Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9781585675593
ISBN number: 1585675598
Label: Overlook Hardcover
Manufacturer: Overlook Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 608
Printing Date: June 03, 2004
Publishing house: Overlook Hardcover
Sale Popularity Level: 342913
Studio: Overlook Hardcover
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Strikingly original in its conception, ambitious in scope, with characters engrossingly and vividly drawn, the very first book in R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series creates a remarkable world from whole cloth-its language and classes of people, its cities, religions, mysteries, taboos, and rituals-the kind of all-embracing universe Tolkien and Herbert created unforgettably in the epic fantasies The Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's a world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both two thousand years past and two thousand years into the future, as untold thousands gather for a crusade. Among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveler, Anasûrimbor Kellhus-part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerous, charismatic presence-from lands long thought dead. The Darkness That Comes Before is a history of this great holy war, and like all histories, the survivors write its conclusion.
Amazon.com Review:
Many centuries ago, the world was nearly destroyed by the dark wizards of the Consult, and the High King's family was wiped out--or so it seemed. Then from the wild, uncharted north comes a mysterious and extraordinarily powerful philosopher-warrior, Anasurimbor Kellhus, descendant of the ancient High Kings. But the return of the king's bloodline is little cause for rejoicing. For Kellhus's appearance may signal the overthrow of empires, the destruction of the sorcerous schools, the return of the Consult demons--and the end of the world.
The Darkness that Comes Before is a strong, impressive, deeply imagined debut novel. However, this very first book of an epic fantasy series is not accessible; it reads like a later volume of a complicated ongoing series. Author R. Scott Bakker has created a world that is very different from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, yet in depth of development comes closer than most high-fantasy worlds. In addition to providing five appendices, Bakker attempts to make his complex world clear to readers by filling the prologue and opening chapters with the names of characters, gods, cities, tribes, nations, religions, factions, and sorcerous schools. For many readers, this approach will have the opposite effect of clarity. It's like demonstrating snowflake structure with a blizzard. --Cynthia Ward
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Rated by buyers 
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There are very few books that are as ambitious as R. Scott Bakker's "The Darkness That Comes Before". Most authors would never endeavor 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 liberally uses real Western civilization history and philosophy (with some aspects of Middle Eastern thought) and reshapes it especially for his world. The result is an absolutely brilliant fantasy novel that elevates the entire genre to a new level.
First, I will admit to being bias toward Bakker's novel. I studied philosophy both as an undergraduate and graduate student, so there is much here I recognize and appreciate from my studies. Let's just say, the complexity of Bakker's work is suited to my kind of academic geek, one who is deeply fascinated in the "why" of things, events and history. One who may be interested in Bakker's concept of the darkness that comes before, and what events result from that state of pre-rationality.
The novel is segmented into parts, each one following a different character and setting the scene for the second volume in the trilogy. Drusas Achamian is a Mandate sorcerer, plagued by the terrible and bloody dreams of his long dead predecessor. It is the Mandate school's mission to fight against the mysterious Consult, an organization whose existence has not been seen in decades. Achamian is commanded to uncover information about the plans of Maithanet, the Shriah of The Thousand Temples, the major religion of the region. Maithanet has recently declared the formation of a Holy War, a war that will take back the holy land of Shimeh. What Achamian discovers is a mystery that is potentially at the heart of this newly-declared Holy War.
Cnaiur is a Scylvendi barbarian, a survivor of the tremendous military defeat of his people at the hands of the martial prodigy, Ikurei Conphas. Soon, he meets Anasurimbor Kellhus, the son of Anasurimbor Moenghus, a man who, in the past, lead Cnaiur to terrible actions against his father that still torture his soul. Cnaiur and Kellhus make their way to Momemn to join the forces gathering for the Holy War, both with the agenda of finding Anasurimbor Moenghus.
