The Unholy Consult

The Aspect-Emperor #4

by R. Scott Bakker

A SCORE OF YEARS AFTER HE FIRST WALKED INTO THE HISTORIES OF MEN, ANASÛRIMBOR KELLHUS RULES ALL THE THREE SEAS, THE FIRST TRUE ASPECT-EMPEROR IN A THOUSAND YEARS.

The Unholy Consult is the hugely anticipated final novel in R. Scott Bakker's acclaimed Aspect-Emperor series, set in a vivid world of myth, war and sorcery. It is a series that stands alongside the finest in the genre, for its grand scope, rich detail and thrilling story.

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

788 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 6, 2017

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

[Malice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this so much. SO much. I love his other books. But it's awful in my opinion, just wretchedly awful.

It's about 30% super gross and repetitive gay snuff porn, maybe more...expect the first 40% of the length of the book to be little else. Bakker repeats the same lines over and over and over with a lot of arbitrary italics to try and lend weight to certain phrases (the Meat! vile angel! argh). Always verbose, he takes it to the next level here, framing scenes of mass gay rape and necrophilia with ponderous musings about the shitty nature of the human soul. Bakker, for some fucking reason, felt the need wax on with not just phallic imagery, but romance erotica language like "his manhood" and "throbbing phallus" and "turgid horn"...too many times to even count. Entire major storylines that have been built up over the last 2-3 books get dropped like red herrings. Major characters die, but not in the George R Martin school of "OMG!". It's more like "what, that's it???" Whole story arcs just fizzle into literary blue balls. And when you come up towards the end and you're still baffled but you've got another 20% to go so your figure there's still time...NOPE! That last 20% of the book is appendixes! Yes, there is good info there, but I shouldn't have to read The Unholy Silmarillion to understand the book I just spent days reading.

And as usual, Bakker has issues with writing female characters. They're all dependent on male characters and largely useless outside of their interactions with them, with one exception, which I'm not naming for spoilery reasons. Her character has strong development, but was still pockmarked with dumb things like (when describing her genitalia, because of course he does) "the downy hair of her cursed sex". No reason, it's not cursed in any relevant sense, Bakker apparently just felt like saying that. And while her character is one of the best, she nevertheless feels like fan service, like "look, I can write a strong female...so I'm gonna make this chick basically a superhero to offset all the whores and pregnant women who depend on men in this series". She still dies in obscurity for what seems like no reason at all. And a dragon literally yells "I LIKE CUNNY!" lmfao

It's a lot of pornographic pontification about blah blah the soul blah blah the holy blah blah ejaculating on a corpse blah blah human nature. That may seem like a given, but this book took it to the nth degree. It wasn't just shocking, it was incredibly boring and repetitive. And most of the book just makes no sense at all.

Yeah, I'm mad at this book. I am such a big fan, and I feel not only let down, but honestly a bit offended that this was even published in this state.

[Peterb · Rating 3 out of 5]

[EDIT: Now that the book has been released, until I read the book, I have revised this review from 1 to 3 stars. I leave the review in place as an historical Goodreads artifact.]

I was very disappointed in The Unholy Consult. This is a book with some major, major problems.

Initially, I was super excited because of all the 5-star reviews of it on Goodreads. That's a really good sign! Plenty of the reviews on Goodreads are deep and insightful, and while the whole 'rating' thing can be suspect, surely the fact that so many people liked it was a promising leading indicator, right?

However, once I actually began reading the book, I encountered a serious problem: it doesn't exist. All of the pages I looked at were blank, or, more precisely, existed in an alternate, unreachable universe from the one that I am currently living in. I have spent literally hours and hours not reading this book; yet no matter how much I don't read it, it continues to not exist. The characterization, plot, and writing were all extremely flat - perfectly flat, in fact - and as you can imagine the dramatic tension simply wasn't there at all. The book's complete nonexistence is a major problem, and one that I hope the author will address in future revisions.

And the unanswered questions from earlier books are legion. What is the relationship of the Consult to Kellhus? What are the aspect-emperor's end goals? And what about Naomi? Will she love again? None of this is addressed in any of the chapters that I could read, which is none of them.

Perhaps I will revise this review once the book actually exists, but for now: two thumbs down. This is perhaps the WORST book that doesn't exist that I never read.

[Chris Gousopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I will not add anything for my second reread of my favourite series. Just a quote from the final pages that perfectly matches the experience of reading these harrowing epic, profound books.

"No knowledge runs so deep as knowledge of calamity; no name is more primal—or final. It is what infants wail and homicides rave. It is what old men groan as sight dwindles, and what mothers weep. It is what poets lavish with spit and pearl. Tribulation is our maker, the foe that so hounds us as to craft us like clay. Think on it! Tales of murder would not so enthrall us, were we not the children of survivors."*


Awe begets awe begets awe. Knowing what was coming I slowed down and tried to fully grasp the tragic, profound and dense magnificence of this book. The birth of Apocalypse. So biblical, grand, ominous, philosophical and dramatic. Awe inspiring scene after awe inspiring scene. R. Scott Bakker is my favorite author. His prose is incredibly strong and evocative, full of meaning. He is able to write iconic scenes of beauty or dread like no other. With the Aspect Emperor series he pushes the boundaries of the genre making it for many of his readers obsolete. A twilight world of wonder and craving desperation.


Before I say anything I would like to to express my puzzlement for all those whining that the book ended at 2/3 and there was an appendix following. The book ends at the end. 2/2, 3/3 312/312. U name it. We are just lucky to also get a very interesting appendix in compliance with the terrific worldbuilding of these books.

To the book itself. The Book as I mention the whole series to friends. I dont know how to express myself. I finished it last night and I am overwhelmed. I ll just say that we get the end that was coming. Because..."The Darkness that came before". Many ppl expected a happier ending but I dont know how they got that idea reading these 7 books. After all, there is more to the story, so we will have to see what will be the aftermath. After very depressing, morbid events and situations, we reach the final stage of the Great Ordeal. Humanity against the threat of Apocalypse. Through very epic and tragic climaxes we get to the end. There are many questions and things left to our subjectivity but I know that Bakker wanted that. He claimed so in some Q&A. Seeing everything from the end I cannot but admire the way he foreshadowed so many things. The way pieces were set. The whole story was incredible. It had everything I long for. Very epic and so disturbing at the same time. Morbid. Insane. Actionwise it never got cheesy. Only epic after epic. Drama after drama. Tons of intensity and gravity. Sacrifices, betrayals, bravery, bitterness, addictions, passions, reason, manipulation, love, faith. Everything conflicting and struggling. I know that not all people would like these books but they are definitely extremely original, groundbreaking, penetrating and thought provoking. Demanding. You have to try them just to experience them. I could praise them forever but I prefer to withdraw and contemplate on them, reading the endless insight and theories in the Second Apocalypse forums.

Reading wont be the same after the Second Apocalypse. Standards raised way too high. Its one of the very few times that I have finished a book and I dont feel like starting another. I just cant stop thinking when we ll get the No-God books and I ll return to the incredible world of Earwa

[Alex W · Rating 5 out of 5]

My soul feels extinguished. Need a minute

[Ron Sami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the epic ending of a large dark fantasy sub-series.

