The Darkness That Comes Before
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Our view
Dense and ambitious, “The Darkness That Comes Before” invents a whole world, with its own languages, religions and rituals. Readers often need time to find their footing among the names and the sheer amount of detail. Some single out the prose as poetic to a degree rare in the genre, and the characters as vivid. It begins the “Prince of Nothing” trilogy and is for those who want fantasy unlike the usual.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Darkness That Comes Before is the first book in the Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker. It was published in 2004.
Reading order · Prince of Nothing
Full order & progress →- The Darkness That Comes BeforeThis book
7.97.9 / 10 - The Warrior Prophet
8.08.0 / 10 - The Thousandfold Thought
7.97.9 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 134 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 48% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Fantasy average of 8.0. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 7.8 | 134 | 100% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Fantasy — and a score of 7.9, the closest to this book.
