The First of the Judging Eyes
by rsbakker
Aphorism of the Day: A fatalist is just a cynic with humility.
Here’s a link to the first The White-Luck Warrior‘s first post-pub review: The Seattle-Post Intelligencer. Be sure to skip to the bottom of page three if you want the verdict without the spoilers.
The Beast has spent the better part of two weeks comfortablely in Amazon.ca’s Fantasy Top Ten. For whatever reason, The Judging Eye triggered nothing approaching the kind of pent up demand that The White-Luck Warrior seems to be enjoying. I personally blame it on the difficulty of The Thousandfold Thought. I think it strained the tastes of a lot of readers, enough to convince them to ease into the next tub of trilogistic water I draw.
And, just because things good and bad always seem to come in batches, I’ve been hearing murmurs from Hollywood once again. I’ll fill you all in on the details if the volume approaches ‘rumbling.’ Apparently all we need is an investor with several million dollars… Anyone?
Otherwise its been the silence of reading. I feel as though I’m broadcasting on so many frequencies with this book that I have to be jamming the ears of some readers. But everything I’ve encountered has been positive so far–extremely so. Even if I manage to convey a mere whiff of the meta-epic awesomeness I’m trying to convey, I’ll count myself successful.
I’ve been living with this story for some 25 years now, and I find myself periodically amazed at how far I’ve come – as well as how much you all have let me get away with! Only three books to go. Bloody fucking amazing – that’s what it is.
So close to the end, and still so much shit to throw at the narrative fan. Things are going to get real hairy from here on in. We’re gonna need therapy to sort it all out, you and me.
Three Pound Brain 
Bloody fucking amazing indeed!
One question though, having received a Canadian version which has what appears to be Japanese Kanji on the cover. Why? Solidarity with Earthquake victims in Japan is the coolest answer I heard (from a helpful friend). Second coolest is the act of deciphering a hidden message on the cover, which I will have done tomorrow (another helpful friend).
As for why the Judging Eye didn’t make as many waves I’ll say this: as with the PoN series I felt the first book was the weakest in the sense of all works of tragedy – in that there is extensive time put into ‘setting up’ what the next book will be ‘knocking down’ and the third book in that series was a kind of accounting for ‘now that it’s all knocked down’. Maybe people were just slower to buy the first, like “Eh, I’ll just have to wait for the next two to come out later anyway.” Thinking about it now I can understand your confusion.
Either way – you continue to amaze me as a writer. I read over 100 pages last night and I have a midterm today. Who cares, you rock.
I’m fluent in Japanese, and have studied modern and classical Chinese as well; the text on the cover appears to be the latter (definitely not Japanese, unless it’s kanbun). There’s not enough visible for me to decipher the meaning, however.
mad respect! I wish I knew another language both speaking and writing 😦 Maybe one day . .
Thanks, James. But it’s just because of the direction I chose. I’m finishing a Ph.D. in modern Japanese literature (like Mr. Bakker, however, I’m not going into academics), and learning classical and modern Chinese is just a part of our training. (I had to learn French, too, but found it way more difficult than Japanese and Chinese. Go figure.)
Also, there’s some truth to the use-it-or-lose-it axiom: everyday my dalliance with Chinese becomes more and more something I *used* to do, and my ability to put together what were once for me some of the simplest strings of comprehensible language gets more and more difficult/impossible.
Oh, and I read the Seattle review. Congratulations, RSB!
Judging Eye (the Canadian edition at least) has Chinese characters on the cover too, although they were in Seal Script form (a more ancient version, while WLW has “modern” letterforms). I wish there had been the beautiful constructed script from the PoN books instead; I imagine this was chosen to mimic it. Although if they’re picking a replacement Chinese writing system, why didn’t they go with Manchu? It’s also vertical and looks relatively similar. Oh well 🙂
I think word of mouth is a significant factor.
