Rating: 
Summary: The Fantasy That Might Not Be
Review: Besides Thomas Wolfe, Stephen Donaldson's Covenant serieshas been the single greatest influence on my own writing.There are just so many ways of looking at these books--as a man truly transported into an alternate world, as a man hallucinating to give himself importance, etc. I tend to opt for the second choice--that is, the fantasy world is in Covenant's mind and is constructed so that he can once again see himself as a "golden boy" instead of the bitter, crippled leper he has let himself become...except he won't let himself believe his own fantasy. The implications of that are unsettling--don't we all create our dreams and try to live them in our heads? These books are a self-contained comment on one of the most enthralling aspects of humanity.
Rating:
Summary: The best of post-Tolkien fantasy
Review: Finally, we have a hero that is anything but.
Pushed and literally pulled from the world he knows into
a world of fantastic health and beauty, Thomas Covenant
suffers a breakdown of monumental proportions. I loved
every minute of his struggle to both accept his returned
physical feelings as well as his attempts to convince those
around him that he is not the reincarnation of Berek Half-
Hand. On the occassions when he does use his power the
results, and his reaction to that destructive force,
changes himself and the other characters around him.
My only wish is for Mr. Donaldson to option the movie
rights and signing up Harrison Ford to play Thomas.
Rating: 
Summary: What a DRAG !
Review: I regret wasting a good few days of my life reading about a wishy-washy hero who needed THAT much convincing that he was the man for the job.
The story was a drag, and there is nothing I can remember about the storyline except that it repeated itself like a broken record player.
The only excitement came at the ending, partly due to the fact that I kind of got excited finding out that I was about to finish Book Three, and hence the series.
To be avoided unless you have nothing better else to do with your life.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy Was Never Like This...
Review: What a concept! A leper from our world is summoned by a dark
lord in a sword and sorcery world called "The Land." He bears a powerful weapon he does not know how to use -- to
wit, his white gold wedding band. Whisked from adventure to
adventure, our hero (Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever) refuses to believe in the reality of this fantasy world. All
the while, the good forces hope and pray that he will save
their world with his white gold. Here is a highly
successful series of novels that does not flag in the later
volumes. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Razberries for Books I can't Finish
Review: Normally, I would not write a review of a book I couldn't finish. But then I thought: don't the people deserve to know if a book is so terrible that it can't be endured to the end? Yes, they do.With painfully wooden dialog, and a ho-hum world, Lord Foul's Bane is a true bore. I get sleepy after reading forty pages of travelogue. I don't care which way the river flows, or what kind of trees grow where. All of it empty filler, and all of it flaunting an unforgivable lack of imagination. There's a Magic Ring, and an Evil Mountain, a Cave Monster named Drool, and a Dark Lord named Foul. Send it all back, please, I don't want any more. I stopped reading somewhere in the middle of the book, when a legion of ferocious demons is stopped from killing the hero by an army of wild rabbits, dogs, and badgers. Hm. Demons vs. rabbits. Who will win? Hmmm. Avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Why doesn't anyone ever SAY??
Review: Okay, I admit it's been a very long time since I tried to read this. A very long time. However, it left an impression that has stayed with me, and I'm more than twice as old as I was then.
I'd read and liked Donaldson, and this was so highly hyped, I picked up a copy and settled down to read. I didn't make it far. The reason? What none of the reviews or synopses ever say is that Thomas enters this alternate world whenever his leprosy causes him to pass out. We get a detailed view of exactly how miserable and sick he is, and when he's finally ill enough to pass out, then the fantasy starts. If I recall rightly, he has lapses back into our world periodically, where the fantasy fades and he's miserable some more -- so he doesn't even get to escape and be done with it. And as I put the book in the "trade" pile, I remember thinking how odd it was that not once did anyone ever reveal this little detail. It's not even clearly stated now -- the cover certainly doesn't imply that Thomas' sickness is anything as horrible and incurable as leprosy. Nor does it imply that his periods of being "better" are nothing more than lapses into unconsciousness. Heck, the description would fit a drug addict!
On the one hand, this idea is certainly different, and it gives Thomas both a reason to hate his life, and a past which doesn't foster belief in fairy land. On the other, these books are (or at least were when I was 12) recommended in the same handful of books that included the Belgariad! You know: if you like fantasy, if you like Eddings, if you like LotR, you'll like Thomas Covenant... and they really aren't the same sort of reading at all. I certainly wasn't expecting to be bludgeoned with anger and depression.
If dark fantasy or drama is your thing, then I wouldn't discourage you from trying these. But if you're looking for something that you'll enjoy in the same way as the Belgariad, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the first time
Review: I read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant over twenty years ago and just started re-reading them a few weeks ago. I remembered that they were good but had forgotten how great they are. Yes, they are a little derivative of Tolkien, but they are also fresh in totally unexpected ways. Covenant is the most infuriating, frustrating, yet compelling hero ever. He makes Frodo seem like Conan the Barbarian.
