Aspect Emperor - My thoughts...

[chris777]

So it's been quite some time since I have posted about the current book I am reading. I do still update my "list/blog/thing" occasionally.. But I wanted to see if anyone else had similiar thoughts, advice, or maybe optimism for me!

I read Prince of Nothing a few years back and it quickly became one of my favorites! I always recommend it to people. So my excitement for the follow up series, Aspect Emperor, was high. Since he is finally finishing I decided to start the series. I am currently about 1/4 of the way through The Great Ordeal.

I haven't liked much of this series. Sure, it has had it's good moments. Fun, exciting, thrilling, intense moments. But they have far been outshined by the mundane, slow moving, and just confusing structure. My main gripes are the philosophical meanderings in every sentence. The names, places, and things that are just too much. There feels like a lot of filler and unnecessary words. Instead of being succinct and to the point, he drones on about things that I could careless about.

The problem is I think Bakker had these faults in PoN. Why am I struggling so much now, where I didn't then? Simply a mindset thing? Or does anyone else agree this series set is not as well written as PoN?

And hopefully, the final books start getting better?! Or maybe everyone else thought they were awesome, and I'm in the minority here, which is also fine!

 

[farseer2]

I have read just the PoN trilogy, which I liked a lot with some reservations. I intend to read the whole saga, once it's finished.

PoN is brilliant, but I know what you mean about meandering. Bakker has a peculiar way of thinking, judging by his blog posts that I occasionally read in Goodreads. I mean, full of philosophical terms, very obscure. Obviously this is both a strength and a risk for his fiction.

 

[End Of Disc One]

You're not in the minority. I haven't read TUC yet, but so far I like PoN more than TAE. TAE has some totally awesome bits, and there are times that make me appreciate the story as a whole more than PoN. But the writing gets increasingly more weird. I don't know if Bakker is just trying to fit with the theme of madness, or if this is just how Bakker likes to write now.

 

[chris777]

You're not in the minority. I haven't read TUC yet, but so far I like PoN more than TAE. TAE has some totally awesome bits, and there are times that make me appreciate the story as a whole more than PoN. But the writing gets increasingly more weird. I don't know if Bakker is just trying to fit with the theme of madness, or if this is just how Bakker likes to write now.

Yeah, honestly I feel like an idiot reading this. I don't understand most of the sentences. Can't grasp the point he is trying to make with the increasingly thick, deep, and confusing philosophical statements. I pride myself on being able to understand things easily, even a lot of Malazan...but this seems purposely confusing. Like a riddle.

I will say...I didn't want to post this because I didn't want to speak too soon. About midway through TGO and it is starting to get better. I am right now even anxious to read more tonight! So I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

[Ryan Mueller]

I wouldn't know. I read the first book of Prince of Nothing and had all the same complaints you have about the follow-up series. I've never felt any inclination to read more by Bakker.

 

[ArtNJ]

I wouldn't know. I read the first book of Prince of Nothing and had all the same complaints you have about the follow-up series. I've never felt any inclination to read more by Bakker.

I didn't hate the first volume overall (although like you I didn't continue), but the 30 plus page prologue made me vomit in my mouth it was so contrived, bizarre and uninteresting. Not sure how anyone ever continued on to the book without encouragement from others. So I can easily believe that the author normally walks a fine line, and a slip to either side of the beam can result in something totally unreadable for some.

My main complaint about the first volume, aside from the prologue, was the unlikeability of the main characters, and the bizarre nature of the (race, group?) of master-manipulators. There wasn't a ton of action either.

 

[End Of Disc One]

Yeah TGO had a few moments that I could tell were meant to be major revelations, but I was scratching my head trying to figure out what they actually meant. I didn't have this problem with the PoN trilogy either. I'm still not sure what all happened at the end of TGO, but I'm hoping the beginning of TUC, or the "what has come before section" will clarify some things.

 

[jackdaw]

I got about a third of the way through Prince of Nothing. My only regret was not stopping reading it much earlier.