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The Aspect-Emperor #1
The Judging Eye
The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought — collectively the Prince of Nothing Saga — were R. Scott Bakker's magnificent debut into the upper echelon of epic fantasy. In those three books, Bakker created a world that was at once a triumph of the fantastic and an historical epic as real as any that came before.
Widely praised by reviewers and a growing body of fans, Bakker has already established the reputation as one of the smartest writers in the fantasy genre-a writer in the line stretching from Homer to Peake to Tolkein. Now he returns to The Prince of Nothing with the long awaited The Judging Eye, the first book in an all-new series. Set twenty years after the end of The Thousandfold Thought, Bakker reintroduces us to a world that is at once familiar but also very different than the one readers thought they knew. Delving even further into his richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery, and fully remolding the fantasy genre to broaden the scope of intricacy and meaning, R. Scott Bakker has once again written a fantasy novel that defies all expectations and rewards the reader with an experience unlike any to be had in the canon of today's literature.
Widely praised by reviewers and a growing body of fans, Bakker has already established the reputation as one of the smartest writers in the fantasy genre-a writer in the line stretching from Homer to Peake to Tolkein. Now he returns to The Prince of Nothing with the long awaited The Judging Eye, the first book in an all-new series. Set twenty years after the end of The Thousandfold Thought, Bakker reintroduces us to a world that is at once familiar but also very different than the one readers thought they knew. Delving even further into his richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery, and fully remolding the fantasy genre to broaden the scope of intricacy and meaning, R. Scott Bakker has once again written a fantasy novel that defies all expectations and rewards the reader with an experience unlike any to be had in the canon of today's literature.
437 pages, Hardcover
First published January 15, 2009
About the author
R. Scott Bakker
40 books2,034 followersRichard Scott Bakker, who writes as R. Scott Bakker and as Scott Bakker, is a novelist whose work is dominated by a large series informally known as the The Second Apocalypse which Bakker began developing whilst at college in the 1980s.
The series was originally planned to be a trilogy, with the first two books entitled The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor. However, when Bakker began writing the series in the early 2000s, he found it necessary to split each of the three novels into its own sub-series to incorporate all of the characters, themes and ideas he wished to explore. Bakker originally conceived of seven books: a trilogy and two duologies. This later shifted to two trilogies, with the acknowledgement that the third series may yet also expand to a trilogy.
The Prince of Nothing trilogy was published between 2003 and 2006. It depicts the story of the Holy War launched by the Inrithi kingdoms against the heathen Fanim of the south to recover the holy city of Shimeh for the faithful. During the war, a man named Ansurimbor Kellhus emerges from obscurity to become an exceptionally powerful and influential figure, and it is discovered that the Consult, an alliance of forces united in their worship of the legendary No-God, a nihilistic force of destruction, are manipulating events to pave the way for the No-God's return to the mortal world.
The sequel series, The Aspect-Emperor trilogy, picks up the story twenty years later with Kellhus leading the Inrithi kingdoms in directly seeking out and confronting the Consult. The first novel in this new series is due for publication in 2009.
Whilst working on the Prince of Nothing series, Bakker was given a challenge by his wife to write a thriller. To answer this, he produced a science fiction thriller based around a serial killer who can control and influence the human mind. This book, Neuropath, was eventually published in 2008. Inspired, he wrote a second thriller titled The Disciple of the Dog in 2009.
The series was originally planned to be a trilogy, with the first two books entitled The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor. However, when Bakker began writing the series in the early 2000s, he found it necessary to split each of the three novels into its own sub-series to incorporate all of the characters, themes and ideas he wished to explore. Bakker originally conceived of seven books: a trilogy and two duologies. This later shifted to two trilogies, with the acknowledgement that the third series may yet also expand to a trilogy.
The Prince of Nothing trilogy was published between 2003 and 2006. It depicts the story of the Holy War launched by the Inrithi kingdoms against the heathen Fanim of the south to recover the holy city of Shimeh for the faithful. During the war, a man named Ansurimbor Kellhus emerges from obscurity to become an exceptionally powerful and influential figure, and it is discovered that the Consult, an alliance of forces united in their worship of the legendary No-God, a nihilistic force of destruction, are manipulating events to pave the way for the No-God's return to the mortal world.
The sequel series, The Aspect-Emperor trilogy, picks up the story twenty years later with Kellhus leading the Inrithi kingdoms in directly seeking out and confronting the Consult. The first novel in this new series is due for publication in 2009.
Whilst working on the Prince of Nothing series, Bakker was given a challenge by his wife to write a thriller. To answer this, he produced a science fiction thriller based around a serial killer who can control and influence the human mind. This book, Neuropath, was eventually published in 2008. Inspired, he wrote a second thriller titled The Disciple of the Dog in 2009.
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July 12, 2024
"The world is only as deep as we can see.
This is why fools think themselves profound.
This is why terror is the passion of revelation." —Ajencis,
from: The Third Analytic of Men.
The Judging Eye which starts off a generation after the events in the conclusion of The Prince of Nothing saga in a four book bundle, The Aspect-Emperor series, details events about The Second Apocalypse to come, and I have to say, it felt like an over-long set up to this new series. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it fell a bit short of the awe inducing chills I got from the first trilogy. That said, R. Scott Bakker continues within this installment his all-encompassing and the otherworldly, the intricate and the exquisite, the totally profound world-building in this installment (like in his previous trilogy) and even goes a step further in introducing superb new characters and exposing more of the fantasmic world his protagonists inhabit.
A worthy continuation for any reader that has inhaled the first trilogy and returned forever altered within the philosophical insights gained in The Prince of Nothing. I'll highly recommend this, as per usual with Bakker!
I would read any of his works with an acumalative rating of 0-stars total in GR and would not deign to think of it as anything less than MIND-BLOWING, AWE INDUCING and the most surrealistic GrimDark offering among the best of voices in contemporary Epic, High, GrimDark, Esoteric, Lit-Fantasy and Sci-Fantasy talents I've so far imbibed.
2023 Read
This is why fools think themselves profound.
This is why terror is the passion of revelation." —Ajencis,
from: The Third Analytic of Men.
The Judging Eye which starts off a generation after the events in the conclusion of The Prince of Nothing saga in a four book bundle, The Aspect-Emperor series, details events about The Second Apocalypse to come, and I have to say, it felt like an over-long set up to this new series. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it fell a bit short of the awe inducing chills I got from the first trilogy. That said, R. Scott Bakker continues within this installment his all-encompassing and the otherworldly, the intricate and the exquisite, the totally profound world-building in this installment (like in his previous trilogy) and even goes a step further in introducing superb new characters and exposing more of the fantasmic world his protagonists inhabit.
A worthy continuation for any reader that has inhaled the first trilogy and returned forever altered within the philosophical insights gained in The Prince of Nothing. I'll highly recommend this, as per usual with Bakker!
I would read any of his works with an acumalative rating of 0-stars total in GR and would not deign to think of it as anything less than MIND-BLOWING, AWE INDUCING and the most surrealistic GrimDark offering among the best of voices in contemporary Epic, High, GrimDark, Esoteric, Lit-Fantasy and Sci-Fantasy talents I've so far imbibed.
2023 Read
February 12, 2014
Despite some trepidation with the thought I keep coming back to the idea that R. Scott Bakker’s ‘Prince of Nothing’ and ‘Aspect Emperor’ series are, if not the true inheritors of Tolkien’s legacy, at least the most innovative step forward in the realm of epic fantasy that is consciously derived from the genre-changing (or creating) impact of JRRT. Most other fantasies that are obviously influenced by the Professor are at best re-treading the same, or similar, ground in fairly limited ways or, at worst, are nothing more than poorly written pastiches or bad copies with the serial numbers filed off. Bakker, on the other hand, doesn’t just reproduce Tolkien’s tropes as they ended up being presented in his Middle Earth books, instead he does what most other fantasy writers seem unable to do: examine the fundamentals that lie behind these tropes and reinterpret them in his own unique and (very) different ways. Thus we have the ‘Nonmen’, something analogous to Tolkien’s Elves, though re-imagined in a way that really points out their alien nature when compared to humanity. The Sranc and the No-God may have obvious similarities to Goblins/Orcs and the Dark Lord trope, but they are presented in such a visceral and, to me at least, different way that they really do bring something new to the party. Part of me is certain that Tolkien would be horrified at the idea of Bakker as his ‘true heir’ given the obvious darkness, one should probably even say cynicism or pessimism, of the secondary world that Bakker has created, but that is neither here nor there really. This tone is not even necessarily the point of greatest departure between them, since contrary to what many pundits assume there is actually a fair bit of darkness, even pessimism in Tolkien (especially if you have read The Silmarillion which I think for various reasons Bakker took as his primary model rather than the more famous The Lord of the Rings). The fact remains, though, that Tolkien’s works are coloured by his fundamentally Christian viewpoint that is tinged with the hope inherent in his belief in the eucatastrophic chance of salvation and this alone gives them a *very* different flavour from Bakker’s more ‘post-modern’ and secular perspective. I think it might also be the rape-aliens…but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here.
First off, while this may indeed be the first volume in the ‘Aspect Emperor’ series it is definitely not the place to start with Bakker since this series is actually the sequel to his ‘Prince of Nothing’ books which ultimately set up the main conflict that is to be the driving force of the new trilogy. Both series are set in the world of Eärwa and this new volume picks up twenty years after the close of the former following the lives of the same characters, so if you have not yet read the first set of books then most of the impact of the characters and plot will be diminished, if not utterly lost on you, so check them out first. Secondly, keep in mind that this is a dark book (one whose fantasy has moments that, for me at least, blend into the realms of horror). While it is certainly true that the bad guys are utterly despicable and even grotesque in their evil (see mention to rape-aliens above), even the ‘good guys’ (really there aren’t any) are so shaded into grey that one wonders whether or not they aren’t actually black. In many ways this ‘realism’ and darkness put Bakker in the same group as writers such as Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erikson who are considered proponents of a ‘new’ sub-genre in epic fantasy which owes as much to the pulp Sword and Sorcery stories of the 20’s and 30’s as it does to traditional epic fantasy and dwells more on moral relativism and a ‘gritty’ portrayal of violence that sometimes seems to be part of a consciously ‘anti-Tolkien’ movement. It’s interesting to see, though, the way in which Bakker seems to meld a ‘high fantasy derived from Tolkien’ approach with this ‘dark fantasy based on realism and violence’ in a way that shows they need not be purely antithetical.
The nub of the tale Bakker tells in _The Judging Eye_ revolves around three main plotlines: the exiled wizard Drusas Achamian and his quest to uncover the truth behind the uncanny powers of former friend and pupil and now hated enemy and Aspect-Emperor Anasûrimbor Kellhus; the struggles of Varalt Sorweel titular King of Sakarpus and hostage of Kellhus as he follows in the train of said emperor’s incalculable army that is embarking upon ‘the Great Ordeal’ in an effort to traverse Eärwa and destroy the Consult (aka rape-aliens) and halt their attempts to invoke the Second Apocalypse by resurrecting the ‘No-God’ Mog-Pharau; and finally the trials of Empress Esmenet, Kellhus’ wife and Achamian’s former lover, as she attempts to maintain the reigns of power of her husband’s vast empire as the cracks are beginning to show. Each strand is connected to the others and it will be interesting to see how things come together in the end. For now, though, each of the main protagonists has their own journey to undertake and set of trials to overcome and by the end of the novel things still remain very much uncertain for all and sundry.
A few things that struck me upon reading: Kellhus’ kids are whacked-out scary (no surprise given the seemingly inhuman nature of their father) and I can totally see how comparisons to Dune and the model of the Kwisatz Haderach can be made; really cool to see more about the mysterious culture of the nearly extinct Nonmen and especially the taciturn Nonman scalper Cleric (heck the entire crew of the dirty, violent, and all-around scum-bag Skin Eaters and their imperious Captain Kosoter were pretty intriguing); the Consult was pretty quiet in this one…only a few skin-spies to be seen, but it was made up for by a veritable horde of Sranc and some other not-before-seen baddies; still it will be interesting to see how they plan to combat not only Kellhus and his Great Ordeal, but Achamian as both make their way to the blasted North. Bakker also manages to have an extended sequence that is a direct homage to an event in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings without in any way seeming derivative or unnecessary to the story that he wants to tell. Let’s just say that Frodo and company had it easy when they traversed the Mines of Moria…’nuff said.
These books do tend to make me uncomfortable, primarily because of the effective way in which Bakker portrays evil. I don’t think I have ever read any other fantasy where even the orc-analogue foot soldiers seemed so terrifying (and they do here, the Sranc are utterly bestial creatures of pure hatred, unending hunger, and violence), let alone the leaders of the forces of darkness whose evil runs the spectrum of world conquering hubris to the most petty evils and banal vices. No one’s motives are pure, even when their ends seem good, and the complexity of the characters is compelling. Add to that the fact that Bakker is a damn fine writer of prose and I think I’ll keep coming back to these books, even if they make me feel a little queasy sometimes. Recommended for those who enjoy epic fantasy and have read the previous series.