Plot. Rating 5
I liked the plot of the book even though it is somewhat predictable and similar to the plot of the books in the first cycle. The final book ends the storylines of the entire sub-series brilliantly, based on the features of the creepy world of Earwa. The Unholy Consult reveals many secrets of the Inchoroi, the gods of Earwa, the Incu-Holoinas, the Great Ordalia, and the Consult itself. In addition, the plot is more dynamic than previous books in the series and contains enough unexpected twists: the big battle at the gates of Golgotterath is shown perfectly, and many inverted tropes in the fates of various characters worked.
Also, the ending of the book has an interesting duality and leaves the reader interested in continuing.
As a result, the plot turned out to be very organic for the infinitely gloomy world and, for the most part, the negative characters of the series.

Characters. Rating 4
The book reveals the terrible details of the existence of this fantasy universe. Unsurprisingly, because of this, there are practically no positive characters in the series. It is very difficult to choose a side of the conflict and decide who is the "lesser evil". However, many of the characters are interesting. The figure of Anasurimbor Kellhus stands out in this book, as well as in the entire series, because, in my opinion, he did not manage to find a worthy opponent.

Dialogues. Rating 3
The dialogue is heavy and dramatic, as is the case throughout the series. They have a lot of philosophical overtones and reflections, which, nevertheless, are well connected with the events taking place. Quite often it is difficult to understand the dialogues of the characters, as well as their internal monologues, since they contain abrupt phrases and vague statements that need to be interpreted, plot riddles, metaphors, pathetic judgments about the gods, fuzzy emotional statements.

Writing style. Rating 4
Very original writing style. A lot of pathos, which in this case is suitable for epic dark fantasy, as it perfectly draws gloomy fateful pictures of what is happening. On the other hand, the text is full of thoughts about various aspects of life, which are weakly related to the current plot and the state of the characters. As in previous books, each PoV devotes a lot of time to its inner world and emotional state. They are overwhelmingly heavy and joyless. However, it seems to me that the descriptions of the campaign of the Great Ordeal, its opponents, giant structures, as well as the final battle are done perfectly.

Worldbuilding. Rating 5
Worldbuilding is detailed, original and thoughtful. Especially in the field of gods, magic and otherworldly entities. There is no overly fanciful fantasy in the book, but the literal depiction, following and opposition to common earthly religious attitudes, such as the concept of heaven and hell, is excellent. There are many places to think about this in the text. Of course, the Inchoroi, the Nonmen, gods of the Outside are depicted meticulously and realistically, as in the entire series.
There are quite a few cruel scenes, although I would not say that the book is full of them.
The final siege and battle is done in the best way for epic fantasy, and the style of writing gave it a unique flavor.

General conclusion. Rating 5
It seems to me that the advantages of the first and last points far outweigh the disadvantages of the others. Since the book and the whole series are very original, it is necessary to give a rating of 5.

[Mike · Rating 4 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
The Great Ordeal review

If there is one thing this series has demonstrated again and again is that it does not stick to conventional fantasy narratives. Characters can and will die in terrible ways. Good and evil are but labels applied to achieve some other end by those in power. The greatest power is not strength of arms or magic, but the ability to manipulate the beliefs and aspirations of whole peoples. There are no shining heroes, there are no maidens in far away towers, the sum of an individual's achievements is insignificant when arrayed against the tapestry of humanity. Bakker's world is bleak in a way that is both refreshing and a bit transgressive when compared to other fantasy that is out there. I have found the entire series both engaging and challenging, though I will be the first to admit it is not for everybody.

That being said I can see how lot of people who have made it this far in the series could come away from this book feeling disappointed. The series itself has evolved quite a bit from the first installment. In fact what initially caught my attention was how the first book (and indeed the first trilogy) was basically a retelling of The First Crusade set in a really fascinating fantasy world. I am a sucker for good world-building and this series delivers that in spades. It then evolved into this apocalyptic struggle between humanity and genocidal space aliens that sought to save themselves from eternal damnation by closing the world (through said genocide) to the Outside (trust me, it makes sense in context). As you can see, there was a bit of a topical shift between the first book and this one.

In spite of this, however, I think the series holds together very well. What is unfolding in this book is a consequence of the elaborate history and world-building work that was present since the first book. It is the natural by product of following the world and its conditions.

That being said, this particular installment did come up a bit short for me compared to the others in the series.

First off the initial plan was for the Aspect-Emperor series to also be a trilogy. Then Bakker decided to split the last book into two, this one being the conclusion to the installment. The final product, in my opinion, did not need to be split into two books. I think Bakker could have cut some rather graphic and probably unnecessary fluff in this book and merged it with The Great Ordeal to deliver a complete and more compelling conclusion to the Aspect-Emperor books.

And this book was short, clocking in at "only" 451 pages with a good chunk of the space between the covers taken up by an extensive appendix (which I loved but acknowledge was probably not necessary) and two previously released short stories which weren't terribly compelling. There was also a section towards the beginning of the book that was as repetitive as it was revolting. So the percentage of the book that comprised compelling reading was lower than previous books.

I also thought a few character's arcs were cut short or just turned out to be sort of pointless. I can certainly understand why somethings turned out the way they did, but that didn't make me feel any less disappointed with the end results.

That being said this book did deliver some amazing scenes and developments that I have been waiting for since the beginning. Just about all the characters come together after being separate for the past three books. We see a clash between the Great Ordeal and the forces of the Consult. We get to see the Consult itself!!!!!!!!! There are lots of payoffs that have been building up both from the Aspect-Emperor series and the series as a whole. And the ending was one of the ballsiest endings I have come across in any fantasy book. I did not for one moment think things would turn out the way they did and I applaud Bakker for his decision on how to end the Aspect-Emperor series.

So while it wasn't the best possible book to end this series* it was still a compelling and engaging read the delivered some really fantastic scenes and revelations. If you have gotten this far you will probably find a bunch of things to like about this book even though it is by no means perfect.

*This is not the end, there will apparently be another two or three books that follow the events of the Aspect-Emperor series. I am really looking forward to them!

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024 update: Reread really improved this one. I still think it's the most challenging of all the books to read and could have used some editing in both the prose and dialogue because Bakker let's it all hang out a little too much to where even people in this series probably don't talk like that. That being said I understand and appreciate the ending so much more on the second pass and there are some things I feel are just brilliant. I also didn't feel as discombobulated during theong bate scenes and found it interesting how they can kind of act as mini vignettes for lesser characters. This is a top 3 series all time for me no doubt and I could reread it for years and find something new.


I reserve the right to change my opinion on this one as I've thought about and still feel very conflicted. Once again Bakker has included some absolutely amazing stuff in here. Chapter 18 in particular was something really special with magic, combat, revelations, and just incredible prose. The ending of this book is...different and once again a lot of things were written in a way that is unnecessarily unclear. While I'm ok with the ending itself and it doesn't feel cheap I'm not ok with so many things being too obfuscated in the narrative and threads left hanging. I've hear that Bakker wants to write another trilogy, and if we knew we were actually getting one this book may be 4 stars or better. However, even though I love the series overall I can't say I love this book that much because it still feels incomplete in so many ways. That being said I keep thinking about this book and series all the time so maybe it's better than what I'm feeling right now.

