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Jan 28, 2008

Heinleinfan rated it:

This was a disappointment. I generally like epic fantasy, but this author is convinced that having absolutely no exposition is perfectly okay when creating a world. It's not. If there are 8 different countries and nationalities, a few nobles, a few peasants, 12 different factions within each nationality, 5 different schools of magic, 3 different major religious beliefs, some humans, some not humans (maybe?) and all these things are named with the most un-familiar sounding tripe names you can More...

2 comments like (20 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Liz rated it:

I never finished this book, actually I never finished the first chapter.

I couldn't read this book it was like the author grabbed a thesaurus and picked out vocabulary that would have even made Jerome Shostak have to look it up!
It made me hate the author...it felt arrogant, high handed and pissed me off.

*shivers*

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 12, 2011

Paul rated it:

There are very few books that are as ambitious as R. Scott Bakker's "The Darkness That Comes Before". Most authors would never attempt to create such a vast world with a deeply encompassing and vital intellectual history, and disparate races that have varying philosophical viewpoints and ways of perceiving the world. This novel, while a putative fantasy, is so remarkably well-conceived and executed that it feels more like a historical recollection of a lost world. In fact, Bakker liber More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2008

St-Michel rated it:

After reading up on this series, I had really high hopes going into it - looking for something that would really revolutionize the fantasy genre. Boy, was I ever disappointed...and I mean really disappointed.

The book started off great, which lead me to believe that it was truly going to live up to the reviews I've read. Well, as soon as the introduction came to a close, this thing just began to droll on and on at such a tediously slow pace. This book just bored the hell out of me. More...

5 comments like (12 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2007

KJ rated it:

I can't decide how I feel about this book. Well-written, engaging characters, a fantasy world with enough differences from the norm that I felt like I was discovering something new and interesting. I picked it up from the shelf in the bookstore because the recommendation card said "Fans of George R.R. Martin and Guy Gavriel Kay will love it!", and I certainly see where they're coming from with that. This is the first book in a (complete! hooray!) trilogy, and I'm sufficiently engaged t More...

3 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2008

David rated it:

The first in a massively epic fantasy series based strongly on the Crusades and rooted in philosophical discourse and concept. This book is about the size of Jordan's Wheel of Time or Goodkind's horrid Wizard's First Rule, but it's actually good. A little slow to really start moving, but the world is so originally constructed and richly detailed, and the writing is such a relief (not brilliant but certainly very good) that the starting speed can be forgiven. There are many "main" chara More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2008

Curtis rated it:

This trilogy is really crazy interesting. My friends and I have a category of literature that I enjoy, basically calling it "Lit grad student masturbation" (e.g. Cloud Atlas, Infinte Jest). Although it's mainly used in the perjorative, it also describes incredibly accurately the writing style, very heady, involved, and vocab intense.

This is the first time I've encountered Philosophy grad student automanipulation, and it's enthralling, especially in the fantasy genre, wh More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Mar 07, 2009

Michael rated it:

This is a very difficult book to begin reading. The first one hundred pages or so are filled with so many characters and plots and the setting up of a whole fantasy world that your brain swims in all of these details while trying to keep them together. The determined reader will be richly rewarded though by continuing through hundreds of pages over Bakker's next two books in the trilogy. I am completely at awe with his masterful interjection of philosophy, keen insights into human pysche and More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2011

Sean rated it:

The Darkness That Comes Before is the first book in the Prince of Nothing Trilogy. The great cities of the north were destroyed over two thousand years ago during the first Apocalypse. The north is nothing but a wasteland full of crumbling ruins, barbarians, the inhuman Sranc and the enigmatic NonMen. From this land a lone monk sets out on a journey to meet with his father in who had left the order 30 years before.[return][return]As always, discovery is one of the most enjoyable features and th More...

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Mar 31, 2009

Sahil rated it:

Dark, powerful, and an excellent beginning to what I hope (and kind of expect)will be an excellent series.

The combination of philosophy and fantasy allows a breakthrough into a new dimension of both that allows a much deeper immersion into the book than with any traditional fantasy novel.

