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jelenar620's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Epic fantasy adventure that evoked feelings of wonder, longing, and childlike delight in so much beauty and possibility. Incredibly lovely prose, magically inspiring world, but a protagonist that is hard to like. Definitely well worth the read.
abaugher's review against another edition
4.0
this was a pretty intesne series. I'll always remember the giants' use of laughter to heal so much. BUT, in reference to this cover i see on the page above, WTF was the publisher thinking?! did nobody read the part about WHITE godl? nitpicky of me, i know, but come ON!
takumo_n's review against another edition
3.0
Derivative from Tolkien, at least in this first entry. It start with Covenant, a best seller author, with a wife and a baby son, living in the real world. He hasn't written anything for a long time, so his wife leaves with their child to visit some relatives, so Covenant can have some quiet and start writing something. He gets inspired and writes non stop with no regard of a strange feeling in his fingers and toes. The next day his wife has to take him to the hospital because she smells something weird that comes from him. The doctor tells him that he has leprosy. His wife with their child leaves him. Anonymously the neighbours pay for his groceries and electric bills so he doesn't appear around town. To get back a little of his personhood Thomas Covenant goes to pay his own bills, a police car hits him and he wakes up in another world where a creature name Drool has summoned him with a magic staff. Then he gets transported into another place where a more terrifying and evil entity gives him an apocalyptic message to send to the Lords of that land. He then wakes up in the edge of a peak and meets Lena, a little girl, who mistakes him with Berek, a saviour of the world thousands of years ago. She shows him aliantha, a berry that can fill your hunger, or hurtloam, mud that can heal your injuries, and tells him the earth has power of health and life. She introduces him with her family. Thomas Covenant thinks he's dreaming, or even hallucinating. Something that his doctor said keeps him from believing that anything in this world is real: "Most people depend heavily on their sense of touch. In fact, their whole structure of responses to reality is organized around their touch. They may doubt their eyes and ears, but when they touch something they know it's real." Him being a leper thinks he's dreaming because he doesn't have a sense of touch in his world. Then he tells Lena's family about the message of Lord Foul, and terror and despair starts to spread throughout the village. Then Covenant realised that he isn't impotent anymore and asks Lena to take him somewhere desolate, he starts by asking her how the people in this world get married, as she's telling him he gets more frustrated and angry and hits her in the face and rapes her. Lena doesn't tell her parents, but she dissapears, and Lena's mother, who studied (without finishing) one of the seven wards, with the Lords of the land, starts taking him upon his quest, and then it becomes The Fellowship of the Ring more or less. But I liked it, even though the protagonist is very whinny and snarky, and he nevers stops believing he is dreaming. It made the story pretty interesting. Donaldson's prose is very purple sometimes, and it's something to get use to. Sometimes is pretty bad, though.
danerichter's review against another edition
2.0
“The most academic of all speculative fiction writers.”
I’ve heard Stephen Donaldson being called this but what does that even mean? Someone somewhere out there thought this book was dogshit but held too much respect for him – that’s what I’m reading between the lines here. Gone are the days where reviewers are respectful. Post new millennium and now everyone has a voice and opinions are blunt and to the point. Let’s just call a spade a spade here: Lord Foul’s Bane is an average book. Usually I would not rate a book that ended in my DNF pile but people need to be forewarned of crap. Reading a dictionary and inserting anything with 4+ syllables and using them in correct context does not mean your writing is great. Unless you are one of those crossword junkies or wordsmiths who constantly brush up on the English language, then you might be like me and have to get the dictionary out every second page to see what Donaldson was on about.
Afflicted with leprosy, Thomas Covenant is an outcast of society. If that’s no bad enough his family have left him and the town don’t want him there, paying his expenses so he never has to set foot out of the house again – something that Covenant will not stand for. Whilst demanding he be the one to pay his own bills he is hit by a car and wakes up in the Land. In this place, leprosy is unknown and Covenant has a resemblance to one of the Heroes of Old – Berek Halfhand, and as such is revered by many. Throw in the fact that his wedding band is white gold – which just so happens to be powerful, and you have a hero that is encouraged to do hero things like confront the Despiser – Lord Foul.
At a time when I supposed LOTR was popular, (when isn’t there a time) you can see a couple of obvious similarities like, oh maybe um… the ring!? And Foamfollower which is a poor man’s Treebeard. Incidentally, it was the long, laborious dialogue between Foamfollower and Covenant which ultimately put me to sleep.
