Is anyone disappointed in Runes?

Book 1 of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

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Is anyone disappointed in Runes?

Post by High Lord Tolkien »

Is anyone disappointed in Runes?
I was answering a question in the General SRD forum about what was my favorite chapter.
I went through all six books in my head and had many from each one to choose from or fight over.
But when I went to Runes.......nada....zip.
It was just.....ok.
Nothing really moved me.
And I've read it 2 times and browsed it several times.

I was never struck with any kind of wonder with Runes.
Am I just getting older and hard to please?
Or is it a different writting style of SRD?
Anyone else feel this way?
I'm not disappointed in Runes, I loved it.
But there was definately no wonderful "What the Hell" reading moments for me.
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Post by dlbpharmd »

I'm not disappointed in ROTE, but I'll be the first to admit that there's a great deal about the book that I don't understand.
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Post by Usivius »

nope. not disappointed at all.
As many have said already, it is an amazing "set-up" book to what is to follow. HOwever I also find it an exceptional read as itself. I love the character of Linden and am enjoying the story as she has to react (all by herself, without TC's help or 'guidance') to all the poop happening. It's great.
The chapters in the 'real world' were a fantastic opener. I couldn't get enough. And almost felt disappointed once we got to the Land. But Foul's cryptic interventions and all the stuff that is currently happening is such a great build up, I have just been devouring all of SRD's beautifully written story...

thumbs up for me!
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Post by Creator »

While I liked Runes ... it is a set up.

Nothing specific 'moved me' as much as say ... the meeting of the Giants in the Wonderd Land ... Covenants joy in seeing them again was honestly matched by my own. Poignant.

Runes did not affect me so. [Tho the ceasure scenes - once I knew that formication wasn't ... well, you know ... made me itch! ;) ]
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Post by wayfriend »

Dissapointed so far ... it suffers from the same loss of poignancy that affects the GAP cycle. I'm worried that SRD doesn't have a chapter like Coercri, Surrender, or The Banefire in him any more.
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Post by Cameraman Jenn »

Wow, I was totally moved by the urviles becoming good guys! I thought that was awesome. They totally kicked some butt to get the Staff back and that totally ruled. And what about the Ramen completely going against hundreds of years of ingrained belief by actually obeying the Ranhyn and riding for the first time ever. What about Stave's sacrifice? Wasn't that moving? Granted, alot of ROTE is laying groundwork for events to come but there was still alot of action in it.

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Post by drew »

The first in each series' have been my fave's.

LFB is my fave in the 1st chrons.
TWL is my fave in the 2nd chrons.
Although Runes is the only book so far in the 3rd chrons...it ranks up there with LFB and TWL.
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Post by Nerdanel »

Runes is a rather subtle and cerebral kind of awesome. To really enjoy it, I think you need to pay attention to details so that you can go "Oh no, Linden! Don't do that!" at every easy "success". She's like a horror movie heroine stumbling alone to an abandoned shack in which a twisted murderer had just killed yet another victim. Oh wait... And the Demondim are just amazingly cool.

I have several neat far-out (but believable) theories I've been intending to write threads about, but I've just been too tired. Perhaps I can soon gather energy so that I can get into blowing your minds.
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Post by Cameraman Jenn »

HOKEY SMOKES Nerdanel!!! I think that's the best description of ROTE that I have ever heard....except you should mention that the horror movie heroine is always for some unknown reason walking around in the woods wearing high heels, just as Linden has her own self imposed handicaps....
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Post by Creator »

OK. I like the Esmer. He is cool. The Madhoubt is interesting. I've read it once. And listened to it several times. I find myself wanting in to move faster "in a good way". It is engaging through repeated reads because it is interesting.

BUT ... the emotional content. Compare....
SRD: [i]The Wounded Land[/i] wrote:Suddenly, Covenant's eyes were full of tears. They blinded him; he could not blink away visions of Saltheart Foamfollower- Foamfollower, whose laughter and pure heart had done more to defeat Lord Foul and heal the Land than any other power, despite the fact that his people had been butchered to the last child by a Giant-Raver wielding a fragment of the Illearth Stone, thus fulfilling the unconscious prophecy of their home in Seareach, which they had named Coercri, The Grieve.

