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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Overlook TP
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 560
Printing Date: January 30, 2007
Publishing house: Overlook TP
Sale Popularity Level: 113454
Studio: Overlook TP
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The conclusion to the groundbreaking epic Prince of Nothing fantasy trilogy.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Is it possible to like this trilogy in the traditional sense? I suppose if you are interested in war stories and warlike personalities, you may find more to like here than I did. True, Bakker's universe is rich and complicated and chock full of characters, many of which are incidental to the plot. So we can give him credit for creativity, originality and excellent descriptions. But I wonder if some readers' admiration for these books might not be because they managed to get through them at all. I found the third one to be more difficult than the very first two. The last few chapters were too long and the ending was confusing and inconclusive. None of the characters is very likeable. I certainly didn't find myself thinking about the story after I'd finished reading it. I will read Bakker's future work just to see if things are clarified, but I may never be a fan.
Rated by buyers -
I just finished the series, and I must say that it leaves me unsatisfied. For those who haven't read George R.R. Martin or Steven Erikson, I would have to say that this review is not for you, as I will be referring to both series since they are the standards of fantasy literature.
The series approaches the complexity of the George R.R. Martin's characters, dozens of complicated individuals, each with his or her own convictions and views of the world. Initially, one cannot tell who is right and who is wrong, as every person's view of the world has always been the right view. As I progress through the novels, the characters mature and evolve. However, unlike Martin's amazing character development, Bakker's is left half-baked. Kellhus. The all-knowing Kellhus is the asteroid that wipes out the evolution of Bakker's characters. It's so frustrating to see what could have been great multi-faceted characters like Proyas, Esmenet, Cnaur, and others obliterated into two-sided paper figures whose only conviction is to believe or not believe the greatness of Kellhus. Even more frustrating is most of the main characters: the great names, knights and thanes, serve no purpose but to die. Like clockwork, someone with a name must die in every battle. When one of George R.R. Martin's character die, it creates a shudder through the storyline - not only because it often so unexpected, but because one feels so much for the character, whether it's admiration or hate, of things left unaccomplished. Death leaves a hollow space in GRRM's world.
The Prince of Nothing also bears great similarity with Erikson's Malazan series, particularly Coltaine's long march from Seven Cities. The desperation and hopelessness of that retreat is so palpable that it left the taste of gritty desert sand in my mouth. In some ways this novel is very similar, although Inrithi's armies are attacking, not retreating. The toll of the battle road is comparable in both books. However, while Erikson's story progresses smoothly, Bakker's journey suffer innumerable rest stops. Every chapter is inundated with, as another reviewer wrote, "unending explanations of the greatness of Kellhus". By the third book, I actually found myself skipping sections of "the greatness of Kellhus", something unthinkable in a GRRM or Erikson book lest you miss an important part integral to the plot. After reading "the greatness of Kellhus" dozens and dozens of times, I find that it is not necessary, there was nothing that was not already stated.
Thus, I find Bakker's book somewhat combination of both GRRM and Erikson. It aspires to Martin's characterization and Erikson's plot progression, but falls short in both. However, since GRRM is taking decades between books, and Erikson's latest is not out yet, I recommend this series as a decent substitute to satisfy some of your cravings. Just be warned, it will not leave you hungering for more bread from Bakker's bakery. RG
Rated by buyers -
I will give Bakker one thing, he had some original thoughts and writing in a genre that has increasingly become stale and cliche`. However, he is overly dramatic and instead of telling just the story, he twists and turns and adds loads of description and characters that I can only describe as distractions. It seemed like in order to make the book unpredictable, he just kept introducing fake threads.
In the whole book I would say there is one character that you really like (Akka) and one character that you grow to like but with reservations (Cnaiur). You keep thinking Kellus is going to change, reach some conclusion that makes him less robotic and souless, but right when that point seems like it is coming to pass, he changes his personality and the book ends.
SPOILER ALERT
Seriously, this ending was a replica of the Soprano's series finale. I personally believe that people who like the ending are really just saying they like it because they liked the series and think that Bakker had some deeper meaning. In truth I think everyone hates the ending and I almost think Bakker was forced to finish the book early or has an inflated view of his own intelligence. To be honest I loved the last chapter, I loved Achamian telling everyone off (especially Esmenet) but I thought it was going to lead to a thread that would have Kellus changing and Akka changing and Esmenet returning to Akka or at least dying (I hated her if you couldn't tell).
SPOILER OVER
No Bakker messed up and got too complex for his own intelligence and tried to turn this book into some work of abstract art. I needed to vent here I was so angry when the book ended. Bakker turned his potentially very good series into a book I would recommend no one reads because it doesn't end. I would have preferred a crappy hokey ending that closed all the threads to the stupid "reality is far more complex than to have endings and beginnings, this chapter is over but the story never ends" BS ending Bakker did.
Don't waste time with this series unless you really like insanely open endings or you enjoy being angry.
Rated by buyers -
Ok, I am in the middle of the book. While I like the story it very confusing with so many char. in the story. I am also in the part of the book where a char we think is dead is alive again so that does not help. What I need to the index as a seperate book as I spend 1/2 my time flipping back and forth. I really want to thank the author for finnishing the story in 3 books, see (WOT) OMG is that long and not done yet or several others that I am waiting for the last or subsequent to the last book to come out.
Rated by buyers 
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First, I'll lend my voice to the scattered reviews that I've seen, lauding this as the subsequent best thing shince Martin's Ice and Fire series. Sadly, I'm a picky reader and find myself putting possibly great books down within the very first 10 pages because they don't sufficiently convince me early...or they don't at least entice me to read further. This series enticed without fully convincing within the very first 10, but by the end of book one I was hooked, and by the end of book two I was swept up in the crusade, as helpless as all of the other participants from stepping off the road.
I'll make this claim about the ending. It couldn't have ended any other way. I would even venture that those who were frustrated with the it, or felt that it was incomplete didn't know what the story was about. That's really okay, because I don't think the main characters know what the story is about either, and that's the beauty of it. By the time one of them finally gets it, it's too late, and even the all-knowing demi-god among men, Kelhus has bought into his own narrative so completely that he is rendered flawed by his own infalibility.
Throughout this series capper the enemies remain ominous, but I'm no longer as clear who the bad-guys are. I follow the crusade with a furoius interest, like watching an inevitable car-crash, but I don't hope the semi takes out the dump truck by this point, I see that there aint going to be any real winners,or (rightful winners) and I'm left awestruck by the sheer pathology of it all...
I confess I don't have it all unraveled. I don't know what everything ads up to. I do know that it didn't take rooting for a side to have the wind kicked out of me many times throughout this ending. I do know that the surface conflict and the more sinister "real" conflict with the Construct are absolutely engaging, but that by the end they have taken a back seat to the truly scary enemy in this book, which I have a sense for, but don't think I should try to put into words here.
That's important, becuase I think its a read that's as challenging as you want to make it, but also works on a sheer conflict driven level for almost the whole book, up to but possibly exluding the ending, which if read straight, would seem much more like a cliff-hanger than it is.
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