Also posted at Shelf Inflicted
First off, while this may indeed be the first volume in the ‘Aspect Emperor’ series it is definitely not the place to start with Bakker since this series is actually the sequel to his ‘Prince of Nothing’ books which ultimately set up the main conflict that is to be the driving force of the new trilogy. Both series are set in the world of Eärwa and this new volume picks up twenty years after the close of the former following the lives of the same characters, so if you have not yet read the first set of books then most of the impact of the characters and plot will be diminished, if not utterly lost on you, so check them out first. Secondly, keep in mind that this is a dark book (one whose fantasy has moments that, for me at least, blend into the realms of horror). While it is certainly true that the bad guys are utterly despicable and even grotesque in their evil (see mention to rape-aliens above), even the ‘good guys’ (really there aren’t any) are so shaded into grey that one wonders whether or not they aren’t actually black. In many ways this ‘realism’ and darkness put Bakker in the same group as writers such as Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erikson who are considered proponents of a ‘new’ sub-genre in epic fantasy which owes as much to the pulp Sword and Sorcery stories of the 20’s and 30’s as it does to traditional epic fantasy and dwells more on moral relativism and a ‘gritty’ portrayal of violence that sometimes seems to be part of a consciously ‘anti-Tolkien’ movement. It’s interesting to see, though, the way in which Bakker seems to meld a ‘high fantasy derived from Tolkien’ approach with this ‘dark fantasy based on realism and violence’ in a way that shows they need not be purely antithetical.
The nub of the tale Bakker tells in _The Judging Eye_ revolves around three main plotlines: the exiled wizard Drusas Achamian and his quest to uncover the truth behind the uncanny powers of former friend and pupil and now hated enemy and Aspect-Emperor Anasûrimbor Kellhus; the struggles of Varalt Sorweel titular King of Sakarpus and hostage of Kellhus as he follows in the train of said emperor’s incalculable army that is embarking upon ‘the Great Ordeal’ in an effort to traverse Eärwa and destroy the Consult (aka rape-aliens) and halt their attempts to invoke the Second Apocalypse by resurrecting the ‘No-God’ Mog-Pharau; and finally the trials of Empress Esmenet, Kellhus’ wife and Achamian’s former lover, as she attempts to maintain the reigns of power of her husband’s vast empire as the cracks are beginning to show. Each strand is connected to the others and it will be interesting to see how things come together in the end. For now, though, each of the main protagonists has their own journey to undertake and set of trials to overcome and by the end of the novel things still remain very much uncertain for all and sundry.
A few things that struck me upon reading: Kellhus’ kids are whacked-out scary (no surprise given the seemingly inhuman nature of their father) and I can totally see how comparisons to Dune and the model of the Kwisatz Haderach can be made; really cool to see more about the mysterious culture of the nearly extinct Nonmen and especially the taciturn Nonman scalper Cleric (heck the entire crew of the dirty, violent, and all-around scum-bag Skin Eaters and their imperious Captain Kosoter were pretty intriguing); the Consult was pretty quiet in this one…only a few skin-spies to be seen, but it was made up for by a veritable horde of Sranc and some other not-before-seen baddies; still it will be interesting to see how they plan to combat not only Kellhus and his Great Ordeal, but Achamian as both make their way to the blasted North. Bakker also manages to have an extended sequence that is a direct homage to an event in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings without in any way seeming derivative or unnecessary to the story that he wants to tell. Let’s just say that Frodo and company had it easy when they traversed the Mines of Moria…’nuff said.
These books do tend to make me uncomfortable, primarily because of the effective way in which Bakker portrays evil. I don’t think I have ever read any other fantasy where even the orc-analogue foot soldiers seemed so terrifying (and they do here, the Sranc are utterly bestial creatures of pure hatred, unending hunger, and violence), let alone the leaders of the forces of darkness whose evil runs the spectrum of world conquering hubris to the most petty evils and banal vices. No one’s motives are pure, even when their ends seem good, and the complexity of the characters is compelling. Add to that the fact that Bakker is a damn fine writer of prose and I think I’ll keep coming back to these books, even if they make me feel a little queasy sometimes. Recommended for those who enjoy epic fantasy and have read the previous series.
Also posted at Shelf Inflicted
February 25, 2024
Rereading this book I found myself in a strange recurrence. A kind of deja-vu. I remembered how amazed I was when I first read it that it could top the prequels. The Prince of Nothing trilogy. A few weeks ago rereading Prince of Nothing I was so impressed that I doubted myself. How could this be topped after all? And here I am finishing once again The Judging Eye and realising that is indeed even better! Do I make any sense? Bakker makes me ranting nonense.
With each book Bakker is getting better and better in telling the most amazing story I have read. My holy scripture. Judging Eye, the first book of the sequels, sets perfectly the motion and the pieces for the grand and disturbing Apocalyptic events that will follow.
In his distinct way, he describes characters, events, and circumstances that vary from obscene and paranoid, to epic and wondrous. Always iconic, philosophical and profound. A "cinematography" like no other.
The worldbuilding is constant and insane. Meticulous and flavorful to the extreme. Special mention should be made of the last chapters. A twisted homage to master Tolkien. An epic journey through the darkness of the world, besieged by madness, horror and the drama of the ages.
Maybe these books are not for everyone's taste. Is it the violence? The gritty realism? The burdened and flawed characters? My opinion is that this tale stretches the limits of the genre. Haunting its verges. Venturing there might not be pleasant but for some of us these places are peerless. In any case I think that everyone who seriously likes epic and tragic tales, burdened with the heritage and memes that we carry through generations, should give these books a chance.
With each book Bakker is getting better and better in telling the most amazing story I have read. My holy scripture. Judging Eye, the first book of the sequels, sets perfectly the motion and the pieces for the grand and disturbing Apocalyptic events that will follow.
In his distinct way, he describes characters, events, and circumstances that vary from obscene and paranoid, to epic and wondrous. Always iconic, philosophical and profound. A "cinematography" like no other.
The worldbuilding is constant and insane. Meticulous and flavorful to the extreme. Special mention should be made of the last chapters. A twisted homage to master Tolkien. An epic journey through the darkness of the world, besieged by madness, horror and the drama of the ages.
Maybe these books are not for everyone's taste. Is it the violence? The gritty realism? The burdened and flawed characters? My opinion is that this tale stretches the limits of the genre. Haunting its verges. Venturing there might not be pleasant but for some of us these places are peerless. In any case I think that everyone who seriously likes epic and tragic tales, burdened with the heritage and memes that we carry through generations, should give these books a chance.
December 6, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Take ALL the stars, Bakker! Absolutely phenomenal book in every. single. way. Characters, plot, pacing, world building… everything was flawlessly executed!
Perfect book. Review to come on my channel.
Perfect book. Review to come on my channel.
July 7, 2016
Observational aside: I will rarely reread books. Once I finish a book it is usually off to the next one, with few exceptions. In this case the sixth book in the series, The Great Ordeal, is coming out soon, a book I have waited nearly five years for, and I wanted to give myself a refresher on the entire series before it was released. I don't recall the first time I read "The Prince of Nothing" trilogy but Goodreads assures me it was before I joined this website. Since then I have read literally hundreds of books and grown as a reader thanks to those books as well as thinking through those books when I write reviews. Over that time my sensibilities and critical eye has changed as well (I'd like to think for the better) so it was a rather enlightening exercise this return to a time in my reading life from before Goodreads (BGR?). With that rambling out of the way on to the review.
The Darkness That Comes Before review
The Warrior Prophet review
The Thousandfold Thought review
I think what most stuck out to me about this book during the course of my re-read was how similar it was to the first book in the series, The Darkness that comes Before. This book very much has to establish the state of the world since the conclusion of The Thousandfold Thoughts as 20 years have passed and the world has turned upside down. Some spoilers for the previous books to follow after this optical illusion that proves our brains are lazy, stupid things:
The Three Seas has changed quite a bit since we last visited it. Khellus has pretty much conquered the whole dang thing because, you now, Khellus, and is assembling a mighty host to put an end to the Consult. Aka is a wizard, a sorcerer without a school whiling away his life in the wilderness trying to piece together Khellus's origins (he is a bit bitter). Esmenet is Khellus's Empress and the mother to man of his children (all broken or incomplete in their own, terrifying way). We also get some perspective from one of the children (which is pretty horrifying), an heir to the most northern outpost of humanity who is impressed into Khellus's great host on its march north, Esmenet's first daughter who she sold into slavery before the events of this series, and (in a plot line I COMPLETELY forgot existed) an agent from an unconquered land embedded with a Three Seas insurgent force. This many perspectives did a great job shaping the new world for me while also offering fascinating characters and stories. Interestingly, Khellus makes very few appearances in this book (none as a POV character) and is very much a distant, if powerful, deity that keeps order in this new world.
Much like The Darkness that Comes Before, there is little to know large scale battles. It is mostly about positioning the world, showing how the characters have changed, and revealing various agendas that will drive conflict within this second series. Bakker is still excellent at creating and showing this new wider world and the writing is as sharp as ever. However, instead of feeling like this is the first book in a new series, it felt like merely the opening part of one cohesive story. This book certainly delivers on character development and the world building, but the story is sort of half-hearted. By the end we definitely see seeds of all the future conflict of the series but it takes a while to get there.
I think for this series of re-reads the majority of the analysis will be in the later books as I try to figure out with there is an overriding theme weaving its way through this series or not. I think it will continue the the theme of control, but possibly with the twist of how difficult it is to maintain it. We can already see in this book how the structure of the New Empire is based on fear and violence manifested through a reinterpretation of the existing religion. Naturally there are many who are opposed to this, seeing their own power and culture being suppressed. It is only through a diligent intelligence agency and naked demonstrations of power that the Empire does not collapse under its own weight. Similarly the control of the religion is also precarious as the existing cults chafe under the Theocratic state and work to undermine the regime. Control in this world is an exercise in state power and domination.
But is this a bad thing? When yoked to the vain glorious ambitions of a madman, sure. But Khellus forged this empire as a means to literally save the world. It isn't some fevered religious vision that drives him but knowledge that there is in fact a power force in existence that seeks to wipe out nearly all life on the planet (The Consult). It had been tried several times before and rebuffed, but it only needs to succeed once. Khellus, but using all the levers of control he has at hand, is in a unique position to forge the Three Seas into one cohesive force that could put an end to this threat for all time. He would be saving not just the souls of everyone alive, but ensure that there would be future generations as well. A bit of a morally sticky wicket, but an interesting problem to see worked out.
I greatly enjoy rereading this one and am looking forward to continuing onwards and upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom! (wait, not, that's a Simpsons quote).
As always, some of my favorite passages from the book:
The Patriarchy strikes again!: For the bulk of his life, Achamian had shared his calling's contempt of witches. There was no reason for this hated, he knew, outside the capricious customs of the Three seas...Men condemned others to better celebrate themselves. And what could be easier to condemn than women?
But what if a child possess the wisdom of a brick and the strength of an otter?" "When a man posses the innocence of a child, we call him a fool. When a child posses the cunning of a man, we call him an abomination. As with love, knowledge has its season."
It may feel refreshing, but it grows a bitter fruit: There isn't knowledge in the shadow of hate.
Sadly all too relevant for today as well: A beggar's mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king's mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who suffer your stupidity.
Just be sure to plant them in the proper soil: Not all facts are equal. Some hang like leaves from the branching of more substantial truths. Others stand line trunks, shouldering the beliefs of entire nations. And a few - a desperate few - are seeds."
Also, next Thursday's PTA meeting as been cancelled: Their High-King was dead. The wombs of their wives and their daughters had become graves. The greatest thanes and chieftain-Knights, the flower of their armed might, had been struck down. Pillars of smoke scored the distance across the earth's very curve. The world was ending.
The Darkness That Comes Before review
The Warrior Prophet review
The Thousandfold Thought review
I think what most stuck out to me about this book during the course of my re-read was how similar it was to the first book in the series, The Darkness that comes Before. This book very much has to establish the state of the world since the conclusion of The Thousandfold Thoughts as 20 years have passed and the world has turned upside down. Some spoilers for the previous books to follow after this optical illusion that proves our brains are lazy, stupid things:
The Three Seas has changed quite a bit since we last visited it. Khellus has pretty much conquered the whole dang thing because, you now, Khellus, and is assembling a mighty host to put an end to the Consult. Aka is a wizard, a sorcerer without a school whiling away his life in the wilderness trying to piece together Khellus's origins (he is a bit bitter). Esmenet is Khellus's Empress and the mother to man of his children (all broken or incomplete in their own, terrifying way). We also get some perspective from one of the children (which is pretty horrifying), an heir to the most northern outpost of humanity who is impressed into Khellus's great host on its march north, Esmenet's first daughter who she sold into slavery before the events of this series, and (in a plot line I COMPLETELY forgot existed) an agent from an unconquered land embedded with a Three Seas insurgent force. This many perspectives did a great job shaping the new world for me while also offering fascinating characters and stories. Interestingly, Khellus makes very few appearances in this book (none as a POV character) and is very much a distant, if powerful, deity that keeps order in this new world.