The only reason I gave this a second star is because I believe Stephen Donaldson pioneered the antihero architype. Published in 1977 Lord Foul’s Bane came at a time where fantasy was full of Gary Stu awesome-at-everything heroes who slayed the dragon and saved the princess. I love a flawed hero and I think a lot of readers out there are inclined to agree, but there is a difference between flawed and heinous. Heinous. Wretched. Loathsome. That would be the lead character in a nutshell – and not because of his condition (leprosy) but because of his actions about a third of a way into the book. Actually, maybe it’s the actions of the other characters that were aware of what he did. (spoiler alert) he raped a 16 year old girl. Now I’m not turned off by sex and violence but if the victim’s mother helps the rapist on the next part of his quest without it being an elaborate plan to exact revenge, I start to question the sanity of the character’s decision-making.
For me, there was no redeeming feature – maybe that happened at the end of the book or later in the series but I’m not investing the time as I hardly found the supporting cast worth it either.
I’ve heard Stephen Donaldson being called this but what does that even mean? Someone somewhere out there thought this book was dogshit but held too much respect for him – that’s what I’m reading between the lines here. Gone are the days where reviewers are respectful. Post new millennium and now everyone has a voice and opinions are blunt and to the point. Let’s just call a spade a spade here: Lord Foul’s Bane is an average book. Usually I would not rate a book that ended in my DNF pile but people need to be forewarned of crap. Reading a dictionary and inserting anything with 4+ syllables and using them in correct context does not mean your writing is great. Unless you are one of those crossword junkies or wordsmiths who constantly brush up on the English language, then you might be like me and have to get the dictionary out every second page to see what Donaldson was on about.
Afflicted with leprosy, Thomas Covenant is an outcast of society. If that’s no bad enough his family have left him and the town don’t want him there, paying his expenses so he never has to set foot out of the house again – something that Covenant will not stand for. Whilst demanding he be the one to pay his own bills he is hit by a car and wakes up in the Land. In this place, leprosy is unknown and Covenant has a resemblance to one of the Heroes of Old – Berek Halfhand, and as such is revered by many. Throw in the fact that his wedding band is white gold – which just so happens to be powerful, and you have a hero that is encouraged to do hero things like confront the Despiser – Lord Foul.
At a time when I supposed LOTR was popular, (when isn’t there a time) you can see a couple of obvious similarities like, oh maybe um… the ring!? And Foamfollower which is a poor man’s Treebeard. Incidentally, it was the long, laborious dialogue between Foamfollower and Covenant which ultimately put me to sleep.
The only reason I gave this a second star is because I believe Stephen Donaldson pioneered the antihero architype. Published in 1977 Lord Foul’s Bane came at a time where fantasy was full of Gary Stu awesome-at-everything heroes who slayed the dragon and saved the princess. I love a flawed hero and I think a lot of readers out there are inclined to agree, but there is a difference between flawed and heinous. Heinous. Wretched. Loathsome. That would be the lead character in a nutshell – and not because of his condition (leprosy) but because of his actions about a third of a way into the book. Actually, maybe it’s the actions of the other characters that were aware of what he did. (spoiler alert) he raped a 16 year old girl. Now I’m not turned off by sex and violence but if the victim’s mother helps the rapist on the next part of his quest without it being an elaborate plan to exact revenge, I start to question the sanity of the character’s decision-making.
For me, there was no redeeming feature – maybe that happened at the end of the book or later in the series but I’m not investing the time as I hardly found the supporting cast worth it either.
jstrahan's review against another edition
3.0
Well I got through it.
Enjoyed the last third a lot more than the first two, coming back to it after a break, but still found it difficult. The side characters all sort of melded together a bit for me, and I found covenant himself, hateable as he may be, to be the only compelling thing keeping me reading. I’ve heard that the books get more interesting so maybe will try the second, but not for a while at least.
Enjoyed the last third a lot more than the first two, coming back to it after a break, but still found it difficult. The side characters all sort of melded together a bit for me, and I found covenant himself, hateable as he may be, to be the only compelling thing keeping me reading. I’ve heard that the books get more interesting so maybe will try the second, but not for a while at least.
billymac1962's review against another edition
2.0
If you're one bad turn from running a hot bath, downing Quaaludes, and slitting your wrists, by all means avoid this book. It's depressing as hell. Mind you, it's a pretty neat story. Part of a fairly long series and I'm not sure if I'll go back to it.
supermersh's review against another edition
1.0
"Lord Foul's Bane" is a poorly written conglomeration of commonplace fantasy themes and I can't see what appeal this holds for anyone. Donaldson tries to create an antihero in Thomas Covenant, but misses his mark, making the whole book a struggle for the reader.
samuel_kane_horrigan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
wyntercreations's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75