Bakker writes with a depth to his characterization that is staggering. His characters are as complete intellectually, emotionally, and philosophically as you could possibly imagine. The world-building is unbelievable, as each region and race have their own history, reasoning, and stance to the events that unfold during the course of the novel. It is rather overwhelming and requires a great effort from the reader, but in the end, the effort pays off with a truly amazing fantasy experience.
It should be pointed out the majority of the novel is centered on setting the scene for the rest of the trilogy, to situate the reader in this finely imagined world. This setting up is, in a sense, the darkness that comes before, a pre-history that will be necessary to fully comprehend that which follows in the subsequent two volumes. If R. Scott Bakker's "The Darkness That Comes Before" is any indication, what follows may be the greatest fantasy trilogy ever.
Last Word:
An amazing experience that will challenge for one of the greatest fantasy novels ever released. Bakker creates an incredible world, and populates it full of characters with such reality and intellectual history as to be staggeringly fascinating. This is absolutely must read fantasy literature.
Rated by buyers -
Reading over quite a few of the comments, I agree with those that I read that were positive and am definitely surprised by some that were negative...
I'd like to add to what was already written, on the positive side at least.. and this is the very first time I felt compelled to leave a review for a book/series I read.
First off, this author definitely appears to understand people and their different vantage points. He then goes on to mold together all such views, those that contradict each other to present a more completely expressed situation. One negative review talked about a certain female character's "stupidity" (I'm not sure which of two characters he's referring to) and I think that if that is how that particular character (or any character) appears then that only adds realism. Each character then has their own understanding of a given situation... what a dynamic and conciliatory perspective we then receive and perceive! Would you want all of the main characters to be equally intelligent (I prefer the word aware, after reading this book) or equally not so?
I can only recommend this to everyone who can give different perspectives and ideas (unless you've encountered all of the contained perspectives and ideas) a chance to be expressed.
I have not read many fantasy books. The last, chronologically speaking, intellectually stimulating (but not nearly on such a high level as this) series I read was the Second Sons trilogy. The only series I've read that could even compare to this (and this one now replacing that as my ultimate favorite) is Dune (at least the very first 6 books that I had actually read, written by Frank H.). Anyone who liked Dune would, in my opinion, like this.
On a side note, I tend to like realistic material (i.e. watching every episode of 24), so the notion of sorcery made me skeptic. However, that matters not, in retrospect. After only the introduction, I realized that this was a serious book, and far more realistic than the back summary reveals. It just follows a paradigm of physics that differs from our most currently understood.
In the later books, I found the talk about the "anima" and their particular sorcery quite interesting. I agree that Bakkar is, as one reviewer said, a world builder.
The last thing I'd like to add (maybe one of the earlier comments mentioned this) is that there is a similarity between Kellhus's training, conditioning, and, later on, everyday life with that of (so-conceptualized) Ch'an Buddhism or eastern enlightenment (as I know I should not label such) in general.
I just love this series and I had read it in-between coding a class scheduling application for my college. Without this series, I don't think I could have made the deadline. I've read the whole trilogy and am waiting patiently for "that which comes after". ;)
P.S. Could anyone please recommend any other series other than Dune/Tolkien's stuff that is akin to this? I'm quite entertained by this ultra-aware and self-controlled persona... or just with the many underlying sub-plots overlapping one another.
Rated by buyers 
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--minor spoilers from early scenes in the book below--
I will not deny that The Darkness That Comes Before is a very intelligent book. It almost begs to be read in the quiet under the moonlight when nothing troubles the reader and he/she has the time to contemplate over just about every paragraph. I however, read it while commuting to work every day, an hour or so each morning.
Did it save me from boredom? Yes. Will I be buying the subsequent book? Probably not (I have about 100 pages to go in this one, so my opinion may yet be swayed).
Some of my personal criticism:
-the often swearing really detracts from the feel of this book. For instance I cannot imagine a man in that place and time to cry out "F---!" to express his discontent. I just can't, but maybe it's just me. In contrast, early in the book, the barbarian protagonist fights the invading army and screams out much worse of an obscenity - and it fits well. Editing should have been stricter in the very first case.
