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chazzychax's review against another edition
Horribly overwritten and overwrought. Cartoon villain.
jacobferrell's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed his prose and the inner conflict of Thomas Covenant. His struggle with himself, his purpose, and reality was all very intriguing.
The drop from 4 to 3 stars was the central immoral event that Thomas commits. It stayed with me throughout the rest of the book, sickening me of his character.
The drop from 4 to 3 stars was the central immoral event that Thomas commits. It stayed with me throughout the rest of the book, sickening me of his character.
guppyur's review against another edition
3.0
This is such a weird series. The prose is mediocre, the mechanics are trite and the plot is slow. But it is an amazing series that explores some unique ideas I've never seen addressed anywhere else, and it's worth reading at least once.
I am also a sucker for stories with epic histories and epic-sounding names, and "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and White Gold Wielder" does it for me.
I am also a sucker for stories with epic histories and epic-sounding names, and "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and White Gold Wielder" does it for me.
lydiacrouch's review against another edition
I got to the vivid description of rape done by the main character on a child and couldn’t go on
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship
cheriekg's review against another edition
A perhaps interesting premise sunk by endless dreary backstory and deathly dialogue. No one talks in paragraphs. By the time I got to the first ham-handed big bad, I was dreading picking this up. I rarely give up on books, but my life is too short.
aelius_'s review against another edition
3.0
A review from a person that has read his first adult fiction in the first time of his life
Summary:
Finally, i have the ability to close the book till its end and have it shoved back to the shelf, immediately.
This was a nasty read, one for sure i will not forget. It took the adult fiction genre quite literally with exceeded expectations from my ownself. There has been alot of complaints from this book on one particular topic and it is only rightfully justified. It is surely disgusting but yet if it is deliberately described by the author, it indeed had the effect that it ment to produce in the reader's mind. That Thomas Covenant was indeed, fitting himself of that title of an Unbeliever, plus the consolation of a jerk.
--------------------
(Minor Spoilers)
Elaborating my thoughts:
I feel that the author really wanted to achiwve something in this first book of many sequels. To make the protagonist so deemed for a full force of hate, nothing can withstand it. Quite literally nothing. So much hate, that one would want to peer into the everflowing thought of curiosity that what might this douchebag be doing next to flick the little light of anger inside any reader with ample consideration to continue and read the sequel for it.
Due from the beginning, the unnamed act was really a shock for myself. The most inappropriate scene i have read left a scar on my memory. Good or bad, it is debatable. But rightfully unjust, so it was.
I guess, that the author wanted to make a total abomination as the protagonist for his story. With that being said, it has been successfully achieved in my perspective.
Worldbuilding:
For the first book, there has been many knowledge planted in small parts of the chapters and for readers to piece them up one by one. It was as if the reader is exploring the world slowly, step by step. It was well done
Such a beautiful world with many hopes of becoming better with sequel by sequel hopefully. There is much potential for this book to be a beautiful world, it is a wonderful sight, the most wonderful at least from my perspective.
The vocabulary depth allows one to dive inside like as if one is in the picture, but far away watching as it is being painted by a sculpture slowly and steadily. The feeling of the world itself is beautiful. But a small sting of acid to constantly be reminded of the worst part of the book personally. Which is what i will be discussing next.
The Protagonist:
Well there is much to lay in this weigh balance of the just and unjust from the Protagonist's actions, it is already sought right at the first quarter of the book that the author's aim was to make him the most despicable character ever seen in fiction genre history, which i guess, is unironically why this book is considered "a phenomenom that changed the entire genre".
It is by far the most interesting yet disgusting fresh approach i have seen in any first volume for a series to behold. Since having such a major twist for the MAIN protagonist which clearly is written on the title of the series, is clear that it would be highly difficult to keep majority of the readers from embarking on the sequel ship to the next book.
There is zero sympathy that should be rightfully given to the protagonist, and right amount of a zillion sympathy shall be given to the supporting characters. It is made so clearly with facts flowing from chapter to chapter that it is definitely utterly disgusting.
While this sounds very interesting, and a provocation to one's curiosity i assure you, as a person that has read through the book, that i will not, and never re-read this book for the pleasures of the content inside. Because there really is none.
While it is definitely a fresh look at the fiction genre, i would not deem that to be of equivalent worthiness to pick this book up to just read it for the uniqueness.
The Antagonist:
He is plotted to be the most dark and undisputable shadow of figure in this story. Such an amazing story with much potential for a sequel to delve into his exploitations of the weaknessess of men in this tale. A very well made antagonist with more to keep up with at every chapter. Against a rather annoying protagonist, i would say the contrast between the good and evil is a far stretch away with the analogy of the antagonist toying constantly with his food. It is an amazing and proud attempt to distance the good and evil in this wittten story. Just that the good in this tale is really hard to stomache while watching it drive itself nuts.