All killed, all the Unhomed. They sprang from a sea-faring race, and in their wandering they had lost their way back to their people. Therefore they had made a new place for themselves in Seareach where they had lived for centuries, until three of their proud sons had been made into Giant-Ravers, servants of the Despiser. Then they had let themselves be slain, rather than perpetuate a people who could become the thing they hated.

Covenant wept for them, for the loss of so much love and fealty. He wept for Foamfollower, whose death had been gallant beyond any hope of emulation. He wept because the Giant standing before him now could not be one of the Unhomed, not one of the people he had learned to treasure. And because, in spite of everything, there were still Giants in the world. He did not know that he had cried aloud until Hollian touched him. "Ur-Lord. What pains you?"

"Giant!" he cried. "Don't you know me?" Stumbling, he went past Linden to the towering figure. "I'm Thomas Covenant."

"Thomas Covenant." The Giant spoke like the murmuring of a mountain. With gentle courtesy, as if he were moved by the sight of Covenant's tears, he bowed. "The giving of your name honors me. I take you as a friend, though it is strange to meet friends in this fell place. I am Grimmand Honninscrave." His eyes searched Covenant. "But I am disturbed at your knowledge. It appears that you have known Giants, Giants who did not return to give their tale to their people."
with from the Runes ...
Spoiler
Linden's receipt of Stave's profession of loyalty (arguably something that should be emotionally impactful)
SRD: [i]The Runes of The Earth[/i] wrote:
Spoiler
Escorted by her friends, she approached Stave and bowed deeply, hoping that he would recognize the scale of her gratitude. However, the bow which he reurned to her resembled a farewell more than an acknowledgement. His manner conveyed the impression that for her sake he had turned his back on more things than she could understand.

She wanted to ask him how the Masters would respond to his profession of faith; but her throat was full of other words which demanded utterance.

Meeting his single gaze, she said with he whole heart, 'Thank you. I owe you more than I can ever repay.

'You've already done so much for me. You've been true ---' Her voice broke momentarily. 'I can't even begin to describe how glad I am ---'
Perhaps it is just me. TWL and the Giants impact me FAR MORE than RUNES emotionally. Doesn't mean I didn't think Runes was great. Just didn't tug the heart strings the same. [
Spoiler
Perhaps because I DO se Linden as a whiny bitch! ;)
]
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Post by Kil Tyme »

Actually I thought that was one of the best written parts of the book, the long speach by Stave; his explaining his actions and his experience with the Horses, and then
Spoiler
when all looked as if he was going to choose one way, he chose to stand by Linden.
I loved that part and actually cheered and was quite moved as much as Linden.

edited to add spoiler.
Last edited by Kil Tyme on Tue Oct 31, 2006 1:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by I'm Murrin »

I have to agree about a lessening of impact. The pared-down writing style SRD seems so pleased at having cultivated creates an effect far less visceral than that of his earlier style. You had to drag yourself through The Wounded Land and The One Tree, while the language pulled you toward every emotional twist and turn of Linden and Covenant's minds.
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Post by wayfriend »

Creator wrote:Doesn't mean I didn't think Runes was great. Just didn't tug the heart strings the same.
That's what I'm sayin', yo.
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Post by kevinswatch »

Heh. I think I've already made my displeasure of Runes pretty clear here at the Watch. But I guess I might as well say it again, since I have a topic now, heh.

But yeah, I'll say it, I was incredibly disappointed in Runes.

Runes is the only SRD book that I've read so far that I had to suffer so much to get through. Every other book just pulled me right in. But with Runes...it was like SRD was just trying to make the story boring has hell.

I guess I'll have to withhold ultimate judgement on Runes until after the whole series is over. But right now, even as a set-up/introduction book like Runes is (supposedly) supposed to be, it was just plain boring.

