Review/Rate Runes of the Earth

[Variol Farseer]

SRD mentioned at Elohimfest that his current editor doesn't approve of 'high style' or elaborate language and made him tone it down a lot.

I find that hard to swallow. These books are guarenteed best sellers. He could write them how he likes surely. He's not some kid who can be pushed around by his editor???

ANY writer, except Stephen King and J.K. Rowling, can be pushed around by editors. And the position of the publishing industry is that SRD is a has-been who hasn't had a bestseller in over 20 years. His current editor was probably in grade school when WGW was published.

It took all the string-pulling and high-pressure salesmanship that Howard Morhaim could possibly manage to find a publisher for the Last Chronicles at all.

It's sad but true that at this point in our respective careers, I probably have more leverage with editors than SRD has. Since I have no actual track record, publishers can still fantasize that I might be the Next Big Thing. What's more, I've never lost money for a publisher. Each of SRD's last eight books (not counting the Axbrewder crime novels) has lost money. This was because each publisher in turn overestimated the probable sales and paid far too much money to acquire those books. That's the publisher's fault, not the author's, but it's a lot more convenient to use the author as a scapegoat than to put the blame where it really belongs.

You know, most people in the publishing industry really do not know what they are doing. The money is poor, the turnover is high, and with rare exceptions, anyone with the skills to be a good publisher could make a much better living at some other job. It would be an unfair exaggeration, but not a grotesque one, to say that the average editor has two qualifications: a B.A. in English, and the ability to say, 'Do you want fries with that?'

(Mind you, there are many capable and experienced editors in the publishing industry, and many editors with good enough taste to understand some of the reasons why some books sell and others don't. But there are nowhere near enough such editors to go round, and it looks like SRD wasn't lucky enough to get one.)

I would also say that the whole 'fantasy author as geographer/architect' routine is highly derivative of Tolkien, however well done. The cause of originality suggests it should be avoided.

'The cause of originality' is grossly overrated. The way to be original is not to stop doing what is proven to work, but to add new things to the body of existing technique. In effect you're objecting to the creation of extensive and self-consistent settings in fantasy. You might as well object to the existence of plots or characters . . . or the number of legs on a chair. The Egyptians built four-legged chairs 5000 years ago, and nobody has fundamentally improved on that design since. Similarly, the art of literature contains techniques that have been accumulated over thousands of years, and only a fool would reject them simply for the sake of being different.

[Creator]

It's not about story devices like hurtloam or Kevin's Dirt.

Here is an example. The first paragraph of WGW:

Awkward without its midmast, Starfare's Gem turned heavily toward the north, putting its stern to the water clogged with with sand and foam which marked the passing of the One Tree. In the rigging, Giants labored and fumbled at their tasks, driven from line to line by the hoarse goad of Sevinhand's commands, even though Seadreamer lay dead on the deck below them. The Anchormaster stood, lean and rue-bitten, on the wheeldeck and yelled up at them, his voice raw with suppressed pain. If any compliance lagged, the Storesmaster, Galewrath, seconded him, throwing her shout after his like a piece of ragged granite because all the Search had come to ruin and she did not know any other way to bear it. The dromond went north simply to put distance between itself and the deep grave of its hope.


Now, what a piece of writing. It resonates with the utter futility of what has just happened, and it speaks on many volumes: about team work, about the sea and the land, about those who lead and those who follow. It does this through "fumbling" and "driving" and "hoarse"ness and "clogging"ly.

This is only the first paragraph.

There is NOT ONE PARAGRAPH in all of RotE that is like this. Not ONE. This is what I mean about writing. Real writing. Even as I typed that paragraph I got enveloped into the story again. The feeling I get when I read that paragraph was completely lost and not in RUNES.

Now go to Chapter Two of Part I of Runes. It is a setting as well, but this is how Donaldson approaches it now:

She knew where she was. Oh, she knew. Her brief look around had shown her the truth. The echo of Jeremiah's name had confirmed it. She had been here once before, then years and a lifetime ago. This stone circle with its parapet was Kevin's Watch, a platform carved into the pinnacle of a leaning stone spire high above the line of hills which divided the South Plains from the Plains of Ra.


