The Great Ordeal

The Aspect-Emperor #3

by R. Scott Bakker

Praised by fans and critics worldwide, R. Scott Bakker has become one of the most celebrated voices in fantasy literature. With The Great Ordeal, Bakker presents the long-anticipated third volume of The Aspect-Emperor, a series that stands with the finest in the genre for its grandiose scope, rich detail, and thrilling story.

As Fanim war-drums beat just outside the city, the Empress Anasurimbor Esmenet searches frantically throughout the palace for her missing son Kelmomas. Meanwhile and many miles away, Esmenet's husband's Great Ordeal continues its epic march further north. But in light of dwindling supplies, the Aspect-Emperor's decision to allow his men to consume the flesh of fallen Sranc could have consequences even He couldn't have foreseen. And, deep in Ishuäl, the wizard Achamian grapples with his fear that his unspeakably long journey might be ending in emptiness, no closer to the truth than when he set out.

The Aspect-Emperor series follows Bakker's Prince of Nothing saga, returning to the same world twenty years later. The Great Ordeal follows The Judging Eye and The White-Luck Warrior, and delivers the first half of the conclusion to this epic story.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror, Philosophy, High Fantasy

504 pages, Hardcover

First published July 12, 2016

About the author

Richard Scott Bakker, who writes as R. Scott Bakker and as Scott Bakker, is a novelist whose work is dominated by a large series informally known as the The Second Apocalypse which Bakker began developing whilst at college in the 1980s.

The series was originally planned to be a trilogy, with the first two books entitled The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor. However, when Bakker began writing the series in the early 2000s, he found it necessary to split each of the three novels into its own sub-series to incorporate all of the characters, themes and ideas he wished to explore. Bakker originally conceived of seven books: a trilogy and two duologies. This later shifted to two trilogies, with the acknowledgement that the third series may yet also expand to a trilogy.

The Prince of Nothing trilogy was published between 2003 and 2006. It depicts the story of the Holy War launched by the Inrithi kingdoms against the heathen Fanim of the south to recover the holy city of Shimeh for the faithful. During the war, a man named Ansurimbor Kellhus emerges from obscurity to become an exceptionally powerful and influential figure, and it is discovered that the Consult, an alliance of forces united in their worship of the legendary No-God, a nihilistic force of destruction, are manipulating events to pave the way for the No-God's return to the mortal world.

The sequel series, The Aspect-Emperor trilogy, picks up the story twenty years later with Kellhus leading the Inrithi kingdoms in directly seeking out and confronting the Consult. The first novel in this new series is due for publication in 2009.

Whilst working on the Prince of Nothing series, Bakker was given a challenge by his wife to write a thriller. To answer this, he produced a science fiction thriller based around a serial killer who can control and influence the human mind. This book, Neuropath, was eventually published in 2008. Inspired, he wrote a second thriller titled The Disciple of the Dog in 2009.

Reviews

[Chris Gousopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

*2022 reread. Simply my favorite book.

The Great Ordeal right now ranks as my fave reading of many recent years. I feel it like it is my favorite book. Bakker has weaved a tale of unbelievably powerful moments. I feel there is no ceiling in his writing concerning epic or disturbing images. This book had the grandest and the darkest, and most insane, still. His prose is unparalleled. So graven and significant, philosophical, never cheesy or lighthearted. There are so many parts in this book that will stay with me forever. The morbid chapter at the decadent depths of Ishterebinth might be the best chapter I have ever read. I am constantly awed with Bakker's twisted, and at the same time so epic, imagination. Incredible images. Either dark and horrific or heroic and epic. So many to mention. The Sons of Cepalor and their fight with the Horde, the Meat and its side effects, the Survivor and his fate, the dialogues between Saubon, Proyas and Kellhus, Dagliash and what happened there, the return of a certain character. The ongoing mystery of Kellhus intentions and what is the grand design behind the curtains. All the pages? :D So many conflicting aspects. Its unbelievable. Reading fantasy literature will never be the same again for me. The bar is set too high. I cant believe that so few people have read these books compared to their sheer brilliance. Its an unbelievable shame

Reread: An extraordinary book with some of the most incredible and uncompromising ideas I have read. Ishterebinth's descent, Survivor's revelations and Dagliash are all three, peerless landmarks of the genre.

P.S:
"The remainder of the Ordeal marched through the night, sometimes clearing, sometime climbing the scorched carcasses that clotted Oloreg’s smashed teeth. He drafted dozens of Mandati and Swayali to cast Bars of Heaven to illumine their course. For those ailing along the coast, the spectacle inspired no little dread: the sight of their brothers carpeting the shoulders of the mountain, filing beneath haphazard pillars of brilliance, mobbing the passes in their haste to rejoin the Ordeal’s horsemen on the Erengaw Plain."

That picture following the apocalypse of Dagliash will stay with me forever. The struggles of humanity under Apocalypse's dark skies illuminated by heavenly lights. Biblical!

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Darkness That Comes Before review
The Warrior Prophet review
The Thousandfold Thought review
The Judging Eye review
The White Luck Warrior review

Finally, the next installment of the Aspect Emperor and the next chapter in the epic story of Aka, Khellus, the Three Seas, and the genocidal space aliens has been published. I have waited five years for this one and it has more than lived up to my high expectations. I can see why Bakker ended up splitting the last book into two (the other being The Unholy Consult). There is just so much plot and intricate world building that occur that two books are properly needed to do it justice. Not to mention the more philosophical explorations this series tends to take requires a fair amount of page space (more on that below).

So on its face there are four main areas of action in this book:

The Great Ordeal: This book's namesake. A desperate gamble by Khellus to funnel the military might of the Three Seas north with the goal of ending an ancient genocidal threat to humanity.

The Nonmen: The ancient race cursed with immortality, wrapped up in their mountain mansions surrounded art of their past glories and defeats.

The Dûnyain: The strange and ancient order/cult that Khellus hails from. We finally get to meet a few more of them and learn what has befallen them since the opening pages of The Darkness that Comes Before.

The New Empire: While the cat is away the mice will try to tear down the cat's imperial order. While a bit slow in the first two books this plot really picked up in this book, especially in the way it intersected with the machinations of the gods.

All of these areas provided exciting revelations and developments. In the case of the Dûnyain and Nonmen the reader got a much richer (if terribly upsettling) view of this world. I really must commend Bakker for taking these concepts to their logical, if horrifying, conclusions. But all of these areas really delivered in terms of character arcs, action, and intriguing plot developments. They leave me thirsting for the next book, especially with the where the book leaves off in all these plot threads. I could go into each of them but that risks spoilers for previous books and I am not sure how much such an exploration would add to the review. All you need to know if the narrative really speeds up and delves deeper in all the existing plot arcs in a very rewarding manner.

OK, on to the more esoteric parts.

Immortality and memory: The history of the world Bakker created is quite deep and really interesting. The nickel tour is the dominant race of the planet, the Nonmen, made a deal with the proverbial devil to gain immortality but ended losing all of their females and were completely unable to cope with the millennia of memories immortality leads to. Those that were broken under the weight of their memories were called Erratics and they are just as unstable as the name suggests. We get a taste for them in the character of Cleric from the first two Aspect Emperor books but we delve deep into what is left of their culture in this one.

A mountain...skinned and hewed, it's every surface shorn into planes and pitted...with apertures, terraced, and graven images - graven images most of all. Such detail that it pained the eye to prove it.
"How could such a thing be?"
"Endless life is endless ambition."

The Nonmen we meet, the last of the proud race, have sequestered themselves in a Mountain Mansion, surrounded by carvings, inscriptions, and remembrances of their past as futile attempt to stave off the madness they are doomed to succumb to. Their memories have become an archipelago of pain, with only the strong, emotionally charged memories resisting the rising tide of oblivion. Since identity is inexorably linked to our memories the erosion of their non-violent, non-traumatic memories leaves them with less and less of their former selves to hold on to. We see the coldly logical conclusion of this condition in the mumbling husks of countless Nonmen lost into the inky black depths of the mountain.