Much like The Darkness that Comes Before, there is little to know large scale battles. It is mostly about positioning the world, showing how the characters have changed, and revealing various agendas that will drive conflict within this second series. Bakker is still excellent at creating and showing this new wider world and the writing is as sharp as ever. However, instead of feeling like this is the first book in a new series, it felt like merely the opening part of one cohesive story. This book certainly delivers on character development and the world building, but the story is sort of half-hearted. By the end we definitely see seeds of all the future conflict of the series but it takes a while to get there.
I think for this series of re-reads the majority of the analysis will be in the later books as I try to figure out with there is an overriding theme weaving its way through this series or not. I think it will continue the the theme of control, but possibly with the twist of how difficult it is to maintain it. We can already see in this book how the structure of the New Empire is based on fear and violence manifested through a reinterpretation of the existing religion. Naturally there are many who are opposed to this, seeing their own power and culture being suppressed. It is only through a diligent intelligence agency and naked demonstrations of power that the Empire does not collapse under its own weight. Similarly the control of the religion is also precarious as the existing cults chafe under the Theocratic state and work to undermine the regime. Control in this world is an exercise in state power and domination.
But is this a bad thing? When yoked to the vain glorious ambitions of a madman, sure. But Khellus forged this empire as a means to literally save the world. It isn't some fevered religious vision that drives him but knowledge that there is in fact a power force in existence that seeks to wipe out nearly all life on the planet (The Consult). It had been tried several times before and rebuffed, but it only needs to succeed once. Khellus, but using all the levers of control he has at hand, is in a unique position to forge the Three Seas into one cohesive force that could put an end to this threat for all time. He would be saving not just the souls of everyone alive, but ensure that there would be future generations as well. A bit of a morally sticky wicket, but an interesting problem to see worked out.
I greatly enjoy rereading this one and am looking forward to continuing onwards and upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom! (wait, not, that's a Simpsons quote).
As always, some of my favorite passages from the book:
The Patriarchy strikes again!: For the bulk of his life, Achamian had shared his calling's contempt of witches. There was no reason for this hated, he knew, outside the capricious customs of the Three seas...Men condemned others to better celebrate themselves. And what could be easier to condemn than women?
But what if a child possess the wisdom of a brick and the strength of an otter?" "When a man posses the innocence of a child, we call him a fool. When a child posses the cunning of a man, we call him an abomination. As with love, knowledge has its season."
It may feel refreshing, but it grows a bitter fruit: There isn't knowledge in the shadow of hate.
Sadly all too relevant for today as well: A beggar's mistake harms no one but the beggar. A king's mistake, however, harms everyone but the king. Too often, the measure of power lies not in the number who obey your will, but in the number who suffer your stupidity.
Just be sure to plant them in the proper soil: Not all facts are equal. Some hang like leaves from the branching of more substantial truths. Others stand line trunks, shouldering the beliefs of entire nations. And a few - a desperate few - are seeds."
Also, next Thursday's PTA meeting as been cancelled: Their High-King was dead. The wombs of their wives and their daughters had become graves. The greatest thanes and chieftain-Knights, the flower of their armed might, had been struck down. Pillars of smoke scored the distance across the earth's very curve. The world was ending.
May 6, 2009
R.Scott Bakker, is in my opinion, criminally overlooked by many of the lists discussing the best that fantasy currently has to offer.
This book picks up 20 years after the events of The Thousandfold Thought and so there is defiantly a new feel to this book with new POVs characters and different plotlines. This book feels like book one of a new trilogy (which it is) and does not read like book 4 of the series. Unfortunately this means a lot of setting up is done and so two of the storylines had no real climax.
The first thing I should highlight is the sheer depth of Earwa. The world feels fully fleshed out and in this volume the reader meets some of the races and different cultures that were mentioned in the previous trilogy. This depth is even more impressive when you consider that the book is just above the 400 page mark which is lightweight compared to most epic fantasies currently. This shorter length is refreshing and for me another strength of the book.
Bakker has again improved his writing; it is more compact in this book than in PoN. The most noticeable difference is how he has moved some of the action out of the character's heads (which slowed down the rhythm of his previous novels) and into their actions and speech. But don't let this lack of "inside head action" make you think that Bakker has done a way with his use of philosophy, confused motives and emotionally struggling characters.
Akka and Kehllus are the outstanding characters and steal the show whenever they are present. Akka is that rare thing in fantasy a magic user who is not a young person struggling to get to grips with his/her powers, a uber powerful wizard with limitless knowledge or another over used archetype. Esmenet was interestingly developed in her new role as empress although while her development was logical I did not find her as interesting as in the PoN. There is no Kehllus PoV but that was to be expected after how the frequency of his PoV was cut down as PoN progressed.
The new POVs were the Mother Supreme of the Cult of Yatwer, a young prince whose kingdom has been conquered by Kehllus, Kelmonas who is one of the Kehllus's sons and Mimara an ex-prostitute (what else in Earwa) who is one of the Few. While none of these characters were bad, actually all of them are well though out and their development should be very interesting, and all have some good scenes (the Mother Supreme has once of those very disturbing scenes that only Bakker could write) they are not able to replace the memorable charactes of Conphas or Cnaiur from the PoN. Although I will say it again that the charcaters could become just as interesting as those two, particularly Kelmonas, and just as screwed up.
In this book there are three story lines. One following the dealings in the Three Seas while Kehllus is away, another the Great Ordeal's march and the last one Akka's quest for finding the truth of the Dunyain. Of these three only Akka's showed any real progression although it could be argued it was more action (although unbelievably well written, original and superbly paced action) than moving the story forward. But the action in this storyline is second to none.
I have been probably to critical to warrant giving the book 5 stars so I will explain. I had 5 stars worth of enjoyment from this book even if it was not as technically good as it could have been. I shall finish off the review with some positives from the book.
-It has the best homage to Tolkien ever. Simple as that. Bakker plays on your knowledge of the LOTR and then adds his own brilliant twists.
-Nonmen are the best realized immortal race I have read about.
-Kehllus' children are very scary.
-When Bakker writes dark scenes, they are truly very dark. Also he got the balance between tension and action perfectly right in the Akka storyline.
-The Gnosis is awesome.
-The "proverbs" at the start of each chapter are just as cutting and thought provoking as the ones in PoN.
I will close off by saying that in my opinion Bakker is currently the "adventurer" among the current crop of people writing epic fantasy. He is not afraid to do something new and write the way he wants to. This book offers so many tantalizing prospects that I can not imagine how the “The White-Luck Warrior” could be anything but better. It is rare for me to have such faith in any author.
This book picks up 20 years after the events of The Thousandfold Thought and so there is defiantly a new feel to this book with new POVs characters and different plotlines. This book feels like book one of a new trilogy (which it is) and does not read like book 4 of the series. Unfortunately this means a lot of setting up is done and so two of the storylines had no real climax.
The first thing I should highlight is the sheer depth of Earwa. The world feels fully fleshed out and in this volume the reader meets some of the races and different cultures that were mentioned in the previous trilogy. This depth is even more impressive when you consider that the book is just above the 400 page mark which is lightweight compared to most epic fantasies currently. This shorter length is refreshing and for me another strength of the book.
Bakker has again improved his writing; it is more compact in this book than in PoN. The most noticeable difference is how he has moved some of the action out of the character's heads (which slowed down the rhythm of his previous novels) and into their actions and speech. But don't let this lack of "inside head action" make you think that Bakker has done a way with his use of philosophy, confused motives and emotionally struggling characters.
Akka and Kehllus are the outstanding characters and steal the show whenever they are present. Akka is that rare thing in fantasy a magic user who is not a young person struggling to get to grips with his/her powers, a uber powerful wizard with limitless knowledge or another over used archetype. Esmenet was interestingly developed in her new role as empress although while her development was logical I did not find her as interesting as in the PoN. There is no Kehllus PoV but that was to be expected after how the frequency of his PoV was cut down as PoN progressed.
The new POVs were the Mother Supreme of the Cult of Yatwer, a young prince whose kingdom has been conquered by Kehllus, Kelmonas who is one of the Kehllus's sons and Mimara an ex-prostitute (what else in Earwa) who is one of the Few. While none of these characters were bad, actually all of them are well though out and their development should be very interesting, and all have some good scenes (the Mother Supreme has once of those very disturbing scenes that only Bakker could write) they are not able to replace the memorable charactes of Conphas or Cnaiur from the PoN. Although I will say it again that the charcaters could become just as interesting as those two, particularly Kelmonas, and just as screwed up.
In this book there are three story lines. One following the dealings in the Three Seas while Kehllus is away, another the Great Ordeal's march and the last one Akka's quest for finding the truth of the Dunyain. Of these three only Akka's showed any real progression although it could be argued it was more action (although unbelievably well written, original and superbly paced action) than moving the story forward. But the action in this storyline is second to none.
I have been probably to critical to warrant giving the book 5 stars so I will explain. I had 5 stars worth of enjoyment from this book even if it was not as technically good as it could have been. I shall finish off the review with some positives from the book.
-It has the best homage to Tolkien ever. Simple as that. Bakker plays on your knowledge of the LOTR and then adds his own brilliant twists.
-Nonmen are the best realized immortal race I have read about.
-Kehllus' children are very scary.
-When Bakker writes dark scenes, they are truly very dark. Also he got the balance between tension and action perfectly right in the Akka storyline.
-The Gnosis is awesome.
-The "proverbs" at the start of each chapter are just as cutting and thought provoking as the ones in PoN.
I will close off by saying that in my opinion Bakker is currently the "adventurer" among the current crop of people writing epic fantasy. He is not afraid to do something new and write the way he wants to. This book offers so many tantalizing prospects that I can not imagine how the “The White-Luck Warrior” could be anything but better. It is rare for me to have such faith in any author.
September 23, 2021
The Judging Eye is the first book in the Aspect-Emperor quartet, picking up some 20 years after the end of the Prince of Nothing Trilogy. Bakker just keeps getting better with each book, this one being my favourite of the four so far. I was wary going in since I had heard that the Aspect-Emperor series had a stark tonal shift in darker directions, but I loved it. Reading and discussing it with others in a read-along definitely added to my overall enjoyment.
Bakker's writing is fantastic, lyrical and flowing. His battle scenes especially are epic and gripping, and the atmospheric work is amazing. The book immediately kicked off showing the end of a siege and the following chaotic battle. One of the reasons I liked this book so much was the worldbuilding. The Prince of Nothing books were mostly set in the lands of the Three Seas. The Judging Eye expands the world, exploring the mysterious North, going further into the lore and ancient history involving races like the Nonmen as well as the magic and metaphysics of this world. It gives the world depth, glimpsing different cultures like Zeum and exploring ancient Nonman ruins.
There are three distinct and alternating threads: in the palace at Momemn, with the Great Ordeal into the North, and the quest with the Skin Eaters. The Momemn plotline is the most reminiscent of previous books with the political aspects. It also introduces Kelmomas and the other Anasurimbors, who are simultaneously fascinating and creepy in their amorality and psychopathic nature. The cult of Yatwer was an intriguing addition, providing an opposing force while delving into the darker, mystical aspects of cults that have gained strength over the years.
Sorweel is a new character, the son of a king who opposes the Aspect-Emperor brought along with the armies of the Great Ordeal. While he wasn't the most compelling of PoVs, he provided an interesting and necessary outside perspective of the situation. We see previously unknown cultures like Zeum being explored through his interactions with their princely ambassador and his inner conflict about whether to believe in the supposedly noble missions of the people his father opposed vehemently. One thing I also liked was the lack of major Kelhus perspectives. Viewing Kelhus from the outside worked much better at making him an intriguing character whose motivations and thoughts remained mysterious.
The highlight of the book was the journey through Cil-Aujas. The claustrophobic darkness and the constant sense of unease and danger, the atmospheric writing in the Halls of Cil-Aujas was fantastic. It also provided more lore about the Nonmen kings and the history of the First Apocalypse while having tense, packed battles and sorcerous conflagrations. Aspects of it felt reminiscent of the Mines of Moria journey in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. It was great to follow an older Achamian, along with the group of Skin Eaters and their mysterious leaders like Captain and Cleric. This thread also introduced my favourite new character in Mimara. She was a much-needed addition to counterbalance the other characters in this plotline, and her unique abilities and relationship with Achamian made her quite compelling. Mimara's sections were narrated in the present tense, which made the entire situation feel more urgent as they traversed deep into the Halls.