On the other hand, my 13-year-old son read the first 200 pages of vol. 1 and gave up, said it was boring. I was surprised by this because he loves LOTR and the fantasy/science fiction genre generally. But I think he found Covenant too complex a character to warm up to.
Bottom line: If you like LOTR, you have to try this. You might not like it, or you may love it as much as I do, but you have to give it a try.
Rating:
Summary: Just plain BORING!
Review: I was about 200 pages into this book before I realized that I just did not want to read it. It was becoming a huge effort just to pick it up and plod through a few pages. You will hear other people here complain about how Thomas Covenant is hard to sympathize with, and how he rapes a girl, etc. I was prepared to deal with that. What I wasn't prepared for was extremely long, boring and contrived descriptions of "the Land". Donaldson spends WAY too much effort in trying to convince the reader of how the Land is this magical place to which its inhabitants are connected in a vital way unlike here on earth. What he suceeds in is only creating an extremely boring novel that is pathetic in its attempt to engage the reader's imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: great writing - not so great character
Review: I really enjoyed the writing of this book, but the maid character, Thomas, really let me down. he was the sort of person who always throught the world was against him and would not believe what life threw in his path. i put this book down after a hundred pages, to "hopefully read later."
But if you are looking for a book where the writing is great and draws you in from page one, then this is a book you'd enjoy. but if you like likable characters and does not go into unnessary discripions, then i would not recomend this book to you.
hope this is of use to some one.
Rating:
Summary: "something there is in beauty"
Review: its amazing. Just when all faith and hope had ran out, and he had finally gotten used to being an outcast, hated by every living being he knew (even his ex wife), and doomed to a terrible fate (after all, he developed leprosy), it happened. He got summoned away to a magical land of gargantual and uncomparable beauty, his leprosy healed, and every one loved and adored him because he resembled their favorite some what of an idol hero, berek halfhand (half of his hand fell off due to his leprosy, leaving three fingers). And even with all this he still refused to believe!
this is the main reason why i have to love Stephen R. Donaldson's creation, he added into his story that most fantasy fiction writers, whether they are sword & sorcery or just imagionary altogether, forget to incorportate, he added reality!
No human being (unless they had extraordinary magical powers) could easily transition from living in a world where they are victim to a disease that is slowly decaying and shredding apart their body, outcast from all society to the point that they are desperate for any kind of human contact (like paying a phone bill in person), and living in eternal pessimism because even the doctors say that any ideas of false hope, even of a cure, could kill you. Then being summoned to a magical world where for once everything is perfect and goes according to plan? Why should he easily adapt to this knew world, it is the exact opposite of the one he had lived in all his life!
"Something there is in Beauty". This beautiful statement is taken from a poem exert that is found in the book, i am not sure as to whether Donaldson wrote it or if some other poet did, but i have to give them major congratulations on it, because it in itself is beautiful. The statement (and the poem) basically sum up the whole book. Because even with a main character who refuses to accept his destined role as a hero, even to the point of severly offending the people of the land, the job gets done and the world gets saved for a time... Also you find that true beauty does not come from the outer shell of your body (duh, he's a leper), but it comes from inside your heart, and the hearts of your friends and people who try to help you.
Other interesting aspects about this story involve the imporance of the actual world itself. Just its soil alone can heal the most serious abrasions and cuts, its rocks are used as lights in pots like fire would be on torches, and its health and prosperity hence forth a sight of such wonderful awe that it is unlike anything that Thomas Covenant could imagine. The detail to the land throughout the book makes it more of a reality because the reader can almost see what Covenant is seeing just by reading the page.
Finally, the best part about Lord Foul's Bane is the cast and variety of characters you get to meet as Covenant is led (not leading!) on his quest to take back the staff of law to Revelstone. Many different types of characters, from Giants (like Saltheart Foamfollower, who is a very funny and heart warming character, he always manages to let out a laugh, even in the direst of situations) to the Blood Guard come into play in order to help Covenant. But he just treats them all with the same amount of disdain, unbelief, and sarcastic a**holic personality that he would give anyone. The most tragic of these though would have to involve a certain incident that occurs between him and one of the first people he meets, being Lena. Even though what happens really shocks and surprises the reader (and makes you think about Covenant's character altogether) you find out as the series goes on that it was necassary. Trust me! I'm not saying that just to be a sicko!
What must be hard for a good number of readers to understand is why Covenant is such a jerk, and frankly, a 'unbeliever'. He has all the answers to his unasked prayers right under his feet, yet he shuns it all away as if it were some horrible tempting dream that could never become a reality for him. But you have to ask yourself, what would you do? How could you go from having nothing to everything and accept it just as if everything was always perfect? Covenant is not the greatest hero ever made, but thats why he is perfect in my opinion. Thomas Covenant is reality crossing over into fantasy and trying to adapt to its standards. This book, along with The Illearth War, and The Power That Preserves are amazing yet sadly underated books. I came across these just by chance and didnt even know they existed until i got them. I am so happy i did find them though, because by experiancing this epic tale of fantasy ive increased my love for imagination more, and treasure it more too. A must read for any one who likes science fiction of any sort!
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