On My Shelves today...

[seawasp]

... is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, one of the most controversial major fantasies ever published.

Comments

[dragoness-e.livejournal.com]

I actually read the first novel all the way through (many, many years ago) and then refused to read anything else by Donaldson. I loathed Covenant for being a whiny pile of angst who refused to take responsibility--he was worse than Elric in that department, and I saw no reason to subject myself to an entire series about a character I hated.

(Elric of Melnibone had the advantage of being what all the cool nerds were reading when I was in college--when I re-read Michael Moorcock's fiction these days, it's to marvel that I didn't notice what an awful hack he was. But then, I didn't notice what an excellent story-teller Robert E. Howard was in those days, either--I just gobbled them up equally.)

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

I likewise made it past The Event, due to love of the assorted other characters, but utterly loathed Thomas himself right up to not far short of the end.

Which is where I was spoiled that the character I most liked and enjoyed gets to die, like so many other of the characters in the series other than Thomas himself. At which point I threw the book down and never went back.

I have a friend that read their entire way through all six books "Just to see that bastard finally die!" and was most wroth when he didn't. Kinda.

That said, it was '87? '88? when I read the first book, and things have changed a whole lot since then, not least of all myself, and I've really enjoyed Donaldson's short stories, so maybe I'll give it another try one day.

Lord Foul's Bane still had a lasting effect upon me though, being the book that cured me of my need to finish a novel even if I wasn't enjoying it.

That has been of great benefit over the years, undoubtedly.

[seawasp]

I presume you're talking about Saltheart Foamfollower, the Giant? Yes, he does die, but he does so defeating Foul in one of the greatest Crowning Moments of Awesome and Heartwarming *ever*. I normally HATE having good characters die, and I certainly would have been happy to see him come back (well, he does, sorta, at one point), but that's one of the few "good main character dies" sequences that I both understood and felt reasonably good about.

One should note that Covenant feels the same way we do about that; when given, effectively, a wish by the Creator, the FIRST thing Covenant asks for is "Save Foamfollower". Not "keep me from dying".

[claidheamhmor]

Much the same for me, on all points. I remember reading only the "real world" Covenant bits, because I couldn't stand the rest.

[seawasp]

What? 90% of the book is spent in the Land, with the real-world stuff serving as a framing device. Plus if all you read are the real-world Covenant bits then you miss out on the Land itself which is the inventive and fun part of the book (even if Covenant himself is rather a drag)

[claidheamhmor]

Admittedly, I was about 14 at the time, and very, very new to SF&F...

Maybe I should try a re-read sometime.

[theoldone.livejournal.com]

It was hard to read Lord Foul's Bane past "the event," but I loved the Land as much as I despised Covenant. I persisted, and read the rest of the first trilogy, and decided that it was worth the effort, and that I like it (present tense, because I still do).
When the second trilogy was released, I picked up the first book, and I found that I even began to like Covenant himself (he really tried). I finished the second trilogy (and enjoyed it), but after the ending I expected that it was really the end.
Now, I find that there are four more books . . .

I am sure that I'll read them.

[gary-jordan.livejournal.com]

LFB is my favorite example of Books I Despise Enough to Burn. My late elder brother highly recommended the trilogies, but I didn't more than skim anything after book 1 and I wish Gollum had bitten his ring finger off and jumped in a volcano.