The Thousandfold Thought: The Prince of Nothing, Book ThreeBakker, R. Scott
In the shattering climax to Canadian author Bakker's magnificent fantasy saga (after 2005's The Warrior-Prophet ), the Holy War army has finally reached the gates of the holy city of Shimeh. The warrior-prophet, Anasrimbor Kellhus, learns that the Thousandfold Thought, a great "transition rule" that promises to transform the two warring faiths of Inrithism and Fanimry, offers the only way to bring peace to the world of Erwa and avoid a Second Apocalypse. Amid all the bloodshed and battle, Kellhus continues to respect his friend, the sorcerer Drusas Achamian, despite the conflict that arises when Kellhus takes "the whore Esmenet," hitherto Achamian's woman, as his consort. Esmenet's wavering love between the two men lends poignancy and personal depth to an epic story notable for its lack of melodrama. A large and varied supporting cast of heroes and scoundrels add further emotional realism. The Prince of Nothing trilogy is a work of unforgettable power. (Jan.)
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On Seeing: Things Seen, Unseen, and Obscene
Gonzalez-Crussi, F.
What Oliver Sacks does for the mind, Gonzlez-Crussi (On Being Born and Other Difficulties ) does for the eye in this captivating set of philosophical meditations on the relationship between the viewer and the viewed. The author, amused and amazed by our desire to see what is forbidden, draws on historical and cultural examples, from Actaeon spying on the goddess Diana to a pair of voyeurs in revolutionary France who unwittingly incite a massacre. Mixed in with such accounts are personal reflections drawn from medicine (Gonzlez-Crussi is professor emeritus of pathology at Northwestern's medical school). He is astounded, for example, at how many people have pestered him for access to an autopsy, just to say they'd seen one. The ornate sentences are filled with stunning images, like his description of an infant just emerged from the womb, bloody, "weakly flailing his arms" and crying, appearing to the author not as a symbol of life but as resembling "a foot-soldier in a defeated army, a pitiful survivor in a catastrophic retreat," and his prose never loses its elegance, even when the stories he tells veer into the bawdy. Not every anecdote resonates perfectly, but Gonzlez-Crussi is a charming raconteur who will win over readers with his thoughts on our visual connection to the world around us. 10 b&w illus. (Feb.)
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