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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gallowglass" data-source="post: 411942" data-attributes="member: 5284">THomas Covenant, Stephen Donaldson etcFor me, the best thing about the six Covenant books were Covenant, and in the last three Linden Avery. So much fantasy literature is pompously self-righteous "find the hero inside" crap that basically lies to people about how much control they can actually achieve in their lives. the Covenant books take a normal everyman, and in both the real world and a fantasy world confront him with "epic" problems. And in the end, none of the (then) standard fantasy tropes or plot coupons succeed to vanquish the foe... I'll say no more, to avoid spoilers, but at the end of both trilogies, I liked Covenant, not as a hero on a pedestal, but as a  human being I had sympathy for. Which considering how he starts out in the first trilogy was a GOB-SMACKING reversal the first time!As for for Dave Langford: he's been flogging that horse for twenty odd years, mainly I think because Donaldson's chosen style in the Chroncles is deliberately verbose and esoteric, so there is a plethora of obscure words (all used correctly!!). I like it but it can be a bit hard work, and it has allowed Mr Langford some golden opportunities for hilarious parody. Personally I prefer Donaldson's style in the Chronicles to the minimalist style of the first GAP book which felt so flat and wooden to me that I gave up, and have still never managed to read the rest. Other Donaldon's worth a look are the Mordant's Need duology (Should have been edited down to a single volume IMO, but an easier read than Covenant) and the short story collections Reave the Just and Daughter of Reagals. The later is important because no matter what sins Donaldson commits in his other work he earns absolution for ALL of them with the story "Unworthy of the Angel" which is just brilliant...</blockquote>

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