*Soul-saddened SIGH*.....Damn, damn, DAMN...life can really be full of suck. This book really torched my hopes and dreams. NOT because it was nightmarishly horrible (which it wasn’t) but because I wanted it to be so brimming with steaming chunks of mouth-watering awesome that I could write a stinging, snark-filled “anti-anti-Thomas Covenant” review...my rant against the ranters.I suspected I had a excellent chance of really liking this story because most of the criticism of the series revolves around how douchy and unlikeable Thomas Covenant (the main character) is. Not a problem for this reader as I have no problem hating a protagonist as long they are interesting, well drawn and compelling. I don’t generally care if I like them. In fact, some of the most memorable characters I have come across have been ones that made me cringe like a baby before broccoli. I despised Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, Lou Ford in The Killer Inside Me, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, and even, at first, Tyrion Lannister** from A Game of Thrones).** I must point out that my dislike for Tyrion didn’t last past the second book and I now want him to be my BFF because his awesomeness is off the charts.So I didn’t forsee that an unlikeable main character was going to be much of an obstacle for me. Plus, having already enjoyed the first two installments of Donaldson’s “Gap” series, I knew the man could write so I figured I might be in for a real treat (and then I would show all those Thomas Covenant haters out there)........*cue sinister music* ........*end sinister music*Well for the first 70 to 75 pages my plan was working perfectly and I was sitting squarely in 5 star territory and starting to brainstorm what insults I would hurl at the “insult hurlers” in my defense of what I was sure must be “THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD FANTASY CLASSIC OF ALL TIME.” Ah, if only someone would have warned me how wrong I was.... I even flew right through the infamous rape scene and had my explanations/defenses already germinating in my caustic little brain. I was thinking ‘granted there is NO justification for rape, but we have seen similar events in other novels (e.g. The Outlander series that so many people seem to fawn over). Also, Covenant did express lingering guilt over this senseless and brutal act and his remorse is something that continues to play an important part in the narrative. Thus, I think his deep regret and loathing of himself for what he did and the “uncontrollable impulse” aspect of the initial crime makes Covenant’s behavior despicable while still holding out the possibility of his redemption. OOOOOOOHHHH take that all you haters!!!! ...[BRIEF INTERLUDE] Those of you “Covenant haters” out there that are reading this and know the almost Shakespearean tragedy that was soon to befall me as my initial positive feelings for the book were horribly ripped away from me by the oncoming train wreck of its narrative problems, I can only hope that you can forgive my earlier arrogance in wanting to prove you wrong. [END INTERLUDE]...Unfortunately, shortly after the rape scene when I thought the story was really going to ramp up into uncharted bastions of EPICness, inconsistencies in the narrative structure began to really, really get in my way. Before I can explain, I need to give a brief thumbnail description of the basic plot. Thomas Covenant is a leper....yes LEPER. How cool is that. The man has leprosy. He was a best-selling writer before he got the big “L” and lost two of the fingers on his right hand. He also lost his wife and child who packed up and moved on the greener pastures that had a little less leprosy in them. So Tommy boy has been going through the “mother of all” rough patches when we first meet him. Oh, Oh I almost forgot. The leprosy has also made him impotent....nice bonus!!!So at the beginning of the story, TC is living alone in a perpetual pissed off mood and is being shunned by his entire community due to the whole “leprosy is icky” vibe he is putting out there. Well TC, as a not so subtle FU to the townsfolk, decides to walk down to the power company to pay his bill in person. During this excursion, he has an accident, loses consciousness and wakes up in “the Land” which is the fantasy world in which the series takes place. So far, so good. Well Thomas doesn’t believe he is in a strange new world. He thinks he is unconscious or dreaming or in a coma, etc...He is afraid to take any of the new world seriously because he thinks it will indicate his final break with reality. TC’s grip on reality is all the more important to him due to his leprosy (trust me on this, no time to explain). Anyway, all of this