The Thousandfold Thought
January 23rd 2009 03:49
by R. Scott Bakker
This book grabs my head and shakes it around, causing me to lose memory of all words except one: wow. This book really is like "the climactic movement of a symphony," as one of the reviews on the cover of the book said.
What was introduced in The Darkness That Comes Before and continued in The Warrior-Prophet comes to a heart-wrenching, pulse-pounding stop--or pause, I should say--in The Thousandfold Thought. Where "Darkness" was heavy on exposition and philosophy and a little slow in the narrative, and "Prophet" upped the narrative and characterization and lightened up on the philosophical exposition, "Thought" ups the bloody ante in ever aspect.
The great Holy War careens its way toward its goal--the holy city of Shimeh held by the 'heathen' Fanim--while Anasurimbor Kellhus' power and influence grow as he nears his goal of meeting and killing his father. Achamian the wizard, plagued with almost puppy-like admiration for Kellhus, is torn with the knowledge that his new pupil is the harbinger of the Second Apocalypse. Even when Achamian decides to inform his order of this news, it's already too late, for Kellhus has, through his cold, flawless intellect, subjugated everyone around him into worshiping him as their Warrior-Prophet. In the meantime, the enigmatic, malevolent abominations of The Consult start making themselves more known as their mysterious plans apparently come closer to fruition--or disaster.
Cnaiur urs-Skiotha, the exiled barbarian-turned tactical leader of the Holy War, descends further into madness as he, like his emotionally aloof traveling partner Kellhus, seeks the man who killed his father: Anasurimbor Moenghus, also Kellhus' father. Esmenet, Achamian's former-prostitute lover, has fallen in love with Kellhus and has betrayed Achamian's bed for the Warrior-Prophet's.
All the multiple story arcs come careening to what I now know is a mid-series climax; however, as I was reading it, I was unaware that this trilogy was not the entire story. The Holy War comes to a bloody, frenetic end that is indeed cosmic in scope, although it was not the dreaded Second Apocalypse. In the aftermath, the Consult is fully revealed, Achamian is now an exiled sorcerer, the heathen Fanim are completely decimated--along with entire systems of religion and government--Cnaiur, completely mad, has fallen in with the Consult, and Kellhus--after meeting and killing his father and single-handedly ending the Holy War with a never-before-seen brand of magical power--has ascended to the throne of a god, and is the basis for the new world religion.
This crashing cosmic climax is possibly the bloodiest, most complex, surprising, and dramatic climax of any modern fantasy series. It does leave a lot of questions open, which will be answered in following books: what about the No-God, who will supposedly bring about the Second Apocalypse?; what about Cnaiur and the Consult?; what will happen to Achamian?; and perhaps the most pressing for me, is Kellhus really a god now, or is he still a man?
I can't wait to get my hands on the next book.
| 19 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
