Kemper Boyd posted:

I always thought of Akka as Slavoj Zizek.

Strom Cuzewon posted:

Kelhus apparently made a deal with Ajokli during his journey to the Outside. The glossary describes a scene where he's found swapping his own head with the Decapitants and back again, so maybe he could have survived the salting (why is this not in the text Bakker?).

Also apparently he was getting more and more possessed by Ajokli as he approached Golgotterath (why is this not in the text Bakker?) and becoming increasingly more insane the closer they got (why is this not in the text Bakker?) even though he gives every appearance of becoming more sane.

Cnaiur just starts getting possessed by Ajokli as the whirlwind rips him apart - so either Ajokli is now free to roam the World (why is this not in the text Bakker?) or Cnaiur is just badass enough to summon gods into himself (why is th....okay I'll accept that Cnaiur is that badass)

It's an apocalyptic failure of storytelling on pretty much every level.

Mukulu posted:

At least it ended on a high note.

Rime posted:

I greatly enjoyed enjoyed the idea of alien shock troops crash landing in a medieval world and loving poo poo up, and the slow reveal of it. sci-fi and fantasy is very rarely blended, and very rarely blended well when it is.

Amuys posted:

Orv posted:

I also saw the Malazan recommendation in the OP and thought sure but honestly I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the vowel soup that is every loving name in this first book to really enjoy it. I hate when authors do this poo poo because it's fantasy.

The Ninth Layer posted:

PoN is better as an audiobook, not only because the narrator is great but also because it helps greatly to hear someone pronounce the alphabet soup names.

Sephyr posted:

A sadist at least derives some pleasure from hurting others. Kellhus is just a hollow godmode shitlord. Even when banging two of the hottest women in the setting he was just going to a dull gray place in his mind and meditating about the right alleles his offspring might have.

If Prince of Nothing was a modern fantasy, he'd be a 'rational' youtuber with an avatar wearing a suit, and his videos would alternated between pickup-artistry and cultish ethnic panic.

Holy poo poo, he'd be Stefan Molyneaux.

Sephyr posted:

There are some strong hooks in the first book that sadly never get in gear once the "Kellhush just wins, always" gist of the series kicks in fully.

The cast is a great mix: a soft-hearted sorcerer, a half-mad, obsessed barbarian, a military genius heir of a dwindling Byzantium analogue, a smart prostitute seeing momentous events taking place around herself and trying to square that with her own minor existence. It's a fun collection of points of view to attack a story from.

Then Conphas just becomes Commander Cobra serially foiled by wily Kellhus, Esmenet becomes a walking womb, Achamian basically one of those minor characters in Dragon Ball Z that exist to give Goku a Power Level boost while moaning about everything, and everyone else either dies a cruel death to boost the setting's grimdark cred, or becomes a mindwashed slave.

Except for Cnaiur, who just becomes -infintely- pointless. His return may be the worst dud of a plotline I've ever seen in any literature. It's as if at the end of Lord of the Rings, Gollum appeared at the door to Mount Doom when Frodo becomes taken with the Ring, but just takes a dump on the floor and leaves the hobbits to their fates.

Mukulu posted:

The real question is: would anyone read anymore books set in this universe if he does end up writing more?

BigHead posted:

Me too man. They are 100% about a kid from high school where if only the pretty girl would listen to his logic then she'd dump the jock and bang him, plus also gently caress you dad. That and "the sweet honey of thousands of unwashed anuses" which is the most disturbing line from anything I've ever read.

BigHead posted:

It's in The Thousand fold Thought . Talking to the filthy, unkempt army after it crossed the desert. Bakker thought it important to describe the smell as the sweet honey of their unwashed anuses.

The exact line is "the ink of armpits, the honey of unwashed anuses, all shot through with strands of balsam, orange, and jasmine."

Amethyst posted:

You do see vitriol toward other authors. It’s normal. People have been hating Terry Goodkind at a steady rate for decades. Being let down by a multi thousand page series feels bad.

No one hates Tolkien or Lewis though, their works are classics. Not sure why you raised them.

Amethyst posted:

I doubt either of these are common sentiments. Both are a stretch.