[Gwern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review moved to gwern.net due to length.

[Corey James Soper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review came swirling down...

I have now read six gargantuan tomes of the Second Apocalypse - my slog of slogs, my Great Ordeal, and in this final outing we will have our questions answered - let's grab Golgotterath by the horns and get on with it.

I read the first one as it was pitched as a gritty, philosophical Game of Thrones to scratch the Winds of Winter itch. When I was immersed in the fanaticism and butchery of the Holy War, I was hooked. When it transpired that the Cishuarim, Fanim and the whole Three Seas were but pawns in some cosmic chess-game of unparalleled bleakness, I stayed. When we got to the spaceships and rape-aliens and wait-a-minute-maybe-Kellhus-actually-is-Jesus,I, eyebrows arched, loins girded, awaited some conclusion. But I was perversely fascinated by the sheer scale of Bakker's imagination, and his ability to treat with deadpan dignity a plot whose premise I cannot explain to people without them thinking this is some 1920s Pulp mash up bullshit about Orcs on Mars. The sheer, dazzling, maddening complexity of his cast of thousand.

An as Ordealsman who has waded through throngs of battles and treatises and the many, many, many engorged phalluses of this series, it was with a hungry eagerness I hoped to see Kellhus crack open Golgotterath, punch the Consult in their engorged phalluses and finally tell us what the fuck is happening in this fucking crazy series.

I have finished almost four thousand pages of purple-prose Bakkerverse and I'm still basically ignorant of his world's metaphysics and rules. And I like that - it's a world of dazzling byzantine detail and soaring mythic tone - a universe of flesh and of the mind, and one of the most believable universes. If you don't like it - and you didn't like it - you will be sadly disappointed by the final conclusion. The unrelenting bleakness and savagery is still there: there are three chapters of unfettered rape and cannibalism that make the Texas Chainsaw Massacre look like the Teletubbies.

If you like the previous outings, this is pure, concentrated Bakker - refined to an arrow-point in his style. I read the whole 482 pages in a single breathless weekend, waiting for the ending.

SPOILERS AVOID RUN AWAY





The ending is shit, isn't it? We marched and massacred our way to here in order for the following things to happen:
1) Mimara to never look at Kellhus with the Judging Eye.
2) She gives birth to the last baby ever, then presumably is murder-eaten by a trillion Sranc.
2) Achaiman to hang out with Esmenet for a bit, neither discussing or acknowledging the situation.
3) A brief summary of what the Inchoroi are about.
4) Serwa - my favourite Anasurimbor, kills a dragon . This is never mentioned again and achieves nothing. Cynically, this girl-power moment feels like Bakker trying to undo some of the accusations of sexism in the series...
5) Kelmomas - the irksome little fucker we all hated in every book because if there's one thing Bakker likes more than engorged dicks its italicised "Mummy!" - is magically invisible to the gods for essentially no reason, and momentarily distracts Kellhus in his moment of triumph and then some random Skin-Spy offs him. They chuck Kelmomas in a coffin and now he's Mog-Pharau and everyone in the world is going to die. sorry. And like a reject from Les Mis, we'll be treated to Mog's soul searching: WHO AM I? whilst he kills everybody, making the entire trajectory - one of the longest bloody paths in fantasy literature - totally fucking pointless.


Do not get me wrong - I loved the majesty and scale and artifice of this series - but I cannot understand the sense of the ending.

[Bakkerfans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unholy Consult by R. Scott Bakker crashes into the inevitable contest between the Dûnyain-Prophet, Anasûrimbor Kellhus, and the vile Consult hierarchy. This novel, the fourth and concluding volume of The Aspect-Emperor series, chronicles a convergent conflict, millennia in the making, between Men, Nonmen, and Inchoroi abomination. Tekne and Logos will vie for the fate of the world, the fate of souls. The Great Ordeal will traverse the unnatural wastes at the end of the world to face it…the Golden Horror.



Weaving the narrative threads of The Aspect-Emperor into a rope, The Unholy Consult hangs from the Horns of Golgotterath. The survivors of Ishterebinth make haste to join the Great Ordeal, which in turn staggers in its last desperate trek through the Fields of Woe. Following the destruction of the Horde at Dagliash, the false Believer-King, Nersei Proyas, struggles to steer the might of Earwa across ashen Agongorea. Stripped to the foundation of their Meat, the Men of the Ordeal find they must overcome themselves to march upon their foe, to achieve the requisite mad ferocity to topple wicked and alien heights.  Besotted, crazed with loss and bewildered hope, the old Wizard, Achamian, and the pregnant Prophet, Mimara, draw near to gaze upon the Aspect-Emperor with the Judging Eye. Even the eyes of the damned will stand witness to the Warrior-Prophet’s ultimate disputation of war. Gobozkoy like no other. As the Great Ordeal unleashes its collective might on Unholy Golgotterath, Bakker rolls into one all the strategy, tactical reversal, and heartbreak of the battle sequences of his six preceding novels…and the Gods play benjuka across the very the plate of the world.



Thematically, the darkness that comes before dominates all individuals through every faction. In a contest of this magnitude, none can be sure their cause is righteous truth.  Meat and spirit, meaning and its wages compel reason run to the end of sanity—The Unholy Consult emerges as the most profuse expression of Bakker’s philosophical viewpoint on humanity’s frame and substance. Stylistically, Bakker furthers the coiled power of word and verse from The Great Ordeal: epic fantasy as adventure and elegy.  This novel is word for word, line for line, condensed, packed, loaded. In the end, Bakker sparks a detonation proper to the termination of The Aspect-Emperor series.  A rebuke of and tribute to the Tolkinesque tradition, a rumination on holy scripture, and prophetic word, The Unholy Consult is above all a tale to grasp the heart.



Included with The Unholy Consult is an expanded encyclopedic glossary, elaborating on the glossary of The Thousandfold Thought, divulging history, secrets, lies, and promising more.  A particular highlight is a short account concerning the Aspect-Emperor, revealing insight into his peculiar magic and snatched, it would seem, while the Anasûrimbor thought no one watching. Bakker’s, previously available online Atrocity Tales, short stories set in Earwa, “The False Sun” and “The Four Revelations,” are also included as Appendices Two and Three.  “The False Sun” constitutes an episode from the formation of the Consult and their grudge with the ancient Grandmaster of the Sohonc, mighty Titirga. “The Four Revelations” takes the reader inside the mind of a Nonman Erratic, long-lived beyond all dead glory and sanity.



Tragedy, tragedy averted, tragedy necessary and inescapable, The Unholy Consult marches toward Golgotterath, measuring its path by the suffering of its persons. This is the seventh book in The Second Apocalypse series.  Apocalypse is revelation.  Bakker delivers humanity, character and reader alike, to the revelation of the fate of worlds.

Behold! The Passion of the Warrior-Prophet.