The only interesting part of the whole thing was Esmer. If it wasn't for him, I really don't think I could have ever even finished the book. Just my opinion though. I know many people really enjoyed it. Maybe it just wasn't for me.-jay
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Post by Cameraman Jenn »

Is this not poignant?
Because she had no lore to guide her, and no experience, she sank to her knees. Perhaps that suppliant stance would covey what words could not.
"I don't know how to do this," she told the dawn and the mountain breeze."I don't know if you can hear me. Or if you care. But you've already helped us once.
"And once you saved the world."
As she spoke, she slowly closed her eyes; turned her concentration inward. Without watching what she did, she pulled Covenant's ring from under her shirt and folded it in her cupped palms as if she were praying. Somewhere hidden within her lay a door which could be opened on silver and conflagration. She knew that; otherwise she would already be dead. But it seemed to occupy a place in her hear and mind which she could only approach as if by misdirection. She had not yet learned how to find that door at will.
"You know who I am." She spoke softly. If the ur-viles could or would not hear her, no shout would reach them. "With this white gold ring and my own hand, I used Vain to make a new Staff of Law, as you intended." Vain had been given to Covenant, but he had acknowledged and served her. "With your help, I went as far as I could go against the Despiser."
Far enough to heal the ravages of the Sunbane. But only Covenant's self-sacrifice had sufficed to contain Lord Foul's malice.
"Now I'm back. This time I intend to do more."
She thought of Jeremiah, alone and tormented. Of Anele's terrors and bereavements. Of Lord Foul's words in the old man's mouth. Of a yellow shroud tainting the Land.
She had heard Covenant say while she dreamed,
Trust Yourself
And within her a door which she could not find shifted on it's hinges.
"I want your help again," she continued,"if you'll give it. Not against the Despiser this time,"although she sought that as well. "One of the Ramen is dying. She needs vitrim. You can save her.
"In Vain's name I ask it, and my own. Hear me, Please. Otherwise a young woman," hardly more than a girl, "who fought with you agains the kresh is going to die."
Reaching out as if blindly with the fingers of her volition, the hand of choice, she grasped for the handle and unfurled white flame into the new day.
It could have been a high sheet of fire or a small tendril: she neither knew nor cared. Only a moment of wild magic; scarcely more than a heartbeat. Then she opened her hands and let Covenant's ring fall; left it dangling against her chest. Still with her eyes closed, she bowed her forehead to the grass.
If the ur-viles helped her now, they might do so again.
They might help her save Jeremiah.
She heard nothing except the mild curiosity of the breeze; felt nothing except the gravid silence of the mountains. Yet when she raised her head and opened her eyes, she saw an ur-vile standing before her on the grass with an iron cup in its hands.
In the burgeoning dawn, the aroma of vitrim--dusky, thick as silt--could not be mistaken.

Personally I found this moving for two reasons, first, Linden can't heal Sahah on her own and has to ask for help and she does so without hesitation, and second that the ur-viles, former servants of Lord Foul have learned enough compassion to help a dying Ramen woman.

The whole section from where Stave chooses to stand at the side of the chosen, then takes his beating and is outcast and then given new respect from Liand and Mahrtiir is very moving to me as well.

Another thing I would like to point out is that SRD's charactors often take time to grow on people. We are just starting to get to know this batch except Linden of course so it may not seem as poignant in such moments as it would if we were more familiar with them such as the aforementioned passage about Covenant's emotions over his memories of Foamfollower. I personally did not come to even like Covenant until sometime in book 2.

CJ

P.S. I apologize for any typos in my copying the passage from the book.

[mod edit to add quotes - dlbpharmd]
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Post by Seareach »

There were things l liked about Runes, other things I didn't. And I'm sort of with Creator here: it "just didn't tug the heart strings the same". But I actually think (for me at least) this had to do with style rather than content. The thing that I most miss is the "music", that "operatic" style that we see in the first and second chronicles. Runes does have its moments (what CJ has quoted is one example), but overall Runes is very different to the first and second chronicles and doesn't sing to me the way the other novels did.

