'm dunking on the US here, but I believe that the Chinese government has read Midnight Tides thoroughly. Their conduct in African and countries in their new Silk Roads, much resembles the Letherii's way of conquering nations through creating debt. But I digress. Erikson really shows well how these values and the current neoliberal approach affects people in a negative way.
Somehow we follow a large part of this story by exploring the complex dynamics between brothers, which to me was another theme. On the Edur side we have the Sengar brothers: Fear, eldest and commander of the army; Trull, an esteemed and excellent spear fighter; Binadas a wandering mage; and Rhulad, unblooded young arrogant and desperate for recognition. On the Letherii side we have de Bedict brothers: Hull Bedict, wanderer and hateful of Lether's conquering tendencies; Tehol Bedict, a poor man with only a shabby house and his manservant bugg, (both not what they seem); and Brys Bedict, Champion of the King.
While the Sengar brothers are mostly together, the Bedict brothers are mostly apart and we explore what that does with the dynamics. How disagreements, faith and trust etc. affect relationships and behaviours. How the more traditional Edur culture and the very individualistic liberal Lether culture influences such relationships and how it is still the same in some ways.
This book also had two Male characters that experience forms of sexual assault/abuse. To be clear, this book or this series is by no means riddled with these type of scenes, I just wanted to adress something about it.
As with the women that experience this in the Malazan books, Erikson does not use it gratuitously and really spends time to show us how it affects people (in the moment and/or in the long term). I also really like how Erikson limits the descriptions of these instances to the minimum necessary to get the emotional impact and understanding the character.
However, I noticed a difference with the men that got me pondering. One of the male characters is denied his experience when discussing it, while another is being laughed at and told they should be happy they were this lucky. On the one hand, it fits Eriksons style for this book - presenting it to us as it is. And it is a fact that Male SA is generally being ignored or laughed away by authorities as well as many emotionally less avaialble/developed men. On the other hand, it kind of irked me that when a woman goes through such a trauma in the book, we see it play out with justifying revenge and emotional turmoil, while these men are just left to deal with it and get no resolution at all to what happened to them. Basically, it fails to address the perpetrator. Probably just the irk, I was supposed to feel.
A final theme that I was captured by is that of agency. How we have it, but also how it may be limited by others (slavery, power), ourselves (self-defeating thoughts, honour, insecurity), and fate (sometimes you can only witness). Studying this of course helps in developing compassion, which is an overarching theme of the series.
Well, finally, even without all the themes it is an amazing story, with very interesting and flawed characters. I truly loved it and am looking forward to Bonehunters.
i_b_rich's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
corvis's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
depwy59u's review
challenging
dark
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
deinol's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jaydeclining's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sjgomzi's review against another edition
5.0
This took me longer to get into than the previous 4 books. All new characters and a new setting took some getting used to! But by the second half, the story really took off, and that ending! Once again, Steven Erikson has pulled off another fantastic book in what is turning out to be one of the finest fantasy series I've ever read. I can't believe I'm past the halfway point! I'm taking a one book hiatus, and then, onto book six! A shoutout and thanks to all you Goodreads readers who reviewed and recommended these books. Without you, I may never have had the courage to start this series!