[Dezideriu Szabo · Rating 5 out of 5]

WTF!!!!!! No, really, WTF!!!!!! Really???????? This is it???? Probably the most devastating series finale I ever red.

[Michael Sliter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the wordy source material, I am not going to mince words. The final book of the Aspect-Emperor series was utterly disappointing. Rarely have I been so disappointed in an ending to a series. Note that this is the ending to a SERIES, not an individual book, but more on that in a second.

First, the good. Bakker is an flowery writer, and continues to have a vocabulary the size of the titanic. Some of the character arcs were interesting, and Kellhaus continued to be the reason I pressed on, through the philosophical meandering and the overtly gross, overtly extended, sections of rape and murder. Mind you, I am not squeamish by any stretch of the imagination. But, nearly two full books of such depictions no longer have shock value. It just become violence porn, and too much violence porn makes a man... bored.

My paragraph about the good was overshadowed by the bad. That was the essence of this book. The main character arcs really amounted to nothing. Akka? What was his purpose? Mimara? Esme? Everything that happened would have happened with or without them. And, maybe that was the point. Nihilism, etc. But, that doesn't make for a good story.

And the ending.. Again, the book--the series--just ended. I thought there was more, but, like many others, I discovered there was just an extended appendix. So, the ending was incredibly unsatisfying. I have no problem with "the good guys lose" endings. Think of the First Law. No one can say that has a happy ending, but it has a great ending. This book just... ended. That, more than anything, is fueling my low review.

With that, I want to end this review as abruptly as The Unholy Consult ended. In summary...

[Redeagl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless.

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. Thoughts to come. Need to reflect.

[Pranav Prabhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bold and explosive conclusion to the quartet, The Unholy Consult is one of my favourites of the series along with The Great Ordeal.

Continuing with the remnants of the Ordeal armies after Dagliash, the first quarter of this book is probably some of the darkest stuff in the series, with people feeling the effects of their previous experiences and the Meat, devolving into depraved madness as they march to Golgotterath. While I thought this section could have been shortened a bit, the writing sweeps over it and the focus on Proyas’ inner conflict was very compelling, his crisis of faith with his need to believe in salvation. And its eventual resolution along with explanations of the army’s mindset and reasoning of their overall journey were excellent.

The time spent with Serwa and Moenghus these past two books has given them much needed depth, and I quite liked how they got their moments to shine here. Moenghus especially, learning about his childhood experiences surrounded by his other Anasurimbor siblings and his Scylvendi roots coming to the fore. Serwa’s confrontation with the Wracu and the hundred Chorae-bearers at the entrance to Golgotterath was tense and riveting, though I thought some of the Wracu’s dialogue was weird. Certain reunions and confrontations that had been hinted at were paid off here, those involving the Wizard were especially satisfying given the long build-up. Sorweel’s overall journey has been great to follow as well, from a naive hostage prince to his transformation in this book.

The final few chapters consisted of tense, explosive battles, fights, and conversations long anticipated. The storming of Golgotterath was fantastic: the various armies, sorcerous battles, the final stands, the unique terrain, the sheer scope of it all. It was further enhanced by the beautiful prose that conveyed the epic proportions of the conflict, the weight and emotion behind the historic conflagration.

Learning more about the workings of the Unholy Consult, their philosophy and functioning, finally plumbing the depths of Min-Uroikas with the Golden Room was fantastic. With what’s been revealed about the Dunyain, the Inchoroi, the Hundred Gods, and the Outside all coming into play. There were also certain twists and revelations that retrospectively made a lot of sense, explaining various anomalies and mysterious scenes and allusions. The final ending’s direction was a shock. It’s bold in what it tries to accomplish and I absolutely loved it. Anything else would have felt cheap or unearned, it was almost expected with what had been built up. Overall, a wonderful end to this amazing quartet that just begs for the next arc in The Second Apocalypse to be written and released soon.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first time I saw a map of R. Scott Bakker's Earwa, I've wondered about Golgotterath. The name (metal as hell), the location (the middle of crater) -- it has "Dark Lord of Evil" written all over yet. But despite its importance, it's stayed in the background, a threat, yes, but something distant and abstract.

That all changes in "The Unholy Consult". After 6 books of teases, R. Scott Bakker finally pulls back the curtain and reveals the nigh-impregnable stronghold of Earwa's enemies. And what a revelation it is.

The book itself is structured in two "acts": the convergence of forces at Golgotterath and the attack on the stronghold itself.

The first details the various groups converging upon the Black Furnace Plain. I don't want to give too much away about this but I will say that it's an emotional rollercoaster. Long-anticipated reunions, shocking betrayals and acts of unspeakable horror (Bakker outdoes himself here) -- it's a hell of a ride. I've been an avid fantasy reader for 30 years and honestly can't remember feeling so emotionally drained as I did by the end of this section. Tip of the hat to Bakker: by the time you reach the Maw of Golgotterath, you are every bit as blasted as the men and women of the Great Ordeal).

The second act features quite possibly the best battle sequence ever written in the fantasy genre. It is, of course, mind-bogglingly epic. What makes it transcend, however, is how skillfully Bakker weaves a coherent thread through the action. Unlike the closing battles in other masterworks (Wheel of time or Malazan Books of the Fallen), I didn't find myself struggling to remember who someone was or why they were doing what they were doing. And despite being a long sequence (nearly half the book), it somehow felt lean -- excellent work by Bakker and his editors.

The final chapters are as revelatory as you'd expect from Bakker... and then some. There was one particular moment (hint: it involves stairs) where I literally said "are you f****** kidding me" out loud and put the book down for a day to process. But what I really appreciated was that like any great mystery, the surprises made perfect sense within the logic of Bakker's universe and the seeds that he's planted since the opening sentence of The Darkness That Comes Before.

And the ending? All I'll say is that it's perfectly "Bakker".

5/5

[Kaela Mary-Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished reading this series for the sake of finishing it. Anything intriguing about it was played out entirely by the time this book came out.

The depravity lost all shock value, and the endless questions gave way to indifference. Am I too dumb for it? I doubt it. I think Bakker just went really far out of his way to turn Tolkien-esque fantasy on its head, transforming the archetypal quest/walk into an "ordeal" that can only be achieved by genocidal, compassionless intellect. By suicidal fanaticism.

Valor and rousing speeches are revealed as fraudulent. Victories are couched in the guise of wanton murder. The gods not only aren't watching, but are indifferent to mortal plights of choice. This obviously philosophical undertaking wouldn't bug me half as much if it weren't so... lofty. By all means, turn Tolkien on his head. But stop using his voice to do it. I'm rolling my eyes at the parallels.

That, and far, far too many erections.

Not worth the time I spent on it.

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffering but one disorder, I am addicted to atrocity. This series demonstrates well the principle that trauma is transformative, as it is an undeniably traumatic readerly experience, leaving me feeling transformed qualitatively after each installment.

Each volume tends to stand for a proposition (I have re-urged two of them, above): here, contenders include "only transgression could replace the meat [...] only torment could nourish them" (80) and "to watch, to witness as a reader might, unable to touch, unable to save" (167) and the stravinskian "but my hatred is my desire" (317).

