For all that darkness, it sheds a lot of light
January 8th 2009 20:24
book one of R. Scott Bakker's "The Prince of Nothing
Just when I thought that modern Fantasy was being overtaken by commercial cutouts of Lord of the Rings and was beginning to stagnate in the areas of philosophy, originality, and good old literary-ness, R. Scott Bakker came along with his groundbreaking book The Darkness That Comes Before.
This trilogy, and this first book specifically, has already been out for a while now, but I still can't help raving about it. Rarely have I seen Fantasy, or any literary work for that matter, that's just so smart! In addition to being an exciting fantasy narrative set in a highly detailed and complex otherworld, reading this book was like getting a lesson in philosophy.
Admittedly, this book and its successors are very grim, gritty, and relentlessly realistic. A lot of people would be turned off by Bakker's explicit descriptions of sex and violence. This is a hard book to read, but I think it's very much worth it. The characters are fleshed out very well, and all of them have good and bad sides that will make you smile and cringe simultaneously. All the characters (except the enigmatic Kellhus) go through dramatic changes in circumstance and in mindset. Also, Bakker's characters are so idiosyncratic and rule-breaking that I don't think any lover of literary fantasy can help but admire what has been accomplished with this book.
This is not a happy book. If it fits into any specific fantasy subgenre, I would have to classify it as a dystopian fantasy. It portrays humanity at its lowest and most realistic, and part of why it's so depressing is that I could see so many parallels between this book and reality. The bad guys (well, the *really* bad guys, since Bakker does a wonderful job at distorting the taken-for-granteds) are the most active and determined, and the "good" guys are timid and unwilling.
Despite its explicit descriptions of human depravity and pessimistic nature, I could not put this book down. It's well-crafted characters, well-defined world, and profoundly deep philosophical messages stimulated my intellect like a flying snowball stimulates my face. Painfully and instantly, and the feeling lingers for quite some time.
P.S.
I don't comment on the actual narrative, because I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't read it. Next Thursday I'll be talking about the second book in the trilogy, "The Warrior-Prophet."
Tomorrow I'll start Factual Friday by talking about anachronism: when modern ideas, language, or other things appear in medieval-set fantasy, why it's bad, and some tips to avoid it. Have a nice day!
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Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Another good series to check out would be George R. R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire. I haven't read it yet-just started on the first book-but everyone I know has loved it.
~Dianna
Comment by Andrew Kerstetter
A New Poetics
Inkwing
Cinemuscle
Yes, I've heard of that series too, and I too have recently started the first book! Some friends at school recommended it to me. Another series I want to get my hands on is Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books. Can't believe I haven't heard of them sooner. Most of the time I've been enraptured by Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Raymond Feist's Midkemia books.
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Have you read any Terry Pratchett?
~Dianna
Comment by Andrew Kerstetter
A New Poetics
Inkwing
Cinemuscle
I've been on a kick with older Fantasy lately, like Le Guin and Peake...George MacDonald wrote some great fantasy too. Especially his book Phantastes. It changed my life, sort of.
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
Pratchett is great. I haven't read the hogfather, but I've read a couple others by him, and have the Hogfather movie. Thief of Time is a good one by him.