WARNING:
It really is a hazard to read this book, the journey in this story is interesting with its uniqueness, but in the middle you will start to feel like giving this protagonist a slap in the face to get real and be something less disgusting than a downright selfish person, something inexplicable, i can't even describe it without boiling my veins with extreme disappointment.
However, if you wish to enjoy the unique and fresh part of the book, do so, but i have cautioned you with numerous reminders, that this guy, is not worth your time. It is made very clearly at every bit of the page, chapter, length of the book. Which i applaud the author for making such a jerk with perfection of what it was made to stand.
Summary:
Finally, i have the ability to close the book till its end and have it shoved back to the shelf, immediately.
This was a nasty read, one for sure i will not forget. It took the adult fiction genre quite literally with exceeded expectations from my ownself. There has been alot of complaints from this book on one particular topic and it is only rightfully justified. It is surely disgusting but yet if it is deliberately described by the author, it indeed had the effect that it ment to produce in the reader's mind. That Thomas Covenant was indeed, fitting himself of that title of an Unbeliever, plus the consolation of a jerk.
--------------------
(Minor Spoilers)
Elaborating my thoughts:
I feel that the author really wanted to achiwve something in this first book of many sequels. To make the protagonist so deemed for a full force of hate, nothing can withstand it. Quite literally nothing. So much hate, that one would want to peer into the everflowing thought of curiosity that what might this douchebag be doing next to flick the little light of anger inside any reader with ample consideration to continue and read the sequel for it.
Due from the beginning, the unnamed act was really a shock for myself. The most inappropriate scene i have read left a scar on my memory. Good or bad, it is debatable. But rightfully unjust, so it was.
I guess, that the author wanted to make a total abomination as the protagonist for his story. With that being said, it has been successfully achieved in my perspective.
Worldbuilding:
For the first book, there has been many knowledge planted in small parts of the chapters and for readers to piece them up one by one. It was as if the reader is exploring the world slowly, step by step. It was well done
Such a beautiful world with many hopes of becoming better with sequel by sequel hopefully. There is much potential for this book to be a beautiful world, it is a wonderful sight, the most wonderful at least from my perspective.
The vocabulary depth allows one to dive inside like as if one is in the picture, but far away watching as it is being painted by a sculpture slowly and steadily. The feeling of the world itself is beautiful. But a small sting of acid to constantly be reminded of the worst part of the book personally. Which is what i will be discussing next.
The Protagonist:
Well there is much to lay in this weigh balance of the just and unjust from the Protagonist's actions, it is already sought right at the first quarter of the book that the author's aim was to make him the most despicable character ever seen in fiction genre history, which i guess, is unironically why this book is considered "a phenomenom that changed the entire genre".
It is by far the most interesting yet disgusting fresh approach i have seen in any first volume for a series to behold. Since having such a major twist for the MAIN protagonist which clearly is written on the title of the series, is clear that it would be highly difficult to keep majority of the readers from embarking on the sequel ship to the next book.
There is zero sympathy that should be rightfully given to the protagonist, and right amount of a zillion sympathy shall be given to the supporting characters. It is made so clearly with facts flowing from chapter to chapter that it is definitely utterly disgusting.
While this sounds very interesting, and a provocation to one's curiosity i assure you, as a person that has read through the book, that i will not, and never re-read this book for the pleasures of the content inside. Because there really is none.
While it is definitely a fresh look at the fiction genre, i would not deem that to be of equivalent worthiness to pick this book up to just read it for the uniqueness.
The Antagonist:
He is plotted to be the most dark and undisputable shadow of figure in this story. Such an amazing story with much potential for a sequel to delve into his exploitations of the weaknessess of men in this tale. A very well made antagonist with more to keep up with at every chapter. Against a rather annoying protagonist, i would say the contrast between the good and evil is a far stretch away with the analogy of the antagonist toying constantly with his food. It is an amazing and proud attempt to distance the good and evil in this wittten story. Just that the good in this tale is really hard to stomache while watching it drive itself nuts.
WARNING:
It really is a hazard to read this book, the journey in this story is interesting with its uniqueness, but in the middle you will start to feel like giving this protagonist a slap in the face to get real and be something less disgusting than a downright selfish person, something inexplicable, i can't even describe it without boiling my veins with extreme disappointment.
However, if you wish to enjoy the unique and fresh part of the book, do so, but i have cautioned you with numerous reminders, that this guy, is not worth your time. It is made very clearly at every bit of the page, chapter, length of the book. Which i applaud the author for making such a jerk with perfection of what it was made to stand.
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.