Alec Phillips

amazingly thorough and fascinating account of the eleusinian mystery cult

Revisado: 03-16-24

Such a great exploration into a wondrously mysterious and interesting topic that is not talked about enough. A wonderful read!

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One of my all time favorite fantasy series

Revisado: 04-23-22

I picked this book up randomly one day at Barnes and Noble years ago because the title was intriguing and the cover was cool looking. I am so extremely happy I did! This book is unlike any other I've ever read. Bakker's writing style is insanely unique and incredibly impressive. He has a certain way of describing mundane things that makes every sentence sound like a work of art, it's awe inspiring (as a fantasy writer myself, he's one of my major inspirations). His vocabulary is awesome, his characters are extremely realistic and so is the world. The subgenre is grimdark so it's super gritty, doesn't shy away from anything, and is a realistic portrayal of the world in medieval times - like maybe around the 9th to 11th centuries in the real world. The names are likely hard for most people but they are also really realistic if you know anything about ancient historical names from around the world, and beautiful if you pronounce them right. Bakker is a student of history and philosophy (like me) and his insights are astounding, literally had me gaping occasionally. The way he perceives things and then writes about them is so unique I was awestruck multiple times reading this honestly. I don't want to oversell the book, it fits me personally well so I love it, but I do think if you have the patience and are really into fantasy you will love this book. However, it is definitely dense and a somewhat difficult read: the vocab is intense sometimes (in an impressive way, it'll teach you amazing new words), and the way he writes can at times be hard to understand but when you read the sentence again and understand it, it is totally worth it. But you do need a certain amount of patience or else an extreme love of realistic fantasy. I'm not very patient but I love fantasy, words, and writing and worldbuilding, and the world Bakker has created is intensely deep, sunken with history, unique cultures and races, languages, amazingly cool magic, and so much more. The sorcery is unbelievably awesome (i think) and is super unique in its description (and in how it works when you eventually find out). Bakker does such a good job of portraying the realistic thoughts and random whims of a real person in all his characters, the uncaring twist and turn of worldly events, and the complex interactions between people, I was obsessed with this book once I got into it, which takes a little bit of time, but definitely worth it. And there are two more books, then another trilogy after in the same world. Bakker is obviously super smart and I often found myself wondering how he wrote such insanely cunning characters and complex plotlines, especially for his debut novel. Gives me hope! Love this book!!!!

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