- Hardcover: 592 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd (1 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743256689
- ISBN-13: 978-0743256681
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 732,734 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Darkness That Comes Before
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Darkness that Comes Before is a strong, impressive, deeply imagined debut novel. However, this first book of an epic fantasy series is not accessible; it reads like a later volume of a complicated ongoing series. Author R. Scott Bakker has created a world that is very different from JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth, yet in depth of development comes closer than most high-fantasy worlds. In addition to providing five appendices, Bakker attempts to make his complex world clear to readers by filling the prologue and opening chapters with the names of characters, gods, cities, tribes, nations, religions, factions, and sorcery schools. For many readers, this approach will have the opposite effect of clarity. It's like demonstrating snowflake structure with a blizzard. --Cynthia Ward, Amazon.com
Review
"Intelligent" is a term trotted out so often by publishers that it has become almost worthless - which is hard for the likes of Bakker, whose [The Darkness That Comes Before] truly is intelligent, and original, and all those other overused words. (The Guardian )
The Darkness That Comes Before is a strikingly original work, the start of a series to watch. SF Site ('The publisher’s hype compares [The Darkness That Comes Before] to The Lord of the Rings or Frank Herbert’s Dune, and gratifyingly the hype is not misplaced… The characters are among the most memorable and well-portrayed I can think of in recent fantasy f )
George Walkley, Ottakar's (Outland) ('Bakker has created a gourmet feast for hungry fantasy readers, exquisitely prepared, carefully seasoned, and served with pomp and ceremony... The Darkness That Comes Before is truly a satisfying experience.’ )
Kevin J. Anderson, Bestselling author of Horizon Storms ('Exquisitely intelligent and beautifully written, R. Scott Bakker's first novel in The Prince of Nothing series inspires both confidence and anticipation--this is fantasy with muscle and brains, rife with intrigue and admirable depth of character, set in ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
The Darkness That Comes Before is a strikingly original work, the start of a series to watch. SF Site ('The publisher’s hype compares [The Darkness That Comes Before] to The Lord of the Rings or Frank Herbert’s Dune, and gratifyingly the hype is not misplaced… The characters are among the most memorable and well-portrayed I can think of in recent fantasy f )
George Walkley, Ottakar's (Outland) ('Bakker has created a gourmet feast for hungry fantasy readers, exquisitely prepared, carefully seasoned, and served with pomp and ceremony... The Darkness That Comes Before is truly a satisfying experience.’ )
Kevin J. Anderson, Bestselling author of Horizon Storms ('Exquisitely intelligent and beautifully written, R. Scott Bakker's first novel in The Prince of Nothing series inspires both confidence and anticipation--this is fantasy with muscle and brains, rife with intrigue and admirable depth of character, set in ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is another one of those books that assaults you with so many cities, lands, names, factions, races, etc. that for the first couple of hundred pages you don't know your arse from your elbow, despite a couple of helpful appendices.
But stick with it because thankfully in the second half of the book everything settles down. All the major characters have been introduced and you get a far greater understanding of the world in which the story is set.
In style and content the writing is very similar to Steven Erikson. If you are a fan of the Malazan series of books you will enjoy this. Alternatively, if you enjoy this book and haven't read Steven Erikson, I suggest you check him out (first book: Gardens of the Moon).
This is a great fantasy book that manages to build a believable other world which has an unusual medieval Arabic flavour rather than the more common medieval European background. I would recommend it to all apart from younger readers who might struggle with the complexity.
Hope this review helps.
But stick with it because thankfully in the second half of the book everything settles down. All the major characters have been introduced and you get a far greater understanding of the world in which the story is set.
In style and content the writing is very similar to Steven Erikson. If you are a fan of the Malazan series of books you will enjoy this. Alternatively, if you enjoy this book and haven't read Steven Erikson, I suggest you check him out (first book: Gardens of the Moon).
This is a great fantasy book that manages to build a believable other world which has an unusual medieval Arabic flavour rather than the more common medieval European background. I would recommend it to all apart from younger readers who might struggle with the complexity.