-the book is utterly humourless. I can't think of a single moment that made me feel at ease. Instead we get non stop arguments, negative emotions, slaves, 100 000 dead, etc etc. Compare this to scenes from another gritty and depressing epic like ASOIAF, and you will see how the author scattered easing moments there (Jon's relationship with the wildling girl, Arya's training with the dancing master, etc).
-One of the main characters is absolutely idiotic. I seriously skipped much over her parts. She was just too stupid to bear. Think ASOIAF's Sansa only as a slave and about twice as dumb/annoying.
-Superhero characters. Javelins grabbed from the air, considering killing 60 warriors with the strength of just 2 men... Oh man.
-Overpowered magic. At some point twenty wizards wipe out an entire army of barbarians who were never defeated before. Seriously. Stop it with the frigging magic.
But ABOVE ALL, or should I say BELOW ALL of these relatively minor problems in the book is the author's way to hyper-amplify EVERY SINGLE EMOTION.
You will see dialogue interchanging with italics, indicating character's thoughts or feelings, such as:
'Such fury!'
'How could he be so ignorant!'
'He grasps too much!'
This is just... no.
Decent plot saves the book, but I will not suffer through the subsequent installments.
Rated by buyers -
Had to write a review of this astounding book simply to help boost the rating of a book that should in no way receive one star ratings. Understand this is a review of a very intelligent "dark" fantasy book so Harry Potter, hack and slash, romp through the forest, high fantasy boy becomes a hero fans know this is a path far from the shelves of your librairy.
Ten years of planning and this work is now released for us to enjoy. It is a setting that reminds me of the crusades and takes into account all the pillaging, rape, war, murder, political trickery, the influence of the church both good and bad, backstabbing, corruption and spies that were so prominant in those times. Through Bakker's amazing prose you get a in your face account of this world, and with it a feeling that this world, so richly realized, that it could possibly be an actual time in history. Every aspect is so richly detailed it becomes almost painted in your mind, societies unwoven and understood, and characters that are not so one sided drawn to be removed of flaws and classified as good or evil. You get a real fantasy that takes you to another place, but does not take out humanity with the fiction.
This is where the seas will part at like and dislike for this book. At times this book is so real it is shocking and grasps more at our own personality flaws and gives us a look at how these interfere with everyday life through the characters in the story. It also takes into account the evil in our world and brings to vivid life some disturbing scenes in the book that is not for "shock" factor, but for more realization of the world that Bakker has created. However, these are not negatives in the book I feel they bring a certain grit to the world that gives you something relational to sink your teeth into.
Finally, the characters in the book are well drawn and well thought out. They remain consistent to the society they come from which is refreshing to see considering so many authors yesterday make fantastic things happen from a character that would never do such things. Each main character is not perfect, has real everyday issues and has highs and lows throughout the book we as the reader experience. These experiences give us feeling for these characters which just draws you in and does not let go. Which makes you stay up well into the night turning pages and absorbing this beautifully drawn world and its inhabitants.
I can go on and on and it will not do this book justice. My language, description and praise for this book can in no way compare to the brilliance of the author of this book. Do not listen to the bad reviews this wasn't their type book. If you want the best completed work to date and you can handle an intelligent walk through a dark intriguing world this book comes highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
This work, the Prince of Nothing trilogy, is the best epic fantasy I have ever read including Tolkien. The characters are real people. The story is rather slow to develop but the intervening pages are necessary to fully express the broad mode. You can't effectively write a book about a military campaign without many characters. Otherwise it becomes a book with a focus on the protagonist set in the aforementioned campaign. I don't understand why anyone gave these books a bad review. The writing is beautiful and the premise is engaging. Perhaps some were insulted by the violence and graphic rapes and such. This is not a children's book. If you don't want to know that your characters eat, sleep, and crap read something much lighter. This is serious, dark, and sometimes ugly stuff. Extremely well written.
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