I think this view of immortality is a fascinating one. It reminded me of a passage from House of Suns:

"You think you've lived through 6 million years, but you haven't the faintest notion what that really means. The weight of all those memories is like an ocean of liquid hydrogen, compressing itself into metal. Every new experience I choose to remember, every new moment of existence, only adds to the crush."

And that was from a creature engineered to handle that sort of deep time. Any creature forced to exist so much longer than its natural lifespan like the Nonmen were is going to break down psychologically. It isn't something we see a lot of in fantasy writings and I applaud Bakker for treating it with the weight it deserves (as well as exploring of such a fate would impact a culture and their decisions).

The Gods: Where the Gods were little more than a cultural facet that Khellus used to manipulate the crusade in The Prince of Nothing series, they take a much more active role The Aspect Emperor series. The fascinating thing about the genocidal space aliens is their preferred tool: the No-God. This is a being of immense power that, among other things, prevents any fetuses from coming to term and absolute control over all the weapon creatures the Tekne had created (basically orcs, ogres, and dragon analogues only twisted and a lot worse). On top of all that it is completely invisible to the Gods in the Outside. They can see the devastation it brings, but not the entity itself. As such their assumed omniscience is a hindrance as they cannot conceive of the threat Khellus is trying to extinguish. And, like any other creature acting on bad information, they too make bad decisions.

Not that we should have much sympathy for them. These aren't your cuddly Aphrodite and Apollo gods. These are much closer to Lovecraftian Horrors, interested in humanity for their souls, but not their salvation. They are distant, powerful, and terrible, capable of damning a soul if it breaks any number of rules. Salvation may not even be a thing that exists in this cold, uncaring universe.

"You think we worship the Hundred because they are good? Madness governs the Outside, not gods or demons - or even the God! We worship them because they have power over us."

In any event it was interesting to see how the Gods tried to bring about their desire to kill Khellus. We saw in The White Luck Warrior an agent of one of the gods (aptly named The White Luck Warrior). He could see how the Gods see, outside of the flow of time. He knew what would happen, seeing himself already eating a pear, or crossing a field, or standing over the dead body of Khellus. He was a master of circumstance and unstoppable because he already knew what was going to happen, where people would be, what they would be doing. No keen intellect or stout body could protect against him because everything has already happened.

It raises fascinating theological questions about the nature of free will (Does it exist if outcomes are already known?), after life judgement (Is it just or fair given that free will may not exist? Do those words even have meaning before such alien entities?), how much agency do the gods have in our world (Why do they act when they do/existence of evil questions). Sufficed to say the gods do not come off looking very good in this universe, doing more harm then good for humanity. Heck, even the Nonmen prefer to descend into gibbering madness instead of face the possibility of eternal damnation. Which of course leads to an interesting situation where the genocidal space aliens' ultimate goal is to close the world to the Outside and prevent their souls (as well as the souls on the planet) from being damned. Of course this requires the elimination of all but 144,000 souls so humanity is sort of in a rock-and-a-hard-place situation.

Given Bakker's track record with this series I am very eager to see how he wraps all this up.

Now on to the quotes!

History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme: It [history] was almost musical in a sense, variations playing against ruinous refrains, souls and empires plucked like strings of a lute. The peril of pride. The contradiction of trust. The necessity of cruelty. And over time, one lesson in particular came to haunt her, a moral that - for her, at least - could only appall and dismay... Power does not make safe. History murders the children of weak rulers.

Hath not the potter power over the clay, to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?: Revelation was never a simple matter of authority because Men were never so simple as sodden clay - something that could be rolled blank and imprinted anew. There was fire in deeds, and the world was nothing if not a kiln. To act upon belief was to cook it's contours unto the very matter of the soul. The more extreme the act, the hotter the fire, the harder the brick of belief.

Honestly, the Nonmen could probably form a pretty wicked Metal band: "We are the dwindling light. The darkling soul. Walkers of the Ways Beneath. Beseechers of Wisdom. Haters of Heaven. Sons of first morning, orphans of last light."

What about love? Did The Beatles lie to us?!?! "You despair because like a child you thought that Truth alone could save the world. But it is strength that saves, not Truth. And strength burns brightest upon Lies!"

All we are is dust in the (hurricane force) wind: Cataclysm shows Men the truth of their pitiful proportions, how their pulse hangs upon the sufferance if more monstrous things.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm having real trouble reviewing this book. I'm a huge Darkness that comes before fan, and if not as enthused about Aspect-Emperor still reading each installment rabidly to see where the unpredictable tale goes. The Great Ordeal without a doubt, has got to be the most confusing, provoking, bizarre 2nd Apoc book yet, so despite several criticisms I have the book definitely succeeds in moving a reader.

So where to start? Well I'll probably add a spoiler section at the end to go into more depth, but I'll first provide a review for yet-to-reads.

Other reviews have mentioned the change in writing styles from previous books. I noticed this too, others have also accused Bakker of writing purple prose. While the words in Ordeal are certainly over-blown I don't know whether purple is the best description. Bakker has always used a very visceral and concrete writing style often choosing harsh verbs in his metaphors, very suited to the world of Earwa. If anything Ordeal is simply Bakker becoming more himself.

I did have a couple of major problems though, I don't know whether this was an editing issue, or a stylistic choice but the overuse of italics was somewhat maddening, it pushed me out of the story and felt like I was being poked in the eye and being told 'LOOK AT THIS BIT.'

Second at times Bakker indulged too much in my opinion of coy and indirect description. There were three major conflict scenes which I realized I had next to zero idea what was going on, sure one might say a true fan would have understood but as much as I like 'show don't tell' I have my limits.

Finally, always a strong world builder Bakker appears to abandon all sense of accessibility and drowns Ordeal in terminology, somewhere between Nioms, Dolours, and Wairos I gave up trying to understand what I was being told.

Plotwise Ordeal is again really weird. In terms of practical progression this book may win the award for least number of actual plot movement, while simultaneously having more movement in the character's heads than any other book in the series. I suspect Bakker intentionally planned to do this, but it basically felt like each characters point of view, particularly towards Kellhus was put in a roulette wheel spun and given to another character. Suffice to say revaluation abound and it's refreshing to have knowledge given so freely, even if it left us more confused than ever before.

My final concern that that I was hyper-aware that this book was initially one and now exists as a 1st half. I realize that this was a publishing concern, but it still leaves the book annoyingly setup-ish, none the characters really going through a complete arc and the story feeling somewhat unfinished. Really hoping for the next book isn't a long wait.

Just to be balanced, Ordeal was hardly all bad. Despite my beef about the prose and the amount of Achi page-time being criminally low, the story was surprisingly fast to read and even thought the content bamboozled at times I never felt any clunkiness of prose held up my reading. I think once this series is finally concluded and I look back the Aspect-Emperor phase will be seen as more a necessary set-up series of books rather than brilliant on their own.

SPOILERS AHEAD

So I really had to dive into some of the specific content of this book. I mean the series has been unique in its commitment to brutal and carnal weirdness but I have to say Ordeal really takes everything to the next level. The tipping point for me was Kellhus "buggering" Proyas, I'm pretty sure this is Kellhus' first point of view section and it's spent making him seem completely mad. It's explained as being part of controlling Proyas but before when his manipulations made sense, in Ordeal it seems completely random.

This was only the tip of the ice-berg however. In Achi's storyline we finally see for far the Dunyain's extreme eugenic behaviorism goes, going to the point of growing 'whale mothers' who are little more than wombs for growing better men.

Sorweel's storyline tops it off with an exploration of the completely insane state of non-men, whose ruler routinely tips oil rendered from human fat over-himself to 'keep sane.'