This volume is by far and away the most traumatic. Am still not over it more than several years later. Who will take the knife to my heart? indeed. Am accordingly suspecting, if it does actually end here, that this series is fantasy literature's Rite of Spring.

[Mike Hillcoat · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Second Apocalypse forum is the place to discuss Bakker's fiction, especially the Second Apocalypse narrative: www.second-apocalype.com

This is the second rendition of the Second Apocalypse forum.

Past links to the Ch. 1 Excerpt are now down - new links:

Ch. 1 Excerpt

Ch. 3 Excerpt Summary

Cheers.

THIS BOOK CANNOT BE RELEASED SOON ENOUGH! SUPPORT R. SCOTT BAKKER!

[Kaminsod · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, it is done. I have finished the Second Apocalypse.

To tell the truth, I have finished it few days ago, but I decided to hold on with a review for a bit, because I wanted to do it properly, but… I still do not know if I can do it, so whatever, let’s try my best. This is going to be The Unholy Consult review, but I will also dive into my thoughts about this whole series.

Let’s start at the beginning. I picked up The Darkness That Comes before, because I was searching for my “new Malazan” – something, that would amaze me in completely new way, something dense, unique and huge, something what would entertain me and make me think at the same time. Something that would at least challenge Malazan Book of the Fallen as my favourite fantasy series of all time.

And even though it did not reach quite those hights, I loved The Prince of Nothing. I felt like it lacked relatability of the characters, because they all felt almost too mythical, and I also was not having as much fun with it as I had with Malazan, First Law or ASoIaF for example… but that is pretty much all major criticisms I had for it. Worldbuilding, themes, atmosphere, lore, story, prose, philosophy, sheer epicness… all of that and more was absolutely amazing. Especially The Thousandfold Thought floored me, it stayed in my head long after I finished it, and it locked its place among my favourite books ever. And even though it is pretty open ended, the trilogy can definitely stand on its own.

And well, that is the reason I got a bit worried, when I read The Judging Eye, which is in my opinion the weakest book of the series. I was scared, that The Aspect Emperor will not be as good as The Prince of Nothing, and that it may even ruin my appreciation of the series. But no, I was wrong. The White Luck Warrior and The Great Ordeal went into the direction I could not even imagine and… it sent me on this trippy journey, challenging and uncomfortable journey, it made me watch the most horrific trainwreck in the slow motion and yet, I just could not get enough of it. And then I read The Unholy Consult.

Oh god. After the previous two books, I thought I am ready for pretty much everything. But this book just wrecked me. I think it awoken all the negative emotions in me. During the first parts of the book, I felt disgusted, watching all the horrors happening. And yet, I was heartbroken for the characters committing those disgusting actions, because it was so… understandable, inevitable. Later, my disgust and heartbreak transformed in the sheer anger. I do not remember when this kind of thing happened to me for the last time, but I was literally holding myself not to scream on the book, not to punch it. And that, together with some events in the book, created the ultimate feeling of frustration and most of all, hopelessness. I felt so broken by this book, in so many ways – and yet, I just kept going on and on.

And the craziest part about all that is, that despite all of this negativity in me, the book still made me think about what it was saying. Deeply. I consider myself a positive person, but around the halfway point of the book, I was really thinking about the meaning of life. I was questioning what makes us humans better than other species, what is it what actually make us human and also where is the line, where we become something less or more? And in terms of this series… I was really questioning if the Apocalypse can be actually the better choice. And that is just touching the surface, so many dark questions manifested in my head – but I also felt like Bakker wants me to challenge those thoughts, to create a positive answer to them, in a way. It was a lot. It made me feel so much, think so much, it challenged me as a reader and as a person… and then it got into the finale.

The last act of this book is epic, it is dark, it is superbly written, it has great twists, it is maybe the most suspenseful thing I have ever read and… yeah, it is amazing. Once again, Bakker combines the huge final battle with thought provoking philosophical dialogue and powerful character moments, and it is pretty much all you can ask for. I will not lie, I have a few minor issues with the last act, but I can also safely assume, that I just did not understand all of it, but there the whole thing was just a lot.

Then, there is the ending itself. The last few pages and especially the last goddamn sentence. Wow. I am not exaggerating at all, when I say, that I was staring at the book with my mouth wide open for at least a minute. It was a shock. It was something I needed to sit on for a bit and that is the main reason I am writing this long as hell review few days after. But now I can safely say that I love it. It is perfectly fitting ending for this series and even if we never get the sequel, I am completely okay with it. Also, highest of salutes for Bakker for having balls to write an ending like that. And even thought I have so much more to say about this, I will not do that, because I want everyone to experience it on their own.

So, my final thoughts about The Unholy Consult, The Aspect Emperor, and Second Apocalypse. As you can probably guess if you read this far into the review, I loved TUC. It is perfectly fitting way to close the series, it shaken me maybe more than any other book and honestly, it might be my favourite non Malazan book of all time – it is either TUC or Dune.

And what is there to say of The Aspect Emperor and Second Apocalypse as a whole? Well, let’s just say, that The Aspect Emperor is totally different than The Prince of Nothing. I can not say if it is better or worse. It is different. I think Prince of Nothing has better characters and their arcs, probably more entertaining story and overall, I think that on its own it holds up better. But… The Aspect Emperor is probably the most unique fantasy series I have ever read. It has good story, characters, twists, and all of that, but those factors are only secondary to the sheer number of explored themes, philosophy, and the beautifully written darkness, that challenges you in every way possible. And that is why those two series go that great together. The Prince of Nothing creates still quite entertaining, yet very unique, and philosophical and dark foundation with a great story and set of characters… and The Aspect Emperor takes its legacy and explores the darkest depths of it in every imaginable way.

Hence… there is Second Apocalypse by R. Scott Bakker. An absolute masterpiece of fantasy literature, that is definitely not for everyone. It is not the most fun read of all time. It is dark, brutal, and sometimes even unpleasant to read. And yet… I can definitely say that it is one of the best pieces of art I have ever have a honour to experience.

So, how does it stand among my absolute favourites? Well, as I already wrote, Unholy Consult is probably my 4th or 5th favourite book of all time and all the other books would all (except for The Judging Eye) would feature in my like… TOP 50 on different spots, The Thousandfold Thought being the second highest. As for the whole series, it did not overcome Malazan at the top stop, that is still my clear favourite, because I feel like Erikson can basically do all that Bakker can do at least to a very similar extent and yet he still manages to inject a lot of fun into his series. But Second Apocalypse now sits on the second place. Honestly, I was leaning towards putting in to the third spot, behind The First Law World, but after The Unholy Consult… I just could not justify that. 10/10 for TUC and 10/10 for Second Apocalypse.

Man, I do not envy any book I will pick up after this. It will be impossible to follow.

[Sadnan R. Swachho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the greatest

[Alexandru · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book's ending is absolute perfection. It spun me out and blew my mind. I don't even care if there won't be a third series.

This is the crowning achievement of build-up of the past 7 books. The story gets more and more dark, nihilistic and twisted. There's so many disgusting, gut wrenching and jaw dropping moments in this book.