And, well, I have no problem with Linden...but most of you already know that! ;)
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Post by Cameraman Jenn »

Well, I am not saying that ROTE was my fave of his books but I do think it DID have some very important emotional moments which I thought were well written. I honestly think that when Stave decided to risk outcast status by siding with Linden he changed my mind forever about the Haruchai of this era. I didn't like him up until then but after I loved him for his ability to show humility and stand up to his convictions in the face of what the Haruchai have become. I welled up when Liand and Marthiir gave him props and he shrugged it off with typical Haruchai selflessness. In that moment I came to love Stave. I was leaning toward Ur-vile love with WGW but Runes cemented that for me. They have developed compassion, something we should rejoice in. When they helped save Sahah, I was like "YES!!!! UR-VILES ROCK!!" I also think there is purpose in the way every single thing has been presented to us so far. Yes, the writing style is less "in your face" than the first two series but it IS the final series and he is taking his time with charactor development which I think is important as well as setting the stage for things to come.

However, in defense of the emotional puissance of this novel, Let me quote the anguish of Linden....
Linden Avery and Stave of the Haruchai returned to the Verge of Wandering in a scourging rain. Huddled on the necks of their Ranyhyn, they rode into the encampment of the Ramen as if driven by flails, while behind them harsh winds lashed the wracked peaks, and a downpour as bitter as sleet cut into the vale from all directions, twisted to chaos by the tumbling gusts of the storm. Occasional thunder harried their heels. At intervals, shrouded streaks of lightening turned the massed thunderheads the color of bruises and madness: a swollen, livid hue shot through with argent like unfettered wild magic.
They had been away for two days and a night.
Alerted by scouting Cords, or by some instinctive link with the great horses, a throng of Ramen accompanied by Liand hastened from their shelters to greet the Ranyhyn and their riders.
Stave was able to dismount without aid, alhtough he wavered on his feet. Cold and cruel exposure combined with the aftereffects of his wounds had eroded even his great strength. Perhaps he would have spoken, if words would have sufficed to succor his companion--and if he could have made himself heard through the pummeling torrents.
But Linden's fingers had to be pried from their grip on Hyn's neck. She had to be dragged bodily from Hyn's back. In Liand's embrace and the support of the Ramen, she hung stiffly, unable to move: rigid with mortification, and chilled to the bone; so cold and deprived and lost that she could not even shiver. She only remain clenched, and breathed in shallow, dyling gasps, and wept like the rain, ceaselessly.
Hyn's steaming warmth was all that had kept her alive. Perhaps at some time earlier in the day, she had sustained herself with white fire. Stave would know, if she did not. But long hours ago the storm had whipped her capacity for power to tatters and rent it from her. If she had not lain along Hyn's neck and clung there, desolate and un-yielding, her flesh would have failed her. There was malice in the gnashing rain, the fanged wind, and she could not have endured it without her mount.
I think this passage is very provocative.

[mod edit to add quotes - dlbpharmd]
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Post by Ur Dead »

I can't complain against Runes. This is a series of four books I never dreamed Donnelson would write.
We are so expected of the Land to be in such a perfect state that having it changed again boggles the mind.
The difference between the first two chros is like night and day. The third goes in another direction. New ideas and concepts ,
it's like we have to learn about the Land all over again. It's changed.

So I am really not disappointed. I enjoy it because SRD added again the question. Now what!?

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Post by Avatar »

I tore through the damn thing in an evening and a morning...I enjoyed it of course. But I must agree I didn't feel as much emotional impact as I did between, say, TPTP & TWL.

I'm willing to suspend judgement for now though. :lol:

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Post by Seareach »

Avatar wrote: I'm willing to suspend judgement for now though. :lol:
--A
...which, in my opinion, is a wise thing to do. ;)
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