Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums - View Single Post

newt2 · 13th September 2005, 04:42 PM

Hi all, just found this forum. This is my first post.

I've been a Donaldson fan since before I was ten years old. I probably had no business reading Lord Fouls Bane at the age I did, but those books started me on the path of loving the genre for the next 25 years of my life.

Anyway I highly recommend his work as long as you’re not squeamish and/or prefer heroic and noble characters. All of Donaldson’s works are stories of redemption, and you can't have that when the main character is a nice guy. Donaldson tears his characters down, and is downright cruel to them only to build them up later in the series. Everything by him follows that pattern, even his later mystery works. He's a master of making you hate a character at first and then making you rethink that judgment later. I can only think of one fantasy author that does that at well and that's George Martin.

Another thing that Donaldson does real well is the action sequence. His action and battle scenes leave you gripping the book with white knuckles. The Gap Series was full of them and the IllEarth War has one of the better running battle scenes in any fantasy book that I've read.

If there's one criticism about him it's that book one of any series of his is slow, depressing and sometimes downright offensive. You have to struggle through that to get to the good stuff later on.

13th September 2005, 04:42 PM	#37 (permalink)
newt2 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1	Re: Does anybody recommend Donaldson? Hi all, just found this forum. This is my first post. I've been a Donaldson fan since before I was ten years old. I probably had no business reading Lord Fouls Bane at the age I did, but those books started me on the path of loving the genre for the next 25 years of my life. Anyway I highly recommend his work as long as you’re not squeamish and/or prefer heroic and noble characters. All of Donaldson’s works are stories of redemption, and you can't have that when the main character is a nice guy. Donaldson tears his characters down, and is downright cruel to them only to build them up later in the series. Everything by him follows that pattern, even his later mystery works. He's a master of making you hate a character at first and then making you rethink that judgment later. I can only think of one fantasy author that does that at well and that's George Martin. Another thing that Donaldson does real well is the action sequence. His action and battle scenes leave you gripping the book with white knuckles. The Gap Series was full of them and the IllEarth War has one of the better running battle scenes in any fantasy book that I've read. If there's one criticism about him it's that book one of any series of his is slow, depressing and sometimes downright offensive. You have to struggle through that to get to the good stuff later on.