I've been spending the last few days since finishing the book reading fan forums to understand all the theories of what exactly just happened. Yes, it's that type of book. And there's as many theories as there are fans.

It will be hard to find anything rivalling R Scott Bakker's twisted genius. A true masterpiece.

[Patrick St-Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I mentioned in my review of The Great Ordeal, it's been a long time coming. Honestly, it's been a very long time coming. More than six long years, to be exact. Like many fans, I wasn't happy to learn that the book which was meant to become The Unholy Consult would have to be split into two installments. My biggest fear was that The Great Ordeal would simply be part 1 of 2, and not a work of fiction that would stand well on its own. It's no secret that recent examples of fantasy novels split up unnecessarily (Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light, and Robin Hobb's City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons come to mind) ended up being disappointments. My main concern was that turning what was originally meant to be one novel into two separate books would hurt them both in the long run.

Ultimately, The Great Ordeal was indeed just part 1 of 2. Considering how long Bakker fans had to wait to finally get their hands on that novel, it was a bit disappointing. The Great Ordeal definitely set up what would be an unforgettable finale in The Unholy Consult. But as part 1 of 2, it did not stand that well on its own. In my humble opinion, had it been released as planned, The Unholy Consult would have been to Bakker what A Storm of Swords was to George R. R. Martin. It would have been the author's crowning achievement, his best work to date.

Which brings us here. The Unholy Consult, the grand culmination of the Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor series, will be released in a few short weeks. In many ways, it's everything fans have always wanted. It answers lots of questions that have been plaguing us for years. Some dating all the way back to The Darkness That Comes Before. It is also an end, but not the end. Indeed, it brings the Great Ordeal story arc to a close. Trouble is, The Unholy Consult ends with the mother of all cliffhangers and it leaves a panoply of things up in the air. As such, this final volume doesn't offer as much resolution as people expected, which some fans will find off-putting.

Although the author and the publishers never had problems with my reviews in the past, some Bakker fans were irked by what they considered to be spoilers, minor though they were. So if you are one of those people, please refrain from reading on. For everybody else, here are my thoughts on The Unholy Consult.

Here's the blurb:

In this shattering conclusion to The Aspect-Emperor books, praised for their “sweeping epic scale and detailed historical world building” (Grimdark Magazine), R. Scott Bakker delivers the series’ feverishly harrowing and long-awaited finish.

The Men of the Great Ordeal have been abandoned by Aspect-Emperor Anasurimbor Kellhus, and the formerly epic crusade has devolved into cannibalism and chaos. When Exalt-General Proyas, with the Imperial-Prince Kayutas at his side, attempts to control the lost Men and continue their march to Golgotterath, it rapidly becomes clear that the lost Lord-and-Profit is not so easily shaken from the mission.

When Sorweel, Believer-King of Sakarpus, and Serwa, daughter of the Aspect-Emperor, join the Great Ordeal they discover that the Shortest Path is not always the most obvious, or the safest. Souls, morals, and relationships are called into question when no one can be trusted, and the price for their sins is greater than they imagined.

As I said before, when it originally came out, The Judging Eye had all the hallmarks which made the first trilogy such a great reading experience, minus what many considered its shortcomings. Personally, I felt that it featured R. Scott Bakker writing at the top of his game. On the other hand, a lot of fans believed that the philosophical aspects and the inner musings were what essentially made the Prince of Nothing stand out from the rest of the speculative fiction pack, and were thus somewhat disappointed by the first volume in The Aspect-Emperor series. In terms of style and tone, The White-Luck Warrior was something in between the Prince of Nothing and The Judging Eye. Stylistically, The Great Ordeal was more akin to the second volume than the first installment. The first portion of The Unholy Consult is similar to its predecessor, as the book begins right where The Great Ordeal ended. To all ends and purposes, it focuses on the aftermath of the New Empire, Ishterebinth, the Great Ordeal, and Ishuäl storylines, before the strike on Golgotterath can begin. The second part of the book is more akin to Steven Erikson's epic convergences in The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and it makes for an exciting and gripping finale.

Not surprisingly, the worldbuilding is top notch. Bakker's richly detailed narrative continues to create an imagery that virtually leaps off the page. The Middle Eastern setting of the western Three Seas remains a welcome change from the habitual generic medieval environments found in most fantasy sagas. As he did in The Judging Eye, The White-Luck Warrior, and The Great Ordeal, the author takes us to new unexplored locales. After his evocative depictions of the wastes of the Istyuli Plains, the primeval forest known as the Mop, and the ruined remains of Kûniüri, the Erengaw Plains, the Urokkas range, Dagliash, the mysteries of Ishuäl, and the Nonmen capital of Ishterebinth, this time around we journey across the Fields of Woe of Agongorea, the Occlusion, the Black Furnace Plain of Shigogli, the vast complex that is Golgotterath, and the Ark-of-the-Skies itself. The universe of Eärwa continues to resound with depth and Bakker's creations remains head and shoulder above all other SFF settings on the market today, second only to Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont's Malazan universe.

Structurally, The Unholy Consult is quite different from its predecessors. With a good third of the book from the beginning focusing on the aftermath of The Great Ordeal, it does take a while for the story to get going. I fully understand that Bakker needed to close the show and tie up the loose ends associated with the New Empire, Ishterebinth, and Ishuäl arcs. Before everything could converge on Golgotterath, this needed to be done. Having said that, I feel that way too many pages were "wasted" on the Great Ordeal following the scalding at Dagliash. True, Bakker needed to paint a very grim picture as the surviving Ordealmen deal with the psychological repercussions of having consumed Sranc and how it messed with their minds. But I do feel that the author spent too much time dealing with these issues. With Golgotterath in sight, at times it felt as though it was taking forever for the attack to finally begin. For that reason, the pace for the first third of the novel is extremely slow. Unnecessarily slow, to be honest. Of course, when the proverbial shit finally hits the fan, there are fireworks in every chapter and The Unholy Consult becomes well nigh impossible to put down! God knows I'm not always a fan of long-drawn (more than 150 pages) battles, but the battle for Golgotterath was probably better than any of Erikson's great convergences! If you thought that the finale that ended The Thousandfold Thought was exciting, buckle up because this one is even more awesome! Especially the displays of offensive sorcery, which can be pretty amazing. As a matter of course, such a strike on Golgotterath will not be without casualties. The bodycount among major characters is quite high, which came as a bit of a surprise. Somewhere, George R. R. Martin is nodding his head in approval.

The New Empire arc once again features the POVs of Esmenet and Kelmomas. This storyline pretty much went nowhere until its last chapter in The Great Ordeal. Then all hells broke loose and Bakker closed the show of that particular plotline with a bang. It did end with a huge cliffhanger and I thought that it would make for a bigger chunk of The Unholy Consult. But no, as resolution comes rather quickly and then the action moves away from the Western Three Seas and never go back. This arc also features a new point of view, one that must remain a secret for now. This POV also appears in the Great Ordeal arc and offers insight that wouldn't otherwise be available. Unanticipated, to be sure, but at times quite fascinating.