Donaldson is completely lost in a character's head. The fault here is that overly simplistic and yet always part of writing SHOW, DON'T TELL. In the first paragraph from WGW, Donaldson showed the character's futitlity against the elements. We could FEEL it. It resonated due to his word choice. The second paragraph is almost entirely in Linden's head. Not only that, but then the last sentence seems like he just looked at a map and threw in some directions. He didn't need to add any of that. SHOW it, don't TELL IT. Let Linden look over the edge if she can and see what she sees. He condensed all of this into one boring paragraph.

The paragraph could easily have gone something like:

Linden felt the warm stone beneath her hands as she gasped from the spiralling blackness that swam in her head and that which still clutched at her heart. A soft wind blew over her, summer laced upon its touch like a caress that awakens slumber. With jaw clenched from disorientation and pain, she forced herself to regain her lost composure, the echo of Jeremiah's name still reverberating from the darkness she had just come from. That echo followed her as she for a mere moment wondered where she was. The permanent stone under hands came back to her, and she knew.

Oh, she knew. Her brief look around had told her as much, from the azure, crystal-clear sky above, the smooth, warm stone beneath her body, and the stone circle she sat in with parapet.

She was on Kevin's Watch, a platform carved into the pinnacle of a leaning stone spire high above the line of hills which divided the South Plains from the Plains of Ra. She was in the Land.


Now, I am NO writer. I am not a published author. But I know what I like and I know what I miss. Anyone with eyes can see the difference between the first paragraph and the second one. It glares in how different they are. WGW, the last book in the series before RUNES, is written like the first paragraph. It's graphic, it's musical in its word choice, and it is alive because of both. All of that is gone in this new effort.

Could it be dry and boring to the senses for a reason? Sure. This is one of the writing devices I was going to give Donaldson the benefit of the doubt if appropriate. He may not want his writing to be alive because of Kevin's Dirt. It was mentioned earlier. But I tell you, when Linden and group travel back in time when Kevin's Dirt isn't there, the writing should have changed. It didn't.

So, we shall see. This is all I am saying. I think the story would have been a great deal more enjoyable if written like the other two series. They were written similarly - this third one doesn't fit with the other two so far. I get excited by a good author who puts words together in a beautiful way. This new book doesn't have that.

There, I end my rant. No reason to get huffy at me. I am, after all, just one opinion, and may of you may like the direction of writing style he has taken. But you can't argue that the the styles in the first two are the same as this third one - it isn't. And he even admits it, as I have already said.

Shawn[/u]

Post this to questions for the author!

[Ard Rhys]

No one instructed Donaldson to write the way he did for this new novel. I read the book before it even had a publisher. That is why I am hoping that the editor at Putnam made some changes.

Those of you who have read the book in ARC form could speak better to this. Are my thoughts similar to your reading experience of it in ARC form? I read it in manuscript and that is all. I will reread it when it comes in hardcover, but it's a valid discussion to have - the differences between what the writer puts on paper and what is finally in the finished product.

Shawn

[native]

Those of you who have read the book in ARC form could speak better to this. Are my thoughts similar to your reading experience of it in ARC form?

I think it remains the case, more or less. I note that there is a certain amount of, for want of a better word

Spoiler

teleportation around the place where long journeys would otherwise have been required

which rather suggests to me that the writer wasn't interested in describing the scenery of a quest, but rather wanted to get on with the plot.

[Romeo]

Ard,

You mentioned this "first person" problem before, and I didn't entirely understand. Now, thanks to your One Tree example, I do entirely. Thanks for spelling it out in those terms.

[Revan]

Those of you who have read the book in ARC form could speak better to this. Are my thoughts similar to your reading experience of it in ARC form?

