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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
I almost stopped reading when our "hero" raped a girl. But, for whatever reason I didn't. I'm not sure why that was necessary. Without the rape, Thomas Covenant would have been flawed, whiney and afraid, but not irredeemable. The book was also fairly boring with a few bright spots in between.
Thomas Covenant is a horrible person. The Land and its inhabitants, however, are fascinating and the narrative drives you along to find out what happens to them.
This is one star, but it's not one star for the same reason that most other bad reviews gave it one star. Thomas Covenant is an asshole, yes, but that is not what ruined this book. The premise of this book was amazing; what would you do in a world that you didn't think was real? If you were living in a dream and you thought none of your actions had consequences?
For Thomas Covenant, the answer is mope around and be a general dick and don't do anything. I don't dislike this book because he's a jerk, I dislike this book because he's boring. This whole book was boring.
We end the book still not really knowing whether it was all a dream or not. That's not a great feeling. Why does anything that happened in this book matter at all? It might not, and there's nothing in the book to make you think otherwise.
There were a few times at the end where I thought maybe, just maybe, this or that twist ending would redeem everything and make all the leadup worth it. But it kept playing straight with no twists or turns or interesting developments or anything worth reading about.
I just don't care. I don't care about the Land, or about Thomas, or Foamfollower, or the Lords, or Lena, or literally anybody. I guess the author succeeded in his goal of keeping the reader detached just like Thomas was.
Except that defeats the purpose of writing a book. Thomas is the one who's supposed to be miserable, and I'm supposed to get some kind of enjoyment, either schadenfreude or intellectual or visceral or something from his actions. But I don't. It was words on a page for 470-something pages and then it was over.
Most of my other 1-star reviews are because I hated the book, something about it was actively bad. I think this is the first 1-star review I'm giving because the book just wasn't anything at all.
For Thomas Covenant, the answer is mope around and be a general dick and don't do anything. I don't dislike this book because he's a jerk, I dislike this book because he's boring. This whole book was boring.
We end the book still not really knowing whether it was all a dream or not. That's not a great feeling. Why does anything that happened in this book matter at all? It might not, and there's nothing in the book to make you think otherwise.
There were a few times at the end where I thought maybe, just maybe, this or that twist ending would redeem everything and make all the leadup worth it. But it kept playing straight with no twists or turns or interesting developments or anything worth reading about.
I just don't care. I don't care about the Land, or about Thomas, or Foamfollower, or the Lords, or Lena, or literally anybody. I guess the author succeeded in his goal of keeping the reader detached just like Thomas was.
Except that defeats the purpose of writing a book. Thomas is the one who's supposed to be miserable, and I'm supposed to get some kind of enjoyment, either schadenfreude or intellectual or visceral or something from his actions. But I don't. It was words on a page for 470-something pages and then it was over.
Most of my other 1-star reviews are because I hated the book, something about it was actively bad. I think this is the first 1-star review I'm giving because the book just wasn't anything at all.
Well, thank goodness that's over!
This is a re-read, I probably originally read this about 18 years ago. Somehow I read all of the books in the series. This time I struggled to get even a few pages in.
To begin with the protagonist, Thomas Covenant, is just horrible. A self-pitying creep who sees woman as objects (always with the pert breasts) and then actually rapes a child. "I actually don't know if I can justify reading on with this absolute tosh" I wrote as an aide memoire whilst I forced myself to keep reading.
On finishing I surprised myself by awarding 2 stars to such a grim experience. This is solely because I am slightly enamoured by the story of The Land. However, I don't want to spend anymore time in Covenant's company.
My advice to those yet to read this, just don't. It's not worth it.
This is a re-read, I probably originally read this about 18 years ago. Somehow I read all of the books in the series. This time I struggled to get even a few pages in.
To begin with the protagonist, Thomas Covenant, is just horrible. A self-pitying creep who sees woman as objects (always with the pert breasts) and then actually rapes a child. "I actually don't know if I can justify reading on with this absolute tosh" I wrote as an aide memoire whilst I forced myself to keep reading.
On finishing I surprised myself by awarding 2 stars to such a grim experience. This is solely because I am slightly enamoured by the story of The Land. However, I don't want to spend anymore time in Covenant's company.
My advice to those yet to read this, just don't. It's not worth it.
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nope, I don't want to read about a main character who raped a 16 year old
My first experience with an audiobook, and it was not a pleasant one.
In the past couple of years, I had managed to convince myself I would love this series. Where that had come from, I don't remember, but I had been certain it was going to become one of my favorites.
While trying to decide on which edition to buy, I had decided to try and listen to the first audiobook, to see whether it would be worth buying the whole series. In short, it would not. This was so profoundly uninteresting from start to finish. There was nothing gripping about it, only a deluge of seemingly meaningless declamations, all referring to the same past events. It felt repetitive, cumbersome and straining, almost like wading through a bog.
The audio narration was not helping the matter. The narrator's voice changes, rather than eliciting awe and horror, sounded mocking. The intonation was odd, as he kept putting stress on segments which otherwise may not have been stressed during reading. Thus the flow of the sentences was made unnatural.
I'm not sold on the series, nor on the idea of audiobooks, for that matter.
And if I hear hellfire just one more time...
In the past couple of years, I had managed to convince myself I would love this series. Where that had come from, I don't remember, but I had been certain it was going to become one of my favorites.
While trying to decide on which edition to buy, I had decided to try and listen to the first audiobook, to see whether it would be worth buying the whole series. In short, it would not. This was so profoundly uninteresting from start to finish. There was nothing gripping about it, only a deluge of seemingly meaningless declamations, all referring to the same past events. It felt repetitive, cumbersome and straining, almost like wading through a bog.
The audio narration was not helping the matter. The narrator's voice changes, rather than eliciting awe and horror, sounded mocking. The intonation was odd, as he kept putting stress on segments which otherwise may not have been stressed during reading. Thus the flow of the sentences was made unnatural.
I'm not sold on the series, nor on the idea of audiobooks, for that matter.
And if I hear hellfire just one more time...
Boring prose, excellent characterization. Covenant is a perfect anti-hero. Crazy stuff.
This is the first time I've DNF a book in a long time. I read some reviews but thought eh, how bad could it really be. Maybe it was because i was trying to listen to an audio book. It was so bad. I don't understand why people like this book or why it was on so many reading list saying I should read the series.