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dark_reader 's review for:
Lord Foul's Bane
by Stephen R. Donaldson
Oh, how I wish I could properly DNF a book. This was a fine candidate for consideration of this. My prime intention in reading it at all was part of a general interest in the history of fantasy publishing. This book often appears in accounts of fantasy history as the book that first established that fantasy could be suitably adult. I guess in between Lord of the Rings and 1977, fantasy novels were thought to be adolescent and immature. Fortunately, the genre has since progressed well beyond the need for a wretched book like this.
I get the whole thing where Thomas Covenant, the leper from the real world, abandoned by his wife to protect herself and their child, has had to (or felt he had to, or chose to) develop this intense mindset to protect himself from further deterioration, physical and mental. Wracked by self-pity, loathing, fear, fury at the world and everyone in it, he lashes out and refuses to accept the evidence of his senses when he is thrust into a secondary world and transformed instantly into a pawn of the titular Lord Foul. He fears being destroyed by hope of a better life if he accepts that fantasy that he finds himself in. This sets him apart for all traditional fantasy characters, but it doesn’t make his perspective or any of his interactions worth reading. His constant self-pity and internal struggle is not interesting, it simply makes for bad, frustrating scenes. He shuts down all dialogue. He ruins the reader’s experience of every other character. He fails to develop in any way. He does nothing to advance any aim, and only does what he does by compulsion or to try to get out of his predicament. His presence should rightfully be barely tolerated by other characters, who inexplicably accord him honors and offer friendship. In short, regardless of his reasons, he is an ass and a bore. It that’s who you like to read about, have at it. If you want to see how to make a detestable, self-loathing character interesting, look no further than Joe Abercrombie’s crippled torturer in [b:The Blade Itself|944073|The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1284167912l/944073._SX50_SY75_.jpg|929009].
It’s not even just the character. All other aspects of the novel are terrible too. The prose is heavy-handed, burdensome, in many ways reflective of Covenant’s character which may be a literary achievement in itself, but the overall effect is dreary. It’s a drag to read. The author applies a supremely expansive vocabulary, occasionally evoking a clever or poetic description of something or other, but it all feels masturbatory. So many moments and descriptions cry out for plain language. The worldbuilding is dull. Were Covenant not even part of the book, I would have no investment with the history, geography or people of the Land. I don’t give a damn what Lord Foul plans to do or whether or not his machinations will be countered. Go ahead and kill off all of the characters, they matter not. Just let this book be over. Spend the whole dictionary describing the environments, all I took in was hills, plain, forest, mountain, get to the end already. Magic: dull. Uber-horses: dull. Immortal monks: dull. Monsters: dull. Woman who tends to all of Covenant’s things while on the grand Quest so he can spend his time feeling miserable instead of packing up his own bedroll and who is the only figure in the book to not be named and then is killed: ???
And yes, Thomas Covenant’s rape of a teenager in a moment of utterly misdirected rage and grief: unnecessary, as far as I can see. Some favorable reviewers state that it is referenced throughout the later books. I don’t care, it was still awful and pointless. Covenant expressed no regret, only fear of being caught at first, then trying to make nice with the girl’s mother who is forced to journey with her daughter's rapist by her devotion to the Land. Along the way, he appears to forget all about it. He even rages against Lord Foul's depravations at one point, speculating, “What’s next? Raping children?” Dude, that’s what YOU did! One of the only reasons I kept reading the book was because I had to see if there would be anything approaching acknowledgement of his vile act. And this did eventually come, when suddenly he deigns to remember what he had done, and then kind of sort of sends the girl a boon as penance, but not requiring any sacrifice on his own part.
Wretched on so many levels.
I get the whole thing where Thomas Covenant, the leper from the real world, abandoned by his wife to protect herself and their child, has had to (or felt he had to, or chose to) develop this intense mindset to protect himself from further deterioration, physical and mental. Wracked by self-pity, loathing, fear, fury at the world and everyone in it, he lashes out and refuses to accept the evidence of his senses when he is thrust into a secondary world and transformed instantly into a pawn of the titular Lord Foul. He fears being destroyed by hope of a better life if he accepts that fantasy that he finds himself in. This sets him apart for all traditional fantasy characters, but it doesn’t make his perspective or any of his interactions worth reading. His constant self-pity and internal struggle is not interesting, it simply makes for bad, frustrating scenes. He shuts down all dialogue. He ruins the reader’s experience of every other character. He fails to develop in any way. He does nothing to advance any aim, and only does what he does by compulsion or to try to get out of his predicament. His presence should rightfully be barely tolerated by other characters, who inexplicably accord him honors and offer friendship. In short, regardless of his reasons, he is an ass and a bore. It that’s who you like to read about, have at it. If you want to see how to make a detestable, self-loathing character interesting, look no further than Joe Abercrombie’s crippled torturer in [b:The Blade Itself|944073|The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1284167912l/944073._SX50_SY75_.jpg|929009].
It’s not even just the character. All other aspects of the novel are terrible too. The prose is heavy-handed, burdensome, in many ways reflective of Covenant’s character which may be a literary achievement in itself, but the overall effect is dreary. It’s a drag to read. The author applies a supremely expansive vocabulary, occasionally evoking a clever or poetic description of something or other, but it all feels masturbatory. So many moments and descriptions cry out for plain language. The worldbuilding is dull. Were Covenant not even part of the book, I would have no investment with the history, geography or people of the Land. I don’t give a damn what Lord Foul plans to do or whether or not his machinations will be countered. Go ahead and kill off all of the characters, they matter not. Just let this book be over. Spend the whole dictionary describing the environments, all I took in was hills, plain, forest, mountain, get to the end already. Magic: dull. Uber-horses: dull. Immortal monks: dull. Monsters: dull. Woman who tends to all of Covenant’s things while on the grand Quest so he can spend his time feeling miserable instead of packing up his own bedroll and who is the only figure in the book to not be named and then is killed: ???
And yes, Thomas Covenant’s rape of a teenager in a moment of utterly misdirected rage and grief: unnecessary, as far as I can see. Some favorable reviewers state that it is referenced throughout the later books. I don’t care, it was still awful and pointless. Covenant expressed no regret, only fear of being caught at first, then trying to make nice with the girl’s mother who is forced to journey with her daughter's rapist by her devotion to the Land. Along the way, he appears to forget all about it. He even rages against Lord Foul's depravations at one point, speculating, “What’s next? Raping children?” Dude, that’s what YOU did! One of the only reasons I kept reading the book was because I had to see if there would be anything approaching acknowledgement of his vile act. And this did eventually come, when suddenly he deigns to remember what he had done, and then kind of sort of sends the girl a boon as penance, but not requiring any sacrifice on his own part.
Wretched on so many levels.