Why that didn’t carry from the third book to the fourth, I dunno. Speculating I’d just say a new trilogy is a ‘new deal’ while the previous had had the case closed (atleast in trilogy terms it certainly had had the case closed).
I pre-ordered my copy months ago. Can’t wait.
Any insight into the three books you mention, Scott? One more to wrap up the current trilogy, then a duology?
“…this is one of the more brilliant pieces of writing that you’re liable to read for a long time.”
Fuck. Yeah.
Also, regarding investment and the Hollywood folks… how much are we talking about? I mean, if you’re going to do a wide-release feature film of TDTCB it’s going to take at least 65 million. Luckily, it shouldn’t be a CGI-fest, but costumes and shit for a period piece cost money. Agora (which is an apt comparison in so many ways…) cost $70,000,000 to make. I don’t have access to any sizable fraction of that amount, but I know people and I know people that know people.
The HBO Game of Thrones series is costing about $45,000,000 per season, so doing TV instead of film is certainly an option.
The problem right now is that film and TV are saturated with fantasy, although people’s appetite for it doesn’t seem to be decreasing…
Looking forward to my US copy due on the 15th (am jealous of my Canadian neighbor’s, yes). The Thousandfold Thought only strengthened my appetite when it came to the new series. I feel sorry for those who haven’t given the new series a try. How could you not want to know what happens? Whew.
Keep up the good work.
I’m really stoked about the success so far with WLW.
PON is still my favorite, I’ve read it 4 times now, 2 times to fully understand the content, 2 times to study your style. Its a hard book to sell, its a difficult read for a lot of people used to typical fantasy books (initially it was for me). If I can get someone to at least get to the point where Khellus meets the trapper, they are hooked. That part of the story is where your ability to beautifully show your depth of psychology and nuanced interplay shines – its hard to not keep going after that.
Thanks for the hard work, Scott. You rock!
Back to reading.
I can’t tell you enough how excited I am about this release. You’re one of my favorite writers, and I’ve followed your career closely. Disciple of the Dog is on its way to me now, and my preorder for WLW is paid for.
Thanks for the link to the review, too. I’m in Seattle, but somehow missed that. I’ll be sure to post a link to the review and Amazon.com for your book on my blog.
Daniel S.
Keep your fingers crossed for HBO’s Game of Thrones to do well. If it’s successful, you’ll likely see some of HBO’s rivals try their hand at this stuff.
That said, I’m not sure how you would do the series in television or film form without heavily changing it. There’s just so much happening inside of the characters’ heads, and it’s very difficult to show that.
I got my copy today, and I didn’t realize WLW was about two times as thick as TJE! Thanks so much Mr. Bakker, for making my daily public-transportation commute something to look forward to 🙂
If you hear rumbles from hollywood, I wonder if they’d want to compress the first two volumes of PON into a single season. The dramatic arc of the season with Kellhus on the circumfix and ascending to prophet status would be a high point to go out on. higher than the reveal to Akka of the Skin Spies that ends TDTCB.
You also face a much trickier adaptive process for book one than Martin faced. The first book is many disparate threads that unify at the books ends, the opposite of Martin’s structure that begins with all the threads unified (save Dany) and gradually spins them off separately into a larger work. Creating continuity between stories that rarely intersect will be interesting and difficult. Kellhus is so important, but you can’t open the first ten minutes of the show with him, and then ignore him for the next four-five episodes while you tell the stories of Akka and Esme, Conphas and Cnaiur.
Actually I’d say the slow acceptance of the series, thus far, has to do with the structural decisions of TDTCB that takes the awesomeness that is the prologue and then abandons that central character for the next 600 pages. Personally, it was a HARD slog to get through all those Akka and Conphas chapters when I really wanted to read about Kellhus after that prologue. I almost gave up on the book several times. It was only flipping ahead and seeing that Kellhus did indeed reappear that I kept going on. So many times I checked and rechecked and rechecked the dates from the prologue against the dates in the rest of the book. “Surely,” I thought, “Kellhus lived thousands or hundreds of years before Akka, and that’s why he’s part of the prologue and not part of the novel text?” And every time my theory was shot down. I was totally exasperated.
