Hey, where's the

[Han-shan]

runes?!?! I was promised some runes!!!! Says so in the title!!!

OK, still a hundred pages to go, but come on!!!

[[Syl]]

Sorry, Han, but if you want to see Runes, you're going to have to look beneath the surface of this book.

[Romeo]

Watch the trailer for the book that's on the main page of the official site. That should help shed some light.

[CovenantJr]

I wondered about that too, and I don't feel particularly enlightened after watching the trailer. I can only guess that it's something to do with either Anele's communication with stone, or his possession by various entities depending on where he's standing. Or both.

[King Elessar 8]

After reading the book, I take SRDs use of "Runes" to mean something akin to "magical signs from the Earth" rather than literal runes. If so, Aneles communication with the stones count, and probably the possessions as well. Still, its certainly the least clear Chronicles title since "Lord Foul's Bane", and we all know SRD wasnt responsible for that one.

[Dave]

I was curious about that, too. After I finished the book, I took it to represent a "blurred" pronunciation akin to the Worm/Word/Weird bit of Elohim fame: Is it "runes" or "ruins"?

[Han-shan]

Ah! There they are!

For all of her scrubbing, however, she could not remove the grass stains from her pants. They had become part of the fabric, indelible, and cryptic as runes.

I'll have to get to work deciphering them.

[[Syl]]

I hate to say this (for fear it will inspire some), but wouldn't that be Runes of the Pants? Maybe Runes of the Grass.

And speaking of those stains, isn't that strongly similar to Covenant's robe when traveling through Morinmoss?

[burgs]

Very eerily so. Only someone who actually lives in that forest would remember it.

[UrLord]

That's exactly what I kept thinking of, but I can't imagine what the connection would be.

[burgs]

This is what separates Donaldson from the rest of the fantasy writers, like Brooks, and Eddings. Everything in his works represents something. Nothing exists merely to exist. It all has purpose.

It's like reading - take your pick - Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and, especially for me, Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Hawthorne's works, if you missed the way a clock ticked, an entire analogy was lost on you, and therefore most of the meaning of the novel or short story.

Maybe that's why Donaldson has so many detractors.

There's also the issue of people just hating Thomas Covenant (again, same reason - these are simple people who want to see an Allanon type figure throw fire from his hands at every given opportunity, with no ramifcations), and then the other, which is more valid, that reading Donaldson is almost like reading a "How to Increase your Vocabularly in 100 Days". Not that I minded the lessons, but it did slow the books down, and I'm sure for some people, it was intolerable. Again, these are probably people who think that Terry Brooks or Terry Goodkind (gag) are amongst the greatest living writers of fantasy.

[UrLord]

I think most of the time people hate Covenant it's because they see all the crappy things he does in the first part of the Chronicles and then entirely miss the guilt and redemption portion of it. They continue to see him as the villain protagonist and hate the fact that he's simply not punished (or not punished enough) for his actions. Of course, there's also the vocabulary thing, but I for one love the obscure words that Donaldson chooses. The way he uses them seems to add more flavor and character to the story.

You know, as much as I think no author really compares to Donaldson...I still like Goodkind. Where Donaldson loves to right about such things as guilt and redemption, Goodkind explores the nobility and strength of the human spirit. While I don't think the Sword of Truth necessarily has the high quality of the Chronicles, I still enjoy them. I also can't say that I've ever read Brooks, and I don't know who Allanon is!

[burgs]

I read a Wizard's First Rule, and thought it was god-awful. There was a rhyme in that first edition, a song that some wizards sang, that has since been removed (undoubtedly because it was absolutely laughable, and contradicted Goodkind's own strategems).

I tried to give the second book a chance, but 1/3 of the way through it just couldn't go further. I think he is an awful writer.

Of course, that's just my humble opinion.

Allanon is the "Gandalf" of Brooks's original Shannara.

[drtyrtbstrd]

I managed to burrow through the first 3 or 4 Goodkind books, but couldn't bear the repetition any more. I'm not a fan of Brooks' stuff either, although I read several of them when I was a kid.

I've actually not read much fantasy outside of Tolkien and Donaldson, although I place these two authors above all others. I'm sure there's a thread somewhere in here devoted to recommendations of other authors, but I'd like to hear any opinions. Keep in mind that with the author's mentioned above, my expectations are probably unrealistically high!

[UrLord]

Heh, as far as I'm concerned Donaldson is among the very small elite group of Greater Authors (Douglas Adams goes there, too), and everyone else belongs in the Lesser Authors category, Goodkind included. Donaldson (and those very few others) is just a tier above everyone else.

For the most part, I've learned to accept that nothing else I read is going to come close, so I tend to enjoy books on the merits they do possess, rather than focusing on those they don't. <insert rant about the exception known as Robert Jordan, whose books no longer have any merit at all>.

Wait, what was this thread about? I think I've forgotten amid the comparisons of Donaldson to the Lesser Authors...

[Damelon]

I hate to say this (for fear it will inspire some), but wouldn't that be Runes of the Pants? Maybe Runes of the Grass.

And speaking of those stains, isn't that strongly similar to Covenant's robe when traveling through Morinmoss?

Without commenting on the potential inspiration for some , I had the same thought concerning Covenant's (and Mhoram's) robe. As I recall, he tried to figure out the meaning and never did.

[Prover of Life]

The book is full of them. Runes is defined as mystery and magic, as well as a poem, and alphabetic characters.

The alphabet is seen on Lindens pants stains.

The mystery is what is causing such a distortion/corruption of earthpower.

The magic (extraordinary power seemingly from a supernatural source) is shown by the Ranyhyn, Esmer, health-sense, communication with stone, etc.

On a different level, the characters themselves become the alphabetic runes of this magical, poem of the earth.

[Revan]

I wondered about that too, and I don't feel particularly enlightened after watching the trailer. I can only guess that it's something to do with either Anele's communication with stone, or his possession by various entities depending on where he's standing. Or both.

Git, that was my theory. I taught you that.

[CovenantJr]

If that's true, my mind must have been elsewhere, because I thought of it while I was typing the post.

[Bullfrog]

Anele's communication with the Earth seems like the most obvious connection to the title but its clear that the stones speak and he listens. "Runes" signify written characters or glyphs.