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Summary: Thisis the #1 fantasy series of all time!!
Review: This is the best series I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone, especially lovers of fantasy. I have read this series 4 or 5 times, I will do so again in the future. Donaldson has a tremendous imagination and vocabulary and connects the real world with a fantasy world. He creates fascinating characters and worlds that grab the readers' attention so they can't put the book down and become so curious as to what's going to happen next. There are many fantastic fantasy writers such as Goodkind, Williams, Tolkien, Anthony, etc., but Donaldson's Thomas Covenant Series is the BEST!!
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Summary: THE WHOLE SERIES IS GREAT
Review: I don't usually read "fantasy." Normally, after about 50 pages, I realize the characters aren't involving. The author may have imagination, but can't involve on a human level. Not so with this series, which I first read as a high schooler many years ago. Never in my life have I waited so anxiously for the sequels. These books still have the power to move me. The characters are larger than life, of course, yet they draw me in. Thomas Covenant is not an easy person to like, but he is easy to understand and the characters around him are so beautifully realized. The author obviously loved writing about this fantasy land. I loved reading about it!
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Summary: My favorite series of all time...
Review: I have read this series a total of seven times in 15 years. Read it..
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: I believe this is the best fantasy written in the twentieth century. Tolkien's world may have been more complex but his characters were irritating, there wasn't any women, and all those endless dwarwen songs, elven songs, etc. I think I skipped all of them. Covenent was human, with all the flaws most of us have, also with a couple of flaws such as the ability to commit rape we wish we would never think of yet still exist. Its the way of the world. I was of course shocked when he raped the young woman. I assumed he was simply going to have sex with her and then what a shock. The rest of the books he had to live with his sins, and eventually truimphed over his own dispair which was of course the only true villian in the story. I rate this series along with The GAme of Thrones as the two best series offered in this century. I'm currently reading Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and it might be up with the other two since so far it is really beautiful. I suggest you stay away from Wheel of Time. Its really not that good. Nothing seems to ever happen until the last thirty pages of each 700 page book and the fourth book, Shadow Rising should just be skipped altogether.
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Summary: This Series is Brillant!
Review: Having read the few bad reviews, I can only surmise that they didn't "get it". These are deep novels, not shallow feel-good tales. Strip away the incredible setting and fantastic story sub-plots, and this book becomes a commentary on what is good and bad, what is illusionary, and the capabilities of the human sprit. These novels could ONLY work with Thomas as a leper. To each his/her own tastes, but if you are prepared to read these novels with the intensity that Donaldson requires you will not be disappointed with any book in this series.
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Summary: Stephen R. Donaldson is the King of dark fantasy!
Review: I'm not going to say that much about this book(way too many people have already), but I will say this: If you're cynical and jaded, but still love the few times you can actually FEEL, you'll love this. Anyone who wants to just fade away into another world will be sucked into the Land. If you don't understand why people consider unhappy books/movies/music bad because they bring out their darker emotions(eg:"That book was awful! I was depressed for a week and it didn't have a 'happily ever after' ending!") while you revel in such a powerful emotional experience, BUY THIS BOOK! If you like Michael Moorcock's darker stuff, Thomas Covenant is required reading(the main character is pretty much Elric without Stormbringer, right down to rejection of fate, constant melancholy about his future, and a debilitating disease). One hint: he WANTS you to despise the main character most of the time and get depressed at the destruction of such beauty. If he suddenly went "I guess I should be the hero and beat them all down...WHACK!", then good ole Stephen would have sold out to the trite, boring mainstream fantasy that chokes the shelves of the fantasy section of nearly every bookstore in existence (I'm SO thankful for amazon). PS: The perfect actor for Thomas Covenant would HAVE to be Sean Penn. Watch him as a tortured soul in "U-Turn" and "The Game" and you'll see. He could play that role in his sleep.
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Summary: Horrible book
Review: I truly hated this book. I cannot say that of many books. But I think this is the worst book I have ever read in my entire life - including technical manuals. It teases you with just enough story to keep you going, but it takes you nowhere. This "unwilling" hero is the worst excuse for main character I have ever read. He starts the story being a bitter and mean person, and ends up that way by his own choice. The book is well written as far as dragging the reader along. But the story is horrible. Don't even waste your time reading the back cover!
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Summary: Truly realistic Fantasy!
Review: From the Moment you pick Lord Foul's Bane up your Hooked! You will realish in the intricate plot and the realistic character's! Stephen R Donaldson out did himself when he wrote these novels! I rate him right up there with J.R.R Tolkien!
Rating: 
Summary: Great for English majors and masochists -- loved it anyway
Review: Is your working vocabulary 60,000 words or so? From a technical standpoint Donaldson himself was an English major and it shows; he throws around three dollar words and hacky plot contrivances like the peanut guy at a baseball game. OK, yes, I devoured the series and it did evoke genuine emotion in me. But I got over reading about every single thought that Covenant and Linden Avery had every second of every day. I mean, my God, 'and they imbibed an amber liquid that replenished their energy stores, yet Covenant was still unable to shake the creeping malaise that plagued every second of his worrisome existence.' OK ALREADY. From sunup to sundown every single thought of Covenant's or Linden's is thrown at you, one after the other until you might want to find them just so you can garrotte them. And the DIALOGUE! Every single character has the same 60,000 word vocabulary that Donaldson does (imagine that) and aren't shy about using it. It can be a tedious read; if you're looking for an action story pick up something else! The entire Covenant series is still at least a top twenty read for me, though, and that's out of many hundreds of books over the years. For stuff with epic themes that's just a little more fun to read and has more diverse characters, try anything by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (or just Larry, as in 'Ringworld,' where the main character was far more interesting), the Horseclans books by Robert Adams, Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' and 'Speaker for the Dead', the Lazarus Long books by Robert Heinlein... Reading the Unbeliever chronicles is a commitment, in time and energy. If you let it take you, there are some very real emotional undercurrents that will affect you unless you you're just a stonehearted mf. And despite all the gushing out here, don't feel bad if you really don't care for it one frik-frakkin' bit.
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Summary: Great Tolkein Knock-Off!
Review: Lord Foul and Lord Drool team up with a one-two punch that would make Gandalf cringe!!! Not since the days of Gollum, Frodo and Gimli have the pages of a fantasy novel so sparkled!!! The perfect anti-hero: Thomas Covenant. I really liked this one. Geez. Why can't I write like this? (hee hee)
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