Midnight Tides (Book 5 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen) [Mass Market Paperback]

Midnight Tides is the fifth book in Steven Erikson's immense fantasy sequence The Malazan Book of the Fallen, which began in 1999 with the much-praised Gardens of the Moon. In successive volumes the action moves around the world of the Malazan Empire, linked by a back-story as ancient and complex as Tolkien's. Here a prologue in "The Time of the Elder Gods" shows clashes and betrayals of gods, dragon shape shifters, demons, ice mages and more. In modern times, some very old characters survive under other names, and history has been seriously misremembered...

Now there's an impending clash between the recently-united barbaric tribes of the Tiste Edur and the adjoining Kingdom of Lether, whose capitalistic decadence would make it quite sympathetic if not for policies of ruthless expansionism and slavery.

We come to know people on both sides: the Tiste Edur are driven by fierce honour and have strange, fascinating customs (Erikson is an anthropologist). But their Warlock King has, so to speak, switched gods in midstream and allied with a distinctly dark power while seeking a potent "gift" from another unreliable deity. Ironically, despite the provocation of Letheran seal-poachers on his coast, the Warlock King wants a safe, unassailable peace. His supernatural allies have other plans, and the tribes find themselves following a fearsome but also pitiable new Emperor into war.

Oddly enough, an old, ambiguous Letheran prophecy about an emperor is about to fall due. Meanwhile this kingdom has internal enemies, including a master financier plotting ruin while living in abject poverty with his resourceful manservant: this double act provides a vein of Jeeves-and-Wooster comic relief. There are complex manoeuvres in court circles. The undead walk--but that's normal in Lether. Restless stirring is felt in the ancient Hold where dark magic has long been confined. Then comes the clash with the Tiste Edur, and sorcerers' weapons of mass destruction are unleashed on both sides.

It's a big, complex, satisfying blockbuster, crammed with horrors, humour, spectacular effects and devious twists. Loose ends will presumably be picked up in later volumes. --David Langford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

" 'Each new novel moves from strength to strength...this series has already established itself as the most significant work of epic fantasy since Stephen R. Donaldson's 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" - SF SITE 'The kind of epic narrative that will have you scrambling for more' - STEPHEN R. DONALDSON 'Erikson is a master of lost and forgotten epochs, a weaver of ancient epics...his books are fantasy for grown-ups, but his war-torn world of constant upheavals reminds one an awful lot of our own' - SALON.COM 'This is true myth in the making, a drawing upon fantasy to recreate histories and legends as rich as any found within our culture' - INTERZONE"

The fifth awesome tale in Erikson's epic Malazan Book of the Fallen fantasy sequence.

After decades of warfare, the tribes of the Tiste Edur have at last united under the rule of the Warlock King. But peace has been exacted at a terrible price - a pact made with a hidden power whose motives are at best suspect, at worst deadly.

To the south, the expansionist kingdom of Lether has devoured all of its less-civilised neighbours with rapacious hunger. All save one - the Tiste Edur. But Lether is approaching a long-prophesied renaissance - from kingdom and lost colony to Empire reborn - and has fixed its gaze on the rich lands of the Tiste Edur. It seems inevitable that the tribes will surrender, either to the suffocating weight of gold, or to slaughter at the edge of a sword. Or so Destiny has decreed.

A pivotal treaty between the two sides nears - but unknown ancient forces are awakening. For the impending struggle between these two peoples is but a pale reflection of an altogether more profound, primal battle - a confrontation with the still-raw wound of betrayal and the craving for vengeance at its heart. War and confrontation, magic and myth collide in this, the stunning fifth chapter in Steven Erikson's magnificent 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' sequence, hailed as an epic of the imagination and a fantasy classic in the making.

After decades of internecine warfare, the tribes of the Tiste Edur have at last united under the Warlock King of the Hiroth. There is peace - but it has been exacted at a terrible price: a pact made with a hidden power whose motives are at best suspect, at worst deadly.

 

To the south, the expansionist kingdom of Lether, eager to fulfil its long-prophesied renaissance as an Empire reborn, has enslaved all its less-civilised neighbours with rapacious hunger. All, that is, save one - the Tiste Edur. And it must be only a matter of time before they too fall - either beneath the suffocating weight of gold, or by slaughter at the edge of a sword. Or so Destiny has decreed.

Yet, as the two sides gather for a pivotal treaty neither truly wants, ancient forces are awakening. For the impending struggle between these two peoples is but a pale reflection of a far more profound, primal battle - a confrontation with the still-raw wound of an old betrayal and the craving for vengeance at its seething heart...

Archaeologist and anthropologist Steven Erikson is a graduate of the celebrated Iowa Writers' Workshop. His first fantasy novel, the critically acclaimed Gardens of the Moon, marked the opening chapter in his epic sequence, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and was nominated for a World Fantasy Award. It is published by Bantam, as are the acclaimed subsequent volumes, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains and Midnight Tides. The thrilling sixth instalment in this remarkable story, The Bonehunters, is now available from Bantam Press. Steven Erikson lives in Canada.