In a word, incredible. At first I was a bit turned off because this book was going off on a completely different set of characters and a brand new story. Slowly though, the characters were revealed to be absolutely fantastic and the book just drew me in. 
 There are so many good things about this book and so many things that I wish it explained. The most crucial one being (view spoiler)[the shorning of Trull. I expected that to definitely happen at the end of the book but it didn't! (hide spoiler)]. The introduction to the Tiste Edur and the Letherii is incredibly well done. The Ceda Kuru Qan and his Cedance has me excited. An almost new form of magic sounded extremely interesting and I kept wanting to learn more. 
 The Beddict family are the shining gems of this book. So much of what happened in this book is either directly their doing or a consequence of what they did. Bugg is another fantastic character and the wit and funny dialogue that passes between him and Tehol is brilliant. There are a few things I didn't really understand fully, (view spoiler)[ one of them being why Hull is killed by the Nerek. It seemed as if the Nerek did not want the Edur to succeed but the author chose not to explain it any further in this book. Also, why has Mael taken such an interest in the lives of the Letherii. Does he feel personally responsible for what happened to the warrens due to his request to Gothos? (hide spoiler)] 
 There were a ton of mysteries in the book and the special appearances by so many (view spoiler)[Forkrul Assail (hide spoiler)] makes it even better. I am certain they are going to play a bigger part in the next few books. I'd like to see Calm again, hopefully in Bonehunters. When I started the book, it felt like (view spoiler)[it was based in the past. The Edur and Lether empire have not been mentioned in the preceding books which led me to this conclusion that Midnight Tides is possible a retelling of events from before the Malazan empire existed. Eventually when the Crimson Guard showed up and spoke of warrens, that theory went out the window. (hide spoiler)] 
 I'm going to run out of adjectives soon enough for this series. What a fantastic book! And this takes me halfway through the Malazan journey! 
 A definite 5/5.