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The White Luck Warrior (2011)

by R. Scott Bakker(Favorite Author)

4.08 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1841495395 (ISBN13: 9781841495392)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Orbit

series

Aspect-Emperor

review 1: Man, these just keep getting better and better. This is the second book of the second trilogy of the overarching Second Apocalypse story, the third (and last?) being released in 2015, if I'm not mistaken.The first trilogy - The Prince of Nothing - reads like a fantasy take on the first crusade to Jerusalem, coupled with elements of Dune, the Silmarillion and LoTR. Imagine Aragorn going insane, and becoming a prophet with a mission to unite the whole world under an iron rule, in order to protect it against an unspeakably perverted evil out to kill every single human being.Having achieved this, the second trilogy - The Aspect Emperor - details the ordeal of actually going out to destroy said evil, and the results of trying to do so by any means necessary, while the newly fou... morended empire is imploding due to the insanity of the imperial family and plotting of alien gods.I admit these books aren't for everyone. They are grimdark in the very bleakest sense, there is nary the tiniest glimmer of hope found anywhere, and the characters are invariably flawed, making bad decisions and constantly suffering the consequenses. The setting is very dark, a real crapsack world where greed, bloodlust and lechery are the driving forces of most everyone. Hierarchies of power are relentless, and a human life, least of all the lives of the millions of slaves, are worth next to nothing. Above all of this, the gods offer no solace or redemption, only eternal damnation, which incidentally is the driving force and motivation of the antagonists.Bakker's language is quite dense, with plenty of references to names and places, in a manner that feels rather archaic (partly it reads like the Bible, or like I compared it earlier, to the Silmarillion). It is also partly very poetic. This is even more pronounced in this particular book - The White-Luck Warrior. There is often great beauty to be found in the tragic events that permeate the story. Bakker is a philosopher, which is noticeable for example in the different Schools of Magic, which are based on classic schools of philisophy. So, do not expect a light-hearted fantasy romp, featuring strong-jawed righteous heroes, or wizened wizards wearing pointy hats. Said wizard is more likely bound to be a drunken, cowardly loser, driven by petty revenge, and bound to repeating the same stupid mistakes over and over again.Oh, and erect phalluses. There are lots of erect phalluses. Being the distinguising mark of the antagonist (yes, really), there are plenty of erect phalluses, and heinous acts being performed by the bearers of them, mostly on dead or dying people. So, you've been warned.But, all in all, this series have become perhaps my favorite "modern" fantasy series - in close competition with Joe Abercombie's books (which, funnily I found very bleak when I first read them, but actually feature quite a bit of humor, and one or two glimpses of hope here and there - something that is entirely missing from Bakker's works). I am definitely looking forward to the next, and last, part of the trilogy.
review 2: Just finished this. It's tough to gauge this one because it was a paperback I read only when my e-reader was charging or wasn't practical to use in that situation. Took a while to get interesting, slow-moving at the beginning like most of Bakker's books. At times totally confusing (is this a flashback? is this metaphorical? is this happening right now in the book?)... again like all of Bakker's stuff and yet I can't tear myself away from this series! Already looking into when the next one is out. Damn you, Bakker! less

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