Kevin's Watch

Just finished The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Lord Foul's Bane for the first time. I picked up all 6 books a month ago in perfect condition for about $25-30 or something like that, I forget, I do remember it being a great deal.

I picked it up because a friend of mine whom I trust to have good taste told me to pick it up.

Now, when I first got into it, I was excited, the writing was very mature and engrossing, I could tell it was epic fantasy, after the first few chapters or so.
When I got to the scene where

Spoiler

Lena was raped.

It just reallly shocked me. I'll refer to that scene as "the violence" so as not to spoil it for others.
Now, that scene was so vivid to me that I actually put down the book in disgust. It was kind of a clash of emotions for me. I was disgusted beyond belief at what the character had done, and yet at the same time, impressed that someone can write so well and paint a picture so vivid that I could recoil and feel the way I did about it.

Anyways, I had to set the book down, I started another an finished it and then came back and re-read the book and got to that scene and I was finally able to move on. Don't know what I'm really telling or saying here, but I find this to be one of the best fantasy books I've read in years and I've been reading fantasy for 15 years now, I've read most all the big authors, Jordan, Goodkind, Martin, Tad, Brooks, Weis & Hickman, Salvatore, Turtledove, Tolkien...and each of thoes books has their ups and downs and some are better than others and some are just mediocre, but this book hit me like Tolkien hit me when I was 12 and really got into Fantasy, WOW, thats all I can say, wow.

If you liked SRD's fantasy saga(?), try reading his sci-fi series, THE GAP.
It is as good as his other writings. (Though I haven't read any of the MORDANT books, but I seen many people rave about those also.)
Welcome to the club, FTH.

Just wait till your 2nd read--they get BETTER!!

I can second Danlo on that comment - the books do get better and better each time you reread them!

I have read the entire chronicles at least 20 times, and I find something different every time.

Sum sui generis
Vs

With "The Man Who.." books SRD has also done Crime. Zindell's expansion from Sci-Fi to Fantasy is doing very well, so far, with his Ea Cycle and David Brin wrote a recent non-fiction book called The Transparent Society which is excellent. Martin's Sci-Fi, especially Tuf Voyaging, is alot of fun.

I'm always glad to see people break out a bit into other sorts of writing. I think it expands their skills.
Take Dan Simmons, for example. While his Hyperion/Endymion books are among my all time favorite science fiction books, his new sf series promises to be just as good, and maybe even better (if Olympos lives up to the begining of Illium.) Somewhere in his various experiments of writing in various genres (horror, science fiction, crime fiction, and environmental fable) he has learned to express his sense of humor. I found myself laughing my head off at various places in Illium -- something I never did in the Hyperion/Endymion books. Perhaps its just more experience and a resulting greater sense of confidence in his work.

Zelazny blended Sci-Fi wth fantasy pretty well with The Chronicles of Amber. Sure it was more Fanstasy than Sci-fi, but the elements were there.

Heinlein's Glory Road is another good example. Scar is just a classic hero you can't help liking.

Reading the Chronicles for the first time, especially LFB can be challenging and a lot of people are taken aback by the "violence". Many of them were like yourself who stopped LFB and went on to IEW then picking up LFB again or where they left off.

If you go to the Dissection area of the Chrons (here on KW) then I think you'll really enjoy reading the dissections and even adding in your own input which would offer us oldtimers a good fresh perspective.

I too was struck by the WOW factor of the chrons... I still favor the second chrons over the first but still manage to read all six once a year. Just can't get enough of those Bloodguard and Giants

Welcome to the fan club... grin

Fiz wrote:Just finished The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

You confused me with that, I thought you just finished the 6th book-I didn't realize you had only finished LFB-man you are really in for a treat now! (Lucky dog! )

oh Wow!! Just finished LFB??? Fasten your seatbelt then Fiz, my friend, because you are in for one wild ride!!! It only gets better and better!!!

Fair warning tho, if you wanted to throw the book across the room after

Spoiler

the rape of Lena

just wait until you get to The Wounded Land...I wanted to throw it in the fire place... broke my heart...

and the glory of the world becomes less than it was...

FizbansTalking_Hat wrote:I love this book, can't believe I went 15 or so years reading fantasy and science fictoin without having anyone reccomend me this series.

I frequent several gaming boards and "recommend some sci-fi/fantasy" threads come up all the time. I always plug SRD, both the TC series and the Gap series. I'm surprised how many frequent sci-fi/fantasy readers haven't read them. And it's usually "oh, that's that book about the 'violence'... not sure I want to read that"

It's sad really.