Published on: Wed Jul 02
So for my site being named after it, I was expecting Midnight Tides to be good naturally right?
It is so much better then I could have ever expected.
Seeing Trull before his Shorning? A+ content I love my depressed king. I feel for him so much with the situation the Tiste Edur are facing now. Trull’s relationship with his brothers is super interesting to me. Trull seems to be the most thoughtful of them all, with him being the only one that sees just how wrong following Rhulad is. At the same time, he was someone who treated his younger brother a little poorly. Rhulad was already a troubled child who had to “prove” himself in the Edur culture, but he was also ostracized by his brothers, especially Trull. But does that justify Rhulad being the way he is? Absolutely not. From what I understand (note: I read way too much about this series online for someone who’s only on the fifth book), compassion is a big theme for the series. Stories like Felisin and Rhulad esepcially ring true for this. Both victims, both lashing out as part of their experiences. They deserve compassion, but to what extent? I don’t think I’m nearly as smart as the series wants me to be, but I’m glad I’m aware of these themes.
Admittedly Trull with Onrack is a lot more fun to me than a slightly edgier Trull, but this Trull does deserve his praises. His interactions with Fear and Rhulad specifically. I don’t quite get why Fear is okay with Rhulad essentially enslaving Mayen, or why he even bothers following Rhulad so adamantly, but I do think there is some hidden depth there that I’m sure will be revealed later.
On to my favourite character by far though. Tehol Beddict. Laying firmly in Letharii, living on top of a rooftop, wearing pants with only 1 leg, is the best character in this epic fantasy saga. Tehol and his manservent Bugg have so consistently cracked me up. There is something about the way these two talk to each other, the way they just bounce off every joke the other has, that is so beautiful to me. Bugg will go along with any one of Tehol’s dumb stories, without question. Bugg will do equally dumb things on his own while doing tasks for his master. At the same time Tehol is this crazy financial person who is working towards complete destroying Lethar’s late stage capitalism society?? How much cooler can one person get.
Tehol’s partners in crime in this include two undead people and a 8 foot tall giant. These character are on a whole other level as well. The 8 foot giant, Ublala, is a hyper sensitive man who ends up completely depressed after Tehol sends him to work as a bodyguard with some other people. Shurq, the undead woman under Tehol’s employment, is the straight woman sort of in the trio. One of my favourite scenes in the book so far, is her leading this thieving raid on a house in the book. She recruits Ublala, who is depressed laying on his stomach on top of Tehol’s roof, by telling him that everyone in that house hates him and thinks he’s annoying. Then we cut to him at the house, letting Shurq sneak in by distracting every single one of the guards crying and beating them up because they were so mean to him. When Shurq gets in, she meets the undead brother of the house owner, who really doesn’t care for his brother who killed him. And he just goes on a rant about getting cool scary fangs and leaving his brothers house. This whole saga ends in Shurq trying to start a pirate crew with the three and thats the last I’ve seen of them. I don’t think I’m doing it much justice here but I just really love this group of goofballs!
That’s it for my thoughts so far!! Tune in for some more Malazanananan rants later!!
🏶