It's a mark, I suppose, of Erikson's confidence and ability that, with the fourth book in his Malazan series, House of Chains, he's willing to take up the narrative of a relatively (although not completely) minor character from the first three and devote the first couple of hundred (?) or so pages exclusively to him - the first time in the series that such sustained attention has been given to any single character or strand of the plot...I suppose it doesn't hurt that it's pretty much full-tilt action, but even that demands real skill to write successfully. Thereafter, it turns to the campaign in Seven Cities, as the new Adjunct, Tavore, seeks to end Sha'ik's rebellion; typically, we spend as much time in the latter's camp as in the former's. The theme of chaining and imprisonment which has run through the entire series assumes even greater prominence throughout, and the cyclical, recurrent nature of events becomes increasingly clear.
Then, in Midnight Tides, he goes one further, introducing an entirely new empire in the Letherii, and dramatically fleshing out another, that of the Edur, which had previously only been present very much in the margins, as well as filling in more of the history and mythos of the elder races and beings that make up the series' pantheon, with virtually no mention of the significant nations, races and individuals who populate the four preceding books. It's a brave gambit, but it works perfectly - we're immersed in this new struggle and in the host of significant and more minor characters woven into it. (Along with Erikson's usual roster of more or less morally compromised protagonists, Trull Sengar, Seren Pedac, Hull Beddict and Udinaas foremost amongst them, and the delightful Tehol Beddict and Bugg, are a host of characters with smaller roles who move across its pages with great vividity, most particularly Shurq Elalle and Ublala Pung.)
