The Warrior Prophet: Book Review

I just finished reading The Warrior Prophet, the second book in The Prince of Nothing trilogy. This book picks up right where The Darkness That Comes Before left off and follows three consecutive marches south by the Holy War, as they move inexorably closer to Shimeh, their ancient holy land. What follows is another stunning entry in the series, as the Holy War is embroiled in multiple climactic battles, infected by a manipulative third party who is taking advantage of the war for his own agenda, and internal political conflicts that are inherent to any war. This book is a step up from the last in terms of pacing, character, worldbuilding, and twists, providing compelling motivation to move right on into the next book.

No Spoilers

Characters

As characters are the most important part of the story, I will start by talking about that aspect. For each of them, I think they have been developed in interesting ways, or they are allowed to shine in amazing ways.

Achamian goes through hell and back, both mentally and physically—and repeatedly. And perhaps he doesn't necessarily come "back" in every respect, either. But he also has one of the best hype moments in the series, when he is figuratively pushed up against a wall. Kellhus and his abilities are on steroids, and even seems godlike at points, but Bakker still manages to undercut this with key hints at humanity and fallibility within him (emphasis on hints, however). Cnaiür also demonstrates himself to have many interesting layers, with twists that take him in both sympathetic and darker directions. Esmenet stills strikes me as a bit sidelined in the story, so I am interested in what Bakker will do with her in the last entry.

As for the side characters: Proyas and Conphas both fulfill their roles, even if I thought they were not featured in the story to the degree that I wanted. Proyas's character continues in his complexity that was indicated in the first book, while Conphas cleverly spins things for his ends, and remains one of the more formidable foes. Saubon, someone I don't remember from the first book, comes into his own in this book as well, playing a major part in one of the best sequences in the book.

Plot

Both books in the series are fairly slow and deliberate, but this book is much faster paced than the first as it follows the Holy War and its campaign south, rather than the moments leading up to the beginning of the war.

The story is broken up into three parts, with each part featuring a climactic battle at a specific location. And true to the essence of political scheming that is imbibed within this story, TWP continues the machinations leading up to and within and after each of the battles. As has always been the case, war is politics and politics is war, and Bakker weaves that into the story perfectly.

I think the first battle was my favorite of the batch, teeming as it is with spastic energy and religious fervor. From the outset, I thought it was going to go one way, then I wasn't so sure, then I realized that I wouldn't be able to tell until the very last moments. If the idea of religious fanatics waging a Holy War appeals to you in any way, then this first battle is a must read.

The second battle was also stunning, showing some of the key characters I mentioned above at their best. I also loved how Bakker defined the character of each side of the battle and how that influenced the fighting. It gave the fighting personality and showed that Bakker was interested in more than people throwing punches.

The final sequence was more than just a battle, but a sequence of fighting, political intrigue, desperation, and is all around one of the better parts of the book. It starts with a grueling sequence, where the Holy War is plunged into its most desperate state. And then they are trapped in another sense and are just as desperate, and the intrigue and in-fighting that erupts from the dire straits was what settled the book for me. All around, it was exciting, and it rounded off the story perfectly.

Assorted Musings

The prose was excellent, just like the first book. I think the only gripe was that there were some parts of the story (and they were very rare), where I had to read a sentence or two twice to understand what Bakker was saying.

The mysteries were also expanded upon in intriguing ways, though I can't say anything in the non-spoiler section.

Conclusion

Overall, I thought the book was amazing. I will give it a 9/10.

Spoilers

Characters

Achamian

Achamian probably goes through more than any other character in the story. He starts out rather desperate without Esmenet and struggles with the question of whether he ought to tell his superiors about Kellhus's fulfillment of a prophecy. While he does eventually find Esmenet, he is then subjected to the manipulation of Kellhus, he is captured and tortured, and then he is cuckholded by Kellhus when he steals Esmenet from him. Even then, Achamian works to save Kellhus, as he believes that he is destined to save the world from the apocalypse. Further, he seems to be realizing that Kellhus has been playing him, not only because of Esmenet, but because he realizes that Kellhus has been able to see the Consult, and that many of his questions had been made in this light.

Achamian also goes full badass in this book when he escapes the clutches of the Scarlet Spires. For me, it starts with his usage of that waithi doll to free him from the circle that blocks sorcery. I noticed that nothing happened when he said two words while in the circle. I was inclined to dismiss it, as the powers were likely nullified, but when we got that scene with the waithi doll climbing to the top of the rubble in the library, I knew that this was the one spell that he risked casting. But the climax was what made all this worth it, as Achamian goes on this violent rampage throughout the compound that he is being held in and tears all opposition to shreds.

