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x0pherl's review against another edition
Had to put this one aside in spite of my general difficulties stopping a book midway through.
Three reasons:
1) The descriptions of leprosy may or may not have been entirely accurate and unexaggerated for 1977 when the book was written. I'm not sure, but I had a super hard time reading through these parts and accepting them as true. Maybe if it was set in 1877?
2) The language could almost be a spoof of swords and sorcery books:
3) The rape scene was what finally made me put the book down. I get that he's an antihero and I'm not supposed to like him. I can even accept that this was told in a different cultural context. If the rest of the book had been good I might have even dealt with it and continued on, but.. nope.
As always, giving it one star rather than having people think I failed to rate it.
Three reasons:
1) The descriptions of leprosy may or may not have been entirely accurate and unexaggerated for 1977 when the book was written. I'm not sure, but I had a super hard time reading through these parts and accepting them as true. Maybe if it was set in 1877?
2) The language could almost be a spoof of swords and sorcery books:
he creature leaped to his feet, capering with mad pride. He strode closer to his victim, and Covenant recoiled with a loathing he could not control.
Holding his staff near the center with both hands, the creature shouted, “Kill you! Take your power! Crush them all! Be Lord Drool!” He raised his staff as if to strike Covenant with it.
Then another voice entered the cavern. It was deep and resonant, powerful enough to fill the air without effort, and somehow deadly, as if an abyss were speaking. “Back, Rockworm!” it commanded. “This prey is too great for you. I claim him.”
The creature jabbed his face toward the ceiling and cried, “Mine! My Staff! You saw. I called him. You saw!”
Covenant followed the red eyes upward, but he could see nothing there except the dizzy chiaroscuro of the clustered stone spikes.
3) The rape scene was what finally made me put the book down. I get that he's an antihero and I'm not supposed to like him. I can even accept that this was told in a different cultural context. If the rest of the book had been good I might have even dealt with it and continued on, but.. nope.
As always, giving it one star rather than having people think I failed to rate it.
commander's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Very uneven. Writing clunky and dated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
twelfth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
fairchildone's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this was a fantastic book. I've noticed that lots of people complain about the book as a result of the main character, but I think, beyond being the protagonist, he’s an important stylistic element. He bridges the gap between our world and the fantasy world, making it more believable in some ways, and, more importantly, provides a stark contrast to the nobility and fecundity of the Land and its inhabitants in a way that simply telling the story could never have done. Without Thomas Covenant, it’s still a good book, but it doesn’t jump out as much.
Also, complaints about a lack of creativity in the names are unfounded. True, there are several characters who appear not to have inventive names, but a lot of names in general are simply translations from other languages, so the few 'simplistic' names could be thought of as translations to English that we understand. The names are fine. People are picking at straws.
The characters are vivid, their speech is unique and playful, and the writing is rich and lyrical. I loved it. Lots of mystery, too.
Also, complaints about a lack of creativity in the names are unfounded. True, there are several characters who appear not to have inventive names, but a lot of names in general are simply translations from other languages, so the few 'simplistic' names could be thought of as translations to English that we understand. The names are fine. People are picking at straws.
The characters are vivid, their speech is unique and playful, and the writing is rich and lyrical. I loved it. Lots of mystery, too.
regisfrey's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
briandemarco_97's review against another edition
4.0
I wrote out an entire long review for this book yesterday but then accidentally backed out of it before I published it and lost it all. I don't want to write it all again so here's the main point:
1). Thomas Covenant is annoying and a bad person, yes, but that's because he is a broken man that has been completely shunned and hated by society. He had adapted and survived by hardening himself and learning to live without hope. He is not meant to be liked, because he is thoroughly unlikeable. You are meant to understand what he is going through and see his character journey throughout the series.
2). The rape scene is a horrible thing, yes, but Thomas Covenant does not get off the hook for it. He feels the consequences of it and his guilt from it throughout the entire series and it is absolutely portrayed as something extremely negative so stop saying Stephen R. Donaldson is a misogynist pervert with a rape fetish. Portrayal does not equal approval.
So of you want classic fantasy with easily pigeonhold black and white characters, go read something else. But if you want classic fantasy with a complex morally grey protagonist you're forced to work with, read this book
1). Thomas Covenant is annoying and a bad person, yes, but that's because he is a broken man that has been completely shunned and hated by society. He had adapted and survived by hardening himself and learning to live without hope. He is not meant to be liked, because he is thoroughly unlikeable. You are meant to understand what he is going through and see his character journey throughout the series.
2). The rape scene is a horrible thing, yes, but Thomas Covenant does not get off the hook for it. He feels the consequences of it and his guilt from it throughout the entire series and it is absolutely portrayed as something extremely negative so stop saying Stephen R. Donaldson is a misogynist pervert with a rape fetish. Portrayal does not equal approval.