sounds great to me. A fantasy character who doubts the world around him. Bring it on!!!!! WAIT....WHAT IS THAT?......DANGER.........FLASHING RED LIGHTS...........PROBLEM AHEAD....................STEVE’S REVIEW (AND HIS WHOLE PLAN) IS HEADED FOR TROUBLE.......NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!.................. FULL STOP....TRAIN WRECK AHEAD. Note: you will have to imagine the sight of my murdered dreams as I could not find a picture that truly showed the horror of my disappointment..... ...Here is where Donaldson completely lost me and I lost all of my hopes of turning the "hate against the haters." Instead, the read became a waking nightmare that haunted me and began slowly crushing my will to live. You see, Thomas Covenant the “Unbeliever” is only partially and occasionally an unbeliever and only when his unbelief can be used to some kind of dramatic effect. Otherwise, he seems to take the world very, very seriously. This is THE central plot device of the entire series and it is more inconsistent than a politician during campaign season. In fact, I could probably open the book up anywhere during the last 300 pages and find an example of this inconsistency, but I will at least mention a few so you know what I mean. At one critical point in the story, TC vows to stop eating because he believes that by starving he will “force the illusion of the world” to be revealed. Sounds good, but do you know what ole TC is doing when he makes the vow to ignore food?.....he’s grabbing the freaking wine skin and taking a swig!!!! HUH??? Food is illusion but I might as well “believe” in the wine.....I need some help on this one. Once I started looking for this, I found it everywhere. I asked myself whenever Covenant did anything...“if you are dreaming and you know it why are you bothering to do X Y and Z.” I NEVER got a good answer. AND HERE IS THE BIG ONE. Covenant doesn’t believe in the world and tells this to everyone who will listen AND YET he continues to follow the course laid out for him by Lord Foul at the beginning of his “dream” throughout the entire time he is there. Again, HUH???? Despite his complete lack of belief in the reality of this fantasy world, TC goes through extreme hardship and turmoil to travel the length of the Land because he “conveniently” tells himself that continuing to move forward is the key. No, No, No, Mr. Donaldson, that makes no sense. The truth is it is just too inherently difficult to have a main character in a fantasy world not “participate” in the story. You got yourself stuck!!Bottom-line, if TC doesn’t believe where he is than he should ACT like it. Don’t just tell us and then occasionally say I won’t do such and such because none of this is real. Be true to your lack of convictions TC because otherwise you just come across as a failed literary experiment, which, unfortunately, is what I think you are.Anyway, that is where the story lost me. I would add to the above major grievance that the narrative was also too disjointed and Donaldson was never able to really make the world come alive, despite the fact that some of the world-building elements were pretty interesting. Thus, while I liked the idea of the Land and some of the secondary characters (especially the giants) they came across too much like set pieces given the rather undefined nature of the world. Overall, I think that Donaldson had a very interesting idea for a story but it just suffered from the fundamental flaw of being almost impossible to pull off in the context of a coherent narrative.2.0 stars. *heavy sigh*
I read Lord Foul’s Bane once in grade seven (the same year I first read Macbeth and Lady Chatterly’s Lover, and The Lord of the Rings for a second time). It was a good year for me and reading. And an important year for who I would become. But I didn’t know until now how important Lord Foul’s Bane was to all of that.This story has stuck with me in the most amazing ways. After nearly three decades, I recalled an amazing amount of detail in the pages I reread. I remembered minute details about Thomas Covenant’s attitude towards his leprosy, especially when it came to the VSE (Visual Surveillance of Extremities) rituals that sustained him in our world and the new rituals he developed during his time in the Land. I remembered Atiaran’s stone knife and the way Covenant tempted the fate of his leprosy with its keen edge – the edge that never dulled. I remembered the way Covenant – hero? anti-hero? villain? weakling? coward? simply flawed? – raped Atiaran’s daughter Lena. I remembered the diamond draught of Stoneheart Foamfollower and the image of the impaled Waynhim in the Waymeet and the death of the Unfettered One trying to save the beautiful wraiths