Although Achamian is the protagonist of the novel, one cannot help but be drawn to many of the other characters. Esmenet, for example, shows tremendous wisdom but is helpless because of h More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2009

D. Eric rated it:

This is actually a three/four star book--see my review following:

The first book of "The Prince of Nothing" trilogy, "The Darkness that Comes Before" is a fantasy take on the Crusades, though set in a fantasy world all its own. It is a bit tough to follow sometimes, mainly because of all the foreign names of people, places, and religions/schools of magic. In fact, if you have the opportunity, it would help to read the first page and a quarter of "What Has Go More...

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Dec 28, 2011

Justin rated it:

Ha! I love the reviews for this book. If you're older than 14, and have ever read anything the cover of which does *not* feature embossed gold lettering and a fire-breathing dragon Goddess loves it. People who don't understand the 'show' vs 'tell' distinction but use it anyway, people who have the vocabulary of a 12 year old, and people who are unwilling to put in any effort whatsoever hate it. I don't read much fantasy, just because I can't take much description in prose, let alone the stilted, More...

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Apr 08, 2011

Matthew rated it:

The story is interesting enough so far. The writing is merely competent; it keeps the story going, and that's about it.

I am abandoning this series. The writing is all tell and little show. I appreciate that Bakker has developed, or perhaps over-developed, a huge backstory to all of this, but instead of allowing it to seep up into the triology, he bombards you with it from page one. Just flip through this book and look at how many proper nouns there are on each page. It is absurd More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Marri rated it:

Bakker's fantasy world is rich with innovative detail, yet grounded by allusions to historical earth cultures which give the reader mental purchase without falling into tired old fantasy cliches.

This is fantasy at an epic scale, but thoroughly rooted in the characters he presents. And this is where Bakker shines where many other fantasy authors of such Big Event stories fail. His characters don't feel like tent-pegs holding up the fabric of a broader narrative; they're very much alive More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 20, 2010

Scott rated it:

I'm rereading this series as I saw that there is a sequel trilogy out - I picked it up a couple years ago, and it is the series that got me started on enjoying a subgenre of fantasy that could be best summed up, as a friend did as "It's interesting, layered, and populated with bastards."

I call it my bad people doing bad things to worse people.

The series follows two main characters; one the heir to long-lost (and I do mean long - millennial) empire, trained by mo More...

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Jul 05, 2010

Matt rated it:

Expert prose, good world-building that rivals Tolkien in some places, and fascinating characters.

The pace and structure are a little off, but it's the guy's first book, so I can forgive.

It's obvious what worldview the author is operating from. It's the typical New Atheist "religion is the cause of problems" view, as the whole catalyst for everything is a massive holy war, and one of the heroes, Anisurimbor Khellus(although really and anti-hero) is a being of pu More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 12, 2010

Frank rated it:

R.Scott Bakker first book in the series Prince of nothing is a book for the mature reader. It is perhaps presumption of me when I claim this and some of you may dispute and perhaps even say that I underestimate younger reader’s ability to like Bakkers novels. It could be because of the violence, intricate and complex plot or the explicit sex scenes. But it has more to do with how the individual characters act and interact with each other.
Not saying that novel plot doesn’t stand for itself More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Christy rated it:

I really wanted to like this book. Some of the descriptive writing is well beyond what you normally see in this genre, and the character and backstory of Kelhus is fascinating.

Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. The biggest fault is the characters just aren't likeable. Kelhus and Cnaiur are at least interesting, even if they aren't sympathetic. The rest of the cast, which gets more of the camera time anyway, is worse.

It reads slowly, and while it hints at intriguing lo More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2009

Ethan rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2009

Harold rated it:

Its jacket covered with hyperbolic praise, this book intrigued me enough that I borrowed it from our local library. Reviewers compare it, ecstatically, to both the Song of Ice and Fire and the Lord of the Rings, though in some measure surpassing both of them. Well, comparisons to LotR are de rigeur for any fantasy novel wanting to be taken seriously. But why compare this to GRR Martin's series? For the first hundred pages, the comparison seems nonsensical. But then it starts to make a twisted se More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 01, 2009

Marisa rated it:

So I read this book at my friend's in New Orleans on vacation. It's the first in a series, and I liked the name! It turns out however, that the "darkness" is the opposite of something called the Logos, which, when you meditate on it, makes you bad-ass, apparently. Also it makes you really annoying. At least, that's how I found the main character, who is some sort of super human prophet/monk/messiah. Problem is he is kind of an annoying jerk, and does not act really that awesomely. More...

