I couldn’t wait anymore to start reading R. Scott Bakker so I’ve taken The Darkness That Comes Before from the shelf even if I still have to finish The Red Tree, and before Sanderson’s Way of Kings flies over here. After being engaged deeply with Erikson, Bakker’s themes appear as a natural extension of what I’ve learned to appreciate. There’s some sort of dialogue between these books and I’m intrigued by what will come out.

What comes before determines what comes after. Dûnyain monks spent their lives immersed in the study of this principle, illuminating the intangible mesh of cause and effect that determined every happenstance, and minimizing all that was wild and unpredictable. Because of this, events always unfolded with granitic certainty in Ishuäl. More often than not, one knew the skittering course a leaf would take through the terrace groves. More often than not, one knew what another would say before he spoke. To grasp what came before was to know what would come after. And to know what would come after was the beauty that stilled, the hallowed communion of intellect and circumstance – the gift of the Logos.

See how this excerpt, from the prologue of Bakker’s book, will tie nicely with my next post.