Bakker’s writing can get quite metaphorical, so it is occasionally difficult to glean what actually is happening. Especially when it gets into the metaphysical and magical aspects of the world, like with the cult of Yatwer, the Chorae, and the Judging Eye. There are ponderous passages about history and its philosophical implications well-integrated into the story and very interesting to read. While it can be dense, this makes them more fascinating to work out; stuff like the Outside being somewhat open to interpretation without further knowledge.
Overall, an amazing first entry into this second arc of the story. Each of the threads had a good stopping point at the end of the book, so I’m quite looking forward to how they will progress in The White-Luck Warrior.
Bakker's writing is fantastic, lyrical and flowing. His battle scenes especially are epic and gripping, and the atmospheric work is amazing. The book immediately kicked off showing the end of a siege and the following chaotic battle. One of the reasons I liked this book so much was the worldbuilding. The Prince of Nothing books were mostly set in the lands of the Three Seas. The Judging Eye expands the world, exploring the mysterious North, going further into the lore and ancient history involving races like the Nonmen as well as the magic and metaphysics of this world. It gives the world depth, glimpsing different cultures like Zeum and exploring ancient Nonman ruins.
There are three distinct and alternating threads: in the palace at Momemn, with the Great Ordeal into the North, and the quest with the Skin Eaters. The Momemn plotline is the most reminiscent of previous books with the political aspects. It also introduces Kelmomas and the other Anasurimbors, who are simultaneously fascinating and creepy in their amorality and psychopathic nature. The cult of Yatwer was an intriguing addition, providing an opposing force while delving into the darker, mystical aspects of cults that have gained strength over the years.
Sorweel is a new character, the son of a king who opposes the Aspect-Emperor brought along with the armies of the Great Ordeal. While he wasn't the most compelling of PoVs, he provided an interesting and necessary outside perspective of the situation. We see previously unknown cultures like Zeum being explored through his interactions with their princely ambassador and his inner conflict about whether to believe in the supposedly noble missions of the people his father opposed vehemently. One thing I also liked was the lack of major Kelhus perspectives. Viewing Kelhus from the outside worked much better at making him an intriguing character whose motivations and thoughts remained mysterious.
The highlight of the book was the journey through Cil-Aujas. The claustrophobic darkness and the constant sense of unease and danger, the atmospheric writing in the Halls of Cil-Aujas was fantastic. It also provided more lore about the Nonmen kings and the history of the First Apocalypse while having tense, packed battles and sorcerous conflagrations. Aspects of it felt reminiscent of the Mines of Moria journey in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. It was great to follow an older Achamian, along with the group of Skin Eaters and their mysterious leaders like Captain and Cleric. This thread also introduced my favourite new character in Mimara. She was a much-needed addition to counterbalance the other characters in this plotline, and her unique abilities and relationship with Achamian made her quite compelling. Mimara's sections were narrated in the present tense, which made the entire situation feel more urgent as they traversed deep into the Halls.
Bakker’s writing can get quite metaphorical, so it is occasionally difficult to glean what actually is happening. Especially when it gets into the metaphysical and magical aspects of the world, like with the cult of Yatwer, the Chorae, and the Judging Eye. There are ponderous passages about history and its philosophical implications well-integrated into the story and very interesting to read. While it can be dense, this makes them more fascinating to work out; stuff like the Outside being somewhat open to interpretation without further knowledge.
Overall, an amazing first entry into this second arc of the story. Each of the threads had a good stopping point at the end of the book, so I’m quite looking forward to how they will progress in The White-Luck Warrior.
August 15, 2024
Wow! What a book. Very different in tone from the previous trilogy, but I’m not upset! It was refreshing and exciting. Can’t wait to keep going!
July 1, 2022
The Black Halls!
4.5
4.5
March 29, 2017
This book completely blew my mind.
My main complaint about The Prince of Nothing was not being able to root for any of the characters, except for Achamian (Akka) a bit, even though they were incredibly well-developed and detailed. I just couldn’t connect with them. This definitely changes with the Aspect-Emperor books. Some of the existing main characters are there (Kellhus, Esmenet, Akka, Maithanet), Akka got hell of a lot better and far more charismatic, and there’s a whole new cast of awesome characters. I must emphasize the fact that I don’t use the awesome word lightly like my fellow Americans do. Even the mighty popular ASOIAF characters, dare I say, have nothing on these guys and gals.
The Judging Eye is a dark book, a different kind of dark than the Prince of Nothing. Prince of Nothing was deliciously dark, peppered with with graphic violence, mayhem and desolation. The Judging Eye, on the other hand, is dark like a blood soaked onyx dagger glittering under sorcerous light is dark.
Masterpiece would be an understatement to be honest.
The Nonman Cleric character is mind-blowing epic.
Read my full no-spoilers review here: https://leonahenry.wordpress.com/2017...
My main complaint about The Prince of Nothing was not being able to root for any of the characters, except for Achamian (Akka) a bit, even though they were incredibly well-developed and detailed. I just couldn’t connect with them. This definitely changes with the Aspect-Emperor books. Some of the existing main characters are there (Kellhus, Esmenet, Akka, Maithanet), Akka got hell of a lot better and far more charismatic, and there’s a whole new cast of awesome characters. I must emphasize the fact that I don’t use the awesome word lightly like my fellow Americans do. Even the mighty popular ASOIAF characters, dare I say, have nothing on these guys and gals.
The Judging Eye is a dark book, a different kind of dark than the Prince of Nothing. Prince of Nothing was deliciously dark, peppered with with graphic violence, mayhem and desolation. The Judging Eye, on the other hand, is dark like a blood soaked onyx dagger glittering under sorcerous light is dark.
Masterpiece would be an understatement to be honest.
The Nonman Cleric character is mind-blowing epic.
Read my full no-spoilers review here: https://leonahenry.wordpress.com/2017...
May 9, 2020
Reread April-May 2011:
I liked The Judging Eye better on a second read, and there was a lot of stuff that I had forgotten (or didn't mention in my original review). Like:
I had completely forgotten the possession of Incariol, the Nonman sorceror of the Skin Eaters, by Gin'yursis, the last king of Cil-Aujas. Nor had I grasped the special nature of Mimara's sight. Not only can she see the ontic bruise of sorcery but she possesses the even rarer ability to see the morality of it - the judging eye of the book's title.
Having recently finished The Crippled God, my brain could not help but compare the two currently "reigning gods" in my SF/Fantasy pantheon but it's like asking a parent who their favorite child is. Bakker's Earwa is the more ambitious world and much better fleshed out. The last third of The Thousandfold Thought is a glossary/appendix that rivals those found in The Return of the King but that, like Tolkien's notes, gives Bakker's world a depth that shines through not just in the aphorisms that preface each chapter but throughout the text itself. He's created a world that really does seem different from the standard Medieval-flavored fantasy land, and did not arise out of late-night role-playing sessions.
Which is both a strength and a weakness since you can find it difficult to identify with the motivations of the characters. I'm reminded of William Golding's Scorpion God, where he so successfully recreated the wholly alien cultures of a Stone Age tribe and Old Kingdom Egypt that you had difficulty understanding what was going on or why.
Still highly recommended.
Rating: 3.5+ stars, rounded up in light of the strengths of the first series
It’s twenty years after the final events of The Thousandfold Thought, when Drusas Achamian repudiated Emperor, wife and School. In the interim, Kellhus has unified the Three Seas and been accepted as the Living God, and he marches with a great host into the Ancient North to confront the Consult; meanwhile, leaving Esmenet to rule the New Empire in his absence.
Esmenet has given birth to six children by Kellhus – none of whom are “normal” by any stretch of the imagination. Dunyain genes have difficulty mixing with those of worldborn humans; none of the children of Kellhus’ concubines have survived beyond infancy. Of Esmi’s children: Kayutas (the eldest) is one of the Great Ordeal’s generals. Bakker doesn’t use him much in this novel and (at least for me) he never develops a distinct character. Theliopa is the second child, a daughter. She’s a walking computer, shying away from any emotion but she’s inherited Kellhus’ discernment. Serwa, another daughter, is one of the Few, those who can practice sorcery, and was taken from Esmi while still an infant. When the novel opens, she’s the leader of the School of witches that Kellhus has established. Inrilatas, another son, is insane and confined to his apartments in the Imperial Palace. The final children are the twins, Kelmomas and Samarmas. Kelmomas is a homicidal sociopath unfortunately gifted with many of Kellhus’ abilities, which he ruthlessly uses to manipulate his mother and everyone else around him. Samarmas is mentally retarded. Kelmomas murders him as a rival to his mother’s love. (Which is also a factor in Kel’s hatred of his father. To be honest, none of Kellhus’ children are overly fond of him; and even Esmenet’s love has soured.)
Esmenet has also tracked down Mimara, the daughter she sold to slavers years ago during a famine. Taken from the brothel where she was immured, Mimara is not as appreciative of her mother’s concern as Esmi could have hoped and has escaped the Palace to search out Achamian (who she hopes is her father). Like her half-sister Serwa, Mimara is one of the Few.
Achamian has spent the last twenty years in the wilderness along the New Empire’s eastern borders. His Compendium of the Holy War has been condemned as heresy (since it reveals Kellhus as simply a man, though one of extraordinary abilities). Motivated primarily by his hatred of Kellhus, Achamian determines to find the Dunyain, whose hidden redoubt – the ancient refuge of Kuniuri’s high kings – has been revealed in his dreams of Seswatha’s life. Mimara’s appearance at his doorstep motivates him to actually begin his quest. His portion of the book is taken up with the beginning of that journey.
Outside of Mimara (who we at least had learned of in The Prince of Nothing), the only new character of any prominence introduced here is Sorweel, the young king of Sakarpus, a city along that Great Ordeal’s march that Kellhus’ legions conquer, killing the boy’s father. Though, like all worldborn men, Sorweel finds it difficult to resist Kellhus’ manipulation, he nurses a growing hatred of the Emperor and finds allies in the Zeumi hostage Tsoronga and in his body-slave Porsparian, who is a devotee of Yatwer. Bakker introduces Yatwer’s cult as the chief opponent of Kellhus (outside of the Consult). They await their “White-Luck Warrior” to defy the Living God.
What’s absent from the book is the presence of the Consult. Aside from a few captured skin-spies, the great enemy is invisible. It’s possible that they are manipulating the Yatwerians but I get the impression that there really is a third power influencing events in that area, and the Consult may be as much surprised as Kellhus when it moves.
As anyone who has read this far might gather, Bakker has again written an enormously complex novel. Many of the strengths he exhibited in The Prince of Nothing continue here but I can’t help but think the present work is the weakest link in the chain. Sorweel and Mimara just don’t have the presence that Cnaiur or Esmenet had in the previous novels, and at the moment Esmenet’s role is little more than the victim of Kellhus’ and Kelmomas’ manipulation. Achamian, happily, remains an interesting character, and I suffer with him through his trials.
I definitely await with bated breath the next installment in the series, hoping that the potentials Bakker has begun here will be realized.
I liked The Judging Eye better on a second read, and there was a lot of stuff that I had forgotten (or didn't mention in my original review). Like:
I had completely forgotten the possession of Incariol, the Nonman sorceror of the Skin Eaters, by Gin'yursis, the last king of Cil-Aujas. Nor had I grasped the special nature of Mimara's sight. Not only can she see the ontic bruise of sorcery but she possesses the even rarer ability to see the morality of it - the judging eye of the book's title.
Having recently finished The Crippled God, my brain could not help but compare the two currently "reigning gods" in my SF/Fantasy pantheon but it's like asking a parent who their favorite child is. Bakker's Earwa is the more ambitious world and much better fleshed out. The last third of The Thousandfold Thought is a glossary/appendix that rivals those found in The Return of the King but that, like Tolkien's notes, gives Bakker's world a depth that shines through not just in the aphorisms that preface each chapter but throughout the text itself. He's created a world that really does seem different from the standard Medieval-flavored fantasy land, and did not arise out of late-night role-playing sessions.
Which is both a strength and a weakness since you can find it difficult to identify with the motivations of the characters. I'm reminded of William Golding's Scorpion God, where he so successfully recreated the wholly alien cultures of a Stone Age tribe and Old Kingdom Egypt that you had difficulty understanding what was going on or why.
Still highly recommended.
Rating: 3.5+ stars, rounded up in light of the strengths of the first series
It’s twenty years after the final events of The Thousandfold Thought, when Drusas Achamian repudiated Emperor, wife and School. In the interim, Kellhus has unified the Three Seas and been accepted as the Living God, and he marches with a great host into the Ancient North to confront the Consult; meanwhile, leaving Esmenet to rule the New Empire in his absence.