0 comments like

Oct 16, 2011

Paul added it

Like others have said, I tried to like this book. Ultimately, however, I gave up halfway through, deciding I just didn't have time to wade through more in the hopes that something exciting or redeeming might happen.

My edition boasted a testimonial from Steven Erikson, whose work I like - and while I can see some similarities between the two authors' works (dark, gritty setting, badass characters, ultra-realism, cynicism verging on nihilism), Bakker lacks one element that makes Eriks More...

0 comments like

May 20, 2011

Manrix rated it:

If you want to read this book, be warned: in the beginning it's hard to keep track of all the nations, factions and religions that are talked about, but you'll get to know each and every one of them.
I had some trouble with the names at first, with all the strange accents and everything; I thought they was kind of cheesy sometimes, but holy mother I got sucked into this book.
Epic has been given new meaning.
Not only is the main character (Achamian)'s back story incredibly inte More...

0 comments like

Sep 19, 2009

Gabriel rated it:

I've been looking for more challenging, intelligent works within the fantasy genre. I'd heard that this book may be just such a work, so I was very excited to read it. However, my excitement soon flagged, and I finally gave up on the book half way through. The reviews of the book promised a philosophy heavy, intelligent novel. However, the philosophy present is not really integrated into the story, at least not through most of the book. It is merely used in the world building, then relegated to More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Glen rated it:

The Darkness That Comes before is overall a good book. With the world on the brink of a "Holy War" a sorcer is put in the middle of it to try and figure out who is behind the war and why they are trying to bring the Second Apocalypse to the human race.

However there are a few things that Bakker did that makes the book almost difficult to read. In a fantasy book you expect to have some weird words. But when the word's are too weird it gets on the way if the story. in the firs More...

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Jan 18, 2012

Bloody rated it:

Bakker's first foray into epic fantasy takes a while to get going, but when it does hit it's stride, and you've familiarised yourself with all the characters, factions and nations, there's no going back.

The world of Eärwa is a remarkable creation, and I found myself getting drawn in and really invested in this place more than most other fantasy worlds I've encountered in recent times. Some may be put off by the (admittedly) overused diaereses and oddly spelled names, but I found the More...

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Oct 17, 2007

P rated it:

Horrid writing...I was totally confused reading the first chapter. When I pick up a novel for the first time, please, for the love of Bob, start slowly, describe the main character and the setting. Trying to let the characters name and making vague references to a the Apocalypse is so vague as to be unhelpful. Not to mention, the prose was so hackneyed and trite that I had difficulty reading it.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2009

Tim rated it:

Well, I did finish it.

But I didn't read the last two books in the trilogy. That tell you something? I must echo what some other reviewers have said about their disappointment with the Prince of Nothing opener. There are good ingredients, there's a nice story here someplace, Bakker writes pretty well, and I wanted to like it. A gritty, deserty fantasy setting ... Sounds good.

Bakker's execution, though, left me laboring just to finish this book. Bakker withholds much from t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 24, 2010

David rated it:

Bakker has written a fantasy series that, like George R.R. Martin, focuses more on the politics and intrigue of his world than on swords and sorcery. Also, as a philosophy scholar, he focuses on belief systems and the way they interact. This series is essentially a chronicle of a holy war of one religion against a nation of "heathens." But at the same time there is a storyline of another religion's anti-messiah's return (and apocalypse). The way Bakker writes these various religions is More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 30, 2009

Andrew rated it:

Be warned this is not a book for the average joe
I would guess that there is about a 75% chance you will hate this book if not an avid fantasy reader and or lit grad.

There are sevreral reasons for this,

1) the plot, while interesting, VERY hard to follow if you don'nt take the book chapter by chapter, reading it SLOWLY. If you can not follow my outline of the plot, then this book is defenity not for you

The shaih of the thousand temples delares a holy war a More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)