Just got this delivered from Amazon.ca to UK (priority delivery) in time for my holiday. Can’t wait… 🙂
I agree with Adam, i was totally hooked on the intro as well. Kellhus leaving the trapper meat doll to the wolves was the icing on top.
It was hard to stick to comparatively normal characters of Acha and Esme afterwards, though Cnaiur was, as usual, unresistable. The urge to flip the few hundred pages to get to Kellhus again was strong.
As for adapting it into a movie or tv series, dunno. As mentioned, it’d be a whole lot harder, with the Kellhus’ intelect churning so integral to the story. How can you show that without baffling the viewer or taking half of the movie/episode?
Fastforwarded, slow-mo on key points alternate futures?
Director Terrence Malick (Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven, etc) might be a good reference for Kellhus-style interior monologue. Lots of that in his movies, along with dreamlike, surreal (or perhaps hyper-real) representations of the natural world. Might be just the thing for Kellhus’ reflective moments.
Malick spends a fair bit of time contrasting the world of men and the natural world; might be a guidepost that someone wanting to interpret Scott’s work cinematically could set out from.
“Fastforwarded, slow-mo on key points alternate futures?”
That’s usually how I picture the probability trance. Alternatively you could simultaneously show several possible futures in one frame, and then eliminate the negative ones (think Super Meat Boy death replays for any gamers out there). Would be hard to shoot though.
As for the ‘internal action’ inside the character’s heads… yeah, that’s tough.
Anticipating this more and more every day. I can’t let myself read the review though, I absolutely hate spoilers and will avoid even the tiniest one at all costs.
Reading the Prince of Nothing trilogy single-handedly saved my dying interest in the Fantasy genre. I blame that on the progressively horrible Wheel of Time books after the 3rd one… but that’s another story. Keep em coming Bakker, you’re creating something that’s truly great.
Keep ’em coming Scott! Getting even more stoked about WLW, 12-14 days before I get my copy here in DK.
Let’s just hope A Game of Thrones becomes a succes and PoN can become a tv series. Would love to see AMC pick it up; they’ve really done a great job with the guys on Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad.
Best of luck!
I thinks it’s gotta be a premium cable channel like HBO/STARZ/Showtime. AMC, as demonstrated by the Walking Dead can do gruesome pretty well, but I think it would be a hard sell even on AMC for things like black ejaculate, not to mention all the rest of the graphic horror/sex. I don’t want to be cheated.
Yea, a movie would be sick. I’m feeling sick….I’ve waited so long for this book, the excitement is making me ill. I’m currently reading the Dante Club, very interesting. I’m happy I’m not the only one super excited for this book, and I am happy the book is a success, just promise me you wont have us wait so long for the next one! I might really need therapy then.
I can’t wait to get my copy! I’ve been waiting for this book ever since finishing The Judging Eye.
Bakker, you’re truly skilled, and I would love to see an adaptation done for these books, but I’d want you to ensure that your…”edginess” wasn’t lost. I can see Hollywood drastically toning down parts of your novels, and I would hate to see that.
Keep the books coming, and I’ll keep buying, and advocating on your behalf.
Congrats on the review.
I am very excited for this release and I should be done with my re-read of The Thousandfold Thought and The Judging Eye by release date.
We used to debate on the old Three-Seas that Brad Pitt would be an excellent Kellhus, though, our biggest criticism of any actor would be that they couldn’t portray Kellhus properly. I read a book a couple years ago called You See What I’m Saying, one that I read for it’s neuroplastic implications concerning our sensual experience, that cited that Brad Pitt spent almost six months, memorizing facial movements, to do the revolutionary Benjamin Button. For any neurologist wannabes like myself, that means he actual formed new and sharpened old physical neurological structures to achieve his level of emotive musculature control. Apparently, Benjamin Button is the first virtual face that is real enough for our brains to interpret as Human rather than not. But Pitt is actually more physically prepared to do Kellhus, which is incredible.
