Midnight Tides

Midnight Tides is the fifth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It was first published in the UK and Canada in March 2004 and in the US in April 2007.
==Publisher's summary==
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...
==Front matter==
===Dedication===
To Christopher Porozny
===Acknowledgements===
Deepest appreciation to the old crew, Rick, Chris and Mark, for the advanced comments on this novel. And to Courtney, Cam and David Keck for their friendship. Thanks as always to Clare and Bowen, to Simon Taylor and his compatriots at Transworld; to Steve Donaldson, Ross and Perry; Peter and Nicky Crowther, Patrick Walsh and Howard Morhaim. And to the staff of Tony's Bar Italia for this, the second novel fuelled by their coffee.
===Maps===
File:Map Edur Lands.jpg|Tiste Edur Lands and North Lether Frontier
File:Map Letheras.jpg|Central Letheras
==Editions==
Show other languages
Publisher 	Format/Edition 	First published 	Pages 	ISBN-10 	ISBN-13 	Notes
UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides	UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides 	UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides	UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides	UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides	UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides	UK and Commonwealth — Midnight Tides
Bantam 	Hard cover 	2004 	698 	0593046277 	xxx 	First edition
Bantam 	Trade paperback 	x 	698 	0593046285 	xxx 	
Bantam 	Mass market paperback 	xxx 	xxx 	xxx 	xxx 	
United States — Midnight Tides 	United States — Midnight Tides 	United States — Midnight Tides 	United States — Midnight Tides 	United States — Midnight Tides 	United States — Midnight Tides 	United States — Midnight Tides
Tor 	Hard cover 	Apr 2007 	624 	0765310058 	978-0765310057 	Cover by Todd Lockwood
Tor 	Trade paperback 	Apr 2007 	624 	076531651X 	978-0765316516 	Cover by Todd Lockwood
Tor 	Hard cover, Science Fiction Book Club	xxx 	xxx 	xxx 	xxx 	
Tor 	Mass market paperback 	Sept 2007 	960 	xxx 	978-0-7653-4882-1 	
Subterranean Press 	Hard cover 	Jun 2015 	752 	xxx 	xxx 	Limited numbered/lettered editions
Illustrated by Lauren St. Onge
List of illustrations
#Scabandari Reign (lettered only)
#Turning Tide
#The Betrayer
#Private Collection
#The Warlock King
== Plot Summary ==
::The following summaries contain spoilersPlease access individual chapter summaries via the Chapter infobox
=== Prologue ===
=== Book One: Frozen Blood ===
==== Chapter 1 ====
==== Chapter 2 ====
==== Chapter 3 ====
==== Chapter 4 ====
==== Chapter 5 ====
=== Book Two: Prows of the Day ===
==== Chapter 6 ====
==== Chapter 7 ====
Here, Udinaas travels into another metaphysical realm and Feather Witch makes some foreboding prophecies. One of which tells the listeners to 'beware the three brothers".
==== Chapter 8 ====
==== Chapter 9 ====
==== Chapter 10 ====
==== Chapter 11 ====
=== Book Three: All That Lies Unseen ===
==== Chapter 12 ====
==== Chapter 13 ====
==== Chapter 14 ====
==== Chapter 15 ====
==== Chapter 16 ====
==== Chapter 17 ====
==== Chapter 18 ====
==== Chapter 19 ====
=== Book Four: Midnight Tides ===
==== Chapter 20 ====
==== Chapter 21 ====
==== Chapter 22 ====
==== Chapter 23 ====
==== Chapter 24 ====
==== Chapter 25 ====
=== Epilogue ===
==Trivia==
*One of Erikson's goals in writing the novel was to create a self-contained tragedy--a type of story he feels is going extinct as an art form. He says it is the first of the ten original Malazan books that "is definitely a tragedy with fantastic elements, rather than a fantasy with tragic elements", and it set a precedent for the entire series and how he wanted to handle its conclusion in the final book.Ten Very Big Books podcast - Midnight Tides - See 01:06:30
*Erikson says Midnight Tides was partly inspired by a driving vacation from Winnipeg to South Dakota. While stopping at roadside cafes and gas stations, he often saw collections of spear points on display that were the "legacy of...eight or nine thousand years of [human] occupation" in the region. He was already interested in the culture of the Lakota Sioux and picked up books about them at museums on the trip. He describes one of the main drives of Midnight Tides as exploring the question: "What would have happened if the Lakota Sioux were actually successful in defeating the United States Cavalry and marching on Washington."Books with Brittany - See 18:20Steven Erikson Talks Building Malazan, Facebook Post, & More - See 10:46
*Midnight Tides was the most effortless of the Malazan books for Erikson to write. The book "wrote itself, it just came out."An Evening with Steven Erikson by Nerdaí Irish Nerds - See 27:15 
*According to Erikson, he wrote part of Midnight Tides on a Psion 7 word processor.Facebook post 2 January 2018
*Erikson enjoys working on his novels in public places. Midnight Tides was written at Bar Italia in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He also wrote House of Chains and The Bonehunters, as well as the final portion of Memories of Ice, at the same location.Facebook post 12 June 2018
==Cover gallery==
Image:Midnight Tides US HC Cover.jpg|US hardcover
Image:MBotF_Bulgarian5.jpg|Bulgarian cover art
Image:Book cover Midnight Tides by Lauren Saint-Onge.jpg|Cover of the Subterranean Press version by Lauren Saint-Onge
Image:Spanish_Midnight_Tides.jpg|Spanish cover by Lauren Saint-Onge
Image:Midnight Tides by Marc Simonetti.jpg|French cover art, Leha, 2020
Midnight Tides German Cover - Part 1.jpg|German cover art - Part 1
Midnight Tides German Cover - Part 2.jpg|German cover art - Part 2
==External links==
* Midnight Tides Q&A at Tor.com
* Ten Very Big Books podcast - Midnight Tides
* Critical Conversations 02: Midnight Tides Chapter 16 with Steven Erikson - A Critical Dragon
* Critical Conversations 05: Midnight Tides Chapter 19 with Steven Erikson - A Critical Dragon
==Notes and references==
es:Mareas de Medianoche
de:Kinder des Schattens
pl:Przypływy nocy
it:Maree di Mezzanotte
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