Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson

Book 5 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen

Rating: 4 out of 5

The world where the Malazan Empire exists is a vast world and includes continents where the Malazan name has never been heard. Here in this fifth novel of the epic Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson takes us to those other places and displays more of his breath-taking and vivid imagination through world-building and myth-making. Erikson takes epic fantasy to the limits and beyond.

By doing so, Midnight Tides, seemingly represents a break from the continuity of the previous four novels. It is a different place, the story seems to have occurred in an earlier time period than that of its predecessors, and only one persona is familiar to the readers – an earlier, younger version of a Tiste Edur character named Trull Sengar, who only had a relatively small role in the fourth novel. Midnight Tides is the story of two empires, a kingdom based on total control of the resources of the continent – the Letherii Empire; and the newly-formed conglomeration of tribes previously warring against each other – the Tiste Edur (a group of people also fleetingly glimpsed in the preceding books). Lether, who has succeeded in campaigns of subjugating its neighbors in order to control their natural resources has only one great obstacle left before the total domination of the continent, the tribes of the Tiste Edur. However, the Edur have finally realized the only way stop the coming inevitable onslaught is to stop their in-fighting and unite against the larger enemy.

The tale unfolds mainly through the stories surrounding two families. The Sengars of the Tiste Edur – the warrior brothers Fear, Trull, and Rhulad, who become pivotal in the realization of the formalization of the Tiste Edur empire through their trials and most of all, disappointments; and the Beddicts of Lether, brothers also – Hull, who plans to betray Lether to the enemy; Tehol – making his way through Lether society as a seemingly-failed businessman, and Brys – the Emperor’s Champion. However, as it turns out in the other novels, the unfolding war is just a part in the bigger conflict among the gods who seem to manipulate the destiny of mortals. And it is through these immortals that Erikson reveals the background behind the history and myths of the peoples of this world, and connects the fifth novel to the vast unfolding story of the Malazan Empire.

Midnight Tides also is a novel where Erikson presents a society that is so overtly familiar to the contemporary world. He presents a society eerily and uncomfortably familiar to some readers, more particularly American society and the various mother nations of Britain and Western Europe that contributed to its culture and people. In explaining Letherii society, he presents the forces that molded today’s Western-driven culture. He presents a people relying not only in a monetary system, but on a systematic system of managing debts and credits; a society believing in the supposedly inherent greatness of its culture and its “manifest destiny” to impose that culture throughout their world; he presents a government that aims to protect the “interests” of its society by assuring that other cultures become subordinated and taken advantage of; a military that increasingly relies on impersonal destructive weaponry, taking away what little was left of humanity in what was already the most inhumane acts of society. Erikson gives a scathing rebuke of today’s ultra-competitive society bred in today’s media:

…You take your natural vices and call them virtues. Of which greed is the most despicable. That and betrayal of commonality. After all, whoever decided that competition is always and without exception a healthy attribute? Why that particular path to self-esteem? Your heel on the hand of the one below. This is worth something? Let me tell you, it’s worth nothing. Nothing lasting. Every monument that exists beyond the moment – no matter which king, emperor or warrior lays claim to it – is actually a testament to the common, to co-operation, to the plural rather than the singular.

Steven Erikson, by the way, is an archeologist by profession before he became a writer and has studied past cultures and histories. He probably knows what he is talking about. This background in archeology also shows in his writing in this novel and all the rest. His places are dotted with ruins here and there and helps define the culture of one of the people of his books and help tell their history. His writing has also shown a vast improvement from the first novel, and considering the story of Midnight Tides is, in the surface, just barely connected to the past four books, it’s almost seems like this is the way Erikson would like to start a series had he had the chance. His writing becomes crisper and clearer. And humor (albeit dark and sarcastic) has now become fully integrated.

On the other hand, some of the chinks in his writing still remain. Particularly the problem of giving ample time to develop a vast number of characters – nine hundred pages of fine print still isn’t enough. He still leaves explanation to things and events up in the air leaving this for further novels, or for the reader to research back.

Fortunately enough, Erikson’s story is so entertaining and so engrossing that the reader just moves on and enjoy the remarkable tale conjured from the creative imagination of a great writer and discovers a world so vast and dynamic, it rivals and probably surpasses any other fantasy world created before it. And the journey is only halfway over, which is great news for fantasy fans.

This review ends with Erikson's astute observation of man's progress through history:

We have a talent for disguising greed under the cloak of freedom. As for past acts of depravity, we prefer to ignore those. Progress, after all, means to look ever forward, and whatever we have trampled in our wake is best forgotten.

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Book 3 of the first Foundation trilogy

Rating: 3 out of 5

This is the final book of Isaac Asimov's first Foundation trilogy, which was started with Foundation and continued with Foundation and Empire. The first story arc of that small outpost of knowledge at the edge of the galaxy, trying to shorten the projected 30,000 years of chaos to a mere 1,000 years by following the plans of Hari Seldon and his science of psychohistory, is coming to a close. But the Foundation, based on the planet Terminus, which has risen from obscurity to replace the Galactic Empire as the premier civilization in the galaxy has fallen to the powerful mutant known as the Mule. The long-dead Hari Seldon's well laid plan for the future is in ruins.