Again, thanks, Bakker. White-Luck Warrior was amazing and I definitely will be reading everything again after Exams before spring/summer semester. I’m still reeling, as I’m sure I will be for a long time.
I thought I’d post a semi-review from Madness of Westeros. It’s mostly non-spoiler, though, I’ve removed a small part where he refers to the end of TWP. I’ll link it at the bottom for those who want the full post.
“I’m sorry to keep torturing you but I can’t have this story spoiled by reading the WLW thread myself, even though I am nearly some 300 pages in. And I need to pay dues to Bakker, hype this up to Sranc frenzy for him, as long as I can before everyone has read it. Tell people about this shit!
Simplicity is key. So much of what has happened turns on the simplest mechanisms, the greatest truths, behind the tides of motives we encounter in WLW. If the Second Apocalypse was a cultic phenomenon until now, I truly believe that Bakker has earned his mainstream rights among the “Top Ten” of any particular list of fiction with the WLW.
I think what surprises me most of all were the things I thought I already knew about Bakker as a writer and philosopher. The Historical. The Mythic. The Philosophical. The Faith. The weaving of these immense pillars, blending all his talents into the Wine Bowl of Earwa, anachronistically playing the real tricks in my own mind here and now. The way the Nouns of his world interact, even, for these interactions have been the most obvious and amazing of the many subtleties at work in this story. Some characters truly steal the show.
I’m beginning to feel as if Bakker has been able to finally substantiate his claim that PON is truly the Hobbit in comparison to The Aspect-Emperor and The-Series-That-Can’t-Be-Named. With a quick-moving plot, WLW’s gift is in it’s ability to reveal new perspectives of Earwa’s metaphysics without resorting to completely unheard of Titles or Powers, excepting one or two occasions; the benefit of even these, being that they are retrospectively the most of obvious conclusions in fantasy world with very life-like, large-scale societal interactions.
We play Benjuka against Bakker in our speculation, friends. This is no small feat. (Even Boba Fett has read the Second Apocalypse)
All of this amounts, truly, to a High Literature, fuck genre distinctions. Bakker is off and running, his writing, prose, which was never bad, has reached new heights of quality and style with his ability to think, write, challenge our perceptions across social and cultural boundaries in the guise of a Fantasy for the Ages.
The Second Apocalypse is a new mold of Fantasy. Bakker continues to push the boundaries of what defines our literature and of what is written’s ability to change that which lives and breathes.”
The link is here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pyXK5Aa_LGYJ:asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/48083-the-judging-eye-xi-spoilers/page__st__360+The+Judging+Eye+XI+page+13+Westeros&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&source=www.google.ca
Btw, Westeros Forum is down, why?
It’s gonna be great! Bring on the Therapy! (and all the story!) Take care — glad the release is going well!
Here’s a question I have about a TV production. Were such a thing ever to happen, would one person be cast to play all Nonmen in the series using technology like with the Winkelvoss twins in The Social Network? Are we supposed to take from the text that they look literally identical to one another to the point that even someone like Akka can’t distinguish them without context?
Do they all look (atleast to a human eye) similar? I never caught that in reading the books? If so, wow, lazy reading on my part?
But anyway, who can tell one tree from another…oh wait, that’s ents…who lost their wives, as well…lol
Callan, it does say, in the books, that Nonmen are incredibly similar looking. I think Akka talks about this when looking at the statue of the ruler of Cil’Auja.
I believe another mention comes when the aspect of the ruler of Cil’Auja appears in the group before they climb the The Screw. Incariol appears to look almost identical to the apparition except for the nakedness of the apparition.
I think those are the two references, there could be more.