I really don't know why I felt the need to express just how bizarre this series has gotten on a review, other than I really really want to hear other people's opinions on the book. I half wonder if the purpose of this book was to make ordinary human beings in Earwa seem pretty ethical compared to the Dunyain, Non-men and Consult. The sad thing is I've lost my connection to the characters and mostly want to continue the series to see where the madness leads rather than anything else.

[Alex W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt this is the most difficult to fully comprehend and "out there" book in the series so far, but it is certainly captivating and challenging. Really enjoying this series and excited to see where this all heads to in TUC.

Cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts

[Phrynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

503 brilliant pages. I loved it!
This is another supposed trilogy which has turned into four books but I don't mind at all. The more the better I say:) Kellhus has been one of my favourite book characters since the very beginning and he still does not let us down. Parts of the final battle scene were made all the more splendid when he demonstrated some of his wizardly skills.
Some of it was pretty gory. It was interesting for example how they solved the problem of feeding thousands of soldiers on the march. They roasted and ate the enemy (they were not human so it could have been worse). Scott Bakker does not hold back when it comes to all things gross.
The book starts with a summary of the previous books which is very useful since there are years between the publication of each. I just needed a little jog of the memory and it meant I enjoyed the story from page one, knowing who everyone was.
Totally enjoyable and as I see the fourth book is now published I will be on to it very soon:)

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024 Update: Somehow even better on reread. There are things I picked up on this time that went over my head the first time. I didn't realize how much lore Bakker drops in here in little interludes within some of the chapters. Also some plot points were more clear to me on my reread. Amazing book.

This series is amazing, and this book is crazy. It's easily the most difficult to understand Bakker book so far, but after sitting on it for a few days and reading and watching some spoiler talk stuff I just can't get this book out of my head. There is some absolutely amazing stuff in here, and definitely things I never expected to read in any fantasy book. I'm kind of obsessed with this series. I'm disappointed there is only one more book in this world.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another dark gem from Bakker but honestly I wouldn't say this is his best work. This is supposed to be the first half of the final book and it showed as majority of the book-though still enthralling- seemed like a set up for the final one. In fact, I thought I was gonna give it a highly rated 4 stars, but then the last 4 chapters blew my mind, scene after freakn scene. This book, for me, has one of the most exciting endings in the series.
There's so much more I'd love to say but I'd hate to be the one to spoil this for anyone.

The next book has been masterfully set up, and it promises exciting things dished out in epic proportions.

[Pranav Prabhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Ordeal is another excellent entry that continues the upward progression of the series. This book was certainly the one with the most difficult sections to parse in terms of fathoming the meaning of what was happening, but it also had some incredibly epic scenes and sequences. Even when I was confused, I was riveted to the story and its gorgeous prose.

The conversations between the Aspect-Emperor and Proyas, discussing the metaphysics of the world and deconstructing his beliefs and faith were fantastic. They did a great job of giving information while building characterization. The depth of thought put into the nature of this world's metaphysics adds to the immersion and continues to intrigue with its mysteries.

The battles also felt uniquely memorable. Dagliash especially was one of my favourite Ordeal sequences and this book did a lot to make me care for Saubon and his antagonistically inclined partnership with Proyas. One minor character I liked a lot was Sibawul. Bakker has the ability to take any random minor character and develop them into interesting semi-major players in very little page time. There are also these small asides between generals of the Ordeal displaying their power plays and competitiveness that adds a certain character to what would otherwise be just a large, teeming mass of unnamed soldiers.

The adjacent journey through Ishterebinth was fantastic, with its creepy atmosphere and pervasive tension adding to the striking but disorienting imagery. The Amiolas was an interesting way to deliver exposition about the Nonmen and their culture without just dumping information all at once while providing Sorweel development at the same time, and it was nice to get more of the other Imperial children like Serwa and Moenghus.

The storyline with Mimara and the Wizard was great as well: learning more about Ishaul and the Dunyain, whose origins have been shrouded in mystery so far. More is revealed about their philosophies and goals with the fascinating character of the Survivor in his sporadic PoV sections. How it ended was also a surprise, with some unexpected reappearances and interactions.

The Momemn thread is the one I was the least invested in, although I still really enjoyed it. It brought Theliopa to the forefront for the first time and I liked how it dealt with the looming Kianese threat of the Padirajah. Kelmomas was darkly entertaining as always, and the thread’s conclusion with Malowebi, Psatma Nannaferi, and the White-Luck Warrior was really well-done.

It was another fantastic book overall, containing some of the most memorable sequences in the series thus far. I struggled with deciphering certain separate sections like the ones involving “a head on a pole behind you” and some of the philosophical epiphanies that characters arrived at, but they also display a depth of worldbuilding that intrigues me to speculate and delve into them further. I’m looking forward to how this second arc of The Second Apocalypse wraps up with The Unholy Consult.

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was shaping up to be a 4/4.25 stars but I have to bump it up to a 4.75 after the last few chapters.

This one has probably been the hardest to read to date. There are so many weird things happening and honestly, part of it felt quite nonsensical. That being said, the experience was extremely visceral and the moments in Ishterebrinth were some of the most incredible, yet trippy, bits of writing I've read in a while. There's also one thing that happens in this book that made me so happy and I cannot wait to see how it progresses in the TUC.

This specific book will definitely not be for everyone, and I can see why a lot of the fanbase is divided on it. I enjoyed it a lot, though I think I probably missed quite a lot of the subtleties just because there is so much happening. Definitely one to reread multiple times as I know I will get knew things from it each time.

Overall, had a lot of fun with this and I can't wait to read the last book that is out.

Review to come on my channel soon.

[Bakkerfans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of R. Scott Bakker’s The Second Apocalypse series slog on, book after book, chapter after chapter, one page to the next, seeking revelation. In Earwa, Bakker has crafted a world so dense and possessed with epochal mystery that readers find themselves consuming every morsel only to be twice as hungry for more Meat. Through his five Earwan novels thus far, Bakker has conceived and kindled the reader’s lust, patiently starving us on our journey, hoarding his greatest secrets. With The Great Ordeal, the penultimate book in The Aspect-Emperor series, Bakker begins to betray the final mysteries of his cosmos, feeding and goading readers more than in any of the preceding novels.

The Great Ordeal follows the four story arcs continuing from the end of The White-Luck Warrior: Sorweel, Serwa, and Moenghus arrive at Ishterebinth, Achamian and Mimara wander the ruins of Ishual (and beyond), Esmenet strains to hold the fragments of family and empire together (Kelmomas plays in the dark), while Kellhus leads his Exalt-Generals, Proyas and Saubon, and his Great Ordeal onward to the ancient fortress of Dagliash. The novel reels from revelations about the Dunyain and Nonmen to the bloodletting in Momemn and the northern wastes. At the end of The Great Ordeal, all four arcs deliver the world to a state of havoc, savagery, and disaster, and the reader is left hanging on a precipice unlike any other in Bakker’s series.

The Great Ordeal marches not only further but also delves deeper into Earwa’s story. Unlike Tolkien, Bakker does not give us an epic with a Silmarillion to be published later. The Second Apocalypse, and The Great Ordeal in particular, unfold the current drama and the ancient mysteries as one. The darkness that comes before characters, factions, and whole civilizations begins to take shape and loom into sight.

A distinct and surprising delight of The Great Ordeal is Bakker’s use of specific, rhythmic, and lyrical stylings adapted for individual character POV. I had not expected Bakker’s writing style to change in any new significant ways in the interim between 2011’s The White-Luck Warrior and The Great Ordeal, but I found myself rereading sections just to form the words in my mouth.

New characters, new magic, new places, new heartbreak. Thaumazein, wonder, awe. For Plato it was the origin of all philosophy. For Shakespeare it was the spark of all human character. For Bakker it is the gasp of realization that the mind’s ignorance knows no bounds. We are doomed to stumble in the dark. “Could tragedy be a passion?” Yes. Scott Bakker proves it—with a fury.