Kellhus

Kellhus was my favorite character in the last book, primarily because of the meticulous manipulation that he undertakes to achieve his ends. In this book, I mentioned that he is basically on steroids. And I think that Bakker actually managed to hit a kind of sweet spot, but just barely. There are periods in the story where we only see Kellhus from other people's perspectives, and I have to admit that it was almost too much. So many of them are fawning over his character and marveling at how amazing he is. And I remember reading the very beginning and hoping that we would get to see Kellhus's perspective again, just for a breath of air and for more of what we saw before. And thankfully we got to see that. From Kellhus's perspective, things are more refreshing, as we not only see the extent of his manipulation but also the ways in which he struggles or makes mistakes.

The first battle on the plains of Mengedda was an instructive example, as Kellhus had meant to manipulate Saubon into destroying himself and the Shrial Knights, all to eliminate Sarcellus in a way that the Consult would not connect back to him in any concrete way. But his miscalculation was seeing Saubon abscond with more than just a portion of the army, but nearly half. In that act, he nearly destroyed the Holy War, even if the fanaticism and the desperate chase that Proyas took on helped Saubon win the battle in the end.

One of the best manipulation scenes in this book is when Kellhus manipulates Achamian into losing faith in the Mandate. His use of Inrau to subtly influence the sorcerer is dastardly and cruel, and the subtlety of the scene was what made it seem so plausible. Kellhus's ultimate goal is to convince Achamian to teach him the Gnosis, but Kellhus goes after that end step by step, starting with questioning the sorcerer's faith in the Mandate. I think a lesser author would have written the manipulation in one go, where Kellhus would have convinced Achamian to give up the Gnosis in an interaction or two, with less emphasis on the specifics (because he's just that smart!). Bakker is subtle enough to show that this is a complicated process, and something to be nudged toward over time.

And another angle that I like about the above interaction is that you don't entirely grasp Kellhus's ultimate goal at the time, either. While reading it, I was thinking that Kellhus was aware that Achamian was toiling over whether to warn the Mandate, and he was stepping in to prevent that from happening with as sure a blow as possible. But then you realize that his goals run deeper than even that. Not only is he breaking Achamian's faith in the Mandate, but he also wants the Gnosis, which is all the more sinister.

I also like how Bakker handled Kellhus's rise to the top at the end of the story. While he has the ability to manipulate and inspire people all throughout the Holy War, there are a number who are immune or less susceptible, and as the march finds itself in its worst moments, he actually ends up splitting the War in two by dividing loyalties. Led by Conphas (of course), many of the nobles are outright hostile to Kellhus's rise, and he is forced into a position of submission. He is forced to gamble his own life and risk dying in order to win over the people of the Holy War. In a way, this reminds me of Death Note. (Spoiler: When Misa is both connected to Light and to the second Kira, L seems on the verge of catching Light. Light is forced to turn himself in, while also enacting his most elaborate scheme yet). In both cases, I think the sequences both show the limitations and the brilliance of the characters. Kellhus is shown to be vulnerable enough that he can't just manipulate his way out of a situation, but he also comes out of the sequence looking all the more terrifying.

Finally, Kellhus, while hanging on that circumfix at the end of the story, shows the slightest bit of emotion. He shows that he did care a little about Serwë, even if she was ultimately sacrificed in his gambit, and this is something that I suspected after being reminded of Kellhus's suppressed humanity when he let Cnayür live after the second battle. Something that I forgot to mention in the first book is that there were slight hints that Kellhus was not all manipulation and that he did have some emotional connections to characters. Namely, when Serwë was first being raped by Cnaiür in that first book, there was a line suggesting that Kellhus felt something. And Bakker has built off that in key ways in this story.

Cnaiür

Cnaiür is one of the more interesting characters in the story due to the number of layers he displays throughout. First, I love the idea that he is a barbarian who could never fit in with his tribe. While he ostensibly emanates all the relevant traits to a greater extreme than any of his tribesmen, he is actually emulating them and compensating for his lacking. And this explains his connection to Serwë, the ownership of whom, he uses as his "proof" that he really is the Scylvendi barbarian that he claims to be.

