A new R. Scott Bakker interview by a trio of bloggers, Part II

Some time ago, I posted the link to an interview that Pat, Adam and Larry took from Scott Bakker. Now it's time for the second part. It is a lot shorter, but plot-intensive, and I love it! You can read it here. My favorite part:

Is Aurang special amongst the Inchoroi in his ability to use Sorcery? Or were all Inchoroi, his brother included, amongst the Few?　

The Inchoroi only possessed the Tekne when they arrived in Eärwa. All of the Inchoroi are the products of successive Graftings, species-wide rewrites of their genotype, meant to enhance various abilities and capacities, such as the ability to elicit certain sexual responses from their victims (via pheromone locks), or the capacity to ‘tune sensations’ and so explore the vagaries and vicissitudes of carnal pleasure. The addition of anthropomorphic vocal apparatuses is perhaps the most famous of these enhancements.

The Grafting that produced Aurang and Aurax was also devised during the age-long C no-Inchoroi Wars, one of many failed attempts to biologically redesign themselves to overcome the Nonmen. But they had been outrun by their debauchery by this time, and had lost any comprehensive understanding of the Tekne. The Graftings had become a matter of guesswork, more likely to kill than enhance those who received them. The Inchoroi filled the Wells of the Aborted with their own in those days.

Aurang and Aurax are two of six who survived the attempt to Graft the ability to see the onta.

The White Luck Warrior - R. Scott Bakker

After the relative disappointment that The Judging Eye turned out to be (if only in comparison with the original Prince of Nothing trilogy), it took me a while to actually get into The White Luck Warrior. Part of it was fear of another disappointment, one that would cement the realization that even Bakker could not keep the quality and measure to his own high standards. Another part was the fact that the book was big, and in recent times it's been getting progressively hard for me to start large volumes, little reading time that I have.

Now I feel slightly silly for waiting so long, but better late than later. I have been denying myself one of the best fantasy novels in recent years.

WARNING! SPOILERS FOR WHAT HAS COME BEFORE!

The Aspect-Emperor's Great Ordeal marches on the Istyuli Plains, bound for ancient Kuniuri. In front of them the Sranc mob, more and more clans combining and running back, to turn into a Horde that would end up dwarfing the great army of Men. Varalt Sorweel, the young King of conquered Sakarpus, is trying to come to terms with the fact that the goddess Yatwer has chosen him to be her weapon against the Aspect-Emperor, hiding his face from the man's dread Dunyain gaze and that of his uncanny children, and positioning him in ever greater positions of power.

Meanwhile, the Skin Eaters continue their journey for ancient Sauglish and its fabled Library, where the Wizard Achamian hopes to find the secret location of Ishual - the ancient citadel of the Dunyain, the birth-place of Anasurimbor Kellhus. Mimara, daughter of the woman who left him for divinity, is struggling with the gift she has - the Judging Eye - and the knowledge that it reveals to her every time it opens, as well as her doubts about the old Wizard's mission.

And in Momemn, capital of the New Empire, the Holy Empress Esmenet is struggling to hold everything together. Assailed by Fanayal ab Kascamandri, the Bandit Padirajah and his Kianene rebels, Psatma Nannaferi, the Mother-Supreme of the Cult of Yatwer, the threat of civil war and the possible machinations of Maithanet, the Shriah of the Thousand Temples, she is blind to the biggest threat of all - her own little son Kelmomas, whose blood-thirsty manipulation threatens to destroy everything she cares about.

And the White Luck Warrior follows a path already trodden, an instrument of circumstances that will inevitably deliver him at the right moment in time and space where the Aspect-Emperor could be killed. But his journey has first taken him to Momemn...

The White Luck Warrior is split into those three lines, with multiple view-points in each one. The Ordeal is seen through Sorweel's POV and my favorite bird's eye view, which Bakker proved to be magnificent at in the original trilogy. The Slog of Slogs is told through Mimara and Achamion's perspectives, while the Momemn line is split into multiple sections - each of its chapters starts with a short scene with the White Luck Warrior, written in italic, and told in a very Gene Wolfean style - due to the man's divine nature - following his inexorable progress towards the death of Anasurimbor Kellhus. Other major POVs are Esmenet and little Kelmomas', as well as the Zeumi sorcerer Malowebi, sent to live among the Kianene rebels to determine whether they are worth Zeum's help.

