Malazan Book of the Fallen: Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson Spoiler Talk #1

Mike talks spoilers for the first half of Midnight Tides. This includes the prologue, Book 1 – Frozen Blood, and Book 2 - Prows of the Day.

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Mike K.
15201 Mason Rd
Suite 169
Cypress, TX 77433

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#MikesBookReviews #Malazan #MidnightTides

[mikesbookreviews]

Good morning! A couple of clarifications I might not have expressed well doing this live:
1) I like Bugg & Tehol quite fine. It's the humor that isn't hitting me yet. So easy with the "why do you hate Bugg" comments. That is untrue.
2) Yes, calling Rhulad "Trulad" at the end was intentional. That is what I was calling Rhulad after revealing his True self. Therefore... True Lad. Hey, I never claimed to be hilarious. Just wanted to clarify.

[officernasty]

Mike: I’m not really clicking with Tehol and Bug
Malazan fandom: *So You Have Chosen Death*

[PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

Just got back from a tennis match to find this waiting for me! No worries, Mike — I don’t think you’re a grumpy old man for not loving Tehol and Bugg’s banter. Tehol is my favorite character, but it’s possible that my humor hasn’t moved beyond my twelve year old self. Plus, I’m a big fan of puns — the worse the better. I love the honesty from you, and I’m glad things picked up as you read. You’re absolutely right about adjusting your expectations as a fantasy reader while reading Malazan. Great to hear your thoughts!

[bryandevries]

I needed a break from reading. After few months of not reading and then after that reading a few light books I'm back. Glad i had paused reading this, so that i could really enjoy the first half!
Still going to finish Malazan read, but not keeping up with the read along. Still I'm very happy these videos are up and that I can watch them in my own pace :)

[ravenbellebooks]

I finally hit Part Three today! I agree, I 'came out of the Malazan fog' much earlier than any of the previous four books so far. The ending of Part Two was excellent and I look forward to continuing tomorrow!

[MrHehj]

Great video, Mike. I’m really enjoying this one at the halfway mark.

[TheHamstergeddon]

I'm so glad you are clicking into the Sengar plot as much as i did. It's absolutely compelling storytelling.

I thought it was really interesting how the Edur are such a tradition based society that always defers to authority. I absolutely could not believe it when Fear ceded his betrothed to Rhulad. Come ON Fear ARE YOU U KIDDING ME

[farhad_s]

Quite fitting that the Malazan book with the most humour also has the most hilarious of your reviews.

[EricMcLuen]

It is a balance between the frustration of not following everything with the curiosity to see how things end up and if the story/characters are interesting enough to keep you motivated.
You have passages of 'huh?' mixed in with 'holy crap!'. And a couple of 'oh, that's just wrong.'
And once again, a duo with Rhulad and Udinass.
But there is a lot of politics in Lether to keep track of and watch as it plays out.

[aysseralwan]

11:00 yeah I also see it as kinda their deck of dragons divination tool

[gregcarter]

I had the exact same felling for the first half of the book. The second part is some of the best in the series. There are plenty of other reasons to love Bug and Tehol. I never thought the humor was great The zombie sex stuff is a bit off putting, but after all that they still ended up being my two faves so far. Thank you for all you do mike.

[Severian]

Remember the ritual in the prologue performed by the Jaghut? It had a wider effect on the continent. Basically Warrens are a further evolution of the Holds. The Jaghut's ritual froze the magical evolution of the Letherii continent. It also locked the continent in time in other respects. They have a lot of similarities with the First Empire because the continent didn't move on because of the ritual.

With Udinaas, it happened in the weirdest cosmic way ever. Menandore did rape him. It's messed up.

The timeline is a mess Mike. It feels like Dark Souls without the item descriptions. Don't bother yourself about it.

[Rogue_VI]

It's taken me so many videos to realize that the hands on the clock don't move.

[Thorbearius]

I have fallen behind schedule and just reached the midway point of Midnight Tides. I hope I will catch up to you again during october or november, but I was planning on reading the Ian C. Esslemont books as well, so I am not sure how that will work out..

Regarding Bugg and Tehol, I fully agree with you. I think they are fine characters, but the humor does not really do it for me. I have the same problem with Kruppe, and with Wit from Stormlight Archive.

[reo]

As always, I really enjoy your opinions/perspeective.
1) Regarding Bugg and Tehol...I absolutely agree, feels like people are so happy about a bit of "light hearted fun" in the books because everything else is just depressing lmao
2) Agreed with you, we´re at a point were if a name is important than it will come up again, if it doesn´t then it doesn´t haha this approach has worked very well so far and I´m on book 8 now. So rock on mate
3) I kept hearing that this book is one of the best in the series and I gotta say...I don´t see it. Really didn´t resonate all that much with me.
Still rate it 4.25 of 5* but so far one of my lesser favorites...

[JakeHowsamLowe]

Sad tehol and bugg and the humour aren’t landing for you. IMO the only fantasy author that touches Erikson when it comes to humour is pratchett. Dick jokes abound in his work so maybe that won’t be your thing either haha. Hopefully the incredible story carries you through!

[HashtagWhattaNerd]

I feel like we had polar opposite experiences in this novel. I haven't hated a book like Midnight Tides since I read Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. I enjoyed the comedy aspect, but every other part of this felt miserable to me. I don't think I could be paid to care about a single character in this book

[sebastientubb]

The timeline gets messed up here. You just need to know that this takes place before GotM, otherwise you’ll get all confused as I did.

[odiums_taint]

Tehol/Bugg aren’t hilarious.. they’re mildly humorous. definitely get Wooster/Jeeves vibes.
i like their scenes, since there is a lot of in-world knowledge to be had.

[infamouscola]

my book is marked up with Udinas passages his insight is cold