The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker (Orbit)

The Warrior Prophet by Canadian born R. Scott Bakker is the second installment in his Prince of Nothing trilogy, sequel to The Darkness That Comes Before which I reviewed last August. Back then, I was extremely impressed by his debut effort, especially the prose and the scale blowed my socks off. Not surprisingly my expectations at the start of this novel were quite high, indeed so high that I wondered whether Bakker could top the book when delivering his second.
Well, he managed it. Simply put, The Warrior Prophet is mind blowing in both prose and scale. In the Warrior Prophet events really kick into a higher gear, with the Inrithi Holy War with the Great Names marching down deep in the southern lands of the heathen Fanim. We don’t read, we witness events unfolding that shake Earwa (Bakker’s world) on its very foundations. The Consult is stirring, trying to manipulate the war in their favor and bit by bit we piece the puzzle together of this mysterious ‘organisation’ that is obsessed with the reincarnation of the ‘No-God’. The book is quite complex, multiple storylines at the same time (as you’d expect from a good epic-fantasy work) so explaining here every detail would be somewhat of a hassle. To quickly outline the situation at the start of the novel; the Holy War has accepted the deniture of emperor Ikurei Xerius and in addition, has accepted the martial leadership of the Scylvendi ‘barbarian’ Cnaiur (breaker-of-men-and-horses and most violent of all men). Achamian, Mandate Schoolman, accompanies Prince Kellhus of Athithrau, Xinemus, Serwe and the rest of the retinue of prince Nersei Proyas.

Now before I really start giving you my thoughts, I think it would be wise to point out that this book, even the whole trilogy, will not appeal to everybody equally as much. It is set up in a very pretentious manner and especially Bakker’s prose, his tendecy to add a bit of philosophy to the whole package, and the fact that he just does not elaborate on (or does not want to elaborate) every detail the story make the works not all that accessible. For example I still not have the slightest idea what the No-God is. But once you have bitten through the sour apple, the reads are well worth your time. I still remember stumbling through the dark when I was reading the first hundred pages or so of The Darkness That Comes Before, wondering ‘where the hell does this lead to?’ and ‘what is going here?’ and frankly, I still have not yet a completely clear answer to this question. However, I do have clues – many of them – and figuring out all by myself how deep the rabbit hole goes is one certain way of keeping me immersed and involved.
When comparing this volume with its predecessor one must also note that subject matter differs from book to book. The Warrior Prophet is much more action-oriented and much less setting up story-lines, introducing characters and developing various intrigues (there is however still plenty shadowy Consult intrigue). For some (like me) this subject matter is extremely appealing , where for others this might not appeal that much.

As I said, the prose is not all that accessible but I have fallen in love with it nevertheless, as I experienced it as challenging. The prose could be described as ‘darkly poetic’ – and works especially well with the battle scenes (which you will find littered all over this installment). I feel Bakker is really a master at striking the right tone – in the (battle) scenes – and building up suspense. Moreover, the way in which he wields his prose has a gripping, unrelenting effect on you as a reader. Once you settle in the flow of the prose you will find it hard to put down the book. The prose certainly plays a big factor in keeping the reader involved and churning down those pages.
The characterisation is excellent as well, even better than it was in the previous volume. In the Warrior Prophet for example we’ll get some more glimpses at the true nature of Kellhus . Bakker has a way of digging deep into the personalities of the different characters with all their flaws and really bringing that psychology aspect into play which leads to amazing insights. This in turn results in characters who are intriguing and that have a really fleshed out feel to them. Almost all of the character that were focused on earlier during the series also get some sort of form of character development, with the development of Kellhus, Cnaiur and Achamian the most notable. Especially the latter ‘grew’ on me, the author developed the character in surprising manner but all for the better of it. The former two still remain shrouded in many ways, but that is part of their appeal I think. Although we got to see only a couple of scenes through Kellhus’ point of view, his clashes with various Consult skin-spies actually made me want to empathise more with the character as if he is on the ‘good’ side after all. It was also interesting to see him experiencing more ‘human’ feelings than we have seen him doing before.
The world building as I like to refer it to, is impressing. Haunting beautiful descriptions of the Carathay desert spring to my mind. It almost felt like the pages were blazing the desert heat. Here once more the style of prose plays a pretty big role in achieving the depth of the the world building. For example the Fanim lands the Holy War is marching through evoke a sort of surreal feeling, but at the same time leaves you aching for more details. Bakker really does do a great job in painting a realistic, immersing setting to serve as a backdrop for his story. What makes him so unique is that he is able to conjure with his writing such underlying dread in the atmosphere of the world that is almost physically tangible. In epic fantasy it is a rare occasion that I have come across a work so utterly grim and gritty to its very core.The pace was for the most part pretty consistent, although the last two hundred pages I feel some physical descriptions could have shortened a bit as it slowed down the climax.

Overall, I thought that the Warrior Prophet was a mind blowing read with excellent prose, great world building and an impressing scale to go with that as well. The characterisation is rich and deep, the character really intrigue in their flawed ways. I definitely would argue that this installment is even better than its predecessor, only the pacing just a tiny bit uneven at times. This probably the best book that I have read this year. If you have not picked up this series, do so immediately because every fan of the genre should not miss out on this one.

9/10