The Thousandfold Thought: The Prince of Nothing, Book Three

No one remarked on this one yet: What gave me the shivers is the gradually revealed SF background in this fantasy setting. Although it is more hinted at than fully described, the idea of creating a fantasy environment with an ancient alien crash landing is gorgeous! And its a black black scenario that Bakker creates: Sorcery against genetical engineering, absolute hostile behaviour of the alien arrivals (instead of "here's how to build a warp-drive works, folks"), the near elimination of the Non-Men (Tolkien's elves lent to these) by applying alien gen-tech. As said: You don't find it as part of the main plot, but it is all there, mostly in the very well made glossary, the Sagas and Seswata's dreams Apart from that: I just love sorcerers that wield the power of tactical nuke warheads in battle!

Next to A Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin, this is the second best Fantasy series I have ever read! Great concepts, philosophies, and magic! This author has a real talent! Great writer! I will most definitely be picking up the hard back of his continuing saga The Aspect Emperor. This book features the BEST spell battle I have ever read. When Achamian duels other wizards in this book, I must have read that three times. It sent chills up my spine. It's a slow build which works really well. Once you see Achamian duel, he just goes off! It was an awesome spectactle to behold.

With this book Bakker finishes the most orginal and compelling fanstasy series that I have ever read. This is a difficult series, while it is painted with epic battle sceanes and more than its share of sex, its true joy and skill was in the characterazation the complex plotting and politcal mechanisms. This novel in paticular is difficult because it is very painfull for the lead characters. The two main protagonist have to come to terms with the terrible price their friend, and now there prophet takes from them. The book has real drama and force because the action does not really revolve around who will win the final battle, and aviods the video game fanatasy cliche's of did the character gain enough levels to beat the monster on the final level. The book revolves the characters and their personal feelings and reactions. Everyone talkes about the philosophy that is discussed throughout the series. This is not really meant to serve as a serious discussion of metaphyics, but is more emotional in depth, and is fit for a discsusion between two very well educated men who can see and alter the fabric of the world. In one part Kellus uses plilosophy in a rather touching way to try to bring Achiaman out of his isolation, or when Kellus tells Esminet the price of forgiveness for her betrayal of Achiaman. The book ends with another massive piched battle, but the real climax is in the last three pages. I read this at least five times through and got something diferent out of it every time. The book is a brilliant sucess, it doesn't cheat itself out of it payout. The final page of the book, has only a short conversation, but every word hold the weight of the three thousand pages before it. The ending is abrubt and jarring and I don't think it is a suprise to anyone to say it is not a cinderella ending, but is very true to the characters and the world that Bakker went to so much trouble to create. In the end this series is an epic truimp and a tragedy, and is easily the most memorable fantasy book I have ever read.

They say "never judge a book by it's cover", but if I had followed that statement I would have never picked up the first book in R. Scott Bakker's amazing "Prince of Nothing" trilogy. Like the first two books in the series, "The Thousandfold Thought" continues with Kellhus' ascention to leader of the Holy War. By the end of this story not only has Kellhus become all out leader of the War, but he's also staked his claim amongst the Sorcerors of Earwa, as well as a position of even greater importance and significance. Questions are answered along the way, but new ones arise to replace the old. Sometimes the third book in a trilogy can be tricky. A writer is expected to wrap up loose threads as much as possible and if he/she doesn't, the masses will sometimes bitch. For me, it's almost hard to call these books a Trilogy. They are when it comes to detailing events such as Kellhus' rise to power and the Holy War's march to Shimeh. But in so many other ways these books are only the first 3 in an even grander scheme. BTW...although the book itself is fantastic, the extensive glossary found in the back is INCREDIBLE. Since beginning the series I've believed that Scott Bakker had created one of the most complex and interesting worlds since Middle-Earth. After reading the glossary with detailed accounts of the First Apocolyse and the early wars of the Non-Men, I know I was right to think that.

A fabulous finale! This is the concluding book in the "Prince of Nothing" trilogy by Scott Bakker. I'd waited in eager anticipation for this release; I was not disappointed. The Pros: 1.)The book effectively ties up the loose ends of previous episodes and (thankfully) comes to a definitive ending; and, not surprisingly, it may have opened a few new treads at the conclusion as well. This book deals with the same major characters as the previous books; that being Kellhus, Achamian(Akka), Esmenet and Cnaiur, as well as a new "concern" that was mentioned passingly in previous books. 2.)Well written, gripping and intriguing right from the word go, this book was a page turner; also there was an erotic quality in some areas that was "intense" to say the least. As with most great fantasy novels there is a liberal dose of magic, deceit, love, betrayal and some really great battles. 3.)In addition to the story itself, there are 3 maps at the back of the book to keep you abreast of the Holy Wars' locations: as well, there is a 100 page "Encyclopedic Glossary" at the end of this book giving added descriptions of persons, places and things mentioned in the trilogy. (it's this "glossary" that makes you realize the effort that the author has put into developing the storyline of this epic fantasy) The Cons: And yet, despite the greatness of the story, there were segments of this book that I did not find easy to read; e.g. I found I really had to concentrate hard to try to understand some of the philosophical discussions between Akka and Kellhus and likewise for some chapters dealing with the internal musings of Akka and Cnaiur as they went through periods of internal crisis. Thankfully, these chapters were short and infrequent, making my "complaint" a minor issue when weighed against the overall quality of the rest of this book. All in all, if you liked the previous installments of this series, I think you will find the conclusion equally enjoyable. Recommended! 4 1/2stars.