Dude, I’m not arguing – I can totally pay I’d miss something like this! Well, another excuse to re-read TJE!
I would argue against any sort of Hollywood adaptation. The first thing that comes to mind is THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and while I really like a lot of what Peter Jackson did, in the end, Jackson’s a shlock horror director and injected too much pedestrian humor and cheesy horror elements into the story. Not to say that Jackson’s not cool, but I think Peter Jackson’s take on THE LORD OF THE RINGS is nowhere near as true to the original as, say, Ralph Bakshi’s. (I haven’t blogged in weeks, maybe it’s time for me to ruminate on this topic.)
Anyway, if Hollywood gets its grimy paws on THE PRINCE OF NOTHING, prepare for it to be totally fucked with. “Let’s make Kellhus gay!” “Let’s make Achamian half-black, half Asian and give him a racial identity crisis!” “This book doesn’t have enough explosions. Let’s give the Nansur flamethrowers and rocket launchers.” “I thick the audience will be able to connect with Cnaiur much better if he’s played by Denzel Washington.” “Instead of Shimeh, let’s make this holy war about the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Grail! That way, we can shoehorn in the Knights Templar!” “Kellhus needs a comic relief sidekick who is always getting him into trouble. Let’s co-star him against a sassy female Dunyain played by Helena Bonham Carter! And Kellhus is always trying to sleep with her, but she never lets him!”
Yeah, I don’t want to see that sort of thing happen. After watching some of the stuff HBO has done, like SOPRANOS, ROME, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and now GAME OF THRONES, I really think that the cable-TV medium is the future for high-quality storytelling, especially since Networks routinely (and purposely) destroy shows that have incredible potential (c/f KINGS and FIREFLY) and Hollywood boils everything down to lowest-common-denominator fare.
First of all, congratulations,Mr. Bakker, for the positive (though spoiler-filled) review! I am not so sure about the “difficulty” of TTT though… any work that makes you go back and re-read it and gives you a different perspective each time is great literature in my opinion and in that sense, TTT is one of the best. I have read it many many times over the years and found stuff that I missed in the previous reading. I can not say the same for TJE… I haven’t re-read TJE even once, except for bits and pieces here and there. While the story is as interesting to me as the first trilogy, I found the style much less engrossing. But I am looking forward to the next book all the same and it is great that the Kindle ebook is available on Amazon UK from May 05. And I am not so sure about a movie or TV series for this work… as someone said above, it is going to be extremely hard to translate all the internal action into something believable on-screen. I would think Anime is a better vehicle for this kind of story. In any case, please continue writing Mr. Bakker, you are one of the best and only next to Ursula Le Guin in my list of great writers (with Dan Simmons a close third). 🙂
Just wanted to say “well done” to Dave Cesarano for an excellent post, agreed on all counts and did so laughing. That is exactly what will happen when Hollywood gets their hands on this series. I understand Scott would gain greatly financially from an adaptation, but I honestly hope it never happens. Frankly I don’t even think this series is suited for television either, and if HBO won’t be doing it ( and they won’t) it’s not worth bothering anyway.
Dave posted:
“Let’s co-star him against a sassy female Dunyain played by Helena Bonham Carter! And Kellhus is always trying to sleep with her, but she never lets him!”
I think I puked a little. Will Danny Elfman do the soundtrack? And maybe Jonny Depp will play an over-the-top Iokus?
“I think I puked a little.”
I think that made me puke a little. I think I can taste it… on the other hand, Denzel was pretty cool in, what was that post-apocalyptic thingy with Greg Allman? I mean, Gary Oldman?
And Gilbert Gottfried as Cnaiür!
RSB, may I derail this thread again to ask about audio versions of your work? Are there any concrete plans to make them available? Murmurs?
Luther and Jorge, sorry for the gastric distress I’ve caused youse guys. It was unintentional.