Esmenet has given birth to six children by Kellhus – none of whom are “normal” by any stretch of the imagination. Dunyain genes have difficulty mixing with those of worldborn humans; none of the children of Kellhus’ concubines have survived beyond infancy. Of Esmi’s children: Kayutas (the eldest) is one of the Great Ordeal’s generals. Bakker doesn’t use him much in this novel and (at least for me) he never develops a distinct character. Theliopa is the second child, a daughter. She’s a walking computer, shying away from any emotion but she’s inherited Kellhus’ discernment. Serwa, another daughter, is one of the Few, those who can practice sorcery, and was taken from Esmi while still an infant. When the novel opens, she’s the leader of the School of witches that Kellhus has established. Inrilatas, another son, is insane and confined to his apartments in the Imperial Palace. The final children are the twins, Kelmomas and Samarmas. Kelmomas is a homicidal sociopath unfortunately gifted with many of Kellhus’ abilities, which he ruthlessly uses to manipulate his mother and everyone else around him. Samarmas is mentally retarded. Kelmomas murders him as a rival to his mother’s love. (Which is also a factor in Kel’s hatred of his father. To be honest, none of Kellhus’ children are overly fond of him; and even Esmenet’s love has soured.)
Esmenet has also tracked down Mimara, the daughter she sold to slavers years ago during a famine. Taken from the brothel where she was immured, Mimara is not as appreciative of her mother’s concern as Esmi could have hoped and has escaped the Palace to search out Achamian (who she hopes is her father). Like her half-sister Serwa, Mimara is one of the Few.
Achamian has spent the last twenty years in the wilderness along the New Empire’s eastern borders. His Compendium of the Holy War has been condemned as heresy (since it reveals Kellhus as simply a man, though one of extraordinary abilities). Motivated primarily by his hatred of Kellhus, Achamian determines to find the Dunyain, whose hidden redoubt – the ancient refuge of Kuniuri’s high kings – has been revealed in his dreams of Seswatha’s life. Mimara’s appearance at his doorstep motivates him to actually begin his quest. His portion of the book is taken up with the beginning of that journey.
Outside of Mimara (who we at least had learned of in The Prince of Nothing), the only new character of any prominence introduced here is Sorweel, the young king of Sakarpus, a city along that Great Ordeal’s march that Kellhus’ legions conquer, killing the boy’s father. Though, like all worldborn men, Sorweel finds it difficult to resist Kellhus’ manipulation, he nurses a growing hatred of the Emperor and finds allies in the Zeumi hostage Tsoronga and in his body-slave Porsparian, who is a devotee of Yatwer. Bakker introduces Yatwer’s cult as the chief opponent of Kellhus (outside of the Consult). They await their “White-Luck Warrior” to defy the Living God.
What’s absent from the book is the presence of the Consult. Aside from a few captured skin-spies, the great enemy is invisible. It’s possible that they are manipulating the Yatwerians but I get the impression that there really is a third power influencing events in that area, and the Consult may be as much surprised as Kellhus when it moves.
As anyone who has read this far might gather, Bakker has again written an enormously complex novel. Many of the strengths he exhibited in The Prince of Nothing continue here but I can’t help but think the present work is the weakest link in the chain. Sorweel and Mimara just don’t have the presence that Cnaiur or Esmenet had in the previous novels, and at the moment Esmenet’s role is little more than the victim of Kellhus’ and Kelmomas’ manipulation. Achamian, happily, remains an interesting character, and I suffer with him through his trials.
I definitely await with bated breath the next installment in the series, hoping that the potentials Bakker has begun here will be realized.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2022
Wow. What a book.
The black halls, hands down one of my favourite scenes in a book. That was so atmospheric and haunting.
The new characters we meet in this one are amazing. It was a slowburn but I am invested in them all. As always I loved Akka. Mimara was fascinating. The skin eaters! Sorweel, Cleric! So many great characters.
Also those scenes with Akka and Cleric were hair raising.
Bakkers humour definitely came through in this. I have some theories, I kind of want to jump straight on the next one but i also want to savour them.
This isn't so much a review as random mumblings.
Another great book read this year 🤘
The black halls, hands down one of my favourite scenes in a book. That was so atmospheric and haunting.
The new characters we meet in this one are amazing. It was a slowburn but I am invested in them all. As always I loved Akka. Mimara was fascinating. The skin eaters! Sorweel, Cleric! So many great characters.
Also those scenes with Akka and Cleric were hair raising.
Bakkers humour definitely came through in this. I have some theories, I kind of want to jump straight on the next one but i also want to savour them.
This isn't so much a review as random mumblings.
Another great book read this year 🤘
January 9, 2023
Wow, just when you think Bakker couldn't get better, he writes this masterpiece.
The first installment in the continuation of 'The Second Apocalypse' series, this novel is beautiful, haunting and mesmerizing.
The story arch of Cil-Aujas is absolutely unlike anything I have ever read before.
The first installment in the continuation of 'The Second Apocalypse' series, this novel is beautiful, haunting and mesmerizing.
The story arch of Cil-Aujas is absolutely unlike anything I have ever read before.
August 9, 2024
8/9/24 Reread Update: This book as just as incredible if not more on reread. Just elevates everything I loved about the first trilogy. It really reminds me of how great fantasy can be.
I started reading the Prince of Nothing series (the pre-cursor series to Aspect Emperor) with a readalong on the Mike's Book Review's discord server. It was a really good experience both in terms of the reading and the discussion. Because of that I think everyone in the readalong decided to go ahead and start the sequel series which begins with this entry, The Judging Eye. It's set 20 years after the end of the previous series, and we get to see how the world and circumstances have changed due to the course of events at the end of The Thousandfold Thought. I've said before how much I enjoy sequel series that do this particularly when I feel there is a lot left to explore. This fits the bill. We get to not only explore the consequences of the prior novels, but also there is just a lot of storytelling left in this world and Bakker isn't shy about giving it to us.
Even thought I thoroughly enjoyed all of the prior books one of the weaknesses I thought was some of the worldbuilding and important historic details about the apocalypse being held back from us in exchange for Kellhus POVs that continuously showed us how awesome he was. Here not only do we not get any direct Kellhus POVs (he's better and more mysterious when we see him from other perspectives), but we get tons of really important worldbuilding and backstory that makes the second apocalypse come to life. This is done in way that I won't spoil, but it is not via boring info dumps but through experiences along a character journey that culminated in my favorite chapter in any of these books so far.
Another reason this book hit highs for me is Bakker went back to what I thought his bread and butter was in The Darkness That Comes Before, court politics and messed up family dynamics. You get that in spades here with what we learn about Kellhus' offspring and the person that is in charge of the court of the Aspect Emperor. Things get dark here in the best way.
And speaking of dark this series continues to live up to its reputation for being grimdark. There is some monumentally disturbing stuff throughout during not just battle scenes (which are few and far between early on) but during some of the Imperial Court chapters as well. And all of this happens before the book embraces full on horror elements as it screams to a conclusion that will make you want to pick up the next book right away.
As far as criticisms go I don't have many. There was one particular new POV that wasn't working form me when the story started, but that was largely because I couldn't figure out what the point of the character was supposed to be. But as the story continued I came around because I saw that this character was a way to give us an outsider's and skeptic's perspective on Kellhus which is something we didn't get in the prior series and I quite enjoyed it. I think the other thing I will say is that at times the writing does it get heavily metaphorical and I think that can cloud the narrative. I don't find this as difficult to understand as Malazan, but there are points where I really have to slow down and wonder "What is actually happening here?" That's where the readalong really helps with being able to talk it over with other readers. While Bakker has amazing prose, I think passage like that can be a turn off to a lot of readers.
Overall I think this was easily my favorite entry in the series to date. I'm extremely excited to learn more about the Nonmen, The Consult, and what exactly the hell Kellhus is or has become. It will be hard to wait until the next month to pick up The White Luck Warrior.
I started reading the Prince of Nothing series (the pre-cursor series to Aspect Emperor) with a readalong on the Mike's Book Review's discord server. It was a really good experience both in terms of the reading and the discussion. Because of that I think everyone in the readalong decided to go ahead and start the sequel series which begins with this entry, The Judging Eye. It's set 20 years after the end of the previous series, and we get to see how the world and circumstances have changed due to the course of events at the end of The Thousandfold Thought. I've said before how much I enjoy sequel series that do this particularly when I feel there is a lot left to explore. This fits the bill. We get to not only explore the consequences of the prior novels, but also there is just a lot of storytelling left in this world and Bakker isn't shy about giving it to us.
Even thought I thoroughly enjoyed all of the prior books one of the weaknesses I thought was some of the worldbuilding and important historic details about the apocalypse being held back from us in exchange for Kellhus POVs that continuously showed us how awesome he was. Here not only do we not get any direct Kellhus POVs (he's better and more mysterious when we see him from other perspectives), but we get tons of really important worldbuilding and backstory that makes the second apocalypse come to life. This is done in way that I won't spoil, but it is not via boring info dumps but through experiences along a character journey that culminated in my favorite chapter in any of these books so far.
Another reason this book hit highs for me is Bakker went back to what I thought his bread and butter was in The Darkness That Comes Before, court politics and messed up family dynamics. You get that in spades here with what we learn about Kellhus' offspring and the person that is in charge of the court of the Aspect Emperor. Things get dark here in the best way.
And speaking of dark this series continues to live up to its reputation for being grimdark. There is some monumentally disturbing stuff throughout during not just battle scenes (which are few and far between early on) but during some of the Imperial Court chapters as well. And all of this happens before the book embraces full on horror elements as it screams to a conclusion that will make you want to pick up the next book right away.
As far as criticisms go I don't have many. There was one particular new POV that wasn't working form me when the story started, but that was largely because I couldn't figure out what the point of the character was supposed to be. But as the story continued I came around because I saw that this character was a way to give us an outsider's and skeptic's perspective on Kellhus which is something we didn't get in the prior series and I quite enjoyed it. I think the other thing I will say is that at times the writing does it get heavily metaphorical and I think that can cloud the narrative. I don't find this as difficult to understand as Malazan, but there are points where I really have to slow down and wonder "What is actually happening here?" That's where the readalong really helps with being able to talk it over with other readers. While Bakker has amazing prose, I think passage like that can be a turn off to a lot of readers.
Overall I think this was easily my favorite entry in the series to date. I'm extremely excited to learn more about the Nonmen, The Consult, and what exactly the hell Kellhus is or has become. It will be hard to wait until the next month to pick up The White Luck Warrior.
September 9, 2022
After a twenty year in-universe pit stop, the Eärwa saga rolls on with this, the first book in a quartet following the Prince of Nothing trilogy. Getting into what's changed and what's stayed the same in that twenty year interval would be obvious spoilers for both people who have and haven't read the initial trilogy so I'm gonna do everyone a favor and just completely skip plot details in this review. Suffice it to say this is definitely the same world from the first three books; black as pitch, almost completely lacking any kind of humor, levity, or brightness, and both familiar and uncomfortably alien. That probably doesn't sound like a hard sell to people who haven't read Bakker before but I'm pretty sure that's what his readers like myself want and expect from him.
It's a little hard for me to imagine fans of the previous books not enjoying this one. It's true that a good deal of it is setup for what's to come, but most of the groundwork has already been laid and so there's no jarring deluge of information and worldbuilding to deal with as in The Darkness That Comes Before. One praise I absolutely have to sing for the author is that he included a "previously on..." type of summary of the previous books, so for those (like me) who had a good deal of time in between reading the first three books and this one that's a HUGELY helpful thing to do. I wish more fantasy authors would do this, seriously. My brain isn't good at holding a shitload of information over a long time so it can be a total bitch to try and remember characters, events etc from years ago.
It's not all dry setup, though. Again in the interest of potentially spoiling stuff I gotta be super vague about this but I will say there is an extended kind of Bakker version of a Fellowship of the Ring-feeling sequence that was thrilling and scary as fuck. There are several characters from the initial trilogy that return that will be somewhat of a comfort to returning readers (to keep with the Fellowship comparison though, it's nothing like meeting a Tom Bombadil or Shire buddy after a time apart. These people are wholly miserable and to a degree self-obsessed and prone to navel gazing, which is fair given the world they live in and how much the writer is trying to grapple with psychologically and philosophically.)
So yeah, nothing here that I think would really turn off or be an unpleasant surprise to returning readers. Considering whether or not it would push fence-sitters one way or the other is kinda silly given that this is the fourth book in the series and you would have to be masochistic as fuck to have made it this far if you weren't enjoying yourself, especially considering how twisted and dark these books are. It didn't blow my socks off like a lot of the initial trilogy did, but I'm perfectly willing to assume that's because this was the first book in a new series and it also seems to be the shortest in said series. By the end of the book the pieces are in place and the gears are turning, so I'm excited to move onto The White-Luck Warrior.
It's a little hard for me to imagine fans of the previous books not enjoying this one. It's true that a good deal of it is setup for what's to come, but most of the groundwork has already been laid and so there's no jarring deluge of information and worldbuilding to deal with as in The Darkness That Comes Before. One praise I absolutely have to sing for the author is that he included a "previously on..." type of summary of the previous books, so for those (like me) who had a good deal of time in between reading the first three books and this one that's a HUGELY helpful thing to do. I wish more fantasy authors would do this, seriously. My brain isn't good at holding a shitload of information over a long time so it can be a total bitch to try and remember characters, events etc from years ago.
