I got the first two books of the Thomas Covenant series as a gift, and I started the first one a while ago. Stopped around Chapter 5–the prose seemed over the top, and some of the overall concepts looked ridiculous. On the other hand, there was some promise to it–some of the lines were well-delivered, and the ‘lower’ aspects of magic seemed really interesting.
So I’m asking–for those of you who’ve read it, or tried to read it–should I finish it, or not?
And this thread doesn’t have to be about me. If someone else wants opinions on finishing something, they should ask too.
Opinions vary, with some people saying that the first book is weak and the rest of the series is much better, and others feeling the exact opposite. Personally, I love the series, and think that it progressively gets better all the way through the Second Chronicles (I haven’t started the third series yet). FWIW, I absolutely adored the OTT prose.
I’m wondering if I should finish The Time Traveler’s Wife. I started it several years ago, and was really enjoying the story, but for some reason I never completed it.
You’re over the hump that kills it for most people who dismiss the book out of hand; if you still don’t like it then you probably won’t enjoy the rest.
Life’s too short to finish books you don’t like, even if other people love them. De Gustibus, YMMV, and whatever floats your boat.
I’m the wrong guy to ask about Thomas Covenant. Mama Zappa hated it with the intensity of a gamma ray burster. While I was waiting for the used book store to open so I could sell our copy of book one, I thought “How bad can it be?” and I read a few pages. :eek: The store could not open fast enough for me! I admire your persistence in getting through chapter 1.
Now go find a book you enjoy the whole way through, no matter what anyone else thinks of it!
I loved the series when I first read it, around 1982 or so (I was in high school at the time). IIRC, at that time, the second trilogy was just coming out, and I recall borrowing those books from the library the first time I read them.
With those strongly positive memories, I set about re-reading the series about 10 years ago. I made it through the first book, and couldn’t take it any more. It wasn’t Donaldson’s prose that bothered me so much as just how much of an irredeemable asshat Covenant is. Knowing that I’d be slogging through several more books full of his self-pitying and inability to give a flying fart about others, I just gave up.
I read the trilogy about 20 years ago, with the same reaction after .5 of book 1 of, “this must get better”, and it pretty much didn’t. For me. Follow your nose, it always knows.
I’d give maybe give it a miss as an adult. I read them as a teenager and loved them, but you don’t really notice the writing too much back then. Donaldson was (is?) an infamously bad writer at the sentence by sentence level (although very good in other ways), and I think this would be hard to take now.
Try his short fiction first - good advice for any writer, particularly in the field of SF. If you like his short stories, you’ll probably like his novels.
I recommend Reave the Just and Other Tales. It contains classic fantasy, Arabian fantasy, ninja-oriented fantasy, a Berserker story and the world’s first passive-aggressive superhero.
It was a very interesting series. Actually, I like the prose, though it takes getting used to, and you’d best have a dictionary to hand while reading it. The first trilogy has a very interesting progression of tales; the second I recall has having left me a little unimpressed at the end of the story.
I can’t wait for book 3 of the third trilogy to come out.
I hated it. It’s one of the few books I’ve ever failed to finish. The main character is an irredeemable asshole and I couldn’t read it.
Then I come here and find a lot of people hated it too and I felt less guilty! It’s rare for me to give up on books; I can usually find something to enjoy. Not this one.
I’m trying to think of something else I hurled across the room in disgust. Can’t think of anything.
Here’s another vote for “don’t bother.” I found Covenant himself repellent, and the first two trilogies (yes, I slogged through them both) depressing. If you aren’t enjoying it, and you aren’t curious to see how it all ends, don’t bother.
As other have said, there are lots of other things out there to read.
My opinion is: do not waste your time. It is utter, utter crap and the books get worse as they go on. I read the first two, then threw the third aside with great force. Pretentious prosewank and bollocky plotshit.
I didn’t really dig the first book, Lord Foul’s Bane, until well past the halfway point, but I really liked the other two (I have the set in hardback in the Jettboy Library). I thought it was the best anti-fantasy ever written, and important if for no other reason than as a literary experiment.
I don’t view the trilogy as a set of fantasy novels, in the truest sense; it’s more like the written account of a series of fever dreams (which may, or may not, actually be real) from a sick, angry, bitter, psychologically damaged man. Viewing The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as “fantasy” is tantamount to thinking of Samuel Delany’s Dhalgren as “science fiction”.
Well, not neccessarily - some books are more than the sum of their part. Say what you want about his prose, Donaldson’s plotting is excellent, and he knows how to write a proper climax. That’s more than you can say about most of the writers in his genre.
Like a couple of others, I read and enjoyed the series as a teenager. A couple of years ago, I tried re-reading Lord Foul’s Bane and only got about halfway through. It wasn’t that I was actively turned off—more like I had other things I’d rather read.
Agreed, Thomas Covenant is an asshat, but there are some really likeable secondary characters, and the Land itself is one of the better fantasy worlds in the genre.
As I recall, Donaldson’s Mordant’s Need series started out slow and somewhat tedious, but started to get good about halfway through the first volume and was well worth finishing.
You get really sick of the self pity and leper whining by the end. It’s like having to sit in a room with Rossie O’Donald while she bitches about everything on her mind. I was wishing he’d just die even if the whole universe went to hell.
