Don't you know, friend? They've put a Holy War on. And it's gonna bring the world to the Second Apocalypse...
Published 2004 by Overlook Press (in the US) and Orbit (in the UK). This is the first book of R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy, itself part of his larger Second Apocalypse series, which currently comprises the Prince of Nothing trilogy and the Aspect-Emperor quartet, with a third series to follow sometime in the future.
R. Scott Bakker has also written two unconnected books and a handful of short stories set in the Second Apocalypse universe. He also has a PhD in philosophy, a degree in literature and an MA in theory and criticism.
Bakker has been working at the Second Apocalypse universe since the 80s, and I believe it. This is an extraordinarily impressive debut novel - I'd rank it above A Shadow in Summer and The Blade Itself in that regard - with a rich, detailed, and thoroughly epic world.
The world of the Second Apocalypse, the Three Seas, is truly epic. Just going through the character and faction glossary at the back reveals this - indeed, I might recommend you read it first. I was a little confused when I began the book and was presented with unfamiliar terms - the Mandate, the Schools, Nansur, the Shriah - but they were easily enough figured out as I progressed.
Naturally, I shall not spoil anything. One thing I like to do with these reviews is not to really reveal much about it but instead argue for it on more observable generalizations. It's not a perfect balance, but I know many readers do not like spoilers. Now, the argument can be made that a work should support itself regardless of spoilers. And I agree. But there are those rare few moments that lose their impact, to some extent, if you know them. I would provide examples, but even I'm not that cruel.
Even with (very nearly) 600 pages, this feels very much a prelude to the next two books. I don't mean this is a critique. I enjoyed every page. I didn't feel as though my time was wasted, or that I was short-changed. It is an observation.
Bakker is a very talented writer. His characters are all fleshed out very well and so is the world. There's a moral grayness to everything, even to our nominal lead protagonist Drusas Achamain, aka Achamian, or even Akka. (That said, of all the characters, Achamian comes out looking the best.) Akka, with his intelligence, his digressions, his love for Inrau and Esmenet and Proyas (you'll learn of two of these when you read, the other I'll be telling you about in a paragraph or two), his... weakness, even.
But he's not the only character. We also have Cnaiur, the barbarian. He's an ugly piece of work, truth be told. He's intelligent, but he is a barbarian. His society, the Scylvendi, lives for killing. The rest of the world is just a sacrifice to their god. The way he treats Serwe is cruel and abusive.
There is the emperor of Nansur, Ikurei Xerius III. I can't say he's much more charming, though he doesn't seem to brutalize many women. Indeed, he's infertile. Xerius is somewhat mentally unstable, flying between extremes of emotion and thought, but despite that he's smarter then he sometimes appears - if not, let us be honest, as smart as he thinks he is.
Esmenet is a prostitute, one fallen in love with Achamian. She's a damaged woman, having lost her daughter, and more than that, she's aging. To paraphrase her, and that's assuming I'm not directly quoting her, "There's nothing worse than an aging whore." Eventually she begins to become enveloped into the larger plotline, but even then, we're left with many unanswered questions.
Finally, Anasurimbor Kellhus. A Dunyain. (Note to my readers, I've dropped all the letters with diacritics.) Someone trained in the 'shortest way,' to fully master his own thoughts, to understand where they come from, and to see the history and emotion in the body language of others, and in doing so, he becomes able to use them for his own ends.
All of these characters - and a few others - are well fleshed out, especially as the larger plot develops over the course of the year we spend with them.
Each chapter of The Darkness that Comes Before is preceded by a quote from some in-universe work of literature, from after the events of the book (and, I assume, the series). It serves to both entice us with what's coming next and hint at the coming chaos.
The storyline, as it were, revolves around the Shriah's Holy War against the blasphemous Fanim. But despite this deeply religious beginning, it quickly becomes embroiled in the larger, uglier politics of the Three Seas: men who want to claim their own glory, the Emperor Xerius III with his gambit to turn the Holy War into his tool. But whatever we may see of the Holy War, if we exclude Xerius, our characters lay on the margins of this:
Achamian, who was sent to find out about the new Shriah Maithanet, swiftly becomes part of a larger conspiracy. Esmenet, too, becomes the lover of some member of this conspiracy, if, indeed, that is what it is. Cnaiur and Kellhus lurk on the far margins before making their way into the deep center of it, Kellhus determined to turn the Holy War in some aspect into his tool.
It's impressive, honestly, just how much Bakker manages to pack in. The world never feels anything less than as a real as our own.
It's a slower burn. The pieces that will drive the entire series (again, making assumptions) are making their way into their places. What action there is - generally from Cnaiur's side - feels a little... unnecessary. Put in just to have some action.
The prose keeps everything flowing at a good pace. The thoughts of characters' often digress into philosophy or history and it never feels unneeded or unnecessary, instead serving to expand our perspective of the character and the world.
That said, this is a darker world. It is, I daresay, "grimdark" - the characters all are morally grey and you may not like all of them. Indeed, one reader observed that he couldn't finish the book because he hated everyone. (I can't say I like Cnaiur. And Kellhus is more intriguing then likable.) Moments of humor are few and far in between.
There is an epic scope to the Three Seas. It's a world with a long history behind it, a long, dark history, and there are many mysteries in it. The very nature of the Mandate and their enemies, the Consult, which has not been seen in two thousand years (leaving the Mandate at once the most powerful of the Schools [thanks to their mastery of the most powerful form of sorcery] and the least respected [because the Consult hasn't been seen in two thousand years]) are enough, even beyond the massive mobilization of the Holy War and the ugly politics that surround it. Those politics at once give it grand scope and a very human, very earthly root. The chess game of the gods is only important from the pieces' perspective, after all. (I think I may call that the God's Chess rule.)
It's not quite a perfect book - it slowness sometimes dips into drag rather than deliberation, and characters, though well-rounded, leave a lot between the lines. I expect a re-read will be quite rewarding. Nevertheless, these are all forgivable flaws - it is a setting-up, after all, and the author's first novel besides.
The impressively fleshed-out world and epic scope of the book leave me wanting to know more, about the world, these characters, and what direction it'll go in. The ending of The Darkness that Comes Before is, probably, one that many readers will see coming - a Consult that has not been seen for two thousand years? what other conclusion could possibly be reached? - but just because we know it's on its way doesn't make it any less powerful when it happens. The very build to it gives it weight.
I will most certainly be reading the rest of the Prince of Nothing trilogy, and truth be told, I fully expect to read the entire Second Apocalypse.
Currently reading The King's Blood (second book of The Dagger and the Coin) and The Thousand Names (first book of The Shadow Campaigns). I think once I finish with them that I'll work on finishing the series' I've already started reading - Eternal Sky, The First Law, Prince of Nothing - before starting to read another series.