It's not all dry setup, though. Again in the interest of potentially spoiling stuff I gotta be super vague about this but I will say there is an extended kind of Bakker version of a Fellowship of the Ring-feeling sequence that was thrilling and scary as fuck. There are several characters from the initial trilogy that return that will be somewhat of a comfort to returning readers (to keep with the Fellowship comparison though, it's nothing like meeting a Tom Bombadil or Shire buddy after a time apart. These people are wholly miserable and to a degree self-obsessed and prone to navel gazing, which is fair given the world they live in and how much the writer is trying to grapple with psychologically and philosophically.)
So yeah, nothing here that I think would really turn off or be an unpleasant surprise to returning readers. Considering whether or not it would push fence-sitters one way or the other is kinda silly given that this is the fourth book in the series and you would have to be masochistic as fuck to have made it this far if you weren't enjoying yourself, especially considering how twisted and dark these books are. It didn't blow my socks off like a lot of the initial trilogy did, but I'm perfectly willing to assume that's because this was the first book in a new series and it also seems to be the shortest in said series. By the end of the book the pieces are in place and the gears are turning, so I'm excited to move onto The White-Luck Warrior.
June 1, 2023
Madre mía, casi tres meses para un libro de unas seiscientas páginas, pero claro, es la primera vez que me pongo a leer un libro de este calibre en inglés, algo que no me había planteado hasta hace algunos meses. Pero la necesidad manda, y yo tenía que seguir leyendo en algún momento a R. Scott Bakker, así que visto que nadie se decide a reeditar y continuar con Príncipe de Nada, pues nada, ha tocado leerlo en inglés. Y habrá que continuar. En un tiempo, que creo que con esta lectura he perdido neuronas. Mi única pega es... pues que aunque he entendido la historia, evidentemente creo que hay cosas de la narración, detalles, que me pierdo seguro. Pero en fin...
The Judging Eye es la primera parte de la tetralogía del Emperador-Aspecto, que continúa la trilogía Príncipe de Nada, y lo hace con un gran salto temporal de veinte años después del final de esta. De los protagonistas de la trilogía anterior, vamos a continuar teniendo a Anasurimbor Kellhus, convertido en el Emperador-Aspecto de los Tres Mares y líder de la Gran Ordalía, un gigantesco ejército que se dirige al norte, a las tierras perdidas en las que se libraron las batallas del Apocalipsis miles de años atrás con el alzamiento del No-Dios. Esmenet, la antigua prostituta de Sumna que se había unido a la Guerra Santa siguiendo los pasos de su entonces amante, Drusas Achamian, es ahora la Emperatriz de Tres Mares, y encargada de gobernar el Imperio desde Momemn en ausencia de su esposo, mientras vive en compañía de los hijos pequeños de la pareja. Y por supuesto, tenemos a Achamian, el Mago, el único de los hechiceros de Tres Mares sin una Escuela, exiliado en el norte, y que sigue empeñado en descubrir la verdad sobre Kellhus más allá de lo que le reveló el scylvendio Cnaiür urs Skiotha, y buscará la verdad sobre él en el norte del que procede, poniendo en marcha una compañía de mercenarios y bandidos junto a los que va a emprender el camino a los Palacios Negros de Cil-Aujas, los dominios de los antiguos Nohombres, que ya se mencionaron en Príncipe de Nada, y que aquí van a cobrar protagonismo. Además, vamos a tener otros dos personajes principales: Mimara, la hija de Esmenet, que llega al refugio de Achamian para tratar de aprender de él las artes de la magia; y Sorweel (Sorwa) el joven príncipe de Sakarpus, reino destruido por la Gran Ordalía y que se va a unir a esta, como rehén de Kellhus y sus seguidores.
Con estos personajes nos vamos a mover sobre todo en tres escenarios, con Achamian y Mimara en Cil-Aujas, Esmenet en Momemn, y Sorweel en la Gran Ordalía, ya que Kellhus va a aparecer en determinadas ocasiones, pero en la narración, aunque es omnipresente, apenas va a tener apariciones como tal, para aumentar el misterio sobre el personaje; y vamos a descubrir que quizá Kellhus no tiene todo tan controlado como piensa, pues del culto de una de las muchas deidades de los Mil Templos, la diosa de la fertilidad Yatwer, va a surgir la leyenda de un nuevo elegido, el Guerrero de la Suerte Blanca (The White-Luck Warrior, yo apuesto por Sorweel), que podría hacer frente al Nuevo Imperio de Kellhus...
Y con este planteamiento, continúa la historia de los acontecimientos en Tres Mares, contada con el mismo ritmo calmado que había tenido Príncipe de Nada, y el estilo duro y meditativo al tiempo de Scott Bakker, que se va a permitir crear escenas y personajes capaces de poner los pelos de punta (Anasurimbor Kelmomas puede ser lo más escalofriante que he visto en años de lectura), y escenas vertiginosas (esa salida de Cil-Aujas...). Y sin duda, seguimos ante un autor que, incomprensiblemente, no parece que vaya a triunfar aquí. Incomprensible.
The Judging Eye es la primera parte de la tetralogía del Emperador-Aspecto, que continúa la trilogía Príncipe de Nada, y lo hace con un gran salto temporal de veinte años después del final de esta. De los protagonistas de la trilogía anterior, vamos a continuar teniendo a Anasurimbor Kellhus, convertido en el Emperador-Aspecto de los Tres Mares y líder de la Gran Ordalía, un gigantesco ejército que se dirige al norte, a las tierras perdidas en las que se libraron las batallas del Apocalipsis miles de años atrás con el alzamiento del No-Dios. Esmenet, la antigua prostituta de Sumna que se había unido a la Guerra Santa siguiendo los pasos de su entonces amante, Drusas Achamian, es ahora la Emperatriz de Tres Mares, y encargada de gobernar el Imperio desde Momemn en ausencia de su esposo, mientras vive en compañía de los hijos pequeños de la pareja. Y por supuesto, tenemos a Achamian, el Mago, el único de los hechiceros de Tres Mares sin una Escuela, exiliado en el norte, y que sigue empeñado en descubrir la verdad sobre Kellhus más allá de lo que le reveló el scylvendio Cnaiür urs Skiotha, y buscará la verdad sobre él en el norte del que procede, poniendo en marcha una compañía de mercenarios y bandidos junto a los que va a emprender el camino a los Palacios Negros de Cil-Aujas, los dominios de los antiguos Nohombres, que ya se mencionaron en Príncipe de Nada, y que aquí van a cobrar protagonismo. Además, vamos a tener otros dos personajes principales: Mimara, la hija de Esmenet, que llega al refugio de Achamian para tratar de aprender de él las artes de la magia; y Sorweel (Sorwa) el joven príncipe de Sakarpus, reino destruido por la Gran Ordalía y que se va a unir a esta, como rehén de Kellhus y sus seguidores.
Con estos personajes nos vamos a mover sobre todo en tres escenarios, con Achamian y Mimara en Cil-Aujas, Esmenet en Momemn, y Sorweel en la Gran Ordalía, ya que Kellhus va a aparecer en determinadas ocasiones, pero en la narración, aunque es omnipresente, apenas va a tener apariciones como tal, para aumentar el misterio sobre el personaje; y vamos a descubrir que quizá Kellhus no tiene todo tan controlado como piensa, pues del culto de una de las muchas deidades de los Mil Templos, la diosa de la fertilidad Yatwer, va a surgir la leyenda de un nuevo elegido, el Guerrero de la Suerte Blanca (The White-Luck Warrior, yo apuesto por Sorweel), que podría hacer frente al Nuevo Imperio de Kellhus...
Y con este planteamiento, continúa la historia de los acontecimientos en Tres Mares, contada con el mismo ritmo calmado que había tenido Príncipe de Nada, y el estilo duro y meditativo al tiempo de Scott Bakker, que se va a permitir crear escenas y personajes capaces de poner los pelos de punta (Anasurimbor Kelmomas puede ser lo más escalofriante que he visto en años de lectura), y escenas vertiginosas (esa salida de Cil-Aujas...). Y sin duda, seguimos ante un autor que, incomprensiblemente, no parece que vaya a triunfar aquí. Incomprensible.
September 9, 2021
Yay! This one was just as exciting as The Darkness That Comes Before.
August 24, 2022
When I finished The Thousandfold Thought, I could safely say that Prince of Nothing is one of my favorite fantasy series I have read. So I was really looking forward to a sequel -> The Judging Eye.
Unfortunetuly, that's probably what created my minor disapointment with this book. TJE takes places after Prince of Nothing trilogy, but it doesn't really act like a sequel and it feels more like a beginning of new series. So this book had the same role as The Darkness That Comes Before.. it was mostly a set up and in my opinion, it did not do the job as well as its predecesor.
Do not get me wrong, I still really enjoyed this book, for most authors this would be their masterpiece. But for The Second Apocalypse, it definitelly is a weaker entry. It wasn't as layered, I did not connect with most of the new characters and it was really slow.
That said, Bakker's prose is still amazing, old characters shine as ever, worldbuilding keeps on getting better, action scenes were amazing and the book is a really good depiction of "what happens after the big final battle".
Still, I can not help myself and hope, that next books will be more similar to original trilogy. 8/10.
Unfortunetuly, that's probably what created my minor disapointment with this book. TJE takes places after Prince of Nothing trilogy, but it doesn't really act like a sequel and it feels more like a beginning of new series. So this book had the same role as The Darkness That Comes Before.. it was mostly a set up and in my opinion, it did not do the job as well as its predecesor.
Do not get me wrong, I still really enjoyed this book, for most authors this would be their masterpiece. But for The Second Apocalypse, it definitelly is a weaker entry. It wasn't as layered, I did not connect with most of the new characters and it was really slow.
That said, Bakker's prose is still amazing, old characters shine as ever, worldbuilding keeps on getting better, action scenes were amazing and the book is a really good depiction of "what happens after the big final battle".
Still, I can not help myself and hope, that next books will be more similar to original trilogy. 8/10.
August 6, 2016
I cannot remember enjoying a sequel so much in years!
Although the worldbuilding behind what Bakker is now calling The Second Apocalypse is beyond complex, and a lot has happened in the 20 years since the close of the Prince of Nothing trilogy, I still felt able to dive right back into this world. I hadn't realized how much I remembered of this meticulously crafted setting--even though "Sweet Sejenus!" has been my go-to cussword for years. Bakker doesn't waste the reader's time with a long introduction. Instead, we're brought up to speed with key developments in a 2-page letter and then off to the races. Although I should note there is some back-of-the-book matter, some of which should should have been brought to the front, like the Map of the Three Seas I didn't know was there and would have really helped my geographic understanding. Better yet, there is an excellent synopsis of the first series (that doesn't spoil for The Judging Eye itself). This helped me refresh my understanding and also gave added background.
This is still a slower, and in some ways more introspective trilogy than the first--the chapters with the captive prince Sorweel came dangerously near navel gazing. All the same, they offered a view of Aspect-Emperor Kellhus that provided a contrast to the other chapters--to Sorweel, captured as part of the emperor's holy Crusade called the Great Ordeal, Kellhus is an enemy but also near-divine, while the Wizard Achamian knows Kellhus is mortal but trained to be super-humanly intelligent and manipulative. Achamian's goal is to discover the source of that training, so he has a more standard quest fantasy plotline. This is not to say it is dull or even that it's anything like quest fantasies done before. People have objected to the climactic scenes as being a Mines of Moria ripoff, but the Mines of Moria were never so terrifying as the Nonman city: ominously vast and all but lost in deep time, where every detail of its craftsmanship reveals an inhuman culture and the suffering of previous generations has caused the very fabric of reality to decay into a Hellmouth (Bakker's word is topos, but I refreshed my Greek and learned that translates to something like "trope." Bakker's characters do not speak Greek, but the relation to TV Tropes almost--if not quite--ruined the scariness for me).
The last plotline follows Kellhus's wife (and Achaimian's ex) Esmenet and the children she's had with the Aspect-Emperor. I would not suggest pregnant women, nor for that matter anyone planning to become pregnant nor anyone who is nursing nor anyone who has feelings on children in general, read these chapters. Since I have no current plans vis-a-vis fertility, I devoured them. Kellhus's kids are possibly even more terrifying than the topos, because they're horror in a human shape--well, the living ones are in a human shape--well, if anything was going to make me doubt Kellhus's human origins it's the children he's conceived that were drowned at birth because they came out wrong. But the fact is, all the kids have come out a bit wrong, and we get to follow evil little Kelmomas as he causes havoc and destruction because...I'm not actually clear on his motivations. The synopsis in the following book, The White-Luck Warrior, tells me he's trying to draw closer to his mother. Poor Esmenet.
