The Thousandfold Thought

The Prince of Nothing, Book Three

By: R. Scott Bakker

Narrated by: David DeVries

Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

The Darkness that Comes Before, R. Scott Bakker's magnificent debut, drew thunderous acclaim from reviewers and fellow fantasy authors. Listeners were invited into a darkly threatening, thrillingly imaginative universe as fully realized as that of any in modern fantasy and introduced to one of the genre's great characters: the powerful warrior-philosopher Anasrimbor Kelhus, on whom the fate of a violently apocalyptic Holy War rests. Bakker's follow-up to The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet enticed readers further into the richly imagined world of myth, violence, and sorcery. The startling and far-reaching answers to these questions are brought into thrilling focus in The Thousandfold Thought, the conclusion to The Prince of Nothing trilogy.

Casting into question all the action that has taken place before, twisting listeners' intuitions in unforeseen directions, and remolding the fantasy genre to broaden the scope of intricacy and meaning, R. Scott Bakker has once again written a fantasy novel that defies all expectations and rewards the listener with an experience unlike any to be had in the canon of fantasy literature.

©2006 R. Scott Bakker (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The Prince of Nothing trilogy is a work of unforgettable power." ( Publishers Weekly)

DeVries lifts a dreary snuff-orgy.

The book has drained my enthusiasm for the series, so I'll just leave this warning:

Positives:
DeVries is a master of his craft, and brings to life the characters with unparalleled immersion and skill.

Bakker is amazing at worldbuilding, concepts and outlandish ideas.

Negatives:
Sadly, he's also awful at writing women and sexual scenes, which becomes extremely apparent in the many (many!) rape scenes.

The Prince of Nothing trilogy starts out promising and bold, but slowly devolves as Bakker's obsession with Rape, Snuff, Sex and Suffering take over. Not only does it turn into a bland morass of anguish, the quality of the writing and prose- that is so impressive most of the time- takes such a nosedive it turns into fanfic levels of "erotica".

You'd think I could overlook this in favor of all else that is good, but sex and rape grow in importance until it seems every other chapter includes it- it blots out all else.

If you're squeamish, stay away.
If you're not squeamish, stay away.
If you're not squeamish and can overlook the horrible sex scenes/multiple rape scenes/women who are nothing without men and quver in bliss the moment a penis is within a five foot radius, go for it.

Wow

After listening to the last ten minutes I sat dumbfounded for a good five minutes. Suddenly things foreshadowed and subtle tidbits started to make sense. The tingling sensation when you realize you've just read something awesome kicked in; it continues as I write this.

I have a feeling the ending of this series could polarize readers much like the First Law Trilogy. I however loved it.

Poor

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Not telling me things instead of showing me things for eight hours straight.

What could R. Scott Bakker have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Not having an hour long intro with a very poor story line.

How could the performance have been better?

He could have used multiple tones of voice and inflection instead of being monotone.

Any additional comments?

I'm not sure whether or not this book was poor because of the presenter or the writer. It reminded me of my childhood in school when my teacher would tell me "Don't tell me show me!".

Very special books.

These books get under my skin like just about nothing else. I have read them all, and listened to the first three on Audible. These audiobooks are truly amazing. It can't be easy reading such dense material and pronouncing such unusual names, so kudos to David DeVries! And kudos of course also to R. Scatt Bakker.

This is the third book of the initial trilogy covering the arrival of a prophet in the fictional land of Earwa. These books feature magic, war, religion, sex and numerous complicated relationships. If you are interested in reading about a complex universe with these trappings, these books are for you.

Awesome conclusion to an amazing trilogy.

Great trilogy, great author, fantastic narration. Love it. It isn't an easy read if that's what you're looking for but it certainly blew my mind.

Devolved into nothing

At the beginning of this I was hoping things would miraculously turn around with this series, but disappointing it did not. So incredibly predictable and boring.

Three volumes to get here!

The rating won’t matter. If like me you got this far, then you will go the rest of the way. I could do with fewer dream sequences, less gratuitous sex and torture. And there is torture a plenty, but it is rendered to cartoonish effect.

Loved this series!!

Amazing in so many ways, can’t wait to read the next trilogy. My only (extremely minor) complaint is that I could have gone for like a 1/3 of the extremely descriptive sex scenes. Seemed a bit much.

Amazing Read

I love the ending and a perfect set up to the next books in line. I put it right up there with the drizzt series but a lot more gritty and hopeless at times. 10 out of 10 would read again.

philosophical agonies

The overall setup and general story was great the thing that made me get tired of this series was the philosophy aka Kelllis alot of times it would just ramble on and on . Esme had to be the most annoying character all she did was cry and it got unbearable in chapters in previous books even to the point I skipped 2 of her chapters cause i couldn't stand it but besides that good book .

powerful and deliberately ambiguous

the narrator continues to do an excellent job here lending authority to the prose. This is a great conclusion to the opening act of the second apocalypse sequence.