The Prince of Nothing, by R. Scott Bakker

[shannon_a]

I just finished reading The Prince of Nothing, which is a three-book trilogy by R. Scott Bakker. Christopher A. praised it as one of the better fantasy series of recent years, and I understand where he was coming for, but it never really grabbed me.

The strength of the series is that it offers up a relatively original fantasy world. It was somewhat overshadowed by Tolkien in the first volume as a Prince from a lost kingdom descends from the north in a world where ancient battles were fought and are about to reignite, but it increasingly found its own way.

However its biggest weakness was that it was very, very slow. I feel like Bakker is one of those authors who really needs editing and doesn't get it. This trilogy was originally conceived of as a single book, the first part of a trilogy. Now with that first book having expanded into a trilogy, Bakker has said the whole series will turn out to be maybe 7 books or maybe 8 or maybe 9. The Wheel of Time, anyone? And, I think that lack of focus showed in the books, where nothing happened for 100 pages at a time.

I did like some of the characters and I find their stories intriguing. I also liked the Crusades-like setting of these particular books. And one of the main characters, who can read and manipulate people is pretty neat. Likewise, truly mighty sorcerers is pretty unique. But there were also many too many characters that I never really got to know.

So, it was really a mixed bag, and as with The Wheel of Time (of which I read two books), I think I'm going to give up on this one. I got some bit of closure with the ending of this first trilogy, and I think that'll do it for me.

Crossposted to Xenagia.

Comments

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

maybe 7 books or maybe 8 or maybe 9

WTF? That makes me feel a heck of a lot less charitable towards Bakker: I thought this thing was done and packed away with three books.

I gathered that he noodled with the first book for an order of magnitude more time than the second and third, and frankly I thought it showed through all too clearly. There were bits and pieces of the first book I quite liked, but when I picked up the second I dragged to a halt within a hundred pages. The narrative just didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Frankly, I'd rather read Erickson, and so I went back to his books. I'm not yet at the stage where I'll take the Bakker books to the used bookstore, but they're close and this news of budding Jordanism is not heartening... 8P

[shannon_a]

The second book was indeed where I started having major problems. I felt like nothing happened until page 200 or so.

As for the book count: he originally planned for three books. Then he said that the first book was going to be a trilogy and the other two duologies. Then he said, maybe two trilogies. Then, maybe three.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

::sigh::

That's not at all encouraging. It smacks of someone who doesn't have a reasonably clear idea in his head what story he wants to tell, and really what he has in head is a desire to knarble around in an intricate fantasy setting of his own devising. I can understand an author coming back to a setting years later because they've discovered a new story they want to tell (viz LeGuin). But I'm not a huge fan of Baedekers that pretend to be novels...

[raconteurx.livejournal.com]

Mind you, the setting has depth on a level with those of Tolkien's Middle-earth, Barker's Tékumel, Donaldson's Land and Smylie's Known World. What Bakker fails to do, for the most part, is leave the details unrelated to the story for the appendices like those before him largely had the sense to do.

[raconteurx.livejournal.com]

The Prince of Nothing was an interesting series, although I agree that it often dragged interminably. Bakker seems to have approached the writing of it more like a historical novel than one set in a fictional world. His historical and literary influences were apparent, sometimes all too much. However, the way he made sorcery both very powerful and yet largely impotent was very clever.

I would prefer that Bakker had concluded his elaborate tale rather than leave off as he did at an unsatisfying point. Some of us still await the next installment of other authors' so-called trilogies (David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr, as an example) and the alleged necessity of telling a more epic story than the master, Tolkien. Ours seems a generation of fantasy authors with the equivalent of an Oedipal complex.

[raconteurx.livejournal.com]

...and the alleged necessity of telling a more epic story than the master, Tolkien...

Accidentally clipped the end of the sentence. It should conclude "...borders on the absurd." My bad.