Hope this review helps.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Despite reading complaints regarding the highly detailed and complex world created by Bakker which stated his book was quite hard to get into i bought it because of the promise of a darker, more mature fantasy than normal. I was not disappointed. Bakkers writing and the world he creates have a depth and subtlety which are all to rare in the fantasy genre and the story/characters are as dark as anything those other masters , George R.R Martin and Steven Erikson, could hope to conjure. I hesitate to go into any great detail on the book itself for fear of introducing spoilers but suffice to say that the writer and book are of the very highest class and have even attracted deserved praise from the quality, literate papers such as the Guardian as well as his successful peers.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This isn't the easiest read on my shelves, but it is certainly one of the most interesting. This is the sort of book that you have to be in a particular mood to read. If you enjoyed the philosophising and deep politics of Erikson's Malazan series, as well as Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, there's plenty for you here. The characters are well-drawn and very fallible, and the storyline is sketched out with just the right shade of foreshadowed tragedy to pull the reader along.
If the book has any failing at all, it is that there is no relief from the incipient misery, and virtually no humour to be found at all. Bakker's well-constructed "schools" of magic, more resembling the schools of thought of ancient Greece, are also tough going for anybody who doesn't want a story too rooted in psychology and philosophy. There's also the feeling that not a tremendous amount really happens - the main characters are being shuffled into position for the next act in what could be described as a very extended prologue (Bakker's Wikipedia entry confirms that this first trilogy was originally intended by be one single book).
But as the first part of what looks to be one of the stand-out fantasy series of both this and the last decade, The Darkness etc. is definitely worth a good look.
If the book has any failing at all, it is that there is no relief from the incipient misery, and virtually no humour to be found at all. Bakker's well-constructed "schools" of magic, more resembling the schools of thought of ancient Greece, are also tough going for anybody who doesn't want a story too rooted in psychology and philosophy. There's also the feeling that not a tremendous amount really happens - the main characters are being shuffled into position for the next act in what could be described as a very extended prologue (Bakker's Wikipedia entry confirms that this first trilogy was originally intended by be one single book).
But as the first part of what looks to be one of the stand-out fantasy series of both this and the last decade, The Darkness etc. is definitely worth a good look.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The_Limper
very good read and is in a style that would help if you had a little knowledge of crusade era lingo. Read more
Published 1 day ago by The_Limper
Could have been great, but ended up being rather turgid and...
I really wanted to like this; Bakker does good work with the world-building, there is some political intrigue and a sense of history. Read more
Published 1 day ago by M. Cooper
Not the ordinary...
I'm sick of generic, formulaic fantasy. The storylines are the same. Only the names change. The virtual shelves of Amazon bend under the weight of them. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lee Nixon
One of the best fantasy books I've read in a long time
'The Darkness That Comes Before' is without a doubt one of the most detailed fantasy books I have ever read and has an incredibly rich world with dozens of factions and rivalries... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. L. L. C. Alcolea
Eventually rewarding
This first entry to the fantasy Prince of Nothing books is clearly a primer for the events to come, full of detailed character introductions and back history. Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Mr. G. Battle
rivals the greats of fantasy
One of the most polished starts to a fantasy series I have read, Bakker uses excellent characterisation to ensure the backdrop of a second apocalypse is the culmination of the... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2010 by Neil J. Pearson
worth the effort
R Scott Bakker doesn't mess about. He comes at you with strange and varied philosophies from the beginning. It makes him a fresh and original voice in the fantasy landscape. Read more
Published on 18 April 2009 by Paul Sheridan
Not poor but not good either
Entertaining enough but doesnt compare to the very best of the genre...will appear dated and be pretty much forgotten in ten years time.
Published on 13 Nov 2007 by D. Nelson
The work of genius
Wow, what an amazing book. Bakker's debut novel is packed with political intrigue, philosophical poignancy, awesome characters and complex and involving story lines. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2007 by J. Dicker
Dour
R Scott Bakker's "The Darkness That Comes Before" is reasonably well-written. However, it is to my taste at times rather ponderous and unremittingly dour. Read more
Published on 18 July 2007 by MKJ
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