Rating: 
Summary: Over and over again, the best I've ever read!
Review: I was turned on to the "Covenant" trilogy by a friend in the military in 1979; I was 19 years old and very impressionable. What a lasting impression these books had on me! The landscapes which flowed from the mind of Mr. Donaldson are captivating; the plot (together with all its sub-plots) is engrossing. Covenant himself is, while being a bit of a jerk, still a sympathetic hero. His intentions are never ill; rather, any harm that he causes is a direct result of his self-abnegation. I found the other heroic characters to be engaging and likeable, especially Lord Mhoram and Saltheart Foamfollower; the villains were suitably evil without becoming grotesque (Drool Rockworm was a masterstroke); and the book presents its tenet of hope vs. despair without becoming preachy or simplistic. Altogether, some of the finest reading I've ever had the privilege to enjoy! Thank you, Mr. Donaldson!
Rating:
Summary: One can but wonder at the asinine dislike of this series
Review: In his Thomas Covenant series, Steven R. Donaldson portrays a world more violent than any other fantasy writer I have read has ever dreamed. The violence though is never glorified but rather used as a metaphor. It represents Covenant's struggle to survive even as he is being ravaged by forces beyond his control who might very well snuff his life out at any moment. While in parts, he does come off as whiny, it is more whining to himself than to anyone else--so less galling--and also makes him more realistic and three-dimensional. Would anyone afflicted with such a pernicious diease honestly consider himself the savior of a land especially when does not know if the land's existence is fact or fantasy? Covenant's rape of Lena is in response to sudden reawakening of long-dead nerves whose inability to feel has eliminated his ability for sexual release. It is gruesome to contemplate such an act, and no one endorses it, but it is to be expected. Think of the Land and its denizens as Covenant's body and Lord Foul as leprosy and you will see the parallels that make the book interesting. Donaldson's world is better developed than the fantasy worlds of Tolkien, David Eddings, or even George Lucas because there is some stigma attached to the conflict...All of the heroes will not be going home after the battle's done, and the villains definitely won't be annihilated with little or no harm coming to the victors. Covenant is also forced to make decisions no other hero is forced to make. While he never wrestles with light and darkness in the fashion of being tempted to join Foul, he must choose to accept and restrain himself from two conflicting rationales if he has any glimmer of hope of proving victorious and wiping the leprosy (Foul) from his body (the Land): He can not choose to completely accept the Land or he will lose his power over the white gold which alone is more powerful than Foul while simultaneously he must not completely reject it or the Land will be annihilated just the same. The incredible complexity of the story is almost ineffable. There are no assurances--of anything. Even Covenant's survival is constantly threatened. There is also no sense that the heroes' efforts will always be fruitful. This is more realistic by far than Lucas, Eddings, or Tolkien, where the heroes always hit on a good plan and keep things from getting to their worst point of chaos. There is no protection for the heroes, most of whom drop like flies or suffer terribly in their war against the disease spreading virulently through the body they are sworn to protect. Things keep getting worse. There are no last-minute saves by rogue pirates who forgot their self-centeredness or forgotten gods who turn out to be almighty. If the hero survives, he does so alone. No sudden, unexpected deus ex machina will arrive to make it easy to decimate the villains completely. Donaldson's element of unpredictability lends a more realistic credence to the story than occurs in most fantasy literature today. An earlier review called him a Tolkine wannabe. That's like saying Stephen King is a Lovecraft wannabe...The similarities between the works are superficial at best. As a closing sidenote too, Covenant and the Land's denizens are more three-dimensional and believable than the two-dimensional, cliched cardboard cutouts of George Lucas' ongoing Star Wars series. (I am a fan of Star Wars, Middle Earth, and Eddings' universes though I think they all lack the sheer enchantment of Donaldson's gothic vision.)
Rating: 
Summary: Infuriating and hard to finish
Review: I had heard so much about this book that I felt a duty to have read it. In fairness, I should say that the world in which it was set was quite interesting, and the premise was a neat idea, but I found myself disliking the protagonist so intensely that it was a chore to read each page. Early in the book, for example, Thomas Covenant actually rapes a young woman. While this might be mitigated somewhat by the fact that TC was acting under the belief that the young woman and the world she lived in were not real, and only a part of his imagination, it did nothing to help me identify with the character.Now, had this been a poorly written book, I probably would never have been inspired to such ferocious antipathy towards Thomas Covenant. Indeed, Donaldson succeeded admirably in making me hate him, which took no small amount of talent, and I have greatly enjoyed at least one other book by him (it was years ago, and I can't recall the title at present). But for a book to engage me enough to WANT to read it (rather than reading it out of a sense of duty), I find I need to care about the characters in it. I'd be perfectly happy never to read another word about the miserable wretch in this book, which is why I never read the rest of the trilogy. (I recently gave up on Yukio Mishima's _Forbidden Colours_ for the same reason. It, too, is skillfully written and thought-provoking, but the main characters are virtually free of redeeming qualities.)
