Kevin's Watch

I just finished this for the first time a few days ago.

I really liked Bugg and Tehol. Fortunately, this time I was prepared for it to go absolutely nowhere, and so I wasn't disappointed.

What I thought was interesting in new in this book was the overt criticism of capitalism. The Letherii were clearly meant to showcase the worst of western capitalist culture. There was one quote, I thought was memorable, that essentially said competition is without merit, all the best things ever created by men were created through cooperation.

And the surprise, so and so is a god, and surprise, so and so is really a T'lan Imass, and surprise, so and so is really a Tiste Andii, etc. is wearing out with me.

Again, entertaining as far as it goes. The conclusion was more gratifying than House of Chains, but not very gratifying overall.

i guess it depends on what you find gratifying. see my response to your HoC comments.

Wow. It's always interesting when people have such different opinions. Midnight Tides has been my favorite book so far.

It is an interesting phenomenon! MT is a great read, to be sure. And even though I was not remotely disappointed by it, and will happily read it again pretty soon, it's maybe my least favorite so far.

Hello....

I have to say MT was the least favorite of the books so far. I'm on BH right now and I'm glad it will get back to the Malazan story. Every book in the series I read twice before I move on. I find I miss way to much on my first read. I have found on my second read I have enjoyed the book even more then the first read except for MT. I couldn't even get through MT the second time and just moved on to BH. If I were to rate the books up to now on a 1 to 10 scare it would be:

GOTM : 9
DHG : 8 1/2
MOI : 9 1/2
HOC : 7 1/2
MT : 6
BH : ? Reading now

Good Lord!

And I thought the Battle of Coral in MoI was a blood bath.

I'm just starting MT, but the description of the immediate aftermath of the War between the Tiste Andii/Edur and the K'Chain Che'Malle is even worse.

Tiste Edur: From an army of 200,000 at the beginning, down to 18,000 survivors.

Tiste Andii: From an army of 400,000 at the beginning, down to 1000 survivors ("...perhaps less.")!!!

And then, the 1000 surviving Tiste Andii and their leader are betrayed and murdered!

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Also: This story appears to be about to tell the circumstances and events that lead to the what we saw in the prologue of House of Chains. Seems obvious that the Unblooded yet arrogant Rhulad is going to be the wacked-out brother who chains Trull to an eroding wall in the flooded Nascent.

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I've just been introduced to Tehol Beddict in Letheras. Funny, funny, funny exchanges between him and his servant, Bugg!

His was a welcome relief from his brother, Hull Beddict's dour mein.

Tehol and Bugg are two of my fave characters in the whole series.

aliantha wrote:Tehol and Bugg are two of my fave characters in the whole series.

I'm still LMAO over their conversation regarding the knitted pants, and that was within two minutes of being introduced to them.

You have trousers to make, have you enough wool for that?

Well, I can make one leg all the way down, or I can make both short.

How short?

Pretty short.

Go with the one leg.


Then, after discussing what's left to burn for fuel, and Tehol recommends one leg of the three-legged stool, Tehol gets ready to leave:


Tehol made his way down the ladder, discovering, in a moment of panic, that only one rung in three remained.

LMAO!

Oh yeah, MT has some GREAT stuff!! Lots of stuff in the Great one-liners thread is from this book. I won't spoil them for you, but here's one you already read, in the intro. Not our favorite duo, but still great:

"Gothos," Mael rasped, "what ritual do you invoke in answer to this?"

The Jaghut scowled. "They've made a mess. I mean to cleanse it."

"Ice," the Elder god snorted. "The Jaghut answer to everything."

"And what would yours be, Mael? Flood, or...flood?"

Big spoiler but,

Spoiler

I like how his answer to sabotaging the Eternal Domicile is indeed, essentially... flood.

I did see the "Flood or...flood?" line in the Great One Liners topic a few weeks ago and was delighted to see it in the beginning of MT.

The whole scene in the tavern meeting the three women is great too.

"She was drinking from a clay-wrapped bottle, disdaining or perhaps not understanding the function of the cup that accompanied it."

I love how Erikson leaves the reader scratching his head about what the hell the conversation is even about. The characters say only enough to convey their knowledge to each other, leaving the reader in the dark.

Just started MT on my reread.

--A

I think you're going to fly right past me Av - I've just started it too - getting through about a page a night at the moment...

I'm about on page 180 now. Rereads always go a little faster, but you notice a lot more, as Hue of Bone (or was that Topper? ) said elsewhere.

Seems there's always a story line thats boring to me, and this time round it's the Feather Witch and whatsis name...And the whole Edur storyline is scarcely better. (Except for the Bloodeye/Ruin sub-story.) Tehol Beddict is probably carrying the book for me right now. Will see how it goes.

--A

I was just thinking that this book was taking forEVER to read - and noticed my post about "just starting it" back in Nov last year!!

I'm over half way through - the World Cup hasn't helped... Tehol and Bugg are the main reasons for my perserverance - please tell me it gets better.

Don't know what's happened for you yet, so not sure if particular events are still to come. At least some are, I'm sure.

But it's really difficult in the sense that it's an entirely new setting, with entirely new characters. Even though I thought it was great the only time I read it, it was surely difficult to let go of Genebackis, Seven Cities, and all the incredible characters we had known for thousands of pages.

However, it's an important book for all that comes after. ALL that comes after. Some of its characters are incredibly big later on. We return to that part of the world in later books. Important characters we know and love go there. I think, for me, MT is the slowest of all the books so far. But it's still head and shoulders above nearly anything outside this series, and you can't much go on without it.

Yeah, neither MT or RG was that great for me. That said, each has some great moments.

--A

Midnight Tides has been my favorite book so far too...some great scenes and characters. I felt bad for Mayen and her situation (I still remember the scene when the coin covered Rhulad gets...let's say excited...about taking her for the first time and the coins coming off as his, again let's say excitement, grows.) The kind of detail that sticks in your mind and why Erikson is such a genius. My two cents...no pun intended.

Finally f*cking finished it!! It was by far the most difficult read, but still fascinating and absorbing. Love Tehol and Bugg, Mael, love Brys. There were some friggin tragic endings in this one, and tragic survivals.

Trull is a great character. Udinaas. Seran. Feather Witch sucked

Funny that even though it was such a chore in a way to read, I loved it in the end. Sigh, on to Bonehunters...

Finished!

It took a while for me to get into this one, which is exactly the same as the last one, so I know it's just down to not already knowing the characters. I just relaxed and went with the flow, rather like I did with GOTM.

Once I got into it, however ....

I really enjoyed it, and my favourite parts of the book were everything set in Letheras. There were some fantastic characters, and I think Erikson's getting better at telling the story all the time. I didn't care about threads that went nowhere because I was loving going nowhere with them (I'm particularly thinking of Tehol and Bugg here - probably my favourite characters).

It was all horrific,

Spoiler

but I didn't get that "empty" feeling until the group of Tiste Edur had Tehol on the ground and were kicking him. I kept thinking, "Don't be dead, don't be dead," but I had to accept he probably was. Then, when Trull killed the crazy, brilliant Ceda, I had to stop reading and have a cry for a minute. (Another of my favourite characters.)

I loved it, and after the things people had said, I was worried it would be all downhill after MOI. For me, it just keeps getting better.

(Spoilers are from MT itself, and take place during the fighting in Letheras.)