The Prince of Nothing

The Prince of Nothing series
by R. Scott Bakker

The Darkness that Comes Before is the first book in Bakkers fantasy series. Bakker has studied philosophy and its clearly evident in the thought provoking concepts this series deals with. Scarred by an apocalypse that happened centuries before, with another apocalypse dawning on the horizon this is a world that is relatively stable, until Kellhus a man with mysterious powers enters it. The world was years in the making as any reader can tell. The one thing I really like about Bakker, similar to Erikson, is that he doesn’t waste time explaining his world to readers. Various factions, philosophies, and histories are fleshed out and as a reader you wait hungrily for more details to flesh the world out in your mind. He jumps right into it and lets you figure the world out as the book progresses. The characters are realistic, full of flaws and contradictions just like real people. Bakker has definitely taken a page from the “Martinesque” book on fantasy writing, in that his world is not for the faint of heart. This is a dark and cerebral series.

The titular main character of the series, Kellhus is a wonderful realization of the remote monk who uses his unmatched intelligence to triumph over enemies. His power of the “Logos”, a system where in one tries to achieve mental perfection, is new and wonderful. My one major problem with the series is there isn’t enough of Kellhus. After reading three books I never felt that the character was fully fleshed out. He remains as remote to the readers as he does to the characters whose perspectives he is often viewed through.

The “wizard” character in the series is Drusas Achamian. He is both an example of what is wonderful and terrible about the series. The character Achamian is beautifully flawed. A man of unquestionable magical power who is hamstrung by his love for a prostitute and his own flawed sense of inadequacy. The character of Achamian is perfectly human and I love seeing a character this flawed endowed with such power. But damn! He is such a whiner sometimes! The internal dialog (of which Achamian is just an example) where he over analyzes every single thing is very annoying. I don’t mind the fact that Achamian does his over alanysis and second guessing, that what makes him great. I just don’t want to read 20k words about it in each book.

The love stories made me uncomfortable, I can’t say anything else without giving away spoilers (should be covering it in a podcast at some point).

Besides Kellhus’s badass powers the best part of the series are two characters.

Cnaiur: awesome barbarian/homicidal maniac. gotta love this dude. You also would never want to meet him in real life.

Ikurei Conphas: basically Alexander the Great. If Alexander had to contend with powerful wizards and insanely intelligent monk-priests like Kellhus.


If you would like to purchase the book head here.