Kellhus explicitly lays this out in the story and uses the barbarian's connection to Serwë in order to manipulate him. The best part of this, however, is that Kellhus knows that Cnaiür is aware of the manipulation, but also that Cnaiür cannot help but go along with it, because of just how deep-seated his needs are.

Cnaiür's connection to Proyas is another dimension. He has no personal connection to the Inrithi people, and even has every reason to hate them, but he is still forming these personal bonds with Proyas and is fully aware of what it is doing to him.

But beyond that, Cnaiür is also going insane and is starting to hallucinate. He is aware of Kellhus's manipulations of everyone around him, and of the barbarian himself; he is aware of his growing connection to the Inrithi people; but he is caught in the knots of indecision. If he stops Kellhus, does that mean he has embraced the Inrithi people? If he does nothing, can he trust whatever Kellhus is planning? His brewing insanity only makes you question how he'll turn in this final act of the story.

Esmenet

I mentioned that Esmenet seems sidelined in the story. For much of the story, she is either doting on Achamian or being manipulated by Kellhus (to be fair, most everyone is), and I don't think her place in the story is as well-realized as the others. I'm still holding out that she will have a greater part to play, as the pieces seemed to have been laid out for us—and I have heard that it comes out over the course of the story—so we'll see how that comes around.

After writing this, I started reading the recap of The Warrior Prophet provided at the beginning of the next book, and I was reminded of certain revelations that I seemed to have forgotten. They aren't exactly relevant to the plot (I'm thinking of Esmenet confessing that she sold her daughter into slavery because she was starving), but they are worth mentioning. It adds dimension to the character, even if it was peripheral and something that I forgot in the face of everything else.

Another thing that I want to talk about is the end of the last book actually, something that I didn't touch on in the last review because I was not sure that it was a real complaint. Basically, I thought that Achamian accidentally walking past Esmenet when she returned to him was a contrived plot point, and I wondered what the point of it was. I did not say anything, because I figured it would make more sense later in the story, but now that I have read the next book, I still don't see the point. They find each other at the beginning of the next book, and it just seems like the last book ended that way for no reason.

Assorted Characters

I mentioned that Conphas doesn't feature in this story as much as I would have liked. I think the story is building to something much greater later down the line, as he is obviously planning something alongside Xerius, but I imagine that will be for the climax of the story. What we did get in the story was great, however. Conphas was perfectly poised to take on Kellhus as his influence grew, and he was a formidable foe. I especially liked the final confrontation at the end of the book, when Conphas made the case that Kellhus was a Cishaurum spy. The best part about this was that while Conphas was wrong and is cynical enough to lie, he wasn't actually lying. He not only believed that Kellhus was a spy, but he had very good reasons to believe it, too.

Proyas was also underutilized, and I didn't get to see him lock horns with Conphas to the extent that I thought I would. But, as before, what we saw was good enough. I especially liked his manipulation of Conphas in the aftermath of an attempted assassination of Kellhus. It showed that Conphas had underestimated Proyas as a simple-minded zealot, and that he needed to operate with more care.

Serwë's death was tragic, but it was nothing less than a mercy killing. Gods help the rest of these characters.

Plot

I mentioned before that the plot was faster paced than the last book, and that is best demonstrated through the numerous battle scenes throughout.

That first battle was my favorite because of just how messy and crazed the whole sequence was. Saubon had been manipulated to march ahead of the rest of the army and take on the enemy, and they were basically destined to die. But what we got was much more than that. Even in the face of crushing defeat, the religious zeal of the Inrithi drove them on, and we were served with one of the most spastic and insane conflicts that I have ever read. The highlight of the fighting was when the Cishaurum arrived and the Shrial Knights mobbed them by the thousands, all being wiped out with fire, until one lone knight came spiraling out of the furnace on a flaming horse to take off one of the sorcerer's head. I can't even remember the man's name, but by the gods he is the MVP of the story, beyond even Kellhus.

The march through the desert was also an amazing sequence. By far the most people died in this sequence, and even in the face of the horrifying setbacks in the earlier portions of the book, this made me wonder just how far Bakker was going to push the Holy War to its final legs. I still have the image of thousands upon thousands of bodies trailing the march of men. The only real gripe I have with this is that I thought it would be a little too obvious what the Kian were planning in this. It was explicitly acknowledged that the Kianene fleets were strangely absent, but it never crossed anyone's mind that they might be waiting for when they tried to cross the desert, when that just seems to be blindingly obvious. This problem was kind of brushed over. I guess another minor gripe would be how Kellhus found out about the water hole; it was written to be miraculous, but that is more about the appearance, so I still think there should be an explanation. I imagine the idea is that Kellhus's senses are heightened, unlike others, but I'm still fuzzy on this.

