About this item
Strikingly original in its conception, ambitious in scope, with characters engrossingly and vividly drawn, the first book in R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series creates a remarkable world from whole cloth-its language and classes of people, its cities, religions, mysteries, taboos, and rituals-the kind of all-embracing universe Tolkien and Herbert created unforgettably in the epic fantasies The Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's a world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both two thousand years past and two thousand years into the future, as untold thousands gather for a crusade. Among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveler, Anasrimbor Kellhus-part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerous, charismatic presence-from lands long thought dead.
About the Author
I grew up in a poor, rural household, the son of a tobacco sharecropper. My love of SF&F occasioned much shame, and I dreamed of finding freedom in university. What I found was only more embarrassment, this time in the shadow of 'academic authority.' I set out to prove both myself and the power of 'pulp,' eventually winning the Henry B. Allison Gold Medal for the highest graduating average in my English Literature program. I've been waging war against piety ever since.
These are the characters closest to my heart, those, perhaps like yourself, trapped between warring tribes. I despise easy answers. I write of ancient wars and long-dead philosophers, extinct races and poets whose words crack walls as readily as hearts. I mourn the worlds I once believed in, and I fear the planet we have become. The themes in my books teeter on the radical edge of the most pressing issues of our day. Among other venues, my philosophical critiques have been featured on CBC Ideas and in The Journal of Consciousness Studies.
