The Great Ordeal: The Aspect-Emperor: Book Three Paperback – July 25, 2017

I have been a huge fan of The Second Apocalypse series right from the first book The Darkness That Comes Before. There is really nothing in any modern fantasy/sci-fi genre that even comes close to Baker's philosophical and artistic style. I have devoured the three Prince of Nothing and the two Aspect-Emperor books in 3 months in 2013 and the wait of the Great Ordeal has been quite long to say the least. At one point, I was worried that the last two books would never see the light of day because of all of Scott’s publisher issues.Of course the second I heard that the Great Ordeal finally had a publication date, I pre-ordered both the Kindle and Audible versions. Now that I had a chance to listen to/read The Great Ordeal, the question is was the wait worth it? I say absolutely!Baker picks up right where he left off. Everything that made me like this series so much is still here in copious amounts. You will find plenty of philosophical musings about the make-up of morality, about the nature of a god/supreme being, about the foibles of human nature, about the essence of faith, about cause and effect, and many, many other themes.Baker’s style is still very much true to form. He strikes a perfect balance between being artistic and almost mystical, without losing the reader or making the prose unnecessarily hard to understand. I find this to be his greatest strength as a writer, the only other person to accomplish this successfully is Dostoyevsky. As a matter of fact, both Baker’s and Dostoyevsky’s styles are rather similar in a lot of ways. Perhaps it’s no wonder they are two of my favorite fictions writers. And yes, I did just compare a world famous 19th century Russian novelist with a contemporary Canadian sci-fi writer, such is the interesting world of literature.Since I promised no spoilers, I will not comment very much on the story. I just want to assure readers that every major plot line and character gets plenty of air time. The main plot as a whole also moves along quite nicely. While I can definitely see how Baker is setting up the pieces for the conclusion, I totally cannot even begin to guess how all this will come together at the end.In this installment, we also get a much better exposition of the Dûnyain as well as the Nonmen. These sections were probably my favorite ones. A lot of these scenes are largely dialogue driven, but they are so interesting and well done that I was completely engrossed and almost transfixed while reading them.My only quibble is that there are parts of this book that can be probably be slimmed down a bit. There were places where I felt like things dragged a little bit, particularly on Esmenet’s chapters. Overall, not a big deal, it’s probably no more than 5% of the book that I would cut.In conclusion, this an absolutely great book and completely true to the essence of the series. Scott does not miss a beat despite the actual “great ordeal” involved in getting this published. If you are a fan of the series, have waited a long time, and are on the fence as to whether you want to get back into this, my wholehearted recommendation is to get this book!

Assuming anyone that is considering this book has already read the previous two in this series and the three in the preceding series. You already know Bakker's singular style. You know the astonishing depth of his world building. You know the complexity and realism of his characters. You know that he breaks with so many tropes of the genre, creating a world and mythology unlike any other.So why not 5 stars? Two related reasons. A huge part of the underlying theme involves the limits of people understanding their own motivations. The title of one of the books "The Darkness That Comes Before" is a reference to this. On his blog Scott Discusses this at length in what he calls the Blind Brain Hypothesis. I find it fascinating, but not nearly as fascinating as he does. You get the impression that more text is spent on characters contemplating or reflecting on their actions than is spent on them actually doing things. There are a great many "Okay, I get it, Esmi feels sorry for herself, can we please move on with the story" moments.That leads into reason number two; the characters are so human, so flawed, so like lost blind children, that they are very very hard to like. In fact, I hate them. I hate every last character in the story to the point where I want the bad guys to succeed in killing them all.Given that, why four stars instead of one? Because everything else is just that good. So good as to ruin many other fantasy stories for me. After reading Scott, most other fantasy reads as childish, even entry level Disney fluff. He has elevated this space and for that I wish him all the success in the world

I grew up reading fantasy and the classics (Tolstoy, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Austin, etc). As I read more of the classics, the terrible prose and character development of most fantasy became intolerable and I drifted away from the genre. For many years I read none- Bakker's series is one of those that brought me back into the fold. His combination of absolutely all encompassing world building, an epic plotline, navel gazing character introspection, philosophical musings, and horrific violence is, for me, what fantasy should be. He writing is, of course, a big notch below that of the classic authors but for fantasy his wordy, almost voluptuous, prose is a dream come true. He veers into grandiloquence occasionally but I'll forgive him for that. He also has a handful of words he LOVES and overuses: marmoreal, cyclopean, legion...to name a few. However, he creates real characters and is able to delineate personalities (a rarity for fantasy, which tends to survive on cardboard cutouts). His scene in Thousandfold Thought when Achamian watches Esmenet wash clothes in the river is, along with Gollum's near recanting outside of Cirith Ungol in LOTR, one of the most tragic things I've read in fantasy. His "bad guys" are exactly that: horrible and damned with no chance at redemption. His battle scenes are breathless and visceral. His entire world has such a substantive feel, an distinct atmosphere unlike any other I've read. From the characters, to the religions, to the regions, to the magic schools...everything is distinct and colorful. The latest book continues the tradition of excellence. The tragedy of the non-men and their fall from grace to madness is especially well captured and unlike anything I've read in fantasy. Bakker's idea that their unnatural immortality is incompatible with their god given mortality is a subtle horror that plays out very well across multiple books: what else could be more awful than the loss of self, as memory, which binds our past to our present, slowly erodes across the millenia? The ways he has developed for the non-men to cope are brilliant and pathetic as their attempts to recapture what they have lost results in the degradation and collapse of a once magnificent race. His books are ones I wait for and actually buy in hardcover form as soon as available. The only other fantasy authors receiving similar treatment from me are Martin and Rothfuss.