I recommend this book by Bakker with more fervor than any other in the series. Page for page, this volume was a most haunting pleasure to read. Revelation and unforeseen revelation infect the reader and the characters both in substantial measure. Just as Bakker has hoarded his secrets over many books, The Great Ordeal itself seizes and then accelerates, disgorging dreadful truths by the end. My advice: put the book down after you finish chapter 11, call in sick before you start chapter 12, read straight through to the end.

10/10 – This story is exactly what I want from the last-but-one book of an epic sequence.

Finally, The Great Ordeal retells the age-old story of fateful human frailty. An inquiry for the reader and an inquisition for the characters.

Do not wait. Get this book.
This is what you have been waiting for.
Descend.
Consume.

- Andy T a.k.a. Bakkerfans from Twitter and Facebook a.k.a. mrganondorf from www.second-apocalypse.com

P.S. It is now evident to me that R. Scott Bakker is a liar. He pretends to shake out crumbs in an occasional interview or blog post, but reader be warned: his answers hide more than reveal. An unreliable author of unreliable characters—he’s been manipulating us all along, holding back the flood that drowns: The Unholy Consult.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm at a bit of a loss for what to say about this volume. It was certainly enjoyable, but after what I considered the superlative efforts of the first two books in this part of the series (The Judging Eye and The White Luck Warrior) I was perhaps a tad let down by this one. Most likely this is due to the fact that, frighteningly like GRRM, Bakker was forced to split what was supposed to be one book into two: in this case the originally proposed final volume of the 'Aspect Emperor' series has now become two books and thus perhaps this part of it is just suffering from middle book syndrome...or I'm just disappointed at being denied my grand climax.

Be that as it may there is still a lot of good here. Achamian and Mimara finally come to the ruins of Ishual and what they find could either lead to the fall of Kellhus or perhaps their own deaths. I won't spoil it, but I was equally interested and irked by what they found and only time will tell where I finally land on this. Also, was I the only one to perceive a nod to one of the mysteries of the Dune series in a reveal about the Dunyain that manages to make them even more chilling and inhuman? I will admit to being both delighted and stupefied regarding what they came across as they journeyed on in an attempt to catch up to the Great Ordeal and definitely look forward to seeing how that storyline finally plays out.

The story of Esmenet and her brat-godling Kelmomas continues as Kellhus' empire crumbles around them and the assassin of the goddess Yatwer walks in their midst. I generally have the least amount of patience for this storyline as I find both Esmenet and Kelmonas a little annoying, but the mystery of the White Luck Warrior, along with some interesting developments in general, kept me from getting bored here. Kellhus himself surprised me with the fact that he revealed one of his greatest secrets to his two main lieutenants Proyas and Saubon, the purpose of which I am still unsure of. He walks an interesting line as both possible saviour and ultimate foe of humanity and I still have not decided where exactly he sits on that spectrum.

My main dismay about the final book being split into two likely revolves around the fact that it seems to have meant that we still see very little of the Consult aside from the hordes of Srank being decimated by the Great Ordeal (though I will admit that we do get a cameo that involves both a major character and event that is central to the Consult, even if it is a very short one, which leads to a pretty intense cliff hanger). I find the Consult to be one of the most intriguing elements of Bakker's world, so being denied any answers to their nature is frustrating, though it is at least partially made up for in this volume by the revelations we get regarding the mysteries of his second greatest creation, the Nonmen. As Sorwheel, Serwa and Moenghus descend into the depths of the Nonman mansion of Ishterebinth we see first hand the crumbling world of the mighty and immortal Nonmen and its a fascinating and dark world indeed, perhaps even more harrowing than the journey into the abandoned Nonman mansion of Cil-Aujas from the first volume.

I can't really say much more at the risk of spoiling something so I will leave with this final word: I found this book to perhaps be a bit of a stumble when compared to the first two volumes of 'The Aspect Emperor' series which I felt were exemplary, but it's still a very worthy book and a must-read for those who have kept up with this series thus far.

[Vicente Ribes · Rating 5 out of 5]

El mejor libro de fantasía que he leído en mucho tiempo. Esta al nivel de "Tormenta de espadas" de George R. Martin, "Las dos torres" de Tolkien o "Memorias del hielo" de Erikson.
Con esta saga pasa un poco como con Malaz, sobretodo en la primera trilogia, donde cuesta ubicarse entre las diferentes facciones que aparecen y las diferentes escuelas de hechicería.
Para poder orientarme en su lectura a veces revisaba el blog https://thewertzone.blogspot.com donde Jason Deem hace un resumen perfecto y te permite leer esta gran obra sin perder detalle.
En esta segunda cuatrilogia Bakker desarrolla las cosas de manera mucha más clara y el nivel es más alto que en los tres primeros libros de la saga. También cabe resaltar que es una saga que incluye unos cinco POV con lo que es mucho más fácil de leer que Malaz, donde a veces tenias que tirar de la guia de personajes para aclararte.
En este libro encontramos un no parar de épica y la guerra de Kelhus contra el consulto llega a una de sus batallas más colosales. El ejercito de Kelhus se ha quedado sin viveres en medio de las tierras del enemigo y sobrevive comiendo los cadáveres de sus victimas: los scranc, unos pequeños orcos devoradores de hombres que después de matar a alguien lo violan con un irrefrenable impulso sexual. Ojo,esto es grimmdark del bestia y quizás por eso esta saga no ha triunfado como merece, si lo pensamos bien es como si la compañía del anillo hubiese merendado carne de orco después de la batalla del abismo de Helm.
Mientras tanto el mago Achamian y Minara se han internado en Ishual buscando pruebas del origen de Kelhus para pararle los pies ya que ven que detrás de su supuesta bondad lo que está haciendo es usar a los humanos como carne de cañón.
En Momenn la emperatriz Esmenet se las ve con conspiraciones y sufre trágicas perdidas defendiendo la ciudad mientras su hijo pequeño, Kelhomas conspira para acabar con su propia família y subir al poder.
Sorweel, Serwa y Moenghus llegan a Isterebinth, la última morada de los no-hombres en la tierra y allí descubren a los últimos supervivientes de esta raza. Pero en lugar de la ayuda requerida serán hechos prisioneros y Sorweel vivirá un viaje de pesadilla para despertar a un viejo héroe que vive en las profundidades( este viaje me recordaba el del infierno en la divina comedia).
Y si con todo esto no fuese suficiente la cosa el libro acaba con un cliffhanger donde no sabemos si Kellhus sigue vivo y con la aparición de uno de los personajes más carismáticos de las saga que no veíamos desde la primera trilogía. Ah y casi se me olvida! la aparición de los villanos más poderosos de la saga, los Inchoroi. Unos extraterrestres que llegaron a este mundo en una arca y corrompieron a todo aquel que tocaron y que tienen la forma de un alien que se ha tragado a una persona. Brutal.
Este libro es la ostia y no lo digo yo. Se me ha ocurrido ahora mirar las reviews de otros lectores y todas son cinco estrellas. Es un completo misterio que esta saga no lo haya petado más y que en español sólo se hayan publicado los tres primeros libros. Sólo me queda el último de la saga pero no quiero que llegue el final.

[Chris Galford · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I have adored Bakker's style throughout this slog of slogs: The Great Ordeal does not feel like the payoff worth the weight of years behind it. The book seethes with intellect, with possibility and dense worldbuilding, but in the end, I'm sad to say, it suffers from a sense of too much set up and not enough time on the actual journey—which, in one half of a grand finale, is far from what one would desire.

Don't get me wrong: there are parts of this book which sing with the classic Bakker of the Prince of Nothing saga—5-stars in writing, in action, in incising philosophic madness. There are others, though, that suffer from a sense of being simply too abstract, plummeting deeper and deeper into the layers of the mind, as Inception fans would put it, without giving us anything to set our feet on. What's more, as deep as it can get, the book seems to suffer from a spring-stop pacing, where a great deal happens in very little spans, but the majority of the book feels like it lacks momentum.

