The Judging Eye: The Aspect-Emperor Book One

A most entertaining and welcome addition to Scott Bakker's 'Prince of Nothing' trilogy. This book follows the independent tales of Kellhus and Drusus Achamain (Akka) in a period of time that follows Kellhus becoming the God-like Aspect-Emperor. In addition, the book focuses some attention on Kellhus's wife Esmenet, and in what appears to be a major developing side story, their son, Kelmomas. The book is extremely well written and easy to follow, with chapters alternating between the different characters' stories. Chapters tend to end leaving you wishing for more and eager to get back to that particular tale. I enjoyed this book much more that Bakker's trilogy ending 'The Thousandfold Thought', which seemed to me to contain a great deal of philosophical discussions that I personally found somewhat difficult to follow and understand. By comparison this novel was more 'story' and thus easier to understand and a joy to read. In addition to a well written with a host of great characters, the book features (as per all previous Bakker books) an excellent glossary of character names with a brief description of their roles. It also has a detailed map of the area involved. And last but not least there is a brief summary of the story of 'Prince of Nothing' trilogy so you won't be totally lost if you don't read the initial trilogy (but you probably should). Conclusion: Bakker is back; this is as fine a continuum as I could have hoped for to one of my favorite fantasy/adventure series. I can hardly wait for the next installment. Easily 5 Stars. Ray Nicholson

"The Judging Eye" continues from where the "Prince of Nothing" trilogy ended, albeit more than 20 years later. All of the living major characters from the trilogy - Kellhus, Esmenet, Achamian - return, although only the latter two have viewpoints. The story centers around three "threads": the march of the Great Ordeal (Kellhus's vast venture northward into the North), the issues back in Momemn under the rule of Empress Esmenet, and Achamian's expedition northward and through the mountains ringing the Three Seas civilization. Several other stories exist along side this - particularly a story involving the Yatwer Cult in the Three Seas - but the above are the main threads. Bakker is at his best when writing the Achamian thread. He introduces a compelling new female character who accompanies Achamian and his group in their expedition northward, who plays a critical role in maintaining that group while uncovering a lot more about the metaphysics under-pinning Bakker's fictional universe. The "Kellhus" thread, which really centers around a character captured early in the book, is also good, but not quite as good as the "Achamian" arc. The weakest thread - Esmenet in Momemn - is still fairly good, but suffers from the problem that plagues the entire book in varying degrees: pacing. The story slows down considerably in certain parts, although it never quite got to the point where the book was a "slog". Nonetheless, it is pretty good for a first novel in a new trilogy within the Bakker Series. There are some issues with the ending (it's not particulary good in terms of resolving things), but that's not surprising for the first book in a trilogy. I urge anyone who enjoyed the "Prince of Nothing" trilogy to read it. Caution is suggested for those who haven't read the trilogy; while Bakker goes to pains to explain "What Came Before", it is a poor substitute for actually reading the Trilogy, and many of the important concepts within the novel will be difficult to understand without that background.

This follows on Bakker's earlier work, though the language improves - it's nice to see an author making an effort to get better though Bakker was no slouch before. While this book is definitely an introduction rather than a complete story in itself, the tale is engrossing as we watch men begin to wage war against the coming of the Second Apocalypse. What is fascinating is that we are left to wonder how much of this war is by manipulation and how much of it is the God's will. Questions on the nature of damnation and religious reality are explored, more metaphysical than the questions of belief that we saw in the previous works in the Prince of Nothing trilogy. Anyone looking for engaging reading that looks at salvation, damnation, religion and free will should pick this up.

I have my reservations, my criticisms of 'Judging Eye' and its precursors, the 'Prince of Nothing' novels. I do not feel the need to air them, or give this book anything less than five stars because of them. In a genre filled to the brim, no, overflowing with cardboard supermen and superwomen who can defeat every foe and master every enemy, Bakker finally puts real people into a fantasy world. People who can be broken by the immensity of the events around them, people who were once large that can become small and weak, people who are weak becoming strong. People who allow their foibles to make them into monsters to those around them. People who...well, just have foibles at all, yet remain heroes, and not twisted villains. There is moral ambiguity here, amongst the heroes and the neutral forces, and even some of the villains. There is a chance for the reader to doubt the indomitable quest of the 'good guys' as being something less than what it is portrayed as, we are allowed to make our own choices about who we root for and who we hate (to a degree at least). There are so many bestsellers out there full of escapist fantasy, full of characters who never change and can never be beaten, and it is nice to see that at least some writers are out there who are willing to take the chance that their readers might not want everything neatly laid out for them. Bravo Bakker, keep it up. You're verbose and sometimes over-complex, but I'll take poor, old, beaten down Akka, over some of those other sword-wielding super-men(and women) any day.