I can't say I wasn't warned.
I've been reading Lord Foul's Bane
But none of you were anything like strong enough in your criticisms. I am having to bribe myself to read a couple of pages a day. Some days no bribe is sufficient.
So, how in hell did Donaldson get a publisher? Did he sleep with someone? Inquiring minds need to know.
It's not just that the protagonist is a thoroughly unpleasant individual, riddled with self-pity and bad temper. Nor even that he casually rapes a young woman, feels mildly uncomfortable about having done so, but the book carries on regardless, with him as the POV character it seems we are still supposed to admire.
It's just so incredibly badly written. Brain-bleach needed if you read this:
(Picked more or less at random as a typical sample of his style)
Then the full clouts of the storm hit them. The wind scourged the rain southward as if the sky were lashing out at them, at every defenceless living thing. Soon the hillsides were drenched with ferocity. The wind rent at the trees, tore, battered the grass; it struck daylight from the hills, buried the earth in preternatural night. In moments, Atiaran and Covenant were soaked, gasping through the torrent. They kept their direction by facing the dark fury, but they could see nothing of the terrain; they staggered down rough slopes, wandered helplessly into hip-deep streams, lurched headlong through thickets; they forced against the wind as if it were the current of some stinging limbo, some abyss running from nowhere mercilessly into nowhere. Yet Atiaran lunged onward erect, with careless determination, and the fear of losing her kept Covenant lumbering at her heels.
Atiaran, BTW, is the mother of the girl he raped.
So, how can you drench a hillside with ferocity? Is it a liquid? How can wind strike daylight from hills? How do you "wander" into a stream up to your hips? Above all, even if you can lunge while erect, how can determination be careless?
It gets hard, reading that stuff. Trust me, Twilight is more fun, and I would probably gouge my own eyes out if I had to read that again.
Ah well. It makes The Water Babies look sane and reasonable by comparison. Quite an achievement, that.
I'm reading this for the online fantasy course. I'm thinking of setting up a filter for folks who'd like to follow it - comment if you'd like to be added.
But none of you were anything like strong enough in your criticisms. I am having to bribe myself to read a couple of pages a day. Some days no bribe is sufficient.
So, how in hell did Donaldson get a publisher? Did he sleep with someone? Inquiring minds need to know.
It's not just that the protagonist is a thoroughly unpleasant individual, riddled with self-pity and bad temper. Nor even that he casually rapes a young woman, feels mildly uncomfortable about having done so, but the book carries on regardless, with him as the POV character it seems we are still supposed to admire.
It's just so incredibly badly written. Brain-bleach needed if you read this:
(Picked more or less at random as a typical sample of his style)
Then the full clouts of the storm hit them. The wind scourged the rain southward as if the sky were lashing out at them, at every defenceless living thing. Soon the hillsides were drenched with ferocity. The wind rent at the trees, tore, battered the grass; it struck daylight from the hills, buried the earth in preternatural night. In moments, Atiaran and Covenant were soaked, gasping through the torrent. They kept their direction by facing the dark fury, but they could see nothing of the terrain; they staggered down rough slopes, wandered helplessly into hip-deep streams, lurched headlong through thickets; they forced against the wind as if it were the current of some stinging limbo, some abyss running from nowhere mercilessly into nowhere. Yet Atiaran lunged onward erect, with careless determination, and the fear of losing her kept Covenant lumbering at her heels.
Atiaran, BTW, is the mother of the girl he raped.
So, how can you drench a hillside with ferocity? Is it a liquid? How can wind strike daylight from hills? How do you "wander" into a stream up to your hips? Above all, even if you can lunge while erect, how can determination be careless?
It gets hard, reading that stuff. Trust me, Twilight is more fun, and I would probably gouge my own eyes out if I had to read that again.
Ah well. It makes The Water Babies look sane and reasonable by comparison. Quite an achievement, that.
I'm reading this for the online fantasy course. I'm thinking of setting up a filter for folks who'd like to follow it - comment if you'd like to be added.