After The Judging Eye seemed to do nothing but set the new stage and spend half of its length in Moria - pardon, Cil'Aujas - the second part of The Aspect-Emperor propels the plot forward. Unlike with The Prince of Nothing, entire major story-lines end in this novel, leaving many characters' future open for speculation. Of the major POVs, it is Sorweel's that sees the most development. This was the character I hated the most in the first book, as he represented all that is unholy in Steven Erikson's writing, come to Bakker's work as a spreading of cancer. Not so in The White Luck Warrior. Instead of continuing feeling super sorry for himself, the young "Horse-King" actually grows up, his doubts no longer directed at the measure of his worth as a human being, but at his conflicting passions and loyalties where his monstrous enemy and even more monstrous patroness are concerned.

Description of epic battles and sorcerous displays has always been one of Bakker's strongest points, and he more than delivers in both aspects. The Ordeal faces multitudes of Sranc so vast as to obscure the horizon - a plague that does not dwindle even when hundreds of thousands of the abominations are destroyed by the army's four Schools. Where sorcery is concerned, nothing leaves quite as big an impression as the Swayali witches and their gloriously beautiful Grandmistress Anasurimbor Serwa. Kellhus has invented special clothing for his Schools - billows that allow protection against Chorae - and wearing those, the witches are described as flowers of light blooming in the sky. The words used to paint their glory resonated so well with me, at times I felt I was the sole focus of Bakker's writing.

There are two things that prevent The White Luck Warrior from being the perfect fantasy. One is the Mimara/Achamian story-line. It is just too devoid of events, too steeped in despair and drug-warped misery, as all the Skin Eaters slowly succumb to the lull of the mystical Qirri that the Nonman Incariol dispenses every night. At some point those chapters become almost unbearably hard to plod through, and even though the ending to that line more than pays off, less pages could have been spent on it, either leaving them for other lines, or making the book itself shorter.

The one true element I could not stand though, is Anasurimbor Kelmomas. I don't mind that he is a deranged little Stewie, and honestly, if he were only that, he would just spice things up in Momemn. But no, he has to be a Wesley as well! Bakker gives the little abortion an inordinate amount of plot-influence, spinning the entire Momemn line on the juvenile evil genius machinations, and every time something disastrous happened because of him, it made me cringe. There is this syndrome in some fantasy novels, that I can't describe properly. It is when events just turn bad in a bad way that you hate, not because you are attached to certain characters, but just because it's bad and not right. I know that those of you who have shared the feeling - the syndrome has been more than abundant in latter Malazan novels - will know exactly what I mean, and I apologize to the rest if I am unclear. Well, Kelmomas and his argh-inducing plot-direction are exactly that, and in a bad way. I do hope he has a less prominent role in the last book - I mean, he already fraked up everything that could be fraked up...

But despite that one ugly Anasurimbor tumor, The White Luck Warrior is superb. It is Bakker at his best, easily comparable with The Warrior Prophet in terms of quality. The story progresses toward the inevitable battle with Golgotterath, and The Unholy Consult promises to be an epic conclusion to The Aspect-Emperor. The writer himself has promised to basically shatter our world with that one, so I can only wait and hope.

9/10

A new R. Scott Bakker interview by a trio of bloggers

Pat, Adam and Larry have done an interview with Scott Bakker, and the first part of it is up on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. My favorite part:

- Speaking of THE UNHOLY CONSULT, what can you tell us about the final volume of The Aspect-Emperor?

Completing it will certainly be a tremendous relief, simply because it’ll allow me to finally talk about so many things I’ve kept bottled up for so many years. I’m not sure whether The Second Apocalypse will be anything more than a cult success, commercially speaking, but when you live with a story as long as I have, it becomes a kind of yardstick, something almost religious in its demands. I am very, very happy with how the tale has come along–thanks, in large part, to some important lessons I learned along the way. My brother and I used to pine and daydream about this back in our D&D days, so to see it rendered, every bit as epic as we hoped, and as profound and lyrically beautiful as I could make it... well, that’s just way, way cool.
It feels scriptural, in my imagination at least.

Now, at the top of the sixth inning, the bases are loaded and I need to hit the ball out of the park. So what I want to say is that The Unholy Consult is where most of the burning questions will be revealed. I write books that many people love to hate: my hope is that after this latest set of reveals, the series will have earned their grudging respect as something genuinely unique and daring.

Most of the interview deals with things other than The Aspect-Emperor series, but it is still very interesting. Make sure to check it out.

