Show Posts
76
Literature / Re: Yearly Targets 2018
« on: August 06, 2018, 10:47:07 pm »Started Thomas Covenant Lord Foul's Bane. I hate stories like this lol. About half way through. At least the outset of the journey was more unique than WOT, but the ring of power and naming structures, histories, its all so LOTR-y. Sigh. The writing is fine at least, just not a fan of the story structure - what would you call it, 'traditional fantasy' or 'tolkeinian fantasy'?
Hmmmm. I understand your dislike, Wilshire. I would urge you to consider the following observations:
1. There is one obvious significant difference between Covenant's ring and the One Ring from LOTR.
2. I've noticed lots of praise for Bakker in this forum for his repurposing of traditional epic fantasy tropes. Donaldson is doing something similar. Give the series time.
3. Are you not even slightly appreciative of a protagonist that hews to a radical unbelief of the situation in which he finds himself?
4. The Haruchai are badass!
5. Giants! GIANTS!! GIANTS!!!
Cheers, Wilshire!
Let me just start by saying that the book is at least decently well written. The prose is good, the story pacing is fine and has some interesting parts to it. It has redeemable qualities, I just don't appreciate them lol. Its not a bad book, but its also full of all the things I hate most about the genre.
To me, what Donaldson appears to have done is taken wholesale some (now) worn out Tolkien tropes. He doesn't so much re-purpose them as recycle. From the Ring, to the names, quasi sentient horses... the entire thing reads like all the fantasy I've read from that era - unimaginative derivations of Tolkien. Bakker, on the other hand, at least managed to not put any rings and horses into his books. Whereas Bakker has some elements of the fantasy tradition infused into his works but taken in his own direction, Donaldson more/less copied them and in many cases almost didn't bother changing the names. Authors today actually manage to make new stories rather than retelling old ones, and ultimately that's what I'm interested in reading.
For the record, I don't even like LOTR, and its for this reason that I dislike old fantasy. The hero worship of fantasy authors and readers to Tolkien ruined fantasy for decades, with productions like this and Shannara being some of the best from the era. This is the kind of stuff that people think Fantasy still is today, and its why those who don't actually read fantasy still believe LOTR is the only one worth reading.
At least when compared to Shannara, it was published the same year, this book is a masterpiece. For its time, I can see how it would have been considered something extreme - the book starts rather dramatically plus the whole rape thing which was pretty graphic. But imo it didn't age well. There's nothing especially great about it given the scope of the genre today.
Interesting point of view, Wilshire.
While I agree that the Covenant series is directly descended from LOTR, I don't consider Donaldson's work to be "unimaginative". Quite the contrary. For example, Donaldson's use of Covenant's wedding ring is, imho, an imaginative repurposing of the "Ring Of Power" trope. Consider that Covenant's ring doesn't belong in the Land, whereas LOTR's One Ring was made within Middle-Earth. Covenant's ring is an alien power coveted by the antagonist, Lord Foul.
Consider also that the protagonist Covenant is also alien to the Land, and is undergoing a profound existential crisis. I've always found Donaldson's exploration of Covenant's psychology to be thought-provoking and undeniably original in the context of post-Tolkien fantasy.
I'm trying hard to demonstrate the imaginative novelty of the Covenant series in the hope that you'll carry on to the later books, which improve in subtlety and complexity. I think the growth in Donaldson's ability more or less parallels Bakker's growth as demonstrated through PON and TAE. Bakker may be the deeper and more original thinker (there's a debate for another thread....), but I would argue that Donaldson made a major breakthrough in epic fantasy. At a minimum, Donaldson created a acerbic and unlikable protagonist whose fundamental unbelief in his situation leads to some original and fascinating plot possibilities. You should at least read the second novel, "The Illearth War". You may be pleasantly surprised.
Cheers, Wilshire!
