The Darkness That Comes Before (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Its jacket covered with hyperbolic praise, this book intrigued me enough that I borrowed it from our local library. Reviewers compare it, ecstatically, to both the Song of Ice and Fire and the Lord of the Rings, though in some measure surpassing both of them. Well, comparisons to LotR are de rigeur for any fantasy novel wanting to be taken seriously. But why compare this to GRR Martin's series? For the first hundred pages, the comparison seems nonsensical. But then it starts to make a twisted sense. "The Darkness that Comes Before" tries to take aspects of "The Song of Ice and Fire" - in large part, many of the more unpleasant aspects - and surpass them. The book follows multiple characters, but it doesn't follow the clear delineation by chapter break that GRRM does - it's like an MTV jump-cut version of character POV, as Bakker switches without warning between characters from one section to the next. Thankfully, much of the time which character is speaking can be inferred by the context of the location/setting. Sadly, each of the characters is reprehensible, as if "The Song of Ice and Fire" had been rewritten with only Lannister characters (excluding Tyrion - he's too sympathetic).Worst of all is the series' titular character, Anasurimbor Kellhus, later jokingly called "the Prince of Nothing", who is such an unabashed villain that I spent most of the novel building up a crazy hope that the author was going to kill off the character in a suitably nasty way. As a result, the most sympathetic, relatable character is the insane barbarian Cnaiur, who, while being a horrible piece of work himself, earns the gratitude of the readers by being the only character to recognize what an inhuman monster Kellhus is. By the end of the novel, if you're like me you'll be rooting for Cnaiur to get the better of Kellhus and save the world from his madness.The setting is an interesting one: magic is a taint that manifests itself in random individuals, who are then found and trained by one of the many Schools of magic. Such sorcerers are tremendously feared by everyone else, for their completely out-of-reason powers to destroy multitudes. Between the Schools there exists great rivalry and political machination. Getting the least respect is the Mandate School, so called because their first grandmaster, at the end of his life of fighting the inhuman monsters called the Consult, cast a spell on his deathbed so that everyone indoctrinated to the School would dream the grandmaster's life at night as if it were his own. When the story begins, more than 2,000 years after the death of the grandmaster, the threat of the Consult is real and present to everyone in the Mandate, but to everyone else the sorcerers are cranks and lunatics (though still possessed of dread arcane powers), fearing what they believe to be the imaginary "threat" of the Consult. All pretty compelling, but the problem lies in the main character, who is a monk descendant of the grandmaster's first liege lord. The monks have isolated themselves for the last few millennia in the far north, studying the Logos. The Logos is a logic based on the premise that everyone's actions are predetermined by what has happened previously (hence, the "darkness that comes before"), and that by completely owning and occupying one's powerlessness over events one actually gains the ability to effortlessly predict and manipulate events. For the whole novel we see Kellhus wandering the earth, manipulating and charming everyone to his own inscrutable ends, with a contempt for everyone else's lack of awareness of Reality. He's like an evil robot, undefeatable in battle, wits, love and hate. It may be that we are meant to like the character, but I doubt it, as he has no endearing qualities.The quality of the writing - the syntax, word choice, how phrases are formed - is good, but the characters are all so base this is a hard book to read. I will likely read the second book, though, just for the chance that someone, somewhere, will enact revenge on Kellhus for his crimes against, well, everyone.
There are very few books that are as ambitious as R. Scott Bakker's "The Darkness That Comes Before". Most authors would never attempt 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 next 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.
What do You think about The Darkness That Comes Before (2005)?
