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Summary: A life changing look at dispair.....
Review: Donaldson has produced one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century. His insiteful and and utterly personal gift of a tale is a technicolor world that, though written down in words, is more real than the world itself. He has explored dispair and redemption in such a way as to leave a 17 year old girl deeply moved and changed. So much so that I gave the books to my father. In many ways, my father's white gold wedding band and the dispair that he has seen in his life were in some ways very much the same as Thomas Covenant. These books and the redemption of the Unbeliever were the beginning of the idea in my father's mind that perhaps he too, could find that sense of peace in the center of the malestrom. Hellfire and bloody damnation. He did it. Thomas Covenant saved my fathers life. This is a must read. From the first page to the last you will not be able to put these books down until you too are redeemed with Thomas Covenant.
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Summary: The Modern Standard for the Fantasy Genre
Review: That The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (comprised of Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War and The Power That Preserves) has been both highly praised as well as heavily disparaged is not surprising and is a credit to its author, Stephen R. Donaldson. When this series was first released back in the early 1980's, it pushed the limits of contemporary fantasy, yet even today it doesn't come across as dated. In Thomas Covenant, Donaldson has created a protagonist who has, through leprosy, lost everything he ever held dear - including his wife and child. His disease forces him to live the life of a pariah, an outcast. Physically and emotionally he becomes numb and eventually comes to loathe himself. Then one night he is run down by a car, and when he regains consciousness he finds himself transported into a fantasy world whose inhabitants view him as their savior, come to depose the tyrannical Lord Foul, whose own ambition is to destroy the Land. The locals view the white gold wedding ring Covenant wears to be a talisman of great power against Foul's might. Covenant believes that none of this is real and eschews the burden the local inhabitants heap upon him, and so he comes to be known as The Unbeliever. Slowly the Land cures Covenant of his affliction, and those parts of him that had been numb in his own reality come to life - including his sexuality. Again, believing this to be only a dream and that in reality he lays dying on the shoulder of some road, Covenant rapes a young girl, which may dismay many readers. Still, to Covenant, unable to control his newly awakened virility, this is merely a dream, akin perhaps to a wet dream. But it is an act that will torment Covenant throughout the series. Readers may question how a rapist can be made into a hero. The answer is simple: Thomas Covenant is in no way a hero. He is an unwilling participant in this fantasy. A sometimes vile and mostly unsympathetic character, Donaldson deftly contrasts Covenant with the people of the Land. Covenant is the underdog, yet each time he does something despicable he manages, through some small act, to redeem himself, and the reader can't help but root for him. Ultimately it is Covenant's guilt - guilt over the rape he committed as well as the guilt he feels over the countless acts of sacrifice the people of the Land make and their willingness to forgive him for all of his transgressions - that drives him to take action against Lord Foul. Covenant is the lone point of view character throughout the series. Donaldson intended this to lend an air of fantasy to the series - that Covenant is the only real being in an unreal setting - and so the supporting characters come off as one-dimensional. Still, it is an effective technique: it is, after all, Covenant's story. The narrative is complex and some readers may be put off by some of the grammar. Still, it is an adult fantasy and comparisons to Lord of the Rings are unfounded. It stands alone and, rightfully, has become the standard against which all other fantasy novels are measured.
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Summary: Can't Stop Reading
Review: This book was one of the first that I REALLY got into. The plots, characters, and everything else about the entire chronicles is wonderful. I read them for the first time when I was in sixth grade, and have read them several times since. Thomas Covenant is the hero who you love to hate. His comments about the Land not being real make him somewhat annoying. His skepticism towards everything but leprosy is enough to make him a jerk. Lena is another story altogether(he rapes her). However, his dedication to completing the mission in his "delusions" makes for a great story. By the end of White Gold Weilder, one is remorseful that the series ends. If you are open-minded, you will definately "become" TC within the first 50 pages-and stay that way forever.
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Summary: Unbeliever in a doomed paradise
Review: If you lost everything but your life, what would it take to give meaning to your existence...or break you completely? Thomas Covenant finds himself transported to a world of heart-breaking beauty and strangeness, where his hurts are eased and the white gold ring which is all that remains of his marriage holds the magic to save the world from Lord Foul's Bane. Beauty and terror; the promise of love and acceptance and a place of honor in a world more vivid and real than Earth. It can't be real. It's too good to be true. Nerves don't regenerate, as Covenant knows only too well: he is a leper, and his wife has taken their son and fled from him, just as everyone he meets recoils in horror. His last memory is of a car running him down, and he suspects that his wretched body is dying while his mind wanders this fantasy world. As images of wonder and horror assault his mind, he fights to free himself from the fantasy...or is it reality? Do you have a moral responsibility to a figment of your mind? Is he a fool, a criminal, or a good man pushed beyond the breaking point? Heroic fantasy has never been the same since Donaldson began holding up his mirror to the genre.
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Summary: A Great Story - Not for those looking for happy endings.
Review: I find some of the criticism interesting. BTW - TC did not commit incest (kissed her once, that's all). If you read the books you are talking about, you would know that. If you want happy endings, watch The Wizard of Oz. If you want to read a book that raises serious questions about the nature of guilt and heroism, try this.