Even reading the books as religiously as I have, there were points I had to stop and reread, just to get a grasp of what, exactly, was happening. It's not entirely impenetrable, but it is overbearingly close to it. The story itself remains intact—the direction and meat behind it remains immensely enjoyable. Yet the narrative, at this point, seems to have lost something of its finality to the depths of Bakker's formidable mind; I fear it lacks some of language's base attempts to relate it to us and give us space to find our footing.

Which is to say, it stumbles in its flow.

Bakker continues to have his own unmatched style. The layers he has achieved in worldbuilding cannot be matched, nor can the complexity of his characters—but so much of this book is steeped in characters' contemplation and reflection on things coming or things gone before, and not enough time spent actually achieving anything.

Detail is a wonderful, beautiful thing. It makes a story breathe. It carries us within. The Great Ordeal, however, is description heaped upon description, on a story that has already drawn us so many layers in deep—it simply didn't need the build up at this point. I can only hope that it has set us up for a killer (genuine) finale, and I believe Bakker has that within him—I just hope it comes back around to the monumental tale that put the complex "adult" in "adult fantasy".

[BridgeBurger Spoony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember how I complained White Luck Warrior had too much shallow philosophy? Well now we have a book that's so damn dense, deep and confusing that I had to reread some sections like five times. And damn if it doesn't make for the best entry in the entire series.

Great Ordeal is just plain awesome. It feels like everything White Luck Warrior wanted to be. While I complained about the shallow repetitive philosophy in that earlier book, here it's the philosophy and metaphysics that makes the book so great. There are some great revelations about the world's metaphysics along with some incredibly trippy and difficult to parse sequences. This is approaching Book of the New Sun levels of whack at points.

In earlier books I complained about Bakker losing some clarity as he leaned into more metaphorical writing. He seemed to be following a similar writer's arc as Steven Erikson. So here, Bakker decides to write his Toll the Hounds. A slow book lighter on action, but with heavier atmosphere and thematic depth. He leans into all those tendencies that have been building through the series, but by making them the focus, turns them into strengths.

As far as plot goes, my favourite is easily the descent into Ishterebinth which quickly became a dream-like acid trip with an atmosphere so thick and crushing I can't even begin to adequately describe it.

The story back in Momemn was once again my least favourite. The character's there just aren't interesting as the ones involves in the Great Ordeal itself. Bakker is still great at writing political intrigue, but Aspect-Emperor's greater focus on an epic quest has left the political elements a little lacking.

The Great Ordeal is my favourite entry in a series that's quickly become one of the best fantasy sagas I've read. Bakker is really doing incredible work with these books.

[Adrian Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review by Durand Welsh on behalf of Grimdark Magazine
Link to original review: https://grimdarkmagazine.com/blogs/ne...
(WARNING: Contains Minor Spoilers)


The Great Ordeal, the penultimate novel in R. Scott Bakker’s Aspect-Emperor series, is finally upon us. His fans have been waiting a long time for this one, and it’s a testament to the quality of Bakker’s work and the loyalty of his readership that the wait hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm.

Outside his fan base, Bakker’s novels themselves have had an uneven reception, despite The Prince of Nothing trilogy being what I consider one of the best fantasy series written. However, with grimdark going from strength to strength, one can only hope that Bakker’s novels will get more of the recognition they deserve.

==What Has Come Before==

Bakker’s fantasy world of the Three Seas is explored in two connected novel series. The first series, The Prince of Nothing trilogy, introduced us to many of the main players: Drusus Achamian, the Gnosis wizard cursed to relive the first apocalypse in his nightmares; Kellus, adherent of the Logos and member of a monastic sect of mentalists who have perfected the art of the probability trance; and Esmenet, the whore who eventually became the Empress of the Three Seas.

Anyone looking to get started with Bakker is advised to begin with The Darkness that Comes Before (2004), the first novel in the The Prince of Nothing trilogy which sets up Kellhus’s ascent to become the Aspect-Emperor and establishes many of the rivalries of The Great Ordeal, including that of Achamian and Kellhus. The coming Second Apocalypse is deliciously foreshadowed in the first trilogy, although if you expect the conflict with the Inchoroi to play a larger role, you may finish it a touch letdown.

Fortunately, the second series, beginning with The Judging Eye (2009), puts its best foot forward in that direction. And now, with The Great Ordeal, we’re finally getting the payoff with the final confrontation between the Inchoroi and Kellhus that we’ve been holding our breaths for.

==The Great Ordeal==

It’s everything you expect from a Bakker book: gut-shredding violence, big moral dilemmas, grey and grey and grey, sweeping epic scale, detailed historical world-building, and a sense of horror that eclipses anything else in epic fantasy. Boy oh boy, does The Great Ordeal deliver. If you’ve devoured all of Bakker’s other fantasy novels, then you will not regret lightening your purse with this tome.

It should be stated, however, that Bakker’s craftsmanship steers more toward literary than pulp, and The Great Ordeal requires patient, intelligent reading. Many scenes begin with a philosophical dictum. While it’s a bit more highbrow than your usual grimdark fare, it doesn’t detract from the speed of the narrative, even if the philosophical discourse occasionally becomes a bit obscure. His novels touch on freewill (the Dunyain probability trance and their ability to foresee the future), notions of the conscious self, and even the morals of eugenics as practiced by the Dunyain and their self-selecting evolution. Indeed, the last is examined more closely in The Great Ordeal when Achiamian finally reaches the Dunyain stronghold of Ishual. But more on that later.

The Great Ordeal is itself the first half of a duology. The long-awaited final volume in the Aspect-Emperor series came in at such a hefty size that his publisher has split it into two volumes. Therefore, don’t expect a final resolution. For that, you’ll still have to wait until the next book, but The Great Ordeal certainly paves the way in magnificent style.

The Great Ordeal primarily follows Esmenet, Kelmomas, Kellhus (by way of the viewpoint of Believer-King Proyas), Achamian and Mimara, Sorweel and Malowebi. Certainly a few other viewpoints are picked up and discarded for short periods, but the aforementioned are the prime movers.

==Esmenet and Kelomomas==

The book begins from Esmenet’s viewpoint as Fanayal, the Padirajah of the heathen Kianene Empire, attacks Momenmn. Esmenet is also grappling with the power vacuum created both by Kellhus’s absence and the murder of Maithanet, her main political rival. Her own children offer her no bulwark against treachery either, since anyone familiar with the earlier books knows that her young son Kelomamas is a murderous psychopath given to fratricide. Blind in her love, Esmenet sees nothing of the manipulations of her children and how they control her using the preternatural abilities inherited from their father. Kelmomas in particular runs wild in the crawlspaces and secret passageways of the palace.

Kelmomas becomes infatuated with the White-Luck Warrior, the man who murdered Maithanet. Even as Kelmomas plots the murder of his sister Theliopa, he becomes increasingly obsessed with the one individual who he cannot fathom with his Dunyain abilities. He gradually realises that perhaps the man is something other than human, that some otherworldly power, divine or otherwise, is operating through this individual and, by proxy, has infiltrated the palace’s inner sanctums. This creates both mystery and suspense, and there is no small satisfaction had from watching the diabolical Kelmomas confronting a problem that confounds him.

==Malowebi==

Meanwhile, Fanayal has entered into a pact with Yatwer, the Goddess of earth and fertility, in the hope this will aid him in breaching Momemn’s walls. We see inside Fanayal’s camp through the eyes of Malowebi, a Schoolman answering to High Holy Zeum and attached to the invasion force as their diplomat.

