Fantasy Book Club – February 2012: The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker

This month we will be trying a book that hasn’t had a huge amount of exposure, and yet, behind the scenes, in the blogging community, it has a lot of people talking and raving about it. I first heard of the author from Mark Lawrence. He said something along the lines of, “You do get authors who are commended by bloggers and yet not always recognised by the readers.” So, this month, this blogger is going to recommend to you The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker as our Fantasy-Faction Book Club read.

A world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both two thousand years past and two thousand years into the future, as untold thousands gather for a crusade. Travelling among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveller, Anasurimbor Kellhus—part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerer, with a charismatic presence—from lands long thought dead. The Darkness that Comes Before is a history of this great holy war, and like all histories, the survivors write its conclusion.

Reading will commence on February 1, 2012

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Buy on Amazon UK
Buy on Amazon US

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Book Club Rules

Rule 1: We don’t talk about Fantasy Book Club. Oh, sorry that’s a different club. You are actually welcome to invite friends and tweet this link about everywhere. We want as many readers as possible!

So…How does it really work?

Choosing a Book

What we do is take suggestions from our forum members throughout the month and then open a poll about 2 weeks before the month’s end. Then our members vote on which book they would like to read. A week before the end of the month we close the poll and users have a week to obtain the book – either borrow it, buy it, find it and pull it out from your collection, etc.

Spoiler Free Discussion

Next, we want discuss our books in a way that will not spoil the story, so we limit how much you can discuss and when.

Week 1 – You may only discuss the first 1/4 of the book
Week 2 – You may only discuss the first 1/2 of the book
Week 3 – You may only discuss the first 3/4 of the book
Week 4 – Anything goes

We are going to go based on page count. So for example, if a book has 500 pages then week one you can discuss up to page 125 and then week two 250 and so on. Each week will have a separate thread, so as not to spoil the story for people who fall behind or come in late.

What if you want to read faster than that?

Not a problem at all. You are more than welcome to read ahead, but when discussing things just remember to post in the appropriate thread. And if you’re not sure when something happened, you can always use the spoiler tag to hide your post.

Should you not want any spoilers or discussion during the reading process, then just come after the end of week three and start discussing the book once you have finished. (This is how most book clubs operate anyway.)

It is something we are very excited about and we really hope you join in. It will certainly be a good way to read some books on your reading list, find some new ones, and talk with a like minded community of fantasy fans! If you would like to join in this month, you can visit our forums and add your name to the list here.

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