Esme is one of the more sympathetic characters, along with Achaimian (and to a lesser extent Sorweel, but it's hard to get a good grip on someone in the depths of an identity crisis), and they're what keeps this story from devolving into a grimdark bloodfest. The style is grim, but thoughtful. There's a fair bit of flashy prose, some of it purple, but this is done deliberately to achieve an effect a bit like reading epic poetry. I wouldn't suggest anyone set out to mimic Bakker's style--it's a "don't try this at home, kids" kind of feat--but it was pleasant to read for a change of pace. The magic and supernatural forces in this story are less subtle than in the original trilogy--the sorcerers wield some nice pyrotechnics, divine or posing-as-divine forces begin manifesting in opposition to Kellhus, and the manifestations of the topos are vivid--but continue to raise more questions than they answer.
The Judging Eye of the title, a wild talent of Achaimian and Esmenet's traumatized daughter Mimara, seems to suggest an ultimate hierarchy of good and evil--one at odds with Kellhus' teachings, at that. But I'm personally not convinced morality in this universe isn't relative. My first tip-off was that Mimara's Judging Eye views "good men" as "brighter" and "good women"--now, maybe Bakker has the balls (no pun intended) to weave misogyny into his fiction's very foundations, but I prefer to imagine something more interesting is going on. Perhaps Mimara's vision has been affected by her upbringing, or manipulated by one of the higher powers beginning to make an appearance in the trilogy. Achamian has a moment of feminist realization when he hands off power to Mimara, who's convinced him to offer her some training in sorcery, near the climax-- although the Judging Eye also thinks he's damned as a magician. And on the other side, we have the cult of Yatwer, dark yonic power at its delectably creepiest. This is almost enough for me to stop being disappointed, now that it's been pointed out to me, that Bakker has several parallels with Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah and that means the (also pretty yonic) Bene Gessert have been replaced with the rather male Dunyain. This is a series that would already benefit from having a few more female characters who aren't prostitutes or ex-prostitutes. Again, though, the cult of the goddess Yatwer and her White-Luck warrior promises to develop into something ghastly but fascinating--much like everything else in this series.
This review is cross-posted from Story Addict.
Although the worldbuilding behind what Bakker is now calling The Second Apocalypse is beyond complex, and a lot has happened in the 20 years since the close of the Prince of Nothing trilogy, I still felt able to dive right back into this world. I hadn't realized how much I remembered of this meticulously crafted setting--even though "Sweet Sejenus!" has been my go-to cussword for years. Bakker doesn't waste the reader's time with a long introduction. Instead, we're brought up to speed with key developments in a 2-page letter and then off to the races. Although I should note there is some back-of-the-book matter, some of which should should have been brought to the front, like the Map of the Three Seas I didn't know was there and would have really helped my geographic understanding. Better yet, there is an excellent synopsis of the first series (that doesn't spoil for The Judging Eye itself). This helped me refresh my understanding and also gave added background.
This is still a slower, and in some ways more introspective trilogy than the first--the chapters with the captive prince Sorweel came dangerously near navel gazing. All the same, they offered a view of Aspect-Emperor Kellhus that provided a contrast to the other chapters--to Sorweel, captured as part of the emperor's holy Crusade called the Great Ordeal, Kellhus is an enemy but also near-divine, while the Wizard Achamian knows Kellhus is mortal but trained to be super-humanly intelligent and manipulative. Achamian's goal is to discover the source of that training, so he has a more standard quest fantasy plotline. This is not to say it is dull or even that it's anything like quest fantasies done before. People have objected to the climactic scenes as being a Mines of Moria ripoff, but the Mines of Moria were never so terrifying as the Nonman city: ominously vast and all but lost in deep time, where every detail of its craftsmanship reveals an inhuman culture and the suffering of previous generations has caused the very fabric of reality to decay into a Hellmouth (Bakker's word is topos, but I refreshed my Greek and learned that translates to something like "trope." Bakker's characters do not speak Greek, but the relation to TV Tropes almost--if not quite--ruined the scariness for me).
The last plotline follows Kellhus's wife (and Achaimian's ex) Esmenet and the children she's had with the Aspect-Emperor. I would not suggest pregnant women, nor for that matter anyone planning to become pregnant nor anyone who is nursing nor anyone who has feelings on children in general, read these chapters. Since I have no current plans vis-a-vis fertility, I devoured them. Kellhus's kids are possibly even more terrifying than the topos, because they're horror in a human shape--well, the living ones are in a human shape--well, if anything was going to make me doubt Kellhus's human origins it's the children he's conceived that were drowned at birth because they came out wrong. But the fact is, all the kids have come out a bit wrong, and we get to follow evil little Kelmomas as he causes havoc and destruction because...I'm not actually clear on his motivations. The synopsis in the following book, The White-Luck Warrior, tells me he's trying to draw closer to his mother. Poor Esmenet.
Esme is one of the more sympathetic characters, along with Achaimian (and to a lesser extent Sorweel, but it's hard to get a good grip on someone in the depths of an identity crisis), and they're what keeps this story from devolving into a grimdark bloodfest. The style is grim, but thoughtful. There's a fair bit of flashy prose, some of it purple, but this is done deliberately to achieve an effect a bit like reading epic poetry. I wouldn't suggest anyone set out to mimic Bakker's style--it's a "don't try this at home, kids" kind of feat--but it was pleasant to read for a change of pace. The magic and supernatural forces in this story are less subtle than in the original trilogy--the sorcerers wield some nice pyrotechnics, divine or posing-as-divine forces begin manifesting in opposition to Kellhus, and the manifestations of the topos are vivid--but continue to raise more questions than they answer.
The Judging Eye of the title, a wild talent of Achaimian and Esmenet's traumatized daughter Mimara, seems to suggest an ultimate hierarchy of good and evil--one at odds with Kellhus' teachings, at that. But I'm personally not convinced morality in this universe isn't relative. My first tip-off was that Mimara's Judging Eye views "good men" as "brighter" and "good women"--now, maybe Bakker has the balls (no pun intended) to weave misogyny into his fiction's very foundations, but I prefer to imagine something more interesting is going on. Perhaps Mimara's vision has been affected by her upbringing, or manipulated by one of the higher powers beginning to make an appearance in the trilogy. Achamian has a moment of feminist realization when he hands off power to Mimara, who's convinced him to offer her some training in sorcery, near the climax-- although the Judging Eye also thinks he's damned as a magician. And on the other side, we have the cult of Yatwer, dark yonic power at its delectably creepiest. This is almost enough for me to stop being disappointed, now that it's been pointed out to me, that Bakker has several parallels with Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah and that means the (also pretty yonic) Bene Gessert have been replaced with the rather male Dunyain. This is a series that would already benefit from having a few more female characters who aren't prostitutes or ex-prostitutes. Again, though, the cult of the goddess Yatwer and her White-Luck warrior promises to develop into something ghastly but fascinating--much like everything else in this series.
This review is cross-posted from Story Addict.
May 5, 2016
Another brilliant book from Bakker.
June 7, 2024
I just finished The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker this morning and out of the few dozen books I’ve read this year (Prince of Nothing trilogy included) this might be my favorite.
There is excellent character work in the Sorweel chapters. The internal struggle was well realized and depicted.
The wizard’s chapters are the standout for me. Really enjoyed the homage to the Mines of Moria (it had to be intentional, right?!). The slow build up paid off so well with a climax that was EPIC AS FUCK with real stakes and plenty of mystery.
And of course, the prose is top tier. It actually baffles me how Bakker manages to be so descriptive without ever feeling redundant. I think his imagery is the most vivid and inner monologues the most thought provoking. Wasn’t sure if anyone would top Erikson in that regard but I might change my mind once I finish this series, if not sooner.
For those that have read it, what are your thoughts? What did you enjoy about it? What didn’t work for you? Without spoiling anything, what should I expect from the next book? I’ve heard great things.
There is excellent character work in the Sorweel chapters. The internal struggle was well realized and depicted.
The wizard’s chapters are the standout for me. Really enjoyed the homage to the Mines of Moria (it had to be intentional, right?!). The slow build up paid off so well with a climax that was EPIC AS FUCK with real stakes and plenty of mystery.
And of course, the prose is top tier. It actually baffles me how Bakker manages to be so descriptive without ever feeling redundant. I think his imagery is the most vivid and inner monologues the most thought provoking. Wasn’t sure if anyone would top Erikson in that regard but I might change my mind once I finish this series, if not sooner.
For those that have read it, what are your thoughts? What did you enjoy about it? What didn’t work for you? Without spoiling anything, what should I expect from the next book? I’ve heard great things.
August 1, 2024
I count these among the best books ever written.
Bakker is probably the most impressive author I've read, the 4 stars are purely because of personal enjoyment reasons - which are even clearly caused by the wrong mindset when reading these and by this simply being at a reading level, that still requires a lot of focus for me to comprehend. And I'm not gonna shy away from saying that with 'The Judging Eye', Bakker took it to a level, that is definetely a bit above what I'm comfortable with.
But - as Malazan did some years ago - this challenge makes me learn so much andoverall help me become a better reader once more.
However beautiful and incredible Mr. Bakker's writing and pure skill is - in this one maybe for the first time its fullest display (it's seriously magical how he still seems to improve) - this was the first instance in his work, where I found myself not always being pulled through by the writing alone.
With the first trilogy in his big 'Second Apocalypse' series, which was 'Prince of Nothing', every section and chapter was a pure pageturner for me, just for Bakker's skill alone, even if I didn't understand what was going on, didn't care for the event/character or whatever he was focusing on. I did not care because I couldn't care less when what I was reading was *this* perfectly crafted.
But here, in the first instalment of the second sub-series, 'The Aspect Emperor', I found this discrepance between interest and engagement/understanding of content to be more noteworthy. That is also why I took a lot longer to finish this up than I did his previous books.
As I am currently almost done with the next book however, I find that the reason for this is basically the transition, that 'The Judging Eye' is creating for the series.
A lot of time has passed since the end of the 'Prince of Nothing' trilogy and the gears have been set so to say for the unleashing of Bakker's true ramblings and musings on the themes that play such a big role in his mind and writing.
Whereas in the first trilogy, he still mainly told a story of religious zealotism, free will and humanity in the context of a holy war.
Here, the status-quo of the world has been turned upside down, with the characters from the first series being in their newly-found positions to follow through with their agendas - paving the way for Bakker to explore the consequences and revisit them from a different angle.
In a way, this book therefore felt like the transition, Frank Herbert's 'Dune' series goes through after book 1 - which makes sense with how much these two series have in common and share in some ideological ideas.
I prefer what Herbert does with 'Dune Messiah', as I'll soon cover in my review, but can't deny that I'm already blown away by the sheer complexity and scale of the vision, Bakker unfolds before me.
His worldbuilding gets brought to a different level here. The ancient powers sleeping beneath his world are at a fuller display than they've ever been and amongst that, Bakker still finds room for some incredible development of his characters - continuing their arcs and throwing them into a whole new, inevitable direction.
Dark stuff, heartbreaking stuff. But that much is expected from the series.
Due to the time that has passed after my completion of 'The Judging Eye', I'll not add too much more, unfortunately. I would probably mix stuff up with the sequel that I'm currently reading (and loving!). But one last thing, I'd like to point out is that I FINALLY caught Tolkien references/homages in Bakkers writing!
I mean, yeah, they were a lot more on the nose in this one, but still...
Between all the talk with 'Malazan' and 'Prince of Nothing' being post-modern commentary and critizism of Tolkien & all that stuff, I'm now happy to say that I finally saw it *before* listening to discussions and analysis. Yeah! Reading level: Up!
Finally, I can ony repeat my infinite praise and respect for Bakker and this series.
It is definetly nothing I would really recommend to anyone, except this kind of challenging and dark reads are truly for them.
Before 'The Judging Eye' I would also have said, that the books are a better introduction to this kind of SciFi-Fantasy than, let's say 'Malazan', but now... Well that's only true for the first trilogy.
Afterwards, this is as challenging if not more than Eriksons masterpiece - even though it's not as long... Yet...
Bakker is probably the most impressive author I've read, the 4 stars are purely because of personal enjoyment reasons - which are even clearly caused by the wrong mindset when reading these and by this simply being at a reading level, that still requires a lot of focus for me to comprehend. And I'm not gonna shy away from saying that with 'The Judging Eye', Bakker took it to a level, that is definetely a bit above what I'm comfortable with.
But - as Malazan did some years ago - this challenge makes me learn so much andoverall help me become a better reader once more.
However beautiful and incredible Mr. Bakker's writing and pure skill is - in this one maybe for the first time its fullest display (it's seriously magical how he still seems to improve) - this was the first instance in his work, where I found myself not always being pulled through by the writing alone.