Of the three characters situated in Momemn, I think Kelmomas and Malowebi’s scenes outshine Esmenet’s. Perhaps they are easier to identify with because their judgement is clearer. Kelmomas is involved in active pursuit of a mystery and Malowebi offers an objective viewpoint in Fanayal’s troubled encampment. Esmenet isn’t as easy to identify with, perhaps because we know Kelmomas is pulling the wool over her eyes and that she is oblivious to the dire affairs in her own house, such as the White-Luck Warrior’s bizarre behaviour. Her scenes are nonetheless compelling, even if some of the enjoyment springs from the dramatic irony of knowing how wrong she is about Kelmomas.

==Kellhus and Proyas==

Parallel to the above characters’ storylines, Kellhus leads the Great Ordeal into the north to strike at the No-God and the Inchoroi. His army, unified from various factions across the Three Seas, is waging a running war against a seething horde of bestial Sranc, degenerate creatures that rut with the dead and are aroused by slaughter. As the men of the Ordeal push mercilessly north, their food stores begin to dwindle until the only meat to hand are the carcasses of the massacred Sranc…

In The Great Ordeal, Kellhus is an even more inscrutable character than in some of the previous novels. His intentions and motivations are completely obscured, and the viewpoint character in these scenes is primarily Proyas, a Believer-King who is losing his faith in the Great Ordeal and the Aspect-Emperor himself.

Kellhus is one scary man. He now possesses monstrous mental and magical power. Combined with the cold, tactical mindset of his Dunyain training, he is an enigma who might just be the death of them all. Conversely, he is also the only hope the Three Seas has against the horrific No-God, Mog Pharau.

Bakker has elevated Kellhus to divine status. He is a character who truly cannot be understood by the mortals who worship him. Much of Proyas’s angst stems from his crisis of faith and in his inability to truly understand the man who is leading them all to either salvation or damnation. Goaded continually by Saubon, his fellow Believer-King, Proyas knows that he must maintain his faith in order to lead his men. And lead his men he must, because to reach Golgotterath, the Great Ordeal will have to first crush the Sranc horde at the Urrokkas Mountains.

Proyas’s sections are as much about the day-to-day struggle of men at war as they are about his internal strife. Through him, we witness the privations, the death, and the creeping taint of savagery that infects the Ordeal’s ranks as they carry out their relentless campaign. Every day, they battle the limitless legions of Sranc, meeting savagery with savagery, the moral line between them and their enemy diminishing with each blood-drenched yard they push toward Golgotterath.

==Sorweel==

Sorweel, a hostage in everything but name, is journeying with Kellhus’s children, Serwa and Moenghus, to the Nonman mansion of Ishterebinth. Unbeknownst to his erstwhile jailors, he is an agent of the goddess Yatwer, who is seeking Kellhus’s destruction.

When they arrive, the three travellers find a decaying subterranean labyrinth ravaged by the Nonman plague called the Dolour, whose main symptoms manifest as a form of paranoia and dementia. Ishterebinth is a fallen place, steeped in ageless horror. A vast pit plumbs it to the core, and at the bottom dwell those Nonmen who have fallen so far into the Dolour as to be unfit to reside in the upper reaches. Only a few of those unaffected by the Dolour – the Intact – remain to oversee the mansion.

The king of Ishterebinth, Nil’giccas, is himself hardly a model for strength of spirit. He is a most unsettling individual, given to ladling an oily liquid over his golden armour for some arcane medicinal or spiritual purpose. Sorweel, unfortunately, is at his mercy. He finds himself left to the whims of Ishterebinth’s corrupt officialdom, unsure of whom to trust, unable to tell friend from foe. In the political spheres of Ishterebinth, hidden power plays are in motion and some in the higher castes are seeking to wield Sorweel for their own advantage. Worse, if what he fears is true, then the dread Inchoroi, the occupants of the infamous Ark itself, have already managed to gain a foothold in Ishterebinth.

This city stands so close to where the Ark fell that its innards are cleaved and ruptured by the catastrophic impact. The Inchoroi themselves, the occupants of the dread Ark, are a distant memory to Men but, in the labyrinthine recesses of Ishterebinth and amongst the Intact Nonmen who have kept their sanity over the long centuries, the horrors of the First Apocalypse are still in living memory. Although Men have been complacent about the return of the Inchoroi, Sorweel is beginning to suspect that a faction of the Nonmen have instead been complicit. And if a faction have entered into an unholy pact with the ‘Vile’, as he calls the Consult and Inchoroi, then he is in very great danger indeed.

==Achamian and Mimara==

Achamian and Mimara, who is Esmenet’s daughter, finally reach Ishual, the home of the Dunyain. This is Kellhus’s birthplace and Achamian hopes to discover the truth about Kellhus and his origins. What he finds instead is death and ruin, for the Sranc and their allies have put the whole place to the torch. In the ruins, Achamian and Mimara discover a yawning hole lined with the bones of Sranc. The Dunyain, it appears, have beat a fighting retreat deep into the maze of tunnels under Ishual, extracting a ruinous toll on the invaders while retreating ever deeper into the maze.

Achamian and Mimara descend into the musty slaughterhouse, the last stand of the Dunyain, searching for survivors and for the truth about Kellhus. And deep beneath Ishual, they will indeed learn some of those harsh truths they seek.

==The Final Judgement==

While comparisons with The Lord of the Rings are invariably made whenever a fantasy work begets this sort of grand scale, Bakker’s work defies such comparisons because it is so different as to stand outside the yardsticks Tolkien’s work created. What sets these books apart is not just the world-building but also the intensity. In my opinion, there isn’t a single scene in The Great Ordeal that is flat. Every scene is fraught with tension or angst.

This novel is not processed pap that tries to appease everyone. Hell, there’s enough of that stuff floating around already. This is hard-as-nails storytelling that carves its own trail through the wilds and defies conventions.

If you’re a fan, you’ll still be a fan when you finish The Great Ordeal. But if you didn’t like The Darkness that Comes Before, well, sad to say you’re not going to like this either.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be impossible to discuss anything that happens in the third book of R. Scott Bakker’s Aspect Emperor series without massive spoilage so I’m only going to hint at what’s happened since the end of The White-Luck Warrior and offer a few thoughts on the series [NB: I’m going to assume readers of this review have read the latter book and will not avoid mentioning events from it].

The last book ended on several cliff hangers: In Momemn, Maithanet had been assassinated and Esmenet had seized total control only to have the Fanim arrive to besiege the city; Kelmomas lurked in the crevices of the Andiamine Heights, a poisonous little half-Dûnyain toad. In the Ordeal, Sorweel and Kellhus’ children Serwa and Moënghus traveled to Ishterebinth, the last Nonman Mansion, to be hostages in an alliance. And Achamian and Mimara finally reached Ishuäl, the Dûnyain retreat, only to find it in ruins. Book three picks up on all of these threads and adds that of Nersei Proyas, Achamian’s erstwhile student and Kellhus’ second-in-command:

Momemn: Kelmomas continues to manipulate Esmenet as only an eight-year-old child can, though with the abilities of a Dûnyain, and becomes fascinated with and terrified of the White-Luck Warrior – Maithanet’s assassin – who now lives at the palace. The New Empire teeters on the brink of dissolution.

The Ordeal: Kellhus reveals to Proyas the real motivations behind the Ordeal and provokes a crisis of belief in the Believer-King. The army as a whole continues to be tempered in the fires of battling Sranc and Bashrag, and this thread ends with a catastrophic battle at Dagliash.

Ishterebinth: The hostages immediately find that things are not as they seem in the last Mansion (though there are hints that Kellhus and his children were aware that something was not quite right about the proposed alliance), and Sorweel is key to awakening an ancient Nonman power.

Ishuäl and environs: Mimara and Achamian fall in with the last two survivors of Ishuäl, a son and grandson of Kellhus, and continue their journey to Golgotterath. Their thread ends in the wilderness south of Agongorea, where they fall in with an old acquaintance of Achamian’s thought long dead.