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Summary: A delisious story
Review: I found this book to be a delisious fantasy and a great book. I found the characters to be totally amazing. I can't wait to read the other two parts!
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Summary: I wanted to like it, really, I did...
Review: One of my chief criticisms of Tolkien was that in the end his hero, Frodo, chose the path of escape rather than the more painful and difficult but, in my opinion, ultimately superior (and essential) path of reintegration with this world, seeking the "healing" of removal from the old wounds and memories rather than seeking and finding the earthier "healing" of coming to terms with his wounded life and finding meaning in it. Someone therefore recommended Donaldson's Covenant books to me, saying that these books explored precisely that theme of wrestling with irrevocable, deep wounds, and the merits of facing the trials rather than escaping to a "blessed land" of sorts. Well, they do, I guess. There were some interesting insights along the way that resonated with my own views on woundedness and healing and meaning, and unlike some of the other reviewers I don't have a problem with the protagonist being an unsympathetic antihero; an interesting, compelling, truth-revealing tale can certainly be built around a jerk. Unfortunately, I did not find this book to be either interesting or compelling. I literally had to force myself to keep reading. Donaldson's writing is tedious and awkward, and if I had not been motivated by the comments of the people who recommended the book to me I would have set it aside after the first two or three chapters, at best. The story simply did not hold my interest. At least Tolkien, for all his imperfections, knew how to spin a good yarn and keep the reader's interest (for the most part), even though I have found myself radically disagreeing with much of Tolkien's worldview. Perhaps I simply do not have an affinity for Donaldson's writing style, or perhaps I simply could not find a personal emotional point of connection to Covenant's "quest" through the Land. Or perhaps Donaldson is simply a mediocre writer, and his books thrive on the uncritical adulation of fantasy fandom. Read for yourself and judge, but if you find you have a hard time being hooked by the story, at least know that you're not alone.
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Summary: Not your typical review...
Review: Where oh where to start? These works touched me in such a way that I revisit them time and again. To the critics of these works (and there are a fair number of you) I can only shake my head in wonder as to how you do not get it. To those of you trying to decide if these are works worthy of your attention, take the time to read through these reviews. Read them all. You will read that Covenant is vile and contemptible, that the characters are flat and underdeveloped, that Donaldson's prose is too demanding, and that Donaldson is a Tolkien "wannabe". For every unkind word about these books, you will also find many, many more words of praise from readers who (like myself) read these books years ago and for no other reason than passion, feel compelled to defend them in the face of harshness hoping that you too will feel what we felt, agonize with us, cry with us, and when it's over, sit bolt upright and say, "I get it". Then it will be your turn to enter here five, maybe ten years from now and want so badly to have the communication skills that will enable you to tell the world how wrong the critics are, only to realize the passion you feel for these works is beyond anything you would ever be able to compose.
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Summary: The Greatest Book Ever
Review: This is the greatest book. It makes you think and is really exiting. Thomas Covenant is a charecter who doesn't belive he could ever be a hero and the people of the land depened on him to be the hero. He has a white-gold ring that contains wild power. The book will draw any exitement lovingreader in to it's clutches. It will also relive readers that are sick of Toilken.
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Summary: Best modern fantasy I've found
Review: "Lord Foul's Bane" has many strengths to recommend it. It also has a number of shortcomings I would be remiss in not mentioning. I personally loved the series, moreso the second time around.
Donaldson's hero, Thomas Covenant, is a leper and an outcast in his own world. He has resigned himself to his life of disease (there was no cure for leprosy when this was written) and solitiude, and desires nothing more than to be left alone to live out his sentence. After an accident in town, he finds himself transported to a fantastical place known only as the Land where his disease is cured, and the most evil being in the Land challenges Covenant to stop him from destroying the world. Much of this first book in the series is spent on making Covenant as contemptible as possible, making him cowardly, a rapist, selfish, and inconsiderate, but most of all disbelieving in the world he has found himself in. Although Covenant just wants the nightmare to be over, he finds that people see him as a reincarnation of a long-dead hero, and put their faith in him. But in his contemptiblity, Covenant is pitiable. It's hard not to feel bad for him at times when people blame him for things that aren't his fault, or refuse to understand his remorse at things that are.
The weaknesses of the story lie in Donaldson's reliance on his Thesaurus and the fact that a contemptible character scares a lot of readers off. As to the language, he does at times go into a pointless string of synonyms, using words that no normal person uses in conversation. I think of this as a weakness in the novel, but not one that affects my overall view of it. More of a quirk of the author.
I've thought about the question of whether or not Covenant was actually taken to a fantasy Land or just imagined it in his diseased brain. Most readers I've spoken with believe that we, the readers, are to accept that the Land exists independently of Covenant and that he is simply taken there because he is their legendary hero. I feel, however, that there is no evidence to back this up, and there is a great deal of evidence to support the idea that the Land is all in his head, and all the people and parts of it are metaphorical representations of aspects of Covenant's mind.
Either way, the story is a great epic fantasy series, and I encourage people to put personal judgement of the character aside (he's SUPPOSED to be despicible!) and enjoy the series for its own merit.
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