The Ishterebinth storyline once more features the POVs of Varalt Sorweel and Serwa, Grandmistress of the Swayal Sisterhood. But we also get the perspective of Moënghus, which was quite interesting. All three flee Ishterebinth altered in some ways, but none are more scarred than Moënghus. Having him as a point of view protagonist changed the dynamics of that arc, and his personal storyline leads to unexpected and even shocking paths. Serwa also comes into her own in this one, especially in the latter part of The Unholy Consult.

The Ishuäl storyline features the POVs of both Achamian and Mimara. High on Qirri, they are desperately trying to escape from the Scylvendi and make their way to join the Great Ordeal so that Mimara can look upon the Aspect-Emperor with the Judging Eye.

The Great Ordeal mostly features the POV of Nersei Proyas, at least for about half of the book. The relationship between Kellhus and Proyas took an startling turn in The Great Ordeal, one that will have dramatic repercussions down the line. As the interminable march draws to an end and as the battle of Golgotterath gets underway, a panoply of points of view comprise most chapters and the conflict unfolds through the eyes of various Ordealmen.

Given the structure of The Aspect-Emperor series, it should come as no surprise that these four story arcs come together in the shadow of Golgotterath. Exactly how it comes to pass, I will let you read and find out. But amidst all that brutality, depredations, despair, the blood and the gore, R. Scott Bakker offers some extremely poignant moments that really contrast with all the savagery. A pregnant Mimara being reunited with an Esmenet that has lost so much makes for a number of emotional scenes. The same goes for Achamian and Proyas' long-awaited reunion. Although not heartbreaking per se, the encounter between Achamian and Kellhus was also quite special.

Unfortunately, I'm disappointed to report that, tough we were promised otherwise, we don't get much as far as the perspective of the Consult is concerned. We do get a bit, and we do find out later on why there is so little in terms of their point of view, yet I would have liked more. Much more. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Mind you, we do find out a lot about them and what's been going on for the last few centuries. There are quite a lot of revelations that will make long-time fans squee in delight, such as exactly what is the No-God. But do not expect a Perry Mason scene in which everything is explained. Indeed, though Bakker provides a lot of answers throughout The Unholy Consult, many questions remain unanswered and the book raises its own fair share of new ones. Fair warning to those crackpot fanatics who have been discussing the metaphysical principles underpinning the Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor series for more than a decade, you are bound to be disappointed. Some of this stuff is addressed either in the narrative or the glossary at the end of the novel, but most of it isn't.

I claimed that The Unholy Consult was everything that Bakker fans have been hoping for and I stand by that. As the culmination of the vast tapestry of storylines that form the Second Apocalypse, the novel is a great and fitting finale that closes the show with a massive exclamation point! And yet, though it is an ending, sadly it is not the ending. The Great Ordeal story arc is indeed over, with satisfying resolution. The last sentence of the book is quite clear on the matter. But as mentioned above, so much is left up in the air that this mother of all cliffhangers might cause riots among Bakker fans. And since the author is not yet under contract for the next series, the one that cannot be named, well that may not sit well with some readers.

The book also contain an expanded encyclopaedic glossary that should not be read before The Unholy Consult, for it could spoil certain plot elements. It also contains two short fiction pieces available on Bakker's blog, "The False Sun" and "Four Revelations". The first short story is about the early days of the Holy Consult, while the second one deals with a Nonman Erratic. All in all, they represent a nice bonus for fans of both series.

Ultimately, even though the major cliffhanger ending might displease some readers, The Unholy Consult caps off The Aspect-Emperor series with style and aplomb. The strike on Golgotterath was every bit as rousing and captivating as we could have hoped for. And though there is no book deal in sight, whatever comes next will have Bakker fans foaming at the mouth, for it will be impossible for readers not to pick it up to discover what happens next. The slog of slogs has come to an end with a thrilling finale. Expectations were incredibly high, yet R. Scott Bakker managed to live up to them and then some!

For more reviews, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[Adam Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Ordeal has crossed a thousand leagues in its quest to reach Golgotterath, stronghold of the vile Consult, and to destroy it and the abominations it harbours within. It has braved a horde of a million Sranc, betrayal and, in the shadow of the ancient fortress of Dagliash, a weapon unlike any seen before in the world. Before it lies the Agongorea, an utterly dead land, beyond which lies the fabled Golden Horns of their foe. But the Ordeal is stretched to breaking point, its food gone, its Aspect-Emperor departed on an errand of his own and its greatest heroes missing on dire quests. It falls to King Nersei Proyas to guide the Ordeal over the last leg of its journey...and to a confrontation with history.

When is the ending not the ending? Thirty years ago, when Scott Bakker first conceived of The Second Apocalypse, he planned to conclude it with the events that, finally, conclude this novel. Some time later he reflected that this might not be the best idea, and drafted a plan for (at least) two further novels to wrap up the saga in a different manner.

Having finished The Unholy Consult - the seventh and most revelatory novel in the series to date - it is hard to say if this was a good idea or not. For those who read this series (so far comprising two sub-series, the Prince of Nothing trilogy and the Aspect-Emperor quartet) for the warring philosophies, SF ideas such as genetic engineering and quantum theory seen through an epic fantasy prism and the way it inverts so many fantasy tropes to the point where they unhinge, I suspect they would have seen nothing wrong with Bakker dropping the mike on the final line of this book (and it's a humdinger) and walking off into the sunset. I suspect other readers, such as those who enjoy the brainy digressions of the series but still read it as an epic fantasy with cool magic and a mystery-laden storyline, would be more horrified at the prospect. Whilst dropping the series at this point would doubtlessly be more artistic, more bloody-minded and more, well, Bakker, it'd also be, from a mundane narrative standpoint, less satisfying.

Rewinding to the start, The Unholy Consult picks up in the tumultuous aftermath of The Great Ordeal, which left many of the major characters of the series apparently dead or missing. The novel wastes no time in resolving most of these questions and getting the story back on track. Other events fall away and the story begins to narrow in on Golgotterath as the Great Ordeal, battered, bloodied and compromised by the horrors it has been forced to adopt to survive, finally arrives in the shadow of the Golden Horns. Other factions soon join them and there are moments of reunion as characters compare notes on their experiences and realise that their prior assumptions about what they face may have been erroneous.

From there the book explodes in a titanic battle sequence as Ordeal and Consult finally clash and we realise, in the grand tradition of Tolkien (whose influence lies deeper on this series than I think is often appreciated), that both forces are not what they once were, that evil has degraded and is lesser than it once was even as good faces the same predicament. The battle is long, arduous and packed with individual moments of epic heroism and foul reversals. Bakker, for all of his philosophical preoccupations, is good at blowing stuff up and sets to blowing stuff up in this battle with wild abandon. But the battle outside the foul Ark is matched by another struggle deeper within it, as intellects and ideologies clash in a struggle of viewpoints which is even more important.

Indeed, seasoned fantasy readers may be struck by the structural similarity between The Unholy Consult and A Memory of Light, the final novel in the Wheel of Time sequence, of the great "last" battle of swords and sorcery being matched by a battle of arguments and semantics that may decide the fate of the world. Bakker is considerably more concise here (in a novel less than half and only a bit more than a third as long as A Memory of Light) and of course roots his arguments in considerably more complex concepts.

