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viktor_haagOn the weekend, I finally managed to put the nail in The Prince of Nothing coffin: a grand detailed-world fantasy trilogy by R. Scott Bakker.
I liked the heavy dollops of not-necessarily-stock fantasy world-building; unlike many phonebook fantasy that leans overmuch on European origins, Bakker's setting seems strongly influenced by Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near-East. Bakker seems quite comfortable at naming things in ways that sound natural, non-fake-English, and reasonably rich and deep. His dialog doesn't have too much of the stench of Poughkeepsie.
Bakker's oppositional races are also a bit inventive in construction and motivation. Without too much in the way of spoiler, the "evil" figures in the setting are creatures of nearly unfettered hungers and lusts. While this is, I think, a bit novel it also tends to lead in spots to what one might characterize as somewhat distasteful detail of physical activity. Sexual activity in the series is not necessarily soft-pedalled, and is often portrayed in brutal and violent fashion: I would not say that this is gratuitous given the reasoning behind the various races depicted, but I would say that it is explicit. If that bothers you, or could, be warned.
I also appreciated the presentation of metaphysical thought in the series: the sorcerous is interestingly portrayed, the philosophical, also. It doesn't lean as heavily on philosophical and critical thought as, for example, some of Samuel Delaney's work, but the presence of it makes for a nicely rounded aesthetic and lends texture to the proceedings. Bakker makes at least some effort to solidly grip with the notion of evil, and what evil in pure physical form might reasonably look like.
What does the series suffer from? Pretty much the traditional problems: a bewildering cast of characters; a tendency towards millenarian anguish and hand-wringing; largely un-sympathetic, manipulative, selfish characters passed off as "fully rounded"; stretches of battle-scene description that sometimes wears on the patience and gluts the palate; a middle-volume that suffers a bit from middle-volume-ness.
However, to my taste, Bakker's writing, and his world setting, is interesting enough to keep one going and make it an eventually rewarding experience.
"The Prince of Nothing" resolves only the immediate story-line; many of the underlying concerns in the setting are explicitly not dealt with, and some (all?) of those might get dealt with in Bakker's second series of novels set in the same background, "The Aspect Emperor", the first of which is already available in mass-market paperback from Penguin ("The Judging Eye").
As for his professed influences (Tolkien and Herbert), the blurbers his publisher has selected (Erikson amongst them), and the detectable influences of traditional Sword & Sorcery (Howard, Smith, Lieber), if you like the work of some of those names, you might very well like Bakker's books as well. A reasonably solid effort.
I liked the heavy dollops of not-necessarily-stock fantasy world-building; unlike many phonebook fantasy that leans overmuch on European origins, Bakker's setting seems strongly influenced by Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near-East. Bakker seems quite comfortable at naming things in ways that sound natural, non-fake-English, and reasonably rich and deep. His dialog doesn't have too much of the stench of Poughkeepsie.
Bakker's oppositional races are also a bit inventive in construction and motivation. Without too much in the way of spoiler, the "evil" figures in the setting are creatures of nearly unfettered hungers and lusts. While this is, I think, a bit novel it also tends to lead in spots to what one might characterize as somewhat distasteful detail of physical activity. Sexual activity in the series is not necessarily soft-pedalled, and is often portrayed in brutal and violent fashion: I would not say that this is gratuitous given the reasoning behind the various races depicted, but I would say that it is explicit. If that bothers you, or could, be warned.
I also appreciated the presentation of metaphysical thought in the series: the sorcerous is interestingly portrayed, the philosophical, also. It doesn't lean as heavily on philosophical and critical thought as, for example, some of Samuel Delaney's work, but the presence of it makes for a nicely rounded aesthetic and lends texture to the proceedings. Bakker makes at least some effort to solidly grip with the notion of evil, and what evil in pure physical form might reasonably look like.
What does the series suffer from? Pretty much the traditional problems: a bewildering cast of characters; a tendency towards millenarian anguish and hand-wringing; largely un-sympathetic, manipulative, selfish characters passed off as "fully rounded"; stretches of battle-scene description that sometimes wears on the patience and gluts the palate; a middle-volume that suffers a bit from middle-volume-ness.
However, to my taste, Bakker's writing, and his world setting, is interesting enough to keep one going and make it an eventually rewarding experience.
"The Prince of Nothing" resolves only the immediate story-line; many of the underlying concerns in the setting are explicitly not dealt with, and some (all?) of those might get dealt with in Bakker's second series of novels set in the same background, "The Aspect Emperor", the first of which is already available in mass-market paperback from Penguin ("The Judging Eye").
As for his professed influences (Tolkien and Herbert), the blurbers his publisher has selected (Erikson amongst them), and the detectable influences of traditional Sword & Sorcery (Howard, Smith, Lieber), if you like the work of some of those names, you might very well like Bakker's books as well. A reasonably solid effort.