The Judging Eye - R. Scott Bakker

The White Luck Warrior, part two of Bakker's Aspect Emperor trilogy, is almost here, and so I thought I'd get up to date by reviewing the first one. Apparently this review will MASSIVELY SPOIL the ending of the original Prince of Nothing trilogy (Review), so if you haven't read that one, do be ashamed and stop here.



Twenty years have passed since the Warrior Prophet Kellhus united the disparate peoples of the Three Seas and was proclaimed Aspect Emperor. Now the New Empire rules throughout the land and is spreading its boundaries ever northward. The Consult is no longer a children's tale, but a threat made real by edict of the throne, its insidious skin-spies expertly hunted and executed publically. The Few are no longer damned. The Aspect Emperor in his divinity has rewritten scripture and the ages long enmity between the Thousand Temples and the sorcerous Schools is no more.

Now the Aspect Emperor has called all his forces to arms. The Great Ordeal is about to begin - a crusade against Golgoterath itself, and the Consult. For two decades the scalpoi - a new breed of bounty hunters who collect Sranc scalps for money - have been cleaving a path throughout the northern wastes, and now the armies of the Three Seas finally have a chance to reach the ancient enemy of mankind.

In Momemn, empress Esmeneth rules in her husband's name, surrounded by their inhuman children. Meanwhile, her long lost daughter Mimara joins the outcast wizard Achamian in his own quest to uncover the secret of the Duniain and the origin of Anasurimbor Kellhus. But other powers also look north, and even some of the gods seem to have set themselves against the Aspect Emperor.

The Judging Eye is structured the same way The Darkness That Comes Before was. Which is to say, it is only the beginning of a story, the first third of it, even though it has a lot more of a climax than the other one had. In some ways it is a better beginning, but at the same time it is a slightly worse book. In the twenty years that have passed, a lot of things have changed, and whereas the characters in The Darkness had to start humble and develop throughout the original trilogy, here they are already on the board, and in important positions. There is no "exploratory" element, and that leaves room for far less character development. However, what I had actual problem with while reading the novel, was what I call "Eriksonisms". Little chunks of aimless meandering introspection that goes nowhere and serves no visible purpose. I am a huge fan of characters overanalyzing and being all philosophical, but while in The Prince of Nothing it served the plot and character development, here it feels like page filler.

Another thing that didn't agree with me are certain plot-lines that are just too dragged. The whole White Luck Warrior arc and the meddling goddess behind him seem completely out of sync with the rest of the series, and it reminded me way too much of Malazan for its own good. The whiny annoying emo creature Sorweel that we are not only forced to endure throughout the entire Great Ordeal storyline, but is also given a very important role towards the end, is also something I'd expect Steven Erikson to pull. The "Moria" part takes up a good half of the book, but for some reason it doesn't really feel stolen from Tolkien, perhaps due to the utter obviousness of the connection.

Negative stuff being out of the way, The Judging Eye is still pretty effing awesome! The New Empire is a place in turns magnificent and fake, as it has been created by a mind designed to deceive and manipulate, but also one bred for efficiency and optimal results. The changes in the social order compared to twenty years ago are interesting, but Bakker doesn't spend too much time on them, busy as he is with the messed up children of Esmeneth and Kellhus. All of them are wrong in some way, each of them mad and broken in their inhuman brilliance, the Warrior Prophet's seed having been too strong for any mortal woman to take.

The Aspect Emperor himself is almost never talked about using his name. Bakker does his best to put him as far away from the reader as possible, and Kellhus is no longer a POV character in the story. He is a figure of immeasurable power, a godlike being that compels awe, adoration, terror and utter obedience. I found this stylistic decision a very good one, as Kellhus can no longer be manageable as an actual character. Twenty years in the real world, in possession of all the economical and sorcerous power of the Three Seas, not to mention their vast knowledge, have turned him into something well beyond what any writer could hope to believably describe, should they try to get in his head.

The rest of the old cast are more or less the same, even if thrust into different situations. Esmeneth and Achamian still feel way too sorry for themselves for their own good, and whine to their support characters. The new additions are sometimes awesome (like most of Kellhus' children) and sometimes cringe-worthy (like Mimara and Sorweel), but none are especially memorable. An interesting element in Achamian's development is the evolution of his Dreams that start revealing to him information previously hidden from the Mandate schoolmen.