So of you want classic fantasy with easily pigeonhold black and white characters, go read something else. But if you want classic fantasy with a complex morally grey protagonist you're forced to work with, read this book
justjeepin's review against another edition
5.0
I learned that sometimes the bad guy is the good guy.
lesserjoke's review against another edition
5.0
On the surface, this 1977 novel is a Narnia-style portal fantasy, in which a person from our reality travels to another and gets caught up in an epic quest. The lush worldbuilding is as intricate and achingly beautiful as anything in Middle-earth, and there are even some specific Tolkien parallels to be drawn (although that mostly comes across as author Stephen R. Donaldson engaging with the same archetypes, rather than emulating The Lord of the Rings directly). I love the distinctive culture and sense of history to this realm, and I think I would enjoy reading stories set there no matter what.
What really elevates the series, however, is Donaldson's marriage of that setting to a deep psychological drama driven by his protagonist's anguish. Thomas Covenant suffers from leprosy, a debilitating condition that cannot be cured but can merely be managed by strict self-discipline and constant monitoring of one's body for the damage that dead nerves won't report. Lepers can't afford to lose themselves in delusions that would distract from self-care, and so when Covenant finds himself magically translated to the Land and healed of his illness, his only recourse is to insist that he's dreaming and reject the role of prophesied hero that has been thrust upon him.
The "all just a dream" trope can be hacky when deployed as a conclusion, robbing the preceding events of their import, but by frontloading it as a question, Donaldson reverses that traditional equation and navigates a delicate tension. If the Land has a genuine existence and the self-styled Unbeliever doesn't act to save it, he will have doomed its people to an awful fate. Yet if it's instead a lie that he lets seduce him, his mental health may never recover. Although the later volumes increasingly lean towards the interpretation that everything is real after all -- as does the immediacy of the world here and probably the typical reader's expectations of the genre -- the weight of Covenant's dilemma and what it drives him to do is sharply poignant.
Most controversially, an early chapter of this first book sees the tortured antihero attack and rape a sixteen-year-old girl, whom he takes as another figment invented by his own subconscious to torment him. It's an ugly act that he grows to repudiate and decidedly not something we're meant to endorse, but I can understand how that's not an element everyone is prepared to tolerate in their escapist literature. And while the assault has dire repercussions that follow, it's somewhat problematically positioned by the text as primarily afflicting the rapist himself, rather than his victim or her community.
Ultimately Lord Foul's Bane and the wider saga it begins explore the philosophical thesis of whether the actions we take in our dreams can be understood morally; whether hate must be resisted and beauty preserved at any cost to the soul. It's a nuanced theme in a grand locale, full of fierce characters and dazzling magics, and it's what makes this work a true postmodern classic.
--Subscribe at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke to support these reviews and weigh in on what I read next!--
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What really elevates the series, however, is Donaldson's marriage of that setting to a deep psychological drama driven by his protagonist's anguish. Thomas Covenant suffers from leprosy, a debilitating condition that cannot be cured but can merely be managed by strict self-discipline and constant monitoring of one's body for the damage that dead nerves won't report. Lepers can't afford to lose themselves in delusions that would distract from self-care, and so when Covenant finds himself magically translated to the Land and healed of his illness, his only recourse is to insist that he's dreaming and reject the role of prophesied hero that has been thrust upon him.
The "all just a dream" trope can be hacky when deployed as a conclusion, robbing the preceding events of their import, but by frontloading it as a question, Donaldson reverses that traditional equation and navigates a delicate tension. If the Land has a genuine existence and the self-styled Unbeliever doesn't act to save it, he will have doomed its people to an awful fate. Yet if it's instead a lie that he lets seduce him, his mental health may never recover. Although the later volumes increasingly lean towards the interpretation that everything is real after all -- as does the immediacy of the world here and probably the typical reader's expectations of the genre -- the weight of Covenant's dilemma and what it drives him to do is sharply poignant.
Most controversially, an early chapter of this first book sees the tortured antihero attack and rape a sixteen-year-old girl, whom he takes as another figment invented by his own subconscious to torment him. It's an ugly act that he grows to repudiate and decidedly not something we're meant to endorse, but I can understand how that's not an element everyone is prepared to tolerate in their escapist literature. And while the assault has dire repercussions that follow, it's somewhat problematically positioned by the text as primarily afflicting the rapist himself, rather than his victim or her community.
Ultimately Lord Foul's Bane and the wider saga it begins explore the philosophical thesis of whether the actions we take in our dreams can be understood morally; whether hate must be resisted and beauty preserved at any cost to the soul. It's a nuanced theme in a grand locale, full of fierce characters and dazzling magics, and it's what makes this work a true postmodern classic.
--Subscribe at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke to support these reviews and weigh in on what I read next!--
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter