Doubt remains as powerful a force in this second novel in The Prince of Nothing series as it did in the first. The Inrithi Holy War that had seemed a faraway impossibility and an excuse for political maneuvering suddenly becomes real and terrifying, not only because of how large and powerful it is, but because of the atrocities that follow along with any sufficiently large group of disorganized men, and because of the ease with which Kellhus and other powerful people subvert it until it becomes merely a tool towards the realization of their own personal agendas. Kellhus, who in The Darkness That Comes Before was little more than a kind of ninja-like traveler posing as a prince, manipulates those around him until he becomes the Warrior-Prophet, altering the face of the Inrithi religion until Achamian (a blasphemous sorcerer, and the only even remotely likeable character in the series) is forced to declare that it will become known as a new Year One, a new age of man.
Betrayal is also a significant factor in this book. As the Inrithi try to determine whether Kellhus is a false prophet or a legitimate messenger from the gods (only two major characters see him as false; one because he knows the source of his power, and the other for reasons of vanity), he turns their loyalties inside out. Soldiers and men of rank forswear their kings, religious leaders put aside their scriptures for the cult of personality, and even Achamian’s common-law wife Esmenet, a former prostitute, betrays him, the only man who had ever seen her as a person, rather than as a tool (even Kellhus, who takes her as his wife, sees her as that, though no-one believes it). On top of this, factions within the Inrithi begin to war against each other indirectly, making deals with their enemies, kidnapping or killing highly placed people. The end of this book is so emotionally fraught that it becomes difficult to imagine being pleased that any of these characters might succeed with their various plans.
Next: The Thousandfold Thought, by R. Scott Bakker. It’s the last book in The Prince of Nothing series, and after that I’ll be going back to literary fiction for a little while.