Or is it? For it seems that Hari Seldon has indeed planned for every contingency and has established a Second Foundation in an unknown location. This Second Foundation is the direct opposite of the First Foundation which had depended on physical science to develop their society. Instead of using physical science, the Second Foundation was composed of "psychohistorians" and developed a few mental capablities that access the human mind and having the directive of making sure Hari Seldon's plans would be fulfilled under any circumstances. These are capabilities which the Mule, now the undisputed ruler of the galaxy, consider a threat to his existence. So he devices a plan to find the Second Foundation and crush it once and for all.

The book Second Foundation, similar to the second book, is actually divided into two story arcs. The first details the aforementioned search of the Second Foundation by the Mule, followed by the story of the inheritors of the First Foundation making their own search for the Second Foundation, which they deem, for reasons to be mentioned in the book, as a threat to their own humanity.

The clean and simple style of Asimov's writing remain. It is, however, still flavored with that mid-20th century style that admittedly makes his writing somewhat outdated and the dialogue a little bit cheezy. And it is clear that sometimes the best scientific minds don't make the best artistic style which may turn away contemporary readers and may not have the impact it had 2 to 5 decades ago. Asimov could be very logical in his approach to storytelling that he sometimes forgets that actual people are involved in the events he presents. For example, his telling of a battle scene in space has the atmosphere of watching a video game where the destruction of vessels and the losing of lives are presented as casually and "unfeelingly" as can possibly be.

Having said that, Asimov presents ideas that are astounding even today and presents his own thesis in some aspect of the story of humanity. This landmark work, along with other books of the series, is a must-read for science fiction fans, if only for the importance it had with the genre. And with this series, along with his other works, Isaac Asimov demonstrates why he is one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century and one of its greatest writers, if just in terms of ideas, and not in style. His first Foundation trilogy is a true classic.

House of Chains by Steven Erikson

Book 4 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen

Rating: 4 out of 5

Steven Erikson returns to the Seven Cities for his fourth book of The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, House of Chains. The last time readers visited the continent was on the second novel Deadhouse Gates, where they were witness to the grueling march of Fist Coltaine's army and refugees now known as the Chain of Dogs with its tragic end at the gates of the city of Aren.

Now, the Adjunct Tavore Paran - sister of the Bridgeburner captain, Ganoes Paran (last seen with the rest of his company in Memories of Ice) - has arrived. And she must bring together a band of new recruits with the few remnants of Coltaine’s forces for the purpose of marching against the massed armies of the Chosen One of the Whirlwind Goddess, the Sha’ik, who also is, unknowingly to the Adjunct, actually her sister, Felisin Paran.

Meanwhile, the gods are making their moves. The Chained God, of the House of Chains, (the house of gods from which this book is titled after) is recruiting and building his forces. Yet, he is not the only one with plans and schemes. Cotillion, Patron of Assassins is sending his own people to shadowy missions for purposes only known to him. Among them, the Bridgeburner assassin Kalam Mekhar, and the pair of Apsalar and Cutter (formerly known as Crokus of Darujistan).

These are just some of the numerous characters whose stories are told in House of Chains, and Erikson shows his ability in being able to blend all their tales into one great book. He had lots of practice, with three enormous tomes preceding this one and his improvement shows with each installment of his tale. He’s style is smoother and less cluttered, especially if compared to the first novel of the series - readers who loved the tale has to sometimes wonder in amazement, by this time, how one ever got through reading Gardens of the Moon. And the answer is: because it has all been such an incredible epic, so far.

The tale is divided into four parts, and for the first quarter of the book, Erikson diverges his style and presents it in a straightforward tale following the actions and events surrounding one character, Karsa Orlong of the Uryd tribe of the Teblor as he leaves on a quest for glory. His is a journey that starts in the continent in Genebackis and ends up affecting the events in the Seven Cities. Karsa even becomes the most developed character of the whole series up to this point. Then for the next three chapters Erikson goes back to his familiar style where he juggles the readers from one story thread to another, a style admittedly frustrating and confusing to some, compounded by the fact that Erikson, as is already well-known, doesn’t engage in exposition in order to explain what is really happening.

However, by now, this unapologetic style by the author seems to have a purpose. By telling his tale without any explanation of a few things, the reader is placed in the shoes of the characters. If the character is bewildered, the reader feels that confusion. Revelations occur at the same time for the character and reader creating a kind of bond between the two.

And as always, approaching the end of the book, Erikson slowly merges each storyline to an exciting and action-packed conclusion full of amazing and spellbinding scenes and also not without great pathos in the unique way which is also, by now, expected of the author.

House of Chains is a more-than-worthy continuation of a storyline that has captured the attention of readers for some time now. Unlike the two previous books preceding it which were essentially war stories, this episode is more of an adventure saga of different characters even if written against the backdrop of the approaching confrontation of two armies, but it is no less as good as the others. Erikson expands his world even more introducing his readers to some more races and creatures, highlighting the depht of the world the author created. What is even more amazing is that by this time, old characters from the previous books have managed to reach legendary status story-wise, and in the hearts of those who love the books. The name “Bridgeburner” and “Whiskeyjack” now evokes incredible emotions from everyone who knows their story. Such is the effect of Steven Erikson work. That is how amazing this series has been. And the fun shows no sign of slowing down.