Rating: 
Summary: Unreadable
Review: Some may consider it churlish to 'review' a book after only reading twenty pages before throwing it across the room. Yet I feel I need to warn the potential reader of the mangling of the language that takes place within this book. Here's a quote from the first page of the novel: "As he walked, he flicked his eyes up and down himself [...]" 'Nuff said.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and gripping read
Review: I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I have only read the 1st in this series and noticed many ideas which other authors have copied from Donaldson. I am a fan of Robert Jordan and could write a long list of similarities which it looks like Jordan lifted from Lord Foul's Bane. What makes T.C. so interesting is that he is unpredictable in what he will do. I think that really keeps the reader interested. Definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Old 'good against evil'-plot, but interesting anti-hero
Review: Thomas Covenant, a leper living in isolation on a farm, having enough problems in his life as it is, somehow finds himself transferred into another world (the Land) where he ends up helping the Land-serving good guys to battle Lord Foul, the all-time bad guy. I found the idea quite interesting and the story well written in the beginning. But I am no friend of endless landscape and journey descriptions, and the first series of the Covenant Chronicles contain way too much of those page-fillers. T.C. himself is an intriguing character, though. I found his neverending self-pity annoying, but he makes an excellent anti-hero, and I kept reading because I was hoping for him to mature throughout the series. Unluckily, he doesn't quit his 'Can't you see I'm a leper? I'm helpless!'-howling until the end of the third book. It is not until the first book of the Second Chronicles, however, that he finally gives up his victim role. All in all I found the first trilogy okay, but I doubt that I'll read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing story with much food for thought
Review: I first read Lord Foul's Bane 15 years ago. Last month my 18 year old son read Tolkien and loved it, so I gave him Donaldson. He was hooked. He was so engrossed by the trilogy that I started reading it again and ended up having to wait for him to finish the books. I have enjoyed it even more than the first time because I have been able to discuss it with my son as he read it. Its mythos exlores the struggle between good and evil, and man's role in that struggle, in a way that makes the issues clear, without diluting their complexity. READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: The best Fantasy Series Ever
Review: Okay, I'll keep this short and sweet. This is my favorite fantasy series of all time. And I've read a bunch. Sure, the prose is a little thick at the start of the first book, and the entire series is a little too wordy at times, but if you can get past that... man oh man oh man. It's hard to adequately describe. I love the character of Thomas Covenant. He is what makes this series incredible. Read it. Read it. I am hypnotizing you with my ceaseless, plodding praise. Read it. Read it! Oh, and you can skip the second series- it's not nearly as good.
Rating:
Summary: P.S.
Review: I've just read some of the other reviews... Does the central character in every fantasy have to be a hero - anti or otherwise? You aren't required to like the guy, and you definitely don't have to approve of his actions. If you feel you do need a hero to love, go elsewhere. This'll only disturb you.
Rating:
Summary: Better than TOLKIEN and beyond fantasy...None better.
Review: My writing a review won't help you experience thismasterpiece. Yes, its that good. DONALDSON has created a realitywhere absolutes DO conflict. He shows us such situations where impossible pressures are applied to absolute loyalty, love, commitment and friendship, and how individuals are made to pay the price. He shows us that in the long run, we humans cannot hope to hold to absolutes. You know, the main objection I've heard concerning these Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, are that they are too dark. DONALDSON is dealing with a world in which an incredibly powerful sentient evil can almost directly affect the course of events - Satan living just down the road, he's p***ed at being kicked out of the heavens, and now its payback time. Given that circumstance, this series is as dark as it needs to be. I fell in love with DONALDSON's vision of "the LAND", and the characters he populated it with. Bad things happen to good people, and not everything is happily ever after. DONALDSON show us that there is a price to be paid for love, and if you're not willing to pay any prices, you can't have anything. Yeah, I guess you could say I liked this!! END
|
