Bakker, R. Scott 1967-

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Bakker, R. Scott 1967-

PERSONAL: Born February 2, 1967, in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada; son of a tobacco sharecropper. Education: University of Western Ontario, B.A., M.A.; graduate study at Vanderbilt University.

ADDRESSES: Home— London, Ontario, Canada.

CAREER: Writer. Scholar of ancient languages and philosophy.

AWARDS, HONORS: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Fellowship.

WRITINGS

“PRINCE OF NOTHING” TRILOGY; FANTASY NOVELS

The Darkness That Comes Before, Penguin Books Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

The Warrior-Prophet, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2005.

The Thousandfold Thought, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: R. Scott Bakker’s “Prince of Nothing” trilogy is a dark fantasy that runs much deeper than many works in that genre, according to numerous critics. The story is set in a world called Earwa, where a highly diverse population is caught up in a holy war triggered by the prophet Maithanet. Drusas Achamian, a sorcerer, is the character who pulls together the many plotlines of the story. A Publishers Weekly reviewer, commenting on the first book in the series, The Darkness That Comes Before, identified Bakker as a worthy successor to the great fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien, and praised the author for his “willingness to take chances and avoid the usual genre cliches.” In a Publishers Weekly review of the second book in the trilogy, The Warrior-Prophet, a critic called the series “daringly unconventional,” yet noted that beneath all the elaborate fantasy, the story works because it is an “all-too-human tale of love, hatred and justice.” The concluding book, The Thousandfold Thought, sees Earwa on the brink of an apocalypse, while the sorcerer Drusas faces personal betrayal. It is a “shattering climax” to the trilogy, according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who added that the three books together form “a work of unforgettable power.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Bookseller, December 9, 2005, review of The Thousandfold Thought and The Warrior Prophet, p. 34.

Library Journal, April 15, 2004, Jackie Cassada, review of The Darkness That Comes Before, p. 128.

Publishers Weekly, May 24, 2004, review of The Darkness That Comes Before, p. 49; December 6, 2004, review of The Warrior-Prophet, p. 48; December 19, 2005, review of The Thousandfold Thought, p. 46.