Unfortunately, Bakker seems to not be rooting for Kellhus, and the story is going in a direction I am not sure I appreciate. Of course, the writer has proven himself as perfectly capable to develop an unpredictable and epic conclusion, no matter how bad things may seem at any given moment, but the "Erikson" arcs really grated on my nerves, and I am rarely the type of reader to get pissed when a story doesn't go the way he likes. So I'm just hoping The White Luck Warrior goes back on track in that aspect. Because the war with the Consult is coming, and it promises to be epic!

8.5/10

Canadian cover art for The White Luck Warrior

This cover for R. Scott Bakker's The White Luck Warrior is rather horrible if you ask me, but if Canadians aren't pleased with the US and UK versions, it's their own choice, I guess... Btw, is it me, or has someone skipped the "The" in the title?

The books I'm expecting in 2011

This is just a short list, and I haven't put that much thought into it, but I felt the need to write down the books I'm most eager to read in order of their anticipated awesomeness.




1. The White Luck Warrior by R. Scott Bakker
Even though I was slightly disappointed with The Judging Eye (there will be a review soon, after I reread it), I still can't wait to read this one. The Prince of Nothing trilogy is by far my favorite work of fantasy, and I trust Scott Bakker to deliver again with The Aspect Emperor.



2. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
For whatever reason, it's always been extremely hard for me to explain why I like The Name of the Wind so much. It is more or less a generic "orphan goes to school to become a great magician" story, but it felt neither generic, nor cliche. I am planning to reread this one as well, and I hope I can pinpoint what makes it so good. That said, The Wise Man's Fear took its sweet time, risking to put Pat Rothfuss in the same basket where George Martin is happily writing A Dance With Dragons with one hand, while supposedly programming Duke Nukem Forever with the other or something like that. Which would not be an issue, had the series not been promoted as an "already written" kind of deal, and had Rothfuss not been a writer with only that one successful book under his name. Still, the waiting is almost over and The Wise Man's Fear will be awesome. I just know it.



3. Embassytown by China Mieville
Probably not for the first time, I have to admit to the terrible shame of having never read an entire China Mieville book. It's not that I don't want to, I actually crave to! I just never seem to be able to get around to it. So, apart from about 250 pages from Perdido Street Station, read before the dawnatime, I have no experience with Mieville. However, I know enough to know that I have to read Embassytown. This writer, doing a space opera? Yes, please!



4. Home Fires by Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is the greatest living writer in the speculative field area. That doesn't always make him the most interesting or approachable one, but it's a nice thing to be, none the less. I am not always in love with his fantasy, magical realism and mystical works in general, but his SF is always spot on, and terribly, terribly engrossing. Home Fires promises the usual Wolfeisms - confusing identities, stories within stories, and weird romance. In a futuristic setting. What more can the heart desire?


5. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Say what you want about Sanderson, his Mistborn trilogy was one of the best fantasy works I've read in years. So, when he announced that 2011 will see the publication of a stand-alone novel set in the same world, but 300 years in the future, in a society much more technologically advanced than the Final Empire... well, appetites have been whet. There is still very little information about this book, particularly concerning its release date, but I am fervently hoping it's around the summer. The Alloy of Law would make for awesome summer reading!



6. The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
Had you asked me three years ago, this book would be at the top of the list. However, the Malazan series is not what it once was, and I have utterly lost faith in Steven Erikson's ability to deliver a satisfying conclusion to it. I have been so disinterested lately, that I haven't even gotten around to reading Dust of Dreams (that will happen soon, however, followed by a review of the book here). Still, it has been a long ride, and at least the first half of it was quite memorable. Hoping against hope has always been appealing to me, so here's to hope!



7. The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Yes, yes, I know this book is already out in the UK. But the Pyr editions are so much more... well, beautiful. Plus, I am yet to finish Blood of the Mantis, so there's no rush. Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series is slowly finding its pace, and getting better and better with each installment. I have been told that Salute the Dark marks an ending to the current story-arc, which means that The Scarab Path would be the beginning of a new one. I admit I'm curious as to how Tchaikovsky will handle that with the experience he's acquired since Empire in Black and Gold.



8. The Cold Commands by Richard Morgan
Just like Mieville, the next two places on my list are left for writers I am really interested in, but haven't had the chance to check out. I've been meaning to read something by Morgan ever since Altered Carbon, but never got around to it. I am definitely planning to try The Steel Remains however, and if it's half as good as everybody says, then The Cold Commands should go a lot higher on my list.



