Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ben_mack 's review for:
The Darkness That Comes Before
by R. Scott Bakker
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's so much to like here. The plot (although it's mostly setup) is pretty interesting and engaging. The worldbuilding is detailed and intricate. The characters are all pretty decent.
I'd say if you like bleak then this book is for you. Every character, every description, every page almost is steeped in this sense of apocalyptic dread. The world is cruel, bloody and generally just pretty awful. This is not a fantasy world you'd ever want to visit.
The machinations of the main villains are great and sort of explicitly written for me. I adore intricately complicated political plans that are sort of petty. The power plays are great.
I have issues with the way female characters are written but in the case of Esmenet I'm not sure if its just the beginning of her arc or not. She has a really interesting initial set of POVs that set it up and then she sort of stops thinking about it which is weird. But if this book is (and I suspect it is considering how it sort of just stops) similar to Lord of the Rings or The First Law in that it's one super big book cut into three then I have hope.
crazy to me that he gave Kellhus a POV when so much of the drama relies on whether or not he's acting in bad faith or not. Kind of takes away from that drama when Cnairs view that he's pretty much so pragmatic and logical he's evil is pretty much true as his internal monologue proves it
I'd say if you like bleak then this book is for you. Every character, every description, every page almost is steeped in this sense of apocalyptic dread. The world is cruel, bloody and generally just pretty awful. This is not a fantasy world you'd ever want to visit.
The machinations of the main villains are great and sort of explicitly written for me. I adore intricately complicated political plans that are sort of petty. The power plays are great.
I have issues with the way female characters are written but in the case of Esmenet I'm not sure if its just the beginning of her arc or not. She has a really interesting initial set of POVs that set it up and then she sort of stops thinking about it which is weird. But if this book is (and I suspect it is considering how it sort of just stops) similar to Lord of the Rings or The First Law in that it's one super big book cut into three then I have hope.