Does anybody recommend Donaldson?

[Brys]

I thought Covenant, as a character was excellent, as was pretty much everything to do with him. However, I thought the Land, as a world, was a carbon copy of Middle Earth, the plot was a copy of Lord of the Rings, and the writing didn't flow very well, because Donaldson as an author seemed uncomfortable with the fantasy setting IMO, as his bits on earth were immensely better than the rest of the novel.

[Rosemary]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

Rosemary as you know I don't make a habit of rereading books as this is no exception. I'd read the Donaldson books about 15 years ago and had no problem with picking up where the story left off thanks largely to the Intro. It's only about 10 pages or so long but just read it a few times and when you're reading the new book and things wil start to sink in again...

Thanks for that Gollum The Intro sounds a great idea, wish more authors would do that.
Oh well, that's made the decision easy - I shall get Runes of the Earth !!

[cyborg_cinema]

...another vote for Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. He writes science fiction and fantasy.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Rosemary

Thanks for that Gollum The Intro sounds a great idea, wish more authors would do that.
Oh well, that's made the decision easy - I shall get Runes of the Earth !!

HMMM.. hope this means you won't beat me around the head if you end up hating the book LOL!..

[Rosemary]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

HMMM.. hope this means you won't beat me around the head if you end up hating the book LOL!..

Of course not precioussssssssss
You're the one with the latex hose and the basement remember, not me!!

[Allanon]

i love donaldsons writing, i cant wait for next covenant book it's like wainting for the last installment of the dark tower, that was killing me.

[newt2]

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.

[Brys]

Newt, you suggest that I'd really like it through that, but I ended up being ambivolent on it - enough so that I'm continuing to read the series, but I didn't find the Covenant series to be one of the best out there, just a good series. I like "slow, depressing and sometimes downright offensive" books - Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast and Michael Moorcock's Gloriana come to mind immediately - but my problem was that the idea was too simple for the length of it - I'd have preferred him to do a fully original series with the main character as a leper, rather than inserting a leper as main character into the Lord of the Rings, more or less.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Brys

I thought Covenant, as a character was excellent, as was pretty much everything to do with him. However, I thought the Land, as a world, was a carbon copy of Middle Earth, the plot was a copy of Lord of the Rings, and the writing didn't flow very well, because Donaldson as an author seemed uncomfortable with the fantasy setting IMO, as his bits on earth were immensely better than the rest of the novel.

Well I must admit I just didn't quite see it that way. I agree that the plot was a bit LOTRish but the actual land and groups who populated it were different to a LOTR clone for me anyway. Also I thought a lot of his writing was very good and that the books flowed really well and that there were several interesting themes he explored and I particularly enjoyed the psychological aspect of the story along with the excellent charterization of Convenant himself. Reasons for why it appears in my top 5 list as for me the time it was written (late 70's) made it something of a modern landmark series in the Genre.

[NWRDevil]

Yes I do.
I am reading Runes of the earth at the moment, and have read the first two chronicals twice. As much as I love LOTR I have always enjoyed these books more.
I have had to wait over 20 years for this new book and so far ite more of the same. I love it.

[stormbard]

Originally Posted by NWRDevil

Yes I do.
I am reading Runes of the earth at the moment, and have read the first two chronicals twice. As much as I love LOTR I have always enjoyed these books more.
I have had to wait over 20 years for this new book and so far ite more of the same. I love it.

The same goes for me, these books have always held a special place in my heart. Full-on battles, great characters, an amazing world, deep and challenging themes, and most importantly, the ability to lose yourself in the story. For me, the only fantasy that comes close is LOTR and any Weis & Hickman books.
Still, one man or woman's honey is another's salt!

[HieroGlyph]

I'd really like to get around to rereading 'The First Chronicles'. When I first tried 'Lord Fouls Bane' I did find it heavy and had stopped reading someway into the book either due to some impatience of youth or... Well, truth is now I cant remember if I got to that aweful scene first time round or not. I'm disgusted with myself for not recalling it, but I doubt so much as I was over the scene itself. A best friend convinced me to read them - so I did. This time diligently and carefully, dont miss a thing, read and understand, reread that paragraph if you didnt get it... I gained such a new appreciation that in all honesty changed me.
Such as imagining the real power of hurtloam. Try to imagine youre damned and miserable and youve got this disease of you which you know nothing about. Imagine loosing everything else apart from your mind and the ability to write and still earn money. And imagine years of this. What do most of us know of suffering? Imagine your body feeling as if it were dead or so vague as to be easily forgotten. Then imagine the power of hurtloam and imagine the effect it might have on you. My thoughts are that most people would simply and truely go mad. No bones about it. Stark raving gibbering mad. Covenant was made of sterner stuff, believe you me.
I was young and impressionable I guess. But these books impresssed upon me what I call quality.

[Allanon]

covenant is great!!!

[HieroGlyph]

Thomas is astounding!
(Our opinions alone, remember. But a few of us are in agreement )

[epicfantasy7]

I highly recommend The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I really love the books. I can't offer an opinion on any of his other series though.

Donaldson builds a world that really stays with you. Sometimes I dream that the Land really exists