Midnight Tides 'standalone-ish'?

[Metta]

I was dreading reading Midnight Tides. It's set earlier in the timeline, and features almost no one we've met before. But I was surprised by how compelling it was. I really had trouble putting it down.

In terms of plot threads, it's the leanest of the Malazan novels, so there might be an argument to be made that it would work as a solid introduction novel, but I like Gardens of the Moon. I like being dropped into this world with no preamble. And I like that book five takes us away from the main plot, to give us some backstory. If you read Tides first, you'll never catch the meaning of 'Holds' or the tiles that Feather Witch throws. Unless you re-read the book.

Midnight Tides turned out to be my second favourite Malazan novel. It might be an easier read, or a more gentle intro to the series, but you lose much by tackling it out of order. You lose depth and scope. You lose history.

[Funnyword]

reading Tides first seems like it could be an interesting way of starting the series. The biggest con i see with it though is that you won't meet the characters you read about in that book again until way later in the series. It won't give you any of a connection with characters you're reading about at the start and that might take away from some of them when you go on to read their books without GOTM

[Skywarp]

Just finished MT the other day.

While still a good read, MT is my least liked book so far.

I did not find the Tiste Edur that interesting or enjoyable to read about compared to the peoples and places of Seven Cities, Genabackis and Quon Tali.

The main characters apart from Trull, Tehol and Bugg were all rather dull.
The lightning fast conquering of the kingdom of Lether was a tad anti climactic especially coming after the domino collapse of the Panion Domin previously in the last few chapters of the House of Chains.

Lastly my biggest niggle :- The book is about 1000 pages, I think without hyperbole a third of those pages contained extensive diatribes on a wide variety of abstract and philosophical topics including society, ethics, morality, economics, sociology, the human condition, civilization, faith, politics, political structures, ideology to name a few...

Now such musings, dispensed through his characters, are hardly unprecedented in Erikson books. But Midnight Tides was a non stop deluge.
It was way too much for me and I felt at times Erikson was instead writing a thesis on his personal view of the world and its ails rather than a fantasy novel meant to entertain.
I am curious if anyone else feels the same about this part in particular. Indeed you may have liked the book even more because of it rather than disliked.

[anthonyjohn]

I read Deadhouse Gates first (discovered the series) then read GotM to find out the various threads, am now reading Midnight Tides and will then go to House of Chains so as to follow two of the threads.
I find Midnight Tides interesting and in contrast to DHG but find the characters of less depth although I am enjoying the humour with Bugg and Tehol.
I am looking forward to following the exploits of Korsa Orslong in H of Chains.

Altogether a very good series so far.

[PeterWilliam]

I am curious if anyone else feels the same about this part in particular. Indeed you may have liked the book even more because of it rather than disliked.

Agreed. Erikson's worldview is ubiquitous in his stories. The same is probably the case for all authors, to varying degrees. In some tales, it makes them; in others, it breaks them. While Erikson's are kind of time absorbing (1000p. indeed), I haven't found them overly objectionable. However, I have been turned off by some works due to said phenomenon.

[molybdenum]

Just finished MT the other day.

The main characters apart from Trull, Tehol and Bugg were all rather dull.
The lightning fast conquering of the kingdom of Lether was a tad anti climactic especially coming after the domino collapse of the Panion Domin previously in the last few chapters of the House of Chains.

Minor spoilers coming:

Really? I thought these were all by far the best characters Erikson has written. We have Rhulad, who is by no means shallow, searching for pleasure and power while dealing with the fact he is being owned. We have Fear Sengar, who is forced to obey every whim of his brother (one specific act in particular), or face dishonour before his tribe, and we have this strange Consort, who seems to know everything but resfuses to do anything and we aren't exactly sure why until the very end.

All of Erikson's books are very good with plotting, and storyline, but Midnight Tides was the only book I found fascinating, as well as providing us with a great plot and many answers to some of the questions from earlier in the series.

The reason I would start this book is because I think it's more an indication of what Erikson can do with his stories, then Gardens of the Moon, which just seems too confusing to be cohesive.