To anon, アニメ (anime) is a horrible idea. The Japanese and North American forms of storytelling and literature are extremely different, and when Studio Ghibli got their hands on Earthsea, Le Guin was extremely disappointed with the results. It’s a cultural thing. On the surface, it looks like a good idea, but I don’t think Bakker’s story and vision would be any better preserved by the Japanese than Hollywood.
Not read the other comments, and sorry if this is negative, i imagine it’s cause of the disparity in publication dates, i spent a lot of money getting it shipped from Canada, as did every person i knew who read the books, as a result none of us will be buying it when it is released in the UK. I only “know” (via internet, friends etc) about 30 folk who read the book and are not Canadian, all bar one bought the book on release.
I’m just spouting though, but it did occur to me when i bought it that a lot of sales were coming in “at once” cause of this situation.
Read the book twice now, is one of the tiny errors the fact that akka thinks Cnauir gave him the name Ishual when it was actually from a dream?
Nice spotting, John – it’ll be interesting to find that out!
OOOOOhhhhhh, unless that is something Kellhus planted when he hypnotised Akka!!??
With all this talk of converting the book to a movie, you guys remember the posts here on readers mistaking their pyschological reaction to tree pulp with ink marks on it as actually being a property of the tree pulp?
I mean, what are the odds of a movie being made that gives you the particular psychological reaction that you also had upon contact with the tree pulp+ink? Were talking a reaction unique to each of you, by and large?
Not to mention kind of pointless duplication – what is the point of having the same psychological reaction you already had? May as well buy the book a second time.
To a degree I think remakes should ‘screw up’ the original. Or more to the point, the person remaking them should give a damn about something and want to wed what he gives a damn about to the remake. Which isn’t to be confused with when a corporate group go and make the sassy dunyain, etc, as that is no one giving a damn about a RL issue, just a hollow, souless company trying to keep going through it’s many human host cells (makes me think of the no god, for some reason…)
I don’t think there’s a right way to make it into a movie – what seems a right way is more like engaging the particulars of ones own psychology while treating them as global standards.
More used to that happening with table top roleplaying, but it seems to happen everywhere else, as I spy with my little judging eye. RPG’s were just a bonsai version…
Adam over at the Wertzone just gave WLW a fantastic review.
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2011/04/white-luck-warrior-by-r-scott-bakker.html
Yeah, I agree with the Wert review. This book is incredible. Mr. Bakker is cranking on all cylinders. The Unholy Consult cannot come soon enough.
Scott, don’t forget to register http://www.princeofnothing.com. Its expired!
Just put down my copy of WLW and loved every minute of it. Been a fan since stumbling across Darkness and winning a signed copy from you, from the three seas forums ages ago (Answering what I thought the Darkness that Comes Before means).
WLW had some fantastic pacing to it, but it was a second book, so it was to be expected. Judging Eye had a lot to re-establish, so I guess I can see why it didn’t have the same impact as WLW, which is a shame because you crushed the epic-awesomeness in both.
Can’t wait for the next installment.
Always a fan.
Seems my first comment didn’t post, crazy technology.
Anyways, congrats on the stellar review, WLW is certainly worthy of it. Though to say one is above the others would be wrong, since the story told thus far has been incredible.
Been a reader since the first days of TDTCB and still cherish my signed copy that I won from you at the Three Seas blog (for answering what The Darkness That Comes Before means).
Loved the pacing of WLW and I can see why it is hanging out on that top 10 list. Only theory for why The Judging Eye didn’t was it’s re-establishing of the story and it was the lure back. It was what made sure WLW would last for so long.
Anyways, can’t wait for the next installment (I’m already framing an internal debate about the title). Thanks Scott.
Pre-ordered my copy days ago…can’t wait to read it!
I like to think all the incessant blabbing I’ve done about PRINCE OF NOTHING has some tiny bit to do with the increased demand for WHITE-LUCK WARRIOR. I’ve told about every fantasy fan I’ve known ore met or crossed paths with that they must read Bakker.
They’s a readin’.