Where does Midnight Tides fit chronologically?

[Theorycraft]

I really enjoyed this entire series with the exception of the latest installment, Midnight Tides. Eriksson's writing has begun to resemble Terry Pratchett's a little to much for my liking in this one... oh well, personal bias. I really like Pratchett That aside, I guess I've gotten a little bit bogged down with so many things going on at once in this series, so my chronology has gotten a little confused. Can anyone help me out here?

*****Spoilers*****

So at the start of House of Chains, Trull Sengar has supposedly been suffering his ordeal of being shorn for quite a while, as the magic of the ritual prevents aging and keeps him alive. Midnight Tides is the story preceding Trull Sengar's shorning, and we can assume that the ritual is forced upon him shortly after he refuses to kill the maddened Emperor who used to be his brother.

We know that the Tiste Edur have been successful in flooding at least one warren, and using that to cross over their fleet.

So what the heck is going on with them in House of chains?!? Where the heck are they, and why do they seem to have such little influence on any events whatsoever? Further, wouldn't the Tise Andii be aware, and slightly concerned, that their lifelong enemies have finally come into their world? Or am I way off chronologically? Any explanations would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Green]

I'm not a timeline expert, but I'll give it a shot...

First off, there are a few inaccuracies with dates in the books, but that's not too important. General consensus is that Midnight Tides is set before or around the same time as GotM.

In HoC, the Edur have been spending some time (about a year or two, I think) searching the world and the warrens for the thrones they are after. They didn't know where they were, so they didn't go straight for them. This is why they aren't right in the midst of things by HoC.

As for the Andii... I think that HoC is really the first glimpse (real glimpse, anyway) that the Andii and the humans have of the Tiste Edur returning to their neck of the woods. I think it's fair to say that all those who had encountered them previously (eg the Andii in the Nascent, Karsa Orlong etc) either didn't live to tell the tale, or had no interest in telling the tale.

**mild spoiler here for the Bonehunters**

Even by Bonehunters, the Edur are only just beginning to stick their oar in, and that's only in the second half. Something that I wasn't happy with about TBH.

 

[Theorycraft]

Great, thats very helpful. Since I live in Canada, I've still got to wait another 23 days before amazon ships my copy of TBH. I was hoping that it would deal more with the Edur, but I guess I'll have to be disappointed for now.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Well, the Edur are in TBH, and set themselves up for a vitally important role in the future books, so don't fear

As for MT, do you recall in Memories of Ice, when the Bridgeburners find the body of an Edur on the way to Coral? Well, thats Theradas Buhn, who Bugg banishes to his warren at the end of MT. Should give you a decent point of reference

Also, in House of Chains, the Silanda is one of the Edur ships, being piloted by Binadas when Karsa finds it and kills them all. This is a while after the end of MT. And yes, Trull of course is another point, although there is debate as to the exact time difference. And ignore the dates written in the books, because we know there are mistakes in those.

 

[Rahl Windsong]

Midnight Tides was my favorite book of them all so far because it was almost a completely new story.

Rahl