I especially liked how the end of the book was still largely centered around a political conflict in a room full of "men talking," as political intrigue is often derided. Just like the last book, there was a major rhetorical conflict between different factions as they made their case for the future of the Holy War, and Achamian gets his time to shine. Of course, he still loses, but he had Conphas and centuries of bias and derision against him. The fact that he managed to get people to hesitate and think for a moment was good enough.

The final battle, where the starved Inrithi confront the Kian in a fervor, was crazy. I thought it was a bit far-fetched as I went through it the first time, but then I found out that the battle is based on the real-life battle of Antioch, which is just crazy. I guess zeal can go a long way.

Predictions, Past and Present

The mysteries remain as one of the best parts of the story. Quite simply, I have no idea how the story might progress from here. Basically, anything can happen at this point, and I am so excited.

I asked a number of questions in the last review, and I think they have been answered/built upon in a variety of different ways. I wondered whether Kellhus's father is the real harbinger of the apocalypse; interestingly enough, when Achamian tells Kellhus that he thinks that he is the harbinger, the monk's face changes, as if something came to mind; of course, I might be reading into this, but I could not help but wonder if Kellhus was thinking the very thing that I was. Additionally, what about Kellhus's son? Another Anasûrimbor is entering the picture, and I wonder how this changes things.

Another related point is an interesting rebuttal to the very idea of the harbinger. Kellhus pointed out that it makes no sense to suggest that an Anasûrimbor has arrived. The Anasûrimbor line has always been here. Where is "here" supposed to denote, if not where the Anasûrimbor line has always been? Maybe there will be an even deeper twist to this prophecy down the line that Bakker has in store for us.

This book confirmed that the Consult has no understanding at all of who Kellhus is or even of the Dûnyain. And they are outright terrified of the Dûnyain, at this point, which makes me laugh. All this fear of the Consult and their bringing of the apocalypse, and there is this glaring wild card whipping everything up into insanity against the expectations of anyone. This book also confirmed that the Consult actually does want to kill everyone, as the Synthese thought blissfully about the deaths of all living creatures. Because of this, I imagine the bit about history being written by the victors is more so related to the Dûnyain and their "anti-history." And the Consult also provides an interesting spin on things by showing that they are skeptical of the Anasûrimbor prophecy. This is a very strange development because the prophecy allegedly foretells the Consult's own goals. At first, I thought this would be something they would not even express interest in, as there would be no uncertainty for them; but I guess they would be unsure about the success of their plans. The ultimate question is what their skepticism of this prophecy might mean for the prophecy, itself.

One interesting development was literally just a throwaway line that I could easily have missed. Apparently Kellhus wasn't lying to Cnayür when he said that he had been sent to assassinate his father. He thought briefly about the mission he was sent on, and it confirmed that these were at least his orders. That said, this does not mean that Kellhus, himself, does not have alternative motives of his own. His interior monologues do not seem to suggest that he is looking to kill his father, but to follow his lead; indeed, there are interesting religious parallels with how Kellhus thinks about his father.

Another related point is that if the goal was to silence Kellhus's father to keep the Dûnyain hidden, then this plan is not working. Kellhus's presence has only brought more scrutiny on the Dûnyain, with the Consult now resorting to extreme ends in order to uncover their secret.

Finally, I want to talk about the No-God and his portrayal in the book. From the very first pages, we get to see the rise of the No-God, and even hear him speak. Here are a series of snippets: "What do you see?" "I must know what you see." "Tell me." "What am I?" "I cannot s[ee]."

I have no idea what to make of this. The No-God comes off as confused, like he had just been created and does not understand what he is or what his purpose is. He can't see. It makes him vulnerable, which contrasts his threat in ominous ways. I asked in the last review about what the Consult might really be up to outside of the Mandate's hostile perspective, but this puts the focus on the No-God, himself, making me wonder what he is all about.

Finally, finally, I also recognized the passing comment about how the non-men claim to have come from far flung stars, implying that they are the aliens in the story. I wonder how they we be featured in the coming story.

(Addendum: I correct this in later reviews, but I misread this. It turns out the Inchoroi are the aliens, not the Non-Men.)

Conclusion

Overall, I thought the book was amazing. I will give it a 9/10.