As I said, to expand further would almost immediately get into spoilers so I’ll leave it at that. If you’ve gotten this far in the series, then you have to read The Great Ordeal and hope Bakker gets the final book out soon because he’s ratcheted up the stakes and I honestly don’t know how he’s going to end things. Though I and others have commented on the parallels between this story and Tolkien (especially the journey through Cil-Aujas), Eärwa is not Middle-earth, the Hundred Gods are not the Valar, Achamian is not Gandalf, and Kellhus is most certainly not Aragorn. While you can’t possibly root for the Consult to win, its opponent – the Great Ordeal – is as damned as they are; fanatics who would find a comfortable home in any real-life fundamentalist extremist movement whether Christian, Jewish or Moslem (or Buddhist or Hindu, for that matter). Bakker’s universe is extraordinarily bleak from humanity’s point of view - Their lives, they understood, mattered only in their sum. And since this is the grim truth of all human life, the insight possessed the character of revelation (p. 268) – and yet some souls are saved and there are hints that life is not as crushingly hopeless as it appears when stripped of the comforting delusions humans create.

I can’t help but recommend this book and this series. It’s not for everyone, however. Bakker succeeds (IMO) in combining epic fantasy with serious philosophy but the philosophy is pretty deep and I can see where many will be put off by it. If you’re looking for something with a little more intellectual heft than Games of Thrones or nearly all other fantasies, then this is the one for you.

[A complaint about the editing: Whoever proofed the galleys for this edition should be fired. There are an unconscionable number of typos and grammar errors that even a novice copy editor should have caught. Overlook Press is living up to its name, unfortunately.]

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

What did I just read… cuts, and cuts, and cuts

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoilers everywhere. Just some notes, rather than a proper reading—

“It was narcotic for simply being so strange” (180) - xenos as opium.

Injunction that the “living shall not haunt the dead” (122) meets “the horror of the Real” (122). And that horror is to be controlled: “to see a thing was to possess power over it—this was the truth behind the Unreality. The World was Real only to the degree it resisted Desire, and she, like her Dunyain father, could crush the resistance of the Real” (191).

arche that commences & commands: “The truth of a thing lies in its origins” (127). And yet the arche is contaminated by the telos: “He sat rigid, his breath pinched by the sense of things converging. Origin to ending” (148).

A hegelian interest: “she possessed two sets of memories: the one embodied, where she had thrown heart and limbs at the world, and the other disembodied, where everything happened, not out of desperation or heroic effort, but out of necessity. She wondered that the same thing could possess such contradictory appearances. […] she follows tracks laid at the founding of the world” (150).

Cunuroi/struldbrug: “fortress of our Memory […] All mighty endeavors beg contradiction” (207).

Bakhtinian svoi/chuzhoi: “To parlay one must understand […] to understand one must be” (210).

“To possess the Eye is to know who should live and who should die—as certainly as a man knows his own hand. And to know is to stand without worry or constraint, to be in the obstinate, inexhaustible way of inanimate things. To be immovable, unconquerable, even in death” (232) – cf. secret of battle in volume II.

Dunyain Cartesian doubt exponentiated: “in the First Great Analysis, the ancient Dunyain had jettisoned all the customs that bound them so they might contemplate the Shortest Path without prejudice or constraint” (233).

“Like the Dunyain, heir neuroanatomy bore all the hallmarks of artifice, with various lobes swollen at the expense of others, the myriad articulations of Cause branching into configurations alien to all other earthly beasts. Structures that triggered anguish in everything from lizards to wolves elicited lust in the Shriekers. They possessed no compassion, no remorse or shame or communal ambition. […] As much as they resembled the Dunyain, the Shriekers were actually their antithesis, a race honed to give perfect expression to the darkness that comes before. Where the Dunyain reached for infinity, the Shriekers embodied zero” (239).

“To exist across all times is to be oblivious to the Eschaton, the limit of those times, and Mog-Pharau is that limit. The Eschaton” (246).

“the holy chorus, at once thunderous and sweet, magical for the seamless compounding of hearts and voices, passion struck from the mire of the flesh, raised to the mystic purity of the Ecstasis” (257).

“his would always be a miscreant life” (304).

AK as agambenian homo sacer: “There is no such man as Anasurimbor Kellhus. No such Prophet. Only an intricate web of deceptions and stratagems, bound by one inexorable and as you know, quite ruthless—principle […] Salvation” (340).

Master figures: “Wages” (125, 161, 278, 283, 356); “Interval” (332, 367, 407, 454, 487); “limit”; “frame”; “meat”; “fraction” as the Hegelian interest?

ZG: “Zero was not simply nothing; it was also identity, for nothing is nothing but the absence of difference, and the absence of difference is nothing but the same. […] The absence that was the cubit of all creation. The Principle that watched through Mimara’s eyes” (397). Cf. Foucault regarding the ‘same’ in OT. Also: “The No-God stands outside inside and outside” (246).

“To be born upon a path is to follow that path—for what man could step over mountains? And to follow a path is to follow a rule” (403) – cf. CM “If the rule you followed led you to this of what use was the rule?” (NCOM 175). Dunyain as Chigurh.

AK “standing astride the sky, brilliant for booming meaning, drawing out the entrails of the earth—eviscerating a mountain” (368)—cf. marlovian Faust:

The spirits tell me they can dry the sea
And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks,
Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
Within the massy entrails of the earth.

Protocol of reading: “suffered the peculiar, dislocated sense of horror that comes with watching doom unfold at a distance—a cavernous knowledge … a recognition like a hole” (377).

Recommended for those whose perpetual absence makes terror easy to ignore, persons with slavish compliance to reason, and readers who suffer but one disorder.

[Fantasy boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After read The White Luck Warrior, I immediately continued reading the next installment, The Great Ordeal. I must say this was a daunting task for me, even I just finished TWLW, still was struggling read through TGO. First, the story is a bit confusing for me, Some events just occurred without too much why did it happened, some plot line would be jarring to understand the plot development. Secondarily, the history of Noman is quite engrossing to me, but the narrative of the story line would be more cryptic less explicit to me to comprehend the full picture of what is going on when Sorweel and Kellfus's two children were captured and imprisoned in Ishterebinth, and Oinaral the lastborn of Noman has different plan to Sorweel because he was predestinated being chosen by Yatwer. And after Oinaral and Sorweel who worn the helmet and confront the insanity of Noman's nightmare. Sorweel later rescued Serwa who sang the song. This is one of the bewildered part of the story. I need to slow down reading in order to understand what was actually occurring to the story.

The writing is poetic but imexplicit, often swerving my focus on the plots. It requires concentration on the story and it would be exhausting to read. I think this book is more complicate to understand than the previous installment, TWLW. I think I need take a break from reading the second apocalypse series, also there has the finale installment in the series, The Unholy Council.

Beside of those factors, it is a stunning fantasy series I've read, grand world building is full of philosophy and fictional-histories details; wild imaginations depict feverish and frenzied visuals when and after reading the book; dialogues are almost lyric and not verbal at all, deep in philosophical analyzations, a vivid and not dream-like approaching apocalypse. This series excels at descriptions of events, histories, magic systems, thought-provoking philosophy, however it requires readers to deep dive the story due to the complexity of the story that convey subtle messages to readers. Furthermore, the battle scenes are excellently portrait, magic battles with unhuman creatures are incredulous to read. Also remind me of the varieties of each magic school in this series.

Cnaiür urs Skiötha shows up in the finale chapter, it's a bit surprising to me that he just appears for one chapter, just mainly explain the human force, Scylvendi joined the unholy council. Hope to see more of his appearances in the next installment. This series has numerous mysteries, myths and histories need to be exploited. So far the free books are not quite reveal full-picture of world Earwa.

Overall, a fantasy series need highly concentrations on what is going on and who is who, and lyrical dialogues and some abhorrent scenes and nightmarish images that would haunt you for a long time...

[Kaminsod · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Ordeal took me places I did not want to go, but now I am glad I expirienced it.