Ishuäl, verborgene Festung der Dûnyain, die Stätte, die Achamian gesucht hatte, um den Ursprung Khellhus’ und damit das Rätsel, das diesen nach wie vor umgibt, zu entschlüsseln… nichts weiter als eine leblose Ruine. Aber auch ein verlassener Ort offenbart noch dunkle Geheimnisse, und steht enthüllt vor dem unerbittlichen Urteil des Judging Eye…Nur Stunden nach Maithanets überraschender Ermordung sieht sich Esmenet mit der Kriegsmaschinerie der Fanim konfrontiert, die vor den Toren Momemns aufzieht, doch kreisen all ihre Gedanken um ihre Kinder, die sie während ihrer Flucht aus dem Palast verloren hatte…Zur gleichen Zeit erreicht Sorweel, Believer-King of Sakarpus, den Kellhus zusammen mit Serwa und Moënghus als Geiseln entsandt hatte, um einen Pakt mit den letzten verbleibenden Nonmen zu besiegeln, Ishterebinth. Doch die Jahrtausende sind nicht vorbeigezogen, ohne ihre Spuren im Geist der Helden von einst zu hinterlassen…Und auch der Great Ordeal zieht weiter auf Golgotterath zu, während Kellhus Zweifel in das Herz seines fanatischsten Anhängers, Proyas, sät, und sein Heer gezwungen ist, sich auf seinem langen Marsch von Sranc zu ernähren. Doch was anfangs ungeheuerlich erscheint, wird mehr und mehr zur Lust…Lange mussten wir auf dieses Buch warten, aber es hat sich gelohnt.Wie kaum ein anderer schafft Bakker es, seine metaphysischen philosophischen Überlegungen in einen immer beeindruckender und ehrgeiziger erscheinenden Handlungsbogen zu verweben.Dabei kann man nach wie vor keinen wirklichen Standpunkt in der Geschichte finden. Wie für die Handelnden selbst ist es auch für den Leser trügerisch, irgendeiner vermeintlichen „Wahrheit“ Glauben zu schenken.Was ist es, das Kellhus wirklich anstrebt, die Consult, oder die alten Götter? Und was ist Achamians und Mimaras wahres Schicksal?Es kristallisiert sich mit diesem Band zusehends heraus, dass nur eines Klarheit über die Natur und Motive der Handelnden bringen kann: Mimaras „Judging Eye“, und man darf als Leser gespannt sein, welche Enthüllungen dies noch mit sich bringen wird.Wie gewohnt glänzt auch dieser Band mit bildgewaltigen Beschreibungen, seien es die himmelverdunkelnden Staubwolken der kreischenden Horde, durchzuckt vom gleißenden Schein magischen Feuers, schonungslose Momentaufnahmen der Schlacht, oder die monumentalen Bauwerke der Nonmen. Aber auch die subtileren Momente vermögen ob ihrer Eindringlichkeit zu beeindrucken.Insgesamt treibt dieser Band vor allem die Handlung voran. Bakker verbringt hier zwar nicht unbedingt weniger Zeit mit der Innenschau seiner Protagonisten, als in den vorausgehenden Bänden, aber diese ist für mein Empfinden fließender in die Handlung integriert.In meinen Augen ist dieser Band, zusammen mit „The Thousandfold Thought“, Bakkers bisher bestes Buch.

Das Buch beantwortet viele Fragen, die sich im Laufe der Serie angesammelt haben. Es lässt auch neue Rätsel aufkommen. Das einzige Problem, dass ich mit dem Buch hatte: Es ist zu kurz! Jetzt muss ich auf den finalen Abschlussband warten...Eine kleine Warnung: Wie bei Bakker üblich gibt es auch wieder Horror-Sex zum abgewöhnen. Wer diese Art des Horrors nicht mag, sollte einen Bogen um diesen Autor machen!

I think that the incredibly long wait (and the knowledge that the book was split in two) has maybe warped my expectations, I didn't find the book quite as tightly enthralling as the previous five.HOWEVER it was still highly engrossing, and I actually appreciated Bakker's more experimental 'stream of consciousness' type sections.I think I'll be better able to judge The Great Ordeal within the context of a re-read before taking on The Unholy Consult.

The ending although, was a bit abrupt and the overall story pace was slower than what Bakker delivered/ written so far. Yet, another book of equal grip, tension and darkness.

Again, a great book! Well, we actually waited enough for the GREAT ORDEAL!I dont want to spolier so all I can tell is, that nothing changed in regard of the previous books. Its still a masterpiece and by far more "intense" than a song of ice and fire. 5 stars ++++ !!!