With the first trilogy in his big 'Second Apocalypse' series, which was 'Prince of Nothing', every section and chapter was a pure pageturner for me, just for Bakker's skill alone, even if I didn't understand what was going on, didn't care for the event/character or whatever he was focusing on. I did not care because I couldn't care less when what I was reading was *this* perfectly crafted.
But here, in the first instalment of the second sub-series, 'The Aspect Emperor', I found this discrepance between interest and engagement/understanding of content to be more noteworthy. That is also why I took a lot longer to finish this up than I did his previous books.
As I am currently almost done with the next book however, I find that the reason for this is basically the transition, that 'The Judging Eye' is creating for the series.
A lot of time has passed since the end of the 'Prince of Nothing' trilogy and the gears have been set so to say for the unleashing of Bakker's true ramblings and musings on the themes that play such a big role in his mind and writing.
Whereas in the first trilogy, he still mainly told a story of religious zealotism, free will and humanity in the context of a holy war.
Here, the status-quo of the world has been turned upside down, with the characters from the first series being in their newly-found positions to follow through with their agendas - paving the way for Bakker to explore the consequences and revisit them from a different angle.
In a way, this book therefore felt like the transition, Frank Herbert's 'Dune' series goes through after book 1 - which makes sense with how much these two series have in common and share in some ideological ideas.
I prefer what Herbert does with 'Dune Messiah', as I'll soon cover in my review, but can't deny that I'm already blown away by the sheer complexity and scale of the vision, Bakker unfolds before me.
His worldbuilding gets brought to a different level here. The ancient powers sleeping beneath his world are at a fuller display than they've ever been and amongst that, Bakker still finds room for some incredible development of his characters - continuing their arcs and throwing them into a whole new, inevitable direction.
Dark stuff, heartbreaking stuff. But that much is expected from the series.
Due to the time that has passed after my completion of 'The Judging Eye', I'll not add too much more, unfortunately. I would probably mix stuff up with the sequel that I'm currently reading (and loving!). But one last thing, I'd like to point out is that I FINALLY caught Tolkien references/homages in Bakkers writing!
I mean, yeah, they were a lot more on the nose in this one, but still...
Between all the talk with 'Malazan' and 'Prince of Nothing' being post-modern commentary and critizism of Tolkien & all that stuff, I'm now happy to say that I finally saw it *before* listening to discussions and analysis. Yeah! Reading level: Up!
Finally, I can ony repeat my infinite praise and respect for Bakker and this series.
It is definetly nothing I would really recommend to anyone, except this kind of challenging and dark reads are truly for them.
Before 'The Judging Eye' I would also have said, that the books are a better introduction to this kind of SciFi-Fantasy than, let's say 'Malazan', but now... Well that's only true for the first trilogy.
Afterwards, this is as challenging if not more than Eriksons masterpiece - even though it's not as long... Yet...
May 4, 2019
The best fantasy series to me right now.
Onward I march!
Onward I march!
January 21, 2023
Bakker continues to impress me with his phenomenal character work, prose and world building.
This book kinda felt like The Darkness that Comes Before in how both are more of a foundational set up for future books where the focus is on setting the pieces on the board and less on how they move.
I think Sorweel lacked some development. After that specific initial event where we get to know him and his peculiar predicament nothing progressed. Just the same introspections over and over, some banter for world building and little else. There's some development and set up for his actions and connections to other 'things' but it felt very lackluster overall.
Aside that, not much else to complain here.
I'm very intrigued to see what the rest of the series has to offer.
This book kinda felt like The Darkness that Comes Before in how both are more of a foundational set up for future books where the focus is on setting the pieces on the board and less on how they move.
I think Sorweel lacked some development. After that specific initial event where we get to know him and his peculiar predicament nothing progressed. Just the same introspections over and over, some banter for world building and little else. There's some development and set up for his actions and connections to other 'things' but it felt very lackluster overall.
Aside that, not much else to complain here.
I'm very intrigued to see what the rest of the series has to offer.
August 27, 2024
Wow...
Different in tone and style (yet remaining true to the essence of the first trilogy, if that makes sense) the first book in the Aspect-Emperor series, the continuation of The Prince of Nothing trilogy, is a more cinematic and plot oriented book that does not sacrifice any of the things that made the first series amazing, but instead making it more epic and add to that Bakker's prose being some of the best I have ever read. This is a breathtaking book.
Different in tone and style (yet remaining true to the essence of the first trilogy, if that makes sense) the first book in the Aspect-Emperor series, the continuation of The Prince of Nothing trilogy, is a more cinematic and plot oriented book that does not sacrifice any of the things that made the first series amazing, but instead making it more epic and add to that Bakker's prose being some of the best I have ever read. This is a breathtaking book.
February 3, 2022
four books into the second apocalypse series and every one of them has been a five-star book for me. I can't think of the last series that I have just loved so consistently. when I started out reading epic fantasy for the first time as an adult (sometime in 2017 I believe) I hadn't really built my fantasy reading muscles yet, so that I didn't really have anything to compare the books i was reading to. so being so new to me they all seemed so massive and magical and they all felt like a five-star book/series but now that iv grew my muscles and experienced quite a few awesome books/series some that I still hold as my favorite of all time, some that I might not feel have held up so well if I was to reread them now. so with that context, I really must say that r Scott Bakker is pushing into my top 3 authors and will possibly come close to tieing Steven Erikson/Malazan as my absolute favorite author/world. and speaking of worlds and worldbuilding my god this really puts the epic in epic fantasy it is so real sometimes it feels like reading an account of some event in the distant past of our own world that I almost feel like iv walked these roads and paths with our characters so much so that the world seems a character in its own right. I love the way it's put together and then apart as the povs span half the map and even though we see some familiar places most of the story takes us to new places and adds a few new characters. I like sarweels pov as we get to see kellus and his children from the outside looking in. I almost want to see him revealed for what he really is and what his motives really are for this great ordeal of his, but at the same time, I'm still in awe of his intellect and his cunning. plus the overall mystery of what he's been up to these last 20 years. then there's Akkamien who is doing the wizard in the tower thing and it totally lands for me I know it's a trope but it really fits what he's been through and I can't blame him for being as bitter as he is. then there's Mimara who is a little off, to say the least, but the way her pov is written feels very fresh since it's in real-time and makes it unique and adds to the action and suspense, and boy that last chapter of cil-Aujas was so wild. iv heard it compared to the mines of Moria and I do agree but it was even better for it as it took its own twists. but I need to bring this long rambling review to an end now I got a little cared away but I think I touched on everything. oh, the prose. I can't put into words how much I love it without writing the equivalent of this longwinded review needless to I'm pumped to continue this journey and cant wait to see what depths it reaches.
July 24, 2024
The First book of The Aspect Emperor, The Judging Eye continue the story after the first holy war, the spectacularly stunning ending. The story was transferred to the second holy war which is against The No-God's forces like Sranc. The Aspect Emperor, Kellhus was recruiting armies to march to Golgottearth in order to eradicate the second apocalypse. In previous three books, Skin-Spy were appeared throughout Prince of Nothing series, but in The Aspect Emperor its existence seemed to be disappeared in The Judging eye, Just were mentioned by characters. But still we can see other eccentric creatures were vigorously presented in this book, especially Srancs were everywhere in TJE. And Aspect emperor had declared to hunt down Srancs, for those people who killed Srancs in exchange to have rewards from the policy. In contrast with hunting Srancs, the pitiful victim in this book must be Srancs,I've read them were killed numerous times in TJE. This series not only treat characters atrociously also non human creatures terribly, excruciations are for both human characters and monsters as anticipated reading experience.
This book didn't give me too much collided plots as first installment of The Aspect Emperor book one I guess ,so that the story moved slowly and some POVs would be irrelevant for some readers to read. For me I don't mind the slow pace stories even the story just a set up for the next book. Still I think Drusas Achamian and Mimara are interesting characters and their stories were really shined in TJE. Cleric's story is really fascinating to me, Noman's histories were related to the first Apocalypse, they were fighting with the unholy consult for millennia and inevitably they were almost extincted from Earwa. I believe Cleric would be crucial role in later installments of TAM series.
Overall, TJE is a excellent book after Prince of Nothing series.
This book didn't give me too much collided plots as first installment of The Aspect Emperor book one I guess ,so that the story moved slowly and some POVs would be irrelevant for some readers to read. For me I don't mind the slow pace stories even the story just a set up for the next book. Still I think Drusas Achamian and Mimara are interesting characters and their stories were really shined in TJE. Cleric's story is really fascinating to me, Noman's histories were related to the first Apocalypse, they were fighting with the unholy consult for millennia and inevitably they were almost extincted from Earwa. I believe Cleric would be crucial role in later installments of TAM series.
Overall, TJE is a excellent book after Prince of Nothing series.
April 8, 2024
I've heard it said about this series that philosophy carried a strong undercurrent, but didn't pay it much attention in the first trilogy beyond accepting that it defined the more thoughtful, inward characters (Proyas, Akka, Kellhus). However, the second set of Earwa novels dive immediately into harder ideas about identity, humankind's struggle to define itself, the hunt for knowledge in darkness as darkness hunts in turn, the Kantian unceasing measure, etc. It's both wonderful and unnerving to watch our merely human characters struggle through moral/sociological pitfalls that Kellhus accepted almost immediately on his shortest path to logos.
The themes of memory explored in "The Thousandfold Thought" explode as the semi-mythical Nonmen arrive on scene. Tenses change between narrators in another interesting quirk of the lens. We readers hear, with the Skin Eaters, more delicious trickles of the famed Inchoroi/Nonman war of antiquity and of the First Apocalypse, which sent me back into 'The Darkness That Comes Before' to rediscover old portents I had breezed past, uncomprehending at first read. The cynical answers to Tolkeinian (and therefore all post-Tolkein fantasy) themes of self-sacrifice abound in Akka's plot.
It's dense, it's dark, it's layered beyond describing, it's the finest book I've read all year and probably in the last five, and I think I'll be reading it again (and again) every time the next books send me scrambling back to the reference material. 6/5
The themes of memory explored in "The Thousandfold Thought" explode as the semi-mythical Nonmen arrive on scene. Tenses change between narrators in another interesting quirk of the lens. We readers hear, with the Skin Eaters, more delicious trickles of the famed Inchoroi/Nonman war of antiquity and of the First Apocalypse, which sent me back into 'The Darkness That Comes Before' to rediscover old portents I had breezed past, uncomprehending at first read. The cynical answers to Tolkeinian (and therefore all post-Tolkein fantasy) themes of self-sacrifice abound in Akka's plot.
It's dense, it's dark, it's layered beyond describing, it's the finest book I've read all year and probably in the last five, and I think I'll be reading it again (and again) every time the next books send me scrambling back to the reference material. 6/5
November 6, 2022
Un libro que para mí incluso supera lo que vimos en la trilogía de Principe de Nada.
En esta novela, Bakker vuelve al mundo que nos presento en su genia trilogía para contarnos que ha sucedido años después.
Kellhus se ha convertido en el emperador aspecto y gobierna todo todo el mundo junto a Esmenet, su ahora esposa.
Achamian vive apartado del mundo, dolido por la traición de ambos y viviendo como un ermitaño.
Pero el consulto no se ha quedado dormido durante estos años y siguen pensando en la resurrección del No-Dios. Ante esto Kellhus crea una nueva cruzada con un ejercito inmenso que pueda evitar el apocalipsis.
Mientras Achamian se internara junto a una expedición en el Cil Aujas, una ciudad bajo la montaña donde innumerables peligros esperan a los incautos que intenten entrar en sus salones.
Es un libro que he volado en una semana y que engancha mucho. Esta saga es como la mezcla perfecta del Señor de los anillos y Dune con un toque de Grim dark. Parece mentira que una saga de esta calidad haya pasado desapercibida para el mercado editorial español porque estaría al nivel de Malaz.
En esta novela, Bakker vuelve al mundo que nos presento en su genia trilogía para contarnos que ha sucedido años después.
Kellhus se ha convertido en el emperador aspecto y gobierna todo todo el mundo junto a Esmenet, su ahora esposa.
Achamian vive apartado del mundo, dolido por la traición de ambos y viviendo como un ermitaño.
Pero el consulto no se ha quedado dormido durante estos años y siguen pensando en la resurrección del No-Dios. Ante esto Kellhus crea una nueva cruzada con un ejercito inmenso que pueda evitar el apocalipsis.
Mientras Achamian se internara junto a una expedición en el Cil Aujas, una ciudad bajo la montaña donde innumerables peligros esperan a los incautos que intenten entrar en sus salones.
Es un libro que he volado en una semana y que engancha mucho. Esta saga es como la mezcla perfecta del Señor de los anillos y Dune con un toque de Grim dark. Parece mentira que una saga de esta calidad haya pasado desapercibida para el mercado editorial español porque estaría al nivel de Malaz.
June 21, 2016
Absolutely fantastic. Top book read in 2016 as of 20/06; further thoughts to come later.
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