This review is more of an overall primer to the series, and less of a book-specific review. - but I feel like some folks might need a little initial encouragement :)I've read a fair amount of fantasy fiction, and what I find most compelling in a book is strong character development and witty banter. This book took everything I had to get through the first 4-5 chapters...but it was well worth the tenacity.Why was it such a slow start for me? Bakker has obviously put an enormous amount of effort into his world-building, and it is certainly Tolkien-esque in that arena (but much darker and grittier). He spends a lot of time establishing that baseline, and it's rather slow going at first. Also, my husband and I were reading it out loud to each other, and the people and place names are a mouthful, which added to the initial awkwardness. However, once a couple of the characters climb out from under the immensity of his descriptions, I felt like the book exploded to life. What I liked best:Command of Language - Bakker chooses words that both perplex and enlighten. Initially, I would re-read sentences simply because the descriptions were so unusual. His choice of adjectives and adverbs often feel like strangers to their neighbor nouns and verbs...until you see them together and think - yes...that's perfect. In the months I have been reading his first trilogy, I find Bakker's writing style has raised my bar for descriptive prose - I want his more creative approach.Depth of Characters - They are like onions with no end to the layers. Many of the characters begin disturbingly flat (which also made the beginning very hard), and slowly develop into wonderfully complex characters...with no one being purely good or purely evil. They are compelling, funny, heartbreaking...and they constantly evolve over the books.Intriguing Plot - This is really not a read-once series. Even reading the books in the first trilogy back to back, I found the summaries at the beginning of each incredibly helpful in solidifying my understanding of the various threads that are being woven. The magic is bordering on simply an advanced application of futuristic science (which is an nice twist), the ancient "evil" forces implicate alien beings (which is intriguing), and the concept of the race bred from the Anasurimbor line is terrifying and mesmerizing.
—Belen Schneider
Found this in the parents' room at the hospital.So I've seen a lot of Bakker-talk online and you'd think to read it that the man was either the devil incarnate or a seven-fold genius come to show the true way. A phrase I'm used to hearing is 'marmite book', another is 'you'll either love it or hate it - there's no in between'. All as much bollocks here of course as when applied to my own work. A simple click of the ratings button shows a vast number of in betweens. In fact most people are in between the 5* and the 1* on this book (as on mine). Most people give it 4*, 1* is the least popular rating.There are plenty of good things to say about the book.I've heard it comprises 'dense philosophy'. To my mind that would make an awful work of fiction. I've read philosophy text-books, and the fiction of Satre, De Beauvoir, and others. This is nothing like that. This is a fantasy story with a complex plot and plenty of action. Yes there's a little more introspection than typical for the genre. But philosophy? Very little. Bakker wisely opts for aphorisms and a measure of psychology to scatter around and create the ambiance.The prose is powerful (can be long winded in places), there's an abundance of cleverness and insight on offer, the much talked of darkness of the book didn't strike me as particularly dark at all.At the end of the book the threads converge and a pretty decent 'climax' is delivered, ending without a cliff hanger and with a (for me) mild impetus to continue.The intricacy of the many part plot ... well, I admired it but I can't say it really did it for me. I guess it's a ton of material for the epic side of epic fantasy to play with over the course of the next however many books. I perhaps wanted more focus and more character-time.There's great imagination here and Khellus' methods are a fresh and entertaining idea. All that really pushed this a touch below 4* for me was the fact that the whole book lacked the emotional content I enjoy. I don't need nice characters. I don't need to cheer their every move. And Bakker's character list certainly includes interesting characters - which is great. But I never really felt emotionally involved and that blunted my enjoyment. The Mandate Schoolman was the most involving character for me, then Esmenet.In short then, a book with depth, complexity, written with skill, and well worth a look. Personally I wasn't as swept up and held by it as I had hoped to be, but your mileage may well vary!.
—Mark Lawrence
This is a very difficult book to begin reading. The first one hundred pages or so are filled with so many characters and plots and the setting up of a whole fantasy world that your brain swims in all of these details while trying to keep them together. The determined reader will be richly rewarded though by continuing through hundreds of pages over Bakker's next two books in the trilogy. I am completely at awe with his masterful interjection of philosophy, keen insights into human pysche and the myriad of other concepts he puts forth throughout the mind-blowing epic.
—Michael
