Apparently you missed the part that explained how he has leprosy, how his wife left him because of it, how he lost two fingers on his left hand, and how certain members of his community are so repulsed by him that they try to kill him.
Given all of the above, I’m willing to cut the guy a little bit of slack.
I enjoyed the Gap series, but it could have seriously used a better editor, it read like nobody had ever read the entire book straight from start to finish, the same phrases and descriptions would be used over and over and over again…something I really notice when I read fast.
Of course, one of my favorite books, ‘The Legacy of Heorot’, is far worse when it comes to that. At one point the omniscent 3rd person narrator describes something as an ‘orgy of murder’ and then a page and a quarter later one of the characters uses the exact same turn of phrase.
I must admit that I couldn’t finish this series. I alternated between wanting to tell Covenant to get over himself, and wanting to tell everyone else to stop blaming him for everything that goes wrong (dead hero turns evil - Covenant’s fault; Giants all killed - Covenant’s fault; got a hangnail - yep, you bet - Covenant’s fault). It just frustrated me too much, so I stopped reading shortly after starting the third book.
I’ve tried three times to read that pile of steaming crap, and never made it halfway through the first book.
Do I really need to say more?
FWIW, I actually enjoy some of Donaldson’s other writing.
Interesting comments so far, I appreciate them! Is the rumor true? Does Donaldson plan to write another Covenant series? Is there a movie in the works? And, most importantly, why can’t I find a copy of the Chronicals on auto book??? I’d love to get them as a gift but I can’t find them anywhere. Does Donaldson have an official website?
Could barely finish the first one. Have no desire to read the next one.
I also want to second the suggestion of Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. Very deep, detailed, complicated fantasy/scifi.
Or anything by Wolfe. 'Tsall good.