I think it remains the case, more or less. I note that there is a certain amount of, for want of a better word

Spoiler

teleportation around the place where long journies would otherwise have been required

which rather suggests to me that the writer wasn't interested in describing the scenery of a quest, but rather wanted to get on with the plot.

Yeah, I think that's fair enough, I prefer the plot to the scenery anyways.

[Dave]

I found Runes to be a good...read. I can't quite say it's a good book because it's so lacking in plot and character development (and thus anything resembling a climax) that I'm not sure it qualifies as a book! To paraphrase Elmer Fudd, playing the conductor in that old Looney Tunes spoof of Fantasia, Runes "winds awound and awound and awound and awound...and ends up here."

For old Chronicles fans like myself, the winding is quite enjoyable; I suspect newcomers would do better to go back and start with Lord Foul's Bane. Still, there's enough backstory and history related that it's possible to jump right in, though IMHO opinion newbies will be more lost than found.

A few observations, in no particular order, and with as little detail as possible so as not to spoil things for those that haven't read it yet...

Foul is far more interesting in Runes than he was in the previous six books combined. For once he isn't acting like a cheap Republic serial villain.

As a parent, Linden's anguish over Jeremiah seems unusually subdued. I know that were I in her place there would be a lot more rubble in my wake!

Y'know, just for kicks, just once, I'd like to see an easily-swayed Haruchai or mendacious Stonedowner. Does SRD have to order all his characters up from the Land's Central Casting department?

The Haruchai view of Earthpower presented in Runes amounts to blaming the victim...but that's exactly what I'd expect from them.

[burgs]

For me, the prose style is part and parcel of the story being told appropriate for the place in which it is set, and so it is more understated, less dramatic. We are not describing the beautiful Lorien style Land of the first chronicles, or the tortured wreck of the second - we're talking about another kind of Land altogether. The prose well matches the tale that's being told IMHO. Therefore the question remains 'Do you like the story?' One could conclude that both prose and plot are teetering on the edge of being dull and unconvincing, but the next book will be the acid test for me. Either it's clever prologue or it's aimless rambling.

I agree with the first part, but not the second.

SRD hasn't lost anything; he's writing in the style that he needs to write to tell his story. If you look at the "real" prologue, his writing is crisper than I've ever seen it. Honestly, I felt like I was reading Joseph Conrad. His descriptions of the structures created by Jeremiah were so perfect that if I were a teacher of writing, I would use those descriptions as an example of how to write so that your readers see.

[burgs]

There are far fewer "$1.50" words in this book, and that's to SRD's credit, not his detriment. In writing, you don't pick the biggest word that comes to mind, you use the simplest word to describe the situation. If it so happens that a $1.50 word is called for, then of course it should be used. But as much as I loved the vocabularly lessons in high school while reading Covenant, my main criticism was that I was reaching for the dictionary far too often than necessary. This was also a criticism that many fans of fantasy had for Covenant, and would list as reason why they started reading LFB, but went no further. (Others just hated TC, but that's another topic.)

I'm a little surprised at the criticism in some of these posts. I really enjoyed Runes, and found the story, characters, setting, plot, style of writing, Linden (and her mistakes), wonderful. It also didn't bother me that TC was essentially absent. I thought Linden carried the book well. Of course I want TC back, no doubt, but I thought it was to Donaldson's credit that he wrote an entire book in a series titled "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", without, TC.

[CovenantJr]

I really enjoyed Runes, but I do agree to an extent with the comments about SRD's slightly subdued style in this book. I was slightly disappointed by Linden's sojourn in the land's past, but I couldn't have put my finger on the reason until I read this topic. I was expecting the rich, textured Land I remembered, but it actually "felt" no different to the Dirt-ravaged Land of the present. I didn't pick up the same sense of energy and life as I did from the Land in the previous six books. It's not a major gripe, just an observation.

Foul is far more interesting in Runes than he was in the previous six books combined. For once he isn't acting like a cheap Republic serial villain.

Personally, I found the opposite. To me, Foul in Runes didn't demonstrate the edge that made me like/hate/fear him in the first place. Other than the "I am content" comment, he seemed...clumsy.

