Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing Series: Read it!

I wanted to share one of my favourite authors of all time today, Scott Bakker. Scott Bakker is a Canadian writer that resides in London, Ontario. So far he's completed 5 books in his main series The Second Apocalype and one unrelated novel (which admittedly I have not read)

He is also president of the Canadian Association of Garth Look-a-likes.

Jason introduced me to the series a year ago. I had just finished a Feast for Crows (This was before A Dance with Dragons had been released) and wanted more fantasy in my life. Jason referred me to his copy of The Darkness that Comes Before with the warning "You need to think while you read this, or you will be lost all the whole way through." It was a sound warning. Bakker writes intelligently and in a style that is engaging and entertaining. I read through the entire series non stop. Bakker single handedly stole a weeks worth of full night sleeps from me.

Pictured above, crack printed on paper.

The series is set in a world of high dark fantasy (emphasis is on the dark). The world is one dominated by monstrous creatures called sranc in the north and religious fanatics in the south. The Prince of Nothing series follows the war of the nations under the thousand temples as they crusade against the equally fanatical Fanim. The story focuses around Khellus a stranger (and general bad ass monk) from the North. He has to travel south to find his father, who has jeopardized his order and monastery's entire way of life.

The Prince of Nothing series is not for the faint of heart. If you read these books you will find amongst other things.

• Detailed descriptions of "pendulous" dragon phallus
• Starvation and dehydration as major antagonists.
• The most violent of all men.
• Villains so villainous that their semen is black.
• The most horrifying play on elves ever imagined.
• Cannibalistic, murderer, rapist, super orcs.
• No clear heroes.
• The coolest, most bad ass character to be included in books since the whale in Moby Dick.

Pretty much this, but with a sword.

I would mention more but I hate spoilers and if I said anything else I feel like I would start to ruin the whole thing (If you are still reading this post and not The Darkness That Comes Before you're doing it wrong). Bakker also inserts awesome tangents and asides. The only time he lets down the curtains of subtlety is to give you insight into his passions. An example:

A book is never "read." Here as elsewhere, language betrays the true nature of the activity. To say that a book is read is to make the same mistake as the gambler who crows about winning as though he's taken it by force of hand or resolve.

To roll the dice is to seize a moment of helplessness, nothing more. But to open a book is by far the more profound gamble. To open a book is not only to seize a moment of helplessness, not only to relinquish a jealous handful of heartbeats to the unpredictable mark of another person's pen, it is to allow oneself to be written. For what is a book if not a long consecutive surrender to the movement of another's soul?

 So if you are looking to read a great Canadian author I recommend Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing. If you are looking for a great fantasy novel, refer to the previous statement.

Till the next post.

EDIT: I have been informed the 2nd book is out of print Amazon to the rescue!