of the Andelainian Hills and the wedge formation of the ur-Viles. I remembered it all with the sort of clarity one has when they read a book dozens of times or reread a book very shortly after having put it down, but I didn’t expect to have anywhere near the clarity I had all these years later. Thomas Covenant himself has stuck with me. He is frustrating, spiteful, ugly, tormented, cynical, dark, brooding, and infuriatingly self-pitying. He is every bit the Unbeliever he names himself. And Stephen R. Donaldson wants him to be that way. He needs him to be that way. Covenant has to fight his belief in the Land at every turn because the Land is impossible, and as a rational man suffering from leprosy in 20th century North America, all that allows him to cling to his life is his rationality and sanity – no matter how tenuous both are. But the Land –- at least in this first book of the Chronicles –- is unbelievable. It has to be one of the strangest, most frightening, and surrealistic fantasy worlds ever created. Donaldson describes it with achingly beautiful prose (and sometimes that beautiful prose is dense and slow and plodding, mirroring the motion of Covenant through the Land itself) to reveal wonders that are just slightly different from everything we’ve seen before in every high fantasy that Tolkien gave birth to, but Donaldson’s slight shift in perspective, his offering of the place through the decaying lens of a leper, his constant overturning of expectations, makes his fantasy world unique. His giants are not what we’d expect, nor are his wraiths, nor his Cavewights, nor his landscape, nor his weather, nor his incarnadine corrupted moon, nor his magic. And the most disconcerting difference between Donaldson’s Land and the other fantasy realms we know is that his Land feels entirely unpopulated. Covenant never stops travelling as he tries to escape his “dream,” yet his contact with the Land’s denizens is minimal. He passes through four centers of population -- Mithil Stonedown (a town of Gravelingas who are rich in stone lore), Soaring Woodhelvin (a tree town of Lillianrill who are rich in wood lore), Revelstone (the seat of the High Lords), and the Plains of Ra (where the nomadic Ramen serve the Ranyhyn, a kind of uber-horse). He sees great sights, bizarre rituals and happenings, and he interacts with a person here or there, but the first two towns seem home to mere dozens of people, Revelstone seems empty, and the Ramen are so hidden in their poisonous plains that we never get a sense of how many there are. And even those people and races Covenant spends much time with, such as the Haruchai Bloodguards and his Giant friend, are isolated from their vital populations. Two score set out to fight Lord Foul’s desecration. Where is everyone else?! The Land feels empty, and this is another disconcerting moment in an already disconcerting novel. But that’s why I love Lord Foul’s Bane. It isn’t easy. Donaldson challenges us whenever and however he can. And he does it with transcendent prose and unflinching devotion to his problematic protagonist. I’d much rather read Mordant’s Need. It is more hopeful, more lively, more real, but I don’t know if that makes it better. In fact, it probably isn't. If you've read both, I ask you this (especially you Jon): “Is Mordant's Need better?”I really don't know. But I do know this: Stephen R Donaldson is my unsung hero of fantasy greatness. He is up there with the best. But damn is he a lot of work.
What do You think about Lord Foul's Bane (1989)?
Wow. I really didn't like this book.I think it was in large part due to the fact that I found the main character so utterly unlikable. Heck, he's even despicable.Some people can read and enjoy a book despite not being able to empathize with the characters; I'm not one of those people. I actually like to care about my fictional characters. It's pretty hard to give a flying fickle about some cranky jerk who rapes a woman in the first book. I didn't bother reading more to find out if things improved from there.
—Gertie
First of the Thomas Covenant series. My husband remembers this was all the rage in 1976. I started reading this series much later. Everywhere I went with this book people told me they had read it and how good it was. I was doubtful at first but my roommate's boyfriend told me it got off to a slow start but not to give up. He said it was worth it to keep reading and boy, was he right! I think Stephen R. Donaldson became a better writer as he went through this series. I had read a couple of his later books before I started this series and that was what prompted me to attempt this. This series moved me and gave me a lot to think about, not to mention being such a good story.