The Unholy Consult is a striking novel, remarkable for its conciseness given the magnitude of the ending it depicts (similar to The Thousandfold Thought, the conclusion of The Prince of Nothing trilogy which opened this mega-series, Bakker knows how to drop an effective ending without milking it for a thousand pages) and for the way the author handles his revelations. This series is rooted in mysteries built atop mysteries and it'd be easy for the author to refuse to address them (like Lost), or give a nonsensical, pat answer you suspect they thought of only five minutes earlier (like the latter Battlestar Galactica), but Bakker shows no fear in simply squarely answering questions with answers reached a long time before. He resolves thematic and character arcs begun fourteen years ago in The Darkness That Came Before and if you figured out the answer to a particular mystery in a late-night discussion on the Three-Seas, Westeros.org or Second Apocalypse Forums five years ago, well done. Also, hold tight because here come another three revelations which you really didn't see coming. There are some revelations here that will have the reader nodding in approval, others that will be mystifying and several that are surprising in both their content and their elegance (one, extraordinarily important, answer to a vital series-spanning question would even border on the mundane, but the implications of the revelation are far-reaching).

Other issues go resolutely unaddressed: those hoping for Bakker to drop a Dungeons and Dragons Manual of the Planes-style explanation of how the metaphysics in his universe work should brace themselves for disappointment, although some concepts are further elaborated upon. The author is careful here to reveal some more of the recipe for this story without giving you a full list of the ingredients.

Events build in the novel to a frenzy of battles, arguments and, yes, death swirling down, and Bakker sticks the landing. Epic fantasies have a rather horrible tendency to blow the ending but The Aspect-Emperor gets the payoff it deserves, more The Lord of the Rings and The Crippled God rather than Magician's End or The Born Queen, and epic and impressive it is. You not so much read the finale as survive it, and in the nerve-shredded aftermath have to ask the question which will drive a lot of discussion in the months and years ahead: "Now what?"

The Unholy Consult (****½) is perhaps less elegantly structured as a novel than some of its forebears, with not much in the way of build up before it starts smashing things asunder (from that perspective, this books feels the lack of The Great Ordeal immediately before it far more keenly than vice versa), but it makes up for that with tremendously satisfying character moments, Bakker's best-ever action scenes and, in the final chapter, possibly Bakker's most powerfully effective pieces of prose to date. The novel will be published on 6 July 2017 in the UK and on 11 July in the USA.

Note: The Unholy Consult is a relatively short novel, clocking in at around 450 pages. The rest of the book is made up by an encyclopaedic glossary - an expanded successor to that found in The Thousandfold Thought - a collection of maps and two short stories previously only available on Bakker's website: The False Sun and Four Revelations.

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

The journey has come to an end…. Reading hangover is imminent.

[Jesse · Rating 1 out of 5]

So this series is over 10 years old now, and its finally come to a close. Along the way it shifted from some sort of fantasy take on the crusades, to a very strange discussion on the corruption of man.

I cant think of another fantasy book that I've been so confused and irritated by. The Aspect-Emperor gathers a bunch of people together who believe he's God and has them commit atrocities so that they can trade their souls to save the world from some strange existential opposite-to-god concept. Just about everyone else in the book who isnt in on this dubious enterprise is trying to destroy the world, because they feel their souls are in such a bad state that shutting off the world from the vision of the gods is the only way to save the situation. Then disaster strikes and the book and series just abruptly ends.

The history of the world in this series is intricate. The struggle has been building up for countless millennia in their world, and ten years in ours. And in the end the last chapter makes it seems like it doesnt matter. Everything ends badly, almost everyone interesting dies, and everyone is apparently damned. Or are they? There is an equally perplexing series of appendices that doesnt seem to clear things up, although its possible I was just too irritated by this point to see the gist of it.

The main point of the series was fine. Trying to destroy the world to hide from God? Plausible. "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself". However, if you dont offset this difficult to digest premise with something other than the death of all the souls involved, and you make all the hopes of people trying to escape their sin not only vain, but preposterous, the result doesnt seem to me to be avant garde, or artistically breaking the tropes of fantasy novels, or anything naval gazing like that. It just seems like artistic bankruptcy, and a waste of 10+ years.

*******************

So I re-read this series a month or two ago due to a large amount of travel, almost 7 years after it came out. With the books still fresh on my mind, I thought I'd look at my review again, esp. now that it seems like the author has abandoned the series.

I still think my points about are valid. The books seriously needed an editor. The ending is a massive disappointment for the reasons I stated above. However, I will say that when I was reading it through the second time, armed with the knowledge that the ending wouldn't properly engage with the themes the author raised, and that the story was never going to be wrapped up, I was able to appreciate the writing a little more. There are massive parts of the book that should be skipped over(the slog of slogs can be made into less of a slog, and the great ordeal should be made much less great), but after I did that there are a few scenes from the story that really stayed with me.

1). When Akka bows before Nil’giccas, but Nil’giccas cannot remember his former glory.

2). When Oirinas comes up from out of the depths to ask how the Vile have come to rule the mountain. This is in fact a widely applicable question in modern times.

3). The concept of the no-god and its application to the problem that the forerunners had. I still think that the core concept of the series is well taken.

Overall this is a massively flawed series, but there is some good stuff in there, which is more than can be said for many books.

[Joshua Raheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never waited so intently for ANYTHING!!! No book nor movie has ever had me checking online once a week to see if a release date has been posted. I don't think I was even this excited to lose my virginity. I know it will still be a while, I just really need to know when. I'll save all my paid time off because I will not be leaving the house until Kellhus is dead! Long live the Padiraj!

[iSamwise]

There’s a head on a pole behind you

[Ian Vance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Powerful and perplexing, Bakker's final novel of TAE is a difficult one to fully parse--it certainly displays the author's self-indulgent tendencies like never before-- but there's enough quality in the 2nd half for me to rate it five stars, particularly as I've been waiting like 12 years to find out certain answers. Longer review to come upon a re-read.

EDIT:

The more I contemplate TAE, the more dissatisfied I become, and I've adjusted my rating to reflect my overall impression for the series: three stars. This really should have been a trilogy. Restructuring key scenes in the first two books and cutting the fat (and the glossary) from the last two might have made this an epic to rival the first series; instead, it comes across as a mixture of amazing and occasionally head-shakingly awful. The quality of writing between the first two -- when Bakker had an editor -- and the last two, when it is very obvious he did not, is quite glaring. Unlike some of the others, I liked the ending, but at least 40% of getting there was the Slog of Slogs and someone really, really needs to tell Bakker that excessive use of italics for emphasis does the exact opposite of the intended effect: it makes the prose ridiculous and jars the reader from the story.

[Lee Hunts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruh . . .
Check out my review. I'll warn you that it is an orgiastic indulgence:

Essay: https://leehuntswriting.blogspot.com/...

Video:
No Spoiler: https://youtu.be/If7v9zgzXSg
Spoiler:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/XZ6Ad6yhGLw
Part 2: https://youtu.be/S074AUVgu6U