Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91753 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Spellbinding fantasy at its best
I was recommended to read this book 15 years ago and have never regretted it. The book's adult themes are dealt with extremely well, Donaldson's literary skills paint a masterful and vivid picture of a beautiful yet haunted Land on the brink of apocalypse. The author has a fantastic capability of bringing the past to the present, and evokes strong emotions as he draws the reader into the plot. Having read how Stephen Donaldson receives his inspiration I am amazed he can churn out such complex stories so consistently (read the rest of the chronicles and be in awe!) I have read and re-read this masterpiece and its sequels, and never fail to be impressed and honoured at having had the chance to read what is in my opinion one of the best fantasy tales of the last 50 years.

Skilled writing, moody anti-hero, hackneyed 70s fantasy plot
This classic fantasy series with Donaldson's bitter anti-hero Thomas Covenant was published in 1977, at the height of the Tolkein-inspired fantasy revival. Many of the clichéd fantasy elements in "Lord Foul's Bane" seem dated by modern standards, but Donaldson's innovative use of the anti-hero in epic fantasy and his uncommonly skilled writing transcend these stock trappings.

Donaldson describes the Land and the people Covenant encounters, but he doesn't develop the workings of the Land or the cultures of its inhabitants to any more than a backdrop level. The early supporting characters shuttle in and out of the story with little lasting impact on the plot or on Covenant. Some of the hackneyed plot points include the arch villain "Lord Foul" who wants to destroy everything, the minor villain "Drool Rockworm" who has discovered a powerful artifact, the pastoral beauty of "the Land," and the fact that only Covenant can save it from utter ruin.

The subtlety of "Lord Foul's Bane" lies in Donaldson's vivid descriptions of Covenant's constant mental fight with his surroundings that is vital to his survival as a leper, and the ambiguity that the Land, where his disease is healed and he is revered, may all be merely a dream. That ambiguity extends to the Land's struggle against Foul, as he may be manipulating the Land to bring about their own doom by asking Covenant to save them. Covenant represents the first 'real' character in fantasy, with complex motivations, selfishness, greed, altruism, a dash of heroism, and heaps of self-doubt.

Donaldson's adeptly describes this inner struggle, and the doom Lord Foul and his minions advance, with eloquent vocabulary and personification. Yet despite Donaldson's skillful writing, the book remains ponderous, perhaps due to the erudite vocabulary or the stock fantasy plot elements, but not because of Covenant's conflicted character.

Donaldson's Tolkein-influenced fantasy clichés fit with other popular late 70s fantasy, such as Terry Brooks's "The Sword of Shannara," but his articulate prose and the innovative bitter anti-hero in a fantasy quest put Donaldson's work above the inept and predictable drivel of most of those writers.

Bizarre
I've tried to read this book several times over the years, at the vehement urging of my mother, who, ironically, has never been able to get past the first book herself. And that seems to be the thing with this book - people sing its praises, but then there seem to be so many who just give up on it, and complain that it doesn't go anywhere.

That's true - this book really doesn't go anywhere. And even when it does go somewhere, you're still waiting for it to go somewhere. Only in the last fifty pages or so does the real action heat up, and even then, it seems half-hearted, as though something is missing.

If I had to label what's missing, I would have to say that it's originality and a solid, likable main character. What Donaldson has done is admirable - he's described the emotional torment of lepers and the unacceptable way in which they are shunned by society - but when he rants continuously on about this throughout the entire book, it eventually gets tiresome. Of course, the rape that Covenant commits early on in the book also serves to put many off. But then, isn't it a testament to the emotional torment he's going through? The main attraction of the trilogy is following Covenant through his inner journey, and the Land is just a means of doing this.

Throughout the book, it feels asthough Donaldson sacrificed the Land and all of the other characters simply so that he could develop Covenant - and it isn't enough. It doesn't inspire. The reader is also confronted by a feeling of despair at the atrocities done to the land, and Covenant's own reluctance to accept his fate. The only attraction to this is the realisation that Covenant is intensly human, unlike many heros of the same genre.

On the plus side, Donaldson's writing is very poetic, and he gives vivid descriptions of certain aspects of the land - Andelain, for example - which are sometimes hard to imagine. The Battle of Soaring Woodhelven is also wonderfully described, and doesn't fail to get the adrenaline flowing as Foamfollower throws Cavewights about like twigs. Deeper lessons are also here for the learning, as the message that we have become far too seperated from the health of the Earth is only too obvious. When Covenant is asked how his people survive in this state ("without beauty"), Covenant replies that he doesn't think we do - we're just stubborn.

Sadly though, for me, such nuggets of wisdom weren't enough to save the story and make it spectacular. Other reviewers were right when they said that this series needs patience, and perhaps when I'm older, with more time, I'll come back to it and find some more deeper meaning.

Now, I'm going to read the rest of the series, simply because I'm stubborn. I hope that they change my mind.