—Sara
I live in a smallish room with roughly a couple of thousand books. They are everywhere. I love the books, but I also hate the books. I'd have space if it wasn't for them, when I moved it would be easy if it didn't involve carrying what feels like an endless amount of heavy boxes packed with them. They are everywhere. The bookshelves are all double stacked. There are books on top of the normally shelved books. There are piles of them everywhere. They fall over. They are in the way. Mooncheese likes to knock them over sometimes, even though falling books scare her. Like Juliana Hatfield felt about her sister, I have the same love/hate relationship with my significant others. Lately I've been in the mindset to cull some of the books. Be all JC on them and remove the wheat from the chaff. I've been a little successful, I've gotten rid of about sixty or seventy books in the last couple of months, but there is a problem. I feel wrong about getting rid of books that I have not yet read. This wouldn't be a problem except that a) like a geologist I can go through my shelves and re-create the history of 'fleeting' ideas and interests I had that happened to correspond to fortuitous trips to used bookstores and b) I sometimes buy a lot of crap. An amendment to b) is that I also acquire a lot of crap for free (ie., I Love You, Beth Cooper). In some cases a and b come together. Lord Foul's Bane is one of those books. A few years ago I went through a brief moment where I thought, maybe I should become familiar with fantasy. Then I bought up some fantasy books for about a quarter a piece on a trip to the always wonderful bookstore(I love this cat, he likes to sometimes sit on my back while I'm crouched down looking for books,) in Schuylerville (turning point of the Revolutionary War, and home of the most disgusting home I ever stepped foot in, but that is another story, I'll try to fit into some other review where dog shit plays a promiment role.). This long and uninteresting story has no real point, except that I want to get rid of books, but I feel I need to read them before getting rid of them. Lately that has been making me read books I have no interest in. I'll look at a book that I think I will enjoy and say to myself, when I finish this I think I'll want to keep it. So instead of reading something I may potentially enjoy I'll see something like Lord Foul's Bane sitting in a pile, and I'll grab this instead. I didn't finish this book. I made it a little more than halfway through it. If I spent another couple of hours reading I'd be able to finish it, but I just don't care to. The book is bad. It's written in very formal and stilted style, kind of like something you hear from some drama nerd who tries to bring a little more Shakespeare into their daily life. The story is uninteresting. It is difficult to accomplish this for me. I find nothing wrong with reading a novel about a man laying in pig shit, and doing nothing but thinking. I can find that engaging. There is nothing engaging in this book. By the time I stopped reading it there was some kind of quest to bring a message to someone, but I didn't give a fuck. Why didn't I care? Well, one I hated the language. I hated the characters. The main character is a one-dimensional leper with rage issues that make little sense except that they spring up when the author needs to create dialog. The only meaningful thing he did in 252 pages was rape a girl. All of the other characters are bullshit cookie-cutter caricatures. The whole world he created seems like just a series of seperate little communities that each have some New Age Hippy thing going on. There are the people who like the rocks, the people who like the tree's, the people who like the water, but besides liking something they don't seem to do too much....."I'm Treeman of the timberpeople (my made up names are only a tad dumber then the names Donaldson comes up with), and we live in the trees.""What else do you do?""Do? We live in trees.""Yeah but besides living in trees what do you do? I live in an apartment, but I also do other things.""No man, you don't get it, we live in trees. We like trees. Just like Granitehead of the Rock-collectors digs rocks, we dig trees.""I get it you like trees, they like rocks, but you live in a world and you have to do something besides just 'like trees'...""No man, you don't get it, we like! trees. Are you retarded?" What baffles me about this book is that it is highly regarded. It was up for a bunch of big awards. Lists on Amazon place it as a great fantasy book, and maybe it is. My fantasy knowledge being kind of weak. Besides my other misgivings, the thing I hated most (ok not besides, I hated this the most), was the motherfucking bullshit weakasfuck Dungeon Master shit that the author pulled constantly. Any possible conflict could be resolved by some lame ass 'addition' into the powers of a character or thing. Maybe it's fun when you're (ok Me, when I was) 13 and overweight and playing Dungeons and Dragons with your friend to throw all logic out the window and just let your characters kill, and do anything they would like; but as a novelists you can't just add bullshit constantly because you can't think of any other way out of the problems you have made your characters face (you may do this if your name is Joss and your protagonist is a teenage girl who kills vampires, I don't know why he gets a pass, but he does, no one else does though). I'm done with this book and this review. I'm going to give this book away, and maybe learn my lesson that if I don't think I'd enjoy a book I own it may be ok to just get rid of it without torturing myself for past mistakes in book buying.
—Greg