9. The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
I've heard so many good things about Abercrombie, that I just couldn't not put The Heroes on my list. The reason for it being so far back is that I am yet to even start The First Law trilogy, and considering my reading speed lately, it would be a long time until I get to this particular book. But I will get there! One has to believe in reaching for the stars!



10. By Light Alone by Adam Roberts
My first and only contact with Roberts was through one of his parodies - The McAtrix Derided. I did not fall in love with the book, and although there were a few really funny moments, the overall feeling I got was that the writer wanted to mix serious SF with a movie spoof, and it hadn't really worked. That said, since then I've read a lot of Adam's posts in his blog, and I have gradually warmed up to the idea of reading more of his work, preferably not spoofs, but his own stuff. By Light Alone seems like a wonderful place to do that, with its promised "Fitzgeraldian" futuristic New York atmosphere. I will be checking it out, that's for sure.



Honorary mention: A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Yeah, I know. But for what it's worth, I think we have an actual shot at reading this book in 2011, even if it's a Christmas present. I wouldn't mention it though, if it weren't for the fact that I am currently rereading A Game of Thrones, due to the HBO show coming up (there will be review of it, btw, followed by other cutting edge reviews such as The Lord of the Rings and Conan the Barbarian! Stay tuned!). It was a good ten years since I last read it, and that wasn't in the original language either, so I am thoroughly enamored with it. As for Dance... well, time will tell.

The White-Luck Cover

And so here's the cover, now in its full .jpg glory:

Finally! The White-Luck Warrior's REAL cover from Orbit

Scott Bakker posted on his blog the finalized cover for the Orbit edition of The White-Luck Warrior - second in his Aspect Emperor trilogy. Unfortunately, the file is a .pdf, so I can't post it here, but make sure to go see it, because - even though it follows pretty much the same style as all other covers in the series - this one looks absolutely gorgeous!

The White-Luck Warrior is in press!

Scott Bakker announced on his blog that The White-Luck Warrior is already in press, and he only has to finish the maps for the book. It is still some months until it is out (Amazon has it listed for March 31, 2011 for both the US, and Canada/UK), but at least now it's in the hands of the publishers. Bakker expects he would be able to finish The Unholy Consult - the final third part of The Aspect Emperor trilogy - within the next eight months. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I hope they do come up with a more decent cover, as this one still wakes me up in the middle of the night. Screaming and drowning in my own cold sweat...

Scott Bakker talks White-Luck Warrior and beyond

R. Scott Bakker wrote on his blog that he is now in the polishing stage of a fully written The White-Luck Warrior. He has also changed the title of the third Aspect Emperor novel to The Unholy Consult (previously The Horns of Golgoterath). Last but not least, he announced that the recently released White-Luck cover is only a stand-in for the ARCs, and will, hopefully, be replaced with something that doesn't look like - to quote Bakker - a POV shot of his childhood.

Meanwhile, the author expressed his optimism that he will reach the end of the journey that The Second Apocalypse has turned out to be. Bakker also seems sure now that the third and last series in the cycle is going to be a duology.

Man, I can't wait for The White-Luck Warrior to be released!

The Prince of Nothing Trilogy - R. Scott Bakker

I read Scott Bakker's fantasy trilogy a few years ago, and it instantly turned into my favorite work in the genre. The rich world-building, magnificent style, the awesome central character, and the scope of the story are something I am yet to see in another fantasy series. It is also one of the greatest examples of how the genre could be so much more than entertainment, weaving into the story thoughts on religion, faith, and most importantly - the extent to which anyone could ever know himself. And so now, while we wait for The White-Luck Warrior - second installment in the second trilogy in the larger arc of The Second Apocalypse - I thought to pay a tribute to this amazing series by writing about it.

The story is set in a world, resembling our pre-medieval ages. Two millenia ago the great Norsirai civilizations of humanity were destroyed in the Apocalypse - a monstrous war between men and Mog-Pharau - the No-God - and its Consult. The conflict finally ended in a victory, but the North was left a wasteland, inhabited by the abominations, created by the Consult. Civilization now thrives in the southern Three Seas - a multitude of nations, sharing Inrithism, the religion of the Thousand Temples... but little else. The Apocalypse is now just tales and superstitions to all but the School of Mandate - sorcerers who each night relive the devastating war through the eyes of their founder - the great sorcerer Seswatha. They know the Apocalypse happened. And they know the No-God was not killed and the Consult still waits to unleash terrible destruction on the world of men.