This is probably the darkest book I have ever read. Not so much because of the violence or the content, but mostly because of its philosophy. But not only I feel there is some kind of beauty in darkness.. but these kind of book and their themes challenges me to think about them, to find a conterargument to their messages, to find some hope in life.. while also taking all those horrible things in account.

This series is becoming an expirience like no other. As I said many times in reviews, it is not the most enjoyable read, for multiple reasons.. but it is one of the most rewarding.

Thousandfold Thought is still my favorite, but The Great Ordeal takes the second place so far. I can not wait to see how Unholy Consult finishes the series.

[Alec Voin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbearably and oppressively dark, far more esoteric then the others in the series, slower and more repetitive, but not out of a lack of inspiration on the part of the author, but on purpose, to better drown us in the sheer misery, hopelessness and grotesquerie of this book. I loved it!

[iSamwise · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are what you eat

[CHIP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus fucking christ lmao

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are my favorite books in the world (really!), but this one didn't do it for me.

1. Not a lot happens.
2. There is a "big surprise" at the end, except that I've been expecting that surprise for 3 books now, so it wasn't such a big surprise.
3. Every single Ishterebinth chapter is like a total word salad of made up nonman words. They read like they were written by some text generation neural network trained on the nonman parts of the first 5 books:

"Mu'miorn!" the in-between soul that had once been Sorweel cried.

Clack ... Clack ... Clack ...

Gloom hooded the Great Entresol and Mu'miorn vanished among tangled shadows. Holol had been sheathed. Luminance filtered down from above. Pallid bodies roiled in the black.

Oinaral lunged toward him, resplendent before the horrid surge. He leapt into him, tackled him about the breast ... The youth glimpsed the Haul, bulbous black framed by ceilings stark with illumination. They sailed past the floor, and emptiness pulled them down and away.

It goes on like this for a while.

At some point I'll go back and re-read and try to find another star.

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Board is set, the pieces are moving..." I can't think of a better description for The Great Ordeal. If you've made it this far then you're most likely a fan of the "Grimdark" masterpiece that is The Prince of Nothing saga. Fans have eagerly awaited years for this volume, and let me be the first to tell you, the wait was worth it.

If you haven't given this series a try, then I urge you to. If you're a fan and you've come this far, then prepare to have your mind blown. Bakker has cemented his place in the fantasy pantheon as the Emperor of "Grimdark" and in my opinion, there is no other series comparable to this bleak nightmare of a world. The wait for the next book will truly be...(wait for it...) THE GREAT ORDEAL!

*If anybody is interested, there is a private Facebook group called, "The Second Apocalypse" for Bakker fans to chat.

[Micah Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bakker has continually improved his prose from the previous series. The world remains bleak, the characters despicable, but the lore and rifts on well-worn tropes make for a refreshing, intricate read. The metaphysics and horror is ramped up even more in this one; some of the best depictions of epic battles I've read in fantasy.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonkers book! A few chapters were hard to follow for me, but I am keen to get to the final outcome. Just a few too many proper nouns and esoteric philosophical passages for my liking, similar to the Thousandfold Thought. So much imagination and many, many layers.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wept for watching the dark miracle.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bakker has outdone himself here and to think that this is only the first half of a split book 😮‍💨

[Jeroen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The long awaited third book of the Aspect-Emperor series is finally here. The previous instalment, The White-Luck Warrior, ended on a bunch of cliffhangers: everyone arrived at places, be it Ishual, Ishterebinth, Momemn or the high north. In part three, we move even farther away from the normal human world, and the series becomes even more heady and cryptic.

For an epic fantasy, a lot of the story revolves around (apparent) madness. We follow the machinations of the transhuman, passionless Dunyain, the mad inhuman Nonmen, the genocidal alien Consult, a bunch of insane half-blind Gods and one obsessed wizard. Bakker necessarily spends a lot of text on merely explaining the mental spaces and experiences of his characters.

All relationships in which Dunyain are involved, are travesties. They make people love them, or worship them, but underneath there is only manipulation. And since nearly every character in this series has to deal either with a Dunyain directly or is trapped by their machinations, nearly every relationship between two or more people in this series is twisted. As the Aspect-Emperor series progresses, I get the sense that this is the heart of the tale, the exploration of ideas such as love and worship, and how these feelings can be created and manipulated. What do they really mean?

It is Bakker’s thesis, if I understand correctly, that it is impossible to know what lies behind the fountain of your own thoughts (hence the title of the first book: The Darkness That Comes Before). And if you can manipulate what lies before, you can make people feel and believe anything you’d like. This makes the Dunyain false gods, or it raises the question whether all gods are false if they possess the power to make you love.

But look at what happens in this series. Kellhus shackles the human world in worship, takes possession of it as a prophet, and then uses humanity for his own ends. You could say that our human propensity to love and worship things is our greatest weakness in this situation. It makes us no more than slaves. And I do think that the feeling of loving someone or something is a more intense emotion than receiving love. People always look for things or people to love. But is it not also the source of our strength and perhaps grace? Bakker’s relationships in this series give different answers to these questions.

But these relationships are all twisted, and if you don’t like this grim darkness, it may put you off.

Empress Esmenet loves her little psychopathic child Kelmomas, even though he uses her and manipulates that love. And perhaps Esmenet’s need for this love was foreseen by Kellhus, who saw in it a source of strength. And then we have Sorweel, in love with the Dunyain woman Serwa, who doesn’t understand why he loves her and doesn’t need him to love her. This is another variation of the conflict, where love and hate are enmeshed in Sorweel. And the general Proyas worships Kellhus, but Kellhus keeps breaking his heart, keeps undermining that belief on purpose. What is this purpose, and what does Kellhus need Proyas to become for him?

And then we have the mad Nonmen, who search for people to love, and then to destroy them, for only those intense emotions of loss still become part of their memory. As always, Bakker’s portrayal of the Nonmen is fascinating and wonderfully unsettling. Their stronghold Ishterebinth echoes HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. A fitting title for their chapters in any case.

The rest of the story, the epic march and grand battles, is embellishment. In the same way that Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was about Frodo and his connection with Gollum (Gollum represented a possible future Frodo if he gave in to the temptation of the Ring), and the grand story surrounding it was a vehicle for putting Frodo in this situation where he would choose temptation or stay good. The Aspect Emperor series has these same deeper layers. It’s more than a simple epic fantasy story about elves and orcs. It tries to Investigate and to Make Points.

But what embellishments! The entire four-book series covers a single march, of the greatest army ever assembled. And even that army is merely a vehicle to transport Kellhus and the hundreds of sorcerers. Ever since they left, they battle a sea of Sranc, millions of them, a horde miles deep. Talk about anticipation for the final confrontation. Some of the plot twists in the second half of the book felt a bit dubious to me, but may make more sense when the final book is released.

I’m on the fence about Bakker’s writing style. He can be sharp; he can throw out strong observations and can get right down to the moods and mental spaces that his characters occupy. This makes for some nice quotes, and some truly unique characters and situations. At the same time, his prose is overwrought and not exactly beautiful, like it tries too hard to squeeze hints and meanings into the lines. At times, I just lost what he was trying to say. At crucial junctures of the story, he was too vague, too cryptic for me to fully understand what he was trying to say. This really hurt the impact of the story. At other times, his prose suggests that every little musing has some great significance for the story. Or he repeats a single line multiple times while the meaning behind it stays opaque.

Some chapters, especially those concerning Esmenet and Kelmomas, seem elongated. Bakker had to chop his book into two parts, and perhaps he needed to add some extra material to this part to provide breaks between the heavy chapters of Ishual and Ishterebinth, or just to beef up the page count. But some of the Esmenet material could have been scrapped. In any case, parts of it didn’t seem essential to the story.

The breadth and depth of ideas in this series are still unequalled in modern fantasy. You could write a book about these books. So far, this is one of the heaviest, weirdest, most mind-blowing series of not just this decade but of the fantasy genre in its totality.