lordofavalon Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I'm looking for a new series to read and I've heard a lot of people mention bakker. So I was wondering how the series was, what is it comparable to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Bryar Ashford Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 It's like if Cormac McCarthy wrote Lord of the Rings. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asjegar Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Easily one of the best things I've ever read. Largely incomparable, as far I'm concerned. (And as far as I know) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomekire Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I love this series, I would recomend it to anyone. Read it, you'll like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xereaux Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Read it, and make an effort of it if it doesn't hook you right away. It'll be worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xereaux Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 <Sorry, double post.> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Absolutely read it. It is a medieval-fantasy with a crusades feel to it. If you made a Tolkien, Lovecraft, Howard, Martin stew it would taste similar, but Bakker is his own man. Very original stuff in a day when such a thing is difficult to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofavalon Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 wow.. lotta love here. guess i'll give it a chance. how does it compare to WoT, aSoIaF and Farseer/Tawney man? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asjegar Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 For comparison's sake, better than the first two. Entirely different from Farseer and Tawny Man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 [quote name='lordofavalon' post='1745007' date='Apr 4 2009, 18.48']wow.. lotta love here. guess i'll give it a chance. how does it compare to WoT, aSoIaF and Farseer/Tawney man?[/quote] I would say better than the WoT and Farseer/Tawny Man, but not as good as aSoIaF. Hope you like it, Bakker really is a great author (I hope you're interested in philosophy, his works are grounded pretty deeply in that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageGuy Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 I was nearly put off by the prologue, when Kellhus fainted because he saw new types of trees, but I got into it eventually. Let's see, some stuff to know that might mean it's not for you: It's a very dark setting, some terrible stuff happens in the books, and Bakker's philosophy background shines through, so if either of those things bother you, you've been warned. It's also a First Crusade analogue; I remember some people thinking Bakker stuck too closely to the timeline, but since I only had general knowledge of the time period, it wasn't one of my complaints. When I loaned the first book to my brother, he couldn't get into it because he struggled with the names, but he also has dyslexia, so it was more of a problem for him than most people; I was unphased, but my background's in Classics, which made many of them easier to read. There's been a debate on the board about the way he writes women. It can be hard to get into initially, but with those caveats, I'd recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaeger Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 [quote name='lordofavalon' post='1745007' date='Apr 4 2009, 17.48']wow.. lotta love here. guess i'll give it a chance. how does it compare to WoT, aSoIaF and Farseer/Tawney man?[/quote] it's a great series. I would say it's better than WoT and farseer but not quite as good as asoiaf but fairly close. It's in my top five fantasy series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Easily better than WoT. About on par with Farseer/Liveships - very different type of novels though. Obviously not as good as ASOIAF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 [quote name='Triskele' post='1745287' date='Apr 5 2009, 01.09']Wait...are you a feminist?[/quote] Heheheh :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Dow Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 [quote name='TheEvilKing' post='1745188' date='Apr 4 2009, 23.03']Easily better than WoT. About on par with Farseer/Liveships - very different type of novels though. Obviously not as good as ASOIAF.[/quote] It may not be as good as ASOIAF (IMO it's a very close call; I'd give Bakker the edge in worldbuilding and prose, Martin the edge is dialogue, characterization, and general readibility). But 'obviously' not as good? What is obvious about it? I would rank it above Hobb; I would consider Hobb very good, but not quite at the level of Martin or Bakker. I haven't read Jordan so I would not be able to compare that, but it does seem that Bakker is much more highly regarding among hardcore fantasy fans (by hardcore fantasy fans, I'm referring to people have fantasy blogs, who write a lot of posts on fantasy message boards, and who have apparently read everything in the genre under the sun). But Jordan sells a lot more books, so perhaps he appeals more the casual fan or to the general public? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juba Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Stopped reading the first book after 3 chapters or so. Baker's writing style just didn't do it for me. If you value any sort of external description (the characters could have been wearing pink jumpsuits and eyeliner for all I could tell) or logical character interaction (Kellus brings a strangely weak-willed mountain man to tears with Jedi mind tricks) It's about as far away from ASoIaF style-wise as one could get. But don't take my word for it, who knows, maybe you'll dig it like so many others seem to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deluge Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 [quote name='Triskele' post='1745287' date='Apr 5 2009, 01.09']Wait...are you a feminist?[/quote] Ah, it's so weird to see a Bakker thread where this takes so long to come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofavalon Posted April 5, 2009 Author Share Posted April 5, 2009 wow more opinions. You guys are great. thats why this is by far my favorite forums (ign used to hold that one). i have no problem with a story taking a while to start.. I still remember Dragonbone chair.. that took forever, but i ended up loving MST (even though I only read it once completely, and skimmed on the reread). one final question. I would check this on the wikipedia entry an such, but i don't want to be spoiled ... but is it a complete story finished? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 [quote name='lordofavalon' post='1745318' date='Apr 4 2009, 23.02']one final question. I would check this on the wikipedia entry an such, but i don't want to be spoiled ... but is it a complete story finished?[/quote] The major story lines are completed in the trilogy, but some underlying story lines are left hanging. These will be addressed in the second trilogy(?), the first book of which is already out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLU-RAY Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 To expound on that, Bakker initially intended to write a trilogy. When he was writing, he reaized that each book of that trilogy would likely take three books to get through, and so he's writing a trilogy of trilogies essentially. He's completed the first trilogy (The Prince of Nothing: The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought) and book one of the second trilogy (The Aspect Emperor: The Judging Eye). I'm two books into The Prince of Nothing and am enjoying it quite a bit. Will go buy The Thousandfold Thought soon. I find the world to be really wonderfully realized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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