Kevin's Watch

When Donaldson first published the Covenant series, the landscape of heroic/high fantasy was very different than it is today. Much less was expected out of the author, and even though today there are authors writing vapid epics that are selling far too much, fantasy fans have become spoiled by the works of - in a limited sample - of George Martin and Tad Williams. About 7 books ago, I would have included Robert Jordan in there. Sadly, he has fallen.

Anyway, here we have a blast from the past making a (hopefully triumphant) return. I would think that as publication nears, the buzz will really start to fly (not enough of it yet to my dissatisfaction) and we will be looking at Donaldson landing himself at #1 again atop NYT.

Anyway, I was wondering what people thought about Covenant as compared to series like A Song of Ice and Fire.

Welcome, Patient Fan!

I liked ASOIAF -- in terms of dark fantasy, it's some of the best I've seen lately. Martin does a good job of setting his scene and drawing his characters believably -- and he certainly has no scruples when it comes to killing off those characters! But before he started writing fantasy, he wrote TV scripts, and that's just really apparent to me. I can't point to anything specific because it's been quite awhile since I finished the last ASOIAF book, but it just felt to me like a long, long made-for-TV movie. Maybe it's the pacing or something. I dunno.

SRD, on the other hand, writes novels. In his books, a lot of things go on in characters' heads that don't come out of their mouths. That's part of what makes reading his books such an enriching experience.

I am a huge Martin fan! And being almost done with The Lightstone and about to start book 2 in the Ea Cycle am fast becoming a David Zindell fantasy fan-I know Williams is pretty good as is Erickson. I see no comparison between SRD and Martin yes they're dark and thought prevoking but both stand in their own right. SRD's way too deep and doesn't need no stinking dragons! No prob, at all, zooming to top of NYT Bestseller list (I'll buy 15 copies just to make sure )-there's still not enough good meaty fantasy out there!

am I the only one who finds Goodkind entertaining at all? I can't say that I appreciate any other author nearly as much as I do Donaldson, but Goodkind ranks pretty high among the Lesser Authors...

Heh, good way to put it. Yeah, I think he's a very good Lesser Author. He has a similar problem as Robert Jordan, but at least each book is distinct and a decent story in its own right. Although I don't agree with a lot of his ideals, I think he keeps putting out books in the Sword of Truth books because they are convenient tools for him to express a set of beliefs. A bit of a double-edged sword, because it's his heavy-handed polemicism and sometimes two-dimensional characters that keep him from being a Greater Author.

I think comparing Donaldson to Martin is like comparing Kubrick to Andrew Niccol, the director of Gattaca. It's a similar arena, and maybe a comparable level of talent, but there's no telling until years from now, I think, if even then.

Well, the way I see it, if Donaldson writes Psychological Fantasy, then Goodkind writes Philosophical Fantasy. I don't mind that he expresses his philosophy through his books; in fact I find that makes him more interesting than other authors of the fantasy genre, and it also doesn't hurt that I agree with most of what he has to say.

The reason his characters are two-dimensional is because they aren't as much "characters" as they are ideas/ideals. Richard is always able to make the right decision because he represents Goodkind's ideal man. He's the embodiment of Objectism, and as the SoT series revolves around Objectism as a philosophy, Richard can never be wrong. It's a thought-provoking series without having the depth of Donaldson, but as far as I'm concerned he's far beyond that <insert string of hate-filled insults> Jordan's <more insults> writing.

ill say this everytime i see him bad mouthed...every book in the WOT series is a great read, the story is flowing very well, and i cant wait for the last books..it is a strong epic, and ive loved reading it so far...it has dragged on in certain areas, but overall, a great series





thank you