The countries under the religion of Inrithism are now at the threshold of a Holy War with the heathen Fanim from the desert kingdom of Kian - by far the largest nation in the Three Seas. The Inriti are bound for Shimeh - the birthplace of the Latter Prophet Inri Sejenus. And as different factions are trying to bend the Holy War to their own ends, and the fragile balance between the the Great Powers - kingdoms, empires, the Thousand Temples and the Few and their sacrilegious sorcerous Schools - is about to be smashed to pieces, into the world comes a variable that no one could have predicted. In a distant secluded citadel far in the savage North, the Dunyain - a strange order of monks - have survived in perfect isolation for two thousand years. Bred for passionless intellect, mental and physical perfection, they have turned themselves into something more than human in search of the Absolure - the Self-moving Soul, unbound by any circumstance, moved by nothing but its own will. And now one of them, a man named Anasurimbor Kellhus, is sent to find his father... and kill him.




Drussas Achamian - a Mandate sorcerer and spy - follows the Holy War looking for traces of his School's old and elusive enemy, the Consult. Esmeneth is his lover - a prostitute from the city of Sumna, cradle of the Thousand Temples, and her fate is also bound to the Holy War. Cnaur urs Skiyotha is a Scylvendi barbarian from the western steppes - a heathen amidst the righteous Inriti, incapable of escaping the pull of hatred and madness that have been brewing in his heart for thirty years. Those three are connected to Kellhus in more ways than they could imagine, but only Achamian knows what the Norsirai's arrival means. Because the last king of the great kingdom of Kuniuri - now two millenia destroyed by the No-God - was an Anasurimbor. And before he died, he uttered a prophecy that one of his blood would return... at the end of the world.

The time has come for the Second Apocalypse and the rebirth of Mog-Pharau. And Achamian has to find a way to warn the many nations of the Three Seas of an enemy none of them believe in, and prepare them for a war they think just mere legends. But no one could prepare the Three Seas for Anasurimbor Kellhus.

The Prince of Nothing trilogy tells the story of the Holy War. It is the story of one man who tries to bend the world to his will amidst a conflict of epic proportions. And it is a story of sorcery and religion, of zealous faith and poisonous ambition. A huge cast of characters is used to paint the many faces of the Holy War, each of them ugly in one way and beautiful in another. Scott Bakker's style of writing is amazing - both rich and exact, with an unbelievable eye for thrilling detail, creating with seaming ease an atmosphere of epic events and ancient pathos. One that so many fantasy authors spend their whole careers trying to achieve, but never come close to. But the gorgeous prose and the grand story Bakker tells with it are only a part of what makes this trilogy so good. I already mentioned the complex characters. The author uses those to engage in musings about faith and self-analysis sometimes bordering on the obsessive.




As for the fantasy elements, I don't think I've ever read more glorious description of magic. In The Prince of Nothing's world sorcery is a force of annihilation, a power that tears the fabric of reality, creating wounds that the Few could see. And yet this horrible devastation is delivered through song, the sorcerers singing as their eyes and mouths blaze with blinding light. The way Bakker describes the feeling of the impossible words capable of hurting the world itself, is so poetic and at the same time so intense, that every scene involving sorcery literally sent shivers down my spine. This is one of the many instances where the author has intertwined his philosophical education with his writing, and gives us three different kinds of sorcery. The Anagogis, used by all the Schools but one. It depends on the great Analogies to weave its destruction, but they also bind and limit its power. The glorious Gnosis, magic of the Ancient North, now known only to the School of Mandate. It is the most heavily guarded secret in the Three Seas, and one coveted by all the other Schools. The Abstractions of the Gnosis hold unimaginable power, not restrained by visualization and specific meaning like the Analogies. And then comes the mystical Psuhke, arcane practice of the Cishaurim - Kian's sorcerer-priests. Cruder than both the Anagogis and the Gnosis, it is unique in that its effects are undetectable by the eyes of the Few.

I could go on gushing into ponderous retelling of the story, characters and world, but it would be pointless. I could never do The Prince of Nothing enough justice. It is the single greatest FINISHED fantasy series I've ever read, and one of the most significant pieces of Speculative Literature in my experience. The only way to get a feeling of its epic story and brilliant world-building, the awesome magic system, or the multilayered characters and their tumultous relationships, is - wait for it! - to just read the books. They are not separate, and represent the beginning, middle and ending of a single story. But believe me - The Prince of Nothing is well worth the time investment!

10/10