The White Luck Warrior (and a new fantasy book club)

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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12 Responses

  1. Don Zeko says:

    SPOILERS ABOUND, or at least they probably will and I don’t want to have to police my post to keep them out. Be warned.

    What do you think of the way that Bakker makes his nods to fantasy influences so direct? When reading The Judging Eye, I was struck by how directly Cil-Aujas resembled Moria, how clearly the beginning of the dragon confrontation resembled Bilbo’s conversation with Smaug, etc. Where Martin constantly inverts and deconstructs the tropes of the genre in general, Bakker seems to be more interested in specifically subverting the iconic scenes and images of Tolkien. So where Tolkien has wise, ultra-competent Gandalf, Bakker has heartbroken, sad-sack Achamian. Where Tolkien has Lembas, Bakker has Quirri. Where Tolkien has Aragorn, Bakker has Kellhus. More and more, it seems like the series is turning into a spectacularly well done attempt at The Lord of the Rings according to Friedrich Nietzche.Report

  2. Plinko says:

    Dangit, E.D., I just bought The Magicians thanks to you and I’m not quite halfway through A Song if Ice and Fire. I don’t see how I can fit a third fantasy series in here all at once!Report

  3. Ryan Bonneville says:

    I am extremely excited for this book club. With the exception of his extraordinarily clunky handling of female characters, which I will definitely need to write about, I think Bakker is a better writer than Martin. When these books are good, they are very, very good.

    And, on the battle scenes, you are so right. When Bakker writes war, he channels Homer, and it’s amazing.Report

    • Yeah, I think we can have a good discussion about the female characters, sex and sexual violence in the books, and how this progresses (and I do think you’ll notice it gets much, much better as the books go on – Bakker really does learn from past mistakes.)Report

  4. E.D. Kain says:

    I have just posted the first book club post.Report