[burgs]

There's a reason we didn't feel that rich textured land of The First Chronicles: it had only been a few hundred years since Linden had created the new Staff of Law, and the Land was still in pain. Remember when they first arrived in the past was a spot on the ground that...I don't remember if it felt wrong, or if it felt as if it were in pain. Regardless, the Land was in a state of healing.

[CovenantJr]

True...but even the Sunbane-ravaged Land had more of that life and texture. I withhold judgement though, for the time being - I trust SRD.

[burgs]

Perhaps it's simply my sublime joy of actually having this book in my hands after waiting for it for 21 years. I don't think so, though.

The test will be when I re-read it next week.

I still say that the prologue was immaculately written.

[CovenantJr]

Perhaps it's simply my sublime joy of actually having this book in my hands after waiting for it for 21 years.

Perhaps. I did only wait a mere six years

[burgs]

Actually it was more than 21 years, because I heard of his third trilogy when he came to Chicago in 1982, I believe. He mentioned it to me and a couple of other fans who were talking to him near the elevators (I'm certain that escape was foremost on his mind). So I knew to expect more even before finishing WGW. Patience has been difficult.

[Cail]

Well, I'll try to make this somewhat coherent. I finished the book Saturday, so I've had a little time to let everything sink in.

-It was a good read. The story moved along well, and definately kept me engaged. It was good to see a lot of the things that were absent in the 2nd Chrons.

But.....

-Time travel? Yikes, let's hope there's no more of this. It was a bad idea when Captain Kirk saved the whales, and it still is.

-Ramen don't ride.

-I find it hard to believe that in the seven to eight thousand years that have passed since LFB, the Land's society hasn't evolved at all....Still basically an early iron-age society. Now granted, it'd be rough to advance the story if stonedowners were driving around in Buicks, but it's a tough pill to swallow that nothing has changed.

There seems to be an awful lot of Deus es Machina going on, which is surprising given that SRD has said that the idea for the Last Chrons came at the same time as the 2nd Chrons.

Like I said, I really did like the book, and I'm rabidly looking forward to the next one, but a lot of the story so far seems like a cheat.

[Aleksandr]

Ramen don't ride.

The point is made in the story that no Ramen has ever ridden a Ranyhyn before. (Though I’ve always wondered how Manthrall Lithe escaped the Fire Lions on Mt Thunder at the end of LFB if she didn’t ride one of the Ranyhyn Covenant called to rescue his companions). Donldson is not contradicting his earlier work here. The Ramen have a bit of a debate over whether they should accept the Ranyhyn offer to bear them before they do.

I find it hard to believe that in the seven to eight thousand years that have passed since LFB, the Land's society hasn't evolved at all....Still basically an early iron-age society.

Suspension of disbelief on this one. And where is it written that societies MUST develop technologically over the millennia? In our own history technology evolved very slowly, almost impeceptibly, for thousands of years until things sudden took off in Europe a few hundred years ago.

[burgs]

The point is made in the story that no Ramen has ever ridden a Ranyhyn before. (Though I’ve always wondered how Manthrall Lithe escaped the Fire Lions on Mt Thunder at the end of LFB if she didn’t ride one of the Ranyhyn Covenant called to rescue his companions).

The Ramen can run like the wind.

[Cail]

I'm at work, so I don't have the books with me, but I believe that its made abundantly clear that the Ramen do not ride, and they have disdain for those who do. The mere fact that the Ramen in RotE, after 8000 years are still bent that the Bloodguard rode the Ranyhyn into battle, further reinforces my feelings.

And as far as technical evolution, The Land is (in my estimation) about where Europe was 800-900 years ago (think Braveheart). Yeah, its suspension of disbelief, but for nothing to have changed? That kind of suspension holds up bridges.

[dlbpharmd]

It was the will of the Ranyhyn that the Ramen ride. To refuse would have been disobedience. The Ramen had no choice in the matter.