Graeme Rodaughan's Reviews > Lord Foul's Bane
Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #1)
by
by
Graeme Rodaughan's review
bookshelves: mostly-garbage, egregiously-bad, the-one-star-dungeon
Sep 21, 2016
bookshelves: mostly-garbage, egregiously-bad, the-one-star-dungeon
Read 2 times. Last read April 2019.
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This review (while in many ways pertinent) has been superseded by a new review informed by a re-read of the Kindle version of this book. The Kindle version review is at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Original Review of the Paperback below.
I have read the first six books of the series in full, once, and I bought all the books in hardcover, or trade paperback - and then subsequently passed them on to 2nd hand book shops - because I knew I'd only ever read them once (EDIT: 27Dec2021 - Surprising myself - I'm reading the Kindle version as I love taking notes.)
When I first read this I was a young adult mad-keen on all things sci-fi and fantasy, devouring all the books I could get my hands on. Hence why I read the whole series, and the sequel series - this was another 'epic fantasy,' to digest... fortunately, age brings maturity and discernment and now I wince at what I once read...
This book is basically about a rapist who has to redeem himself by believing that a fantastical land that he has been transported to is "real."
This is a lot like,
[1] You discover a wardrobe that leads to a magical world with ice queens, and talking lions - the first thing you do is shoot a faun stone cold dead ... because, why not?
[2] You get transported to a magical world of elf queens, dragons, and dark lords with magic rings. You stab the elf queen stone cold dead and rape her bleeding corpse ... because, why not?
[3] You discover the world is an illusion perpetrated by a machine intelligence to keep humanity enslaved as a power source. You immediately shoot your rescuers, rape their bleeding corpses and beg the AI's to insert you back into the matrix ... because, why not?
The main character, Thomas Covenant commits a heinous crime because he believed at the time that he was living in a delusion (as if that makes it right???) who then spends the rest of the series attempting to redeem himself by realizing his destiny, instead of avoiding it.
The scary thing is - this book was popular.
I read it once, I would not read it again (EDIT: 27Dec2021 ... And yet, I have returned...)
This review (while in many ways pertinent) has been superseded by a new review informed by a re-read of the Kindle version of this book. The Kindle version review is at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Original Review of the Paperback below.
I have read the first six books of the series in full, once, and I bought all the books in hardcover, or trade paperback - and then subsequently passed them on to 2nd hand book shops - because I knew I'd only ever read them once (EDIT: 27Dec2021 - Surprising myself - I'm reading the Kindle version as I love taking notes.)
When I first read this I was a young adult mad-keen on all things sci-fi and fantasy, devouring all the books I could get my hands on. Hence why I read the whole series, and the sequel series - this was another 'epic fantasy,' to digest... fortunately, age brings maturity and discernment and now I wince at what I once read...
This book is basically about a rapist who has to redeem himself by believing that a fantastical land that he has been transported to is "real."
This is a lot like,
[1] You discover a wardrobe that leads to a magical world with ice queens, and talking lions - the first thing you do is shoot a faun stone cold dead ... because, why not?
[2] You get transported to a magical world of elf queens, dragons, and dark lords with magic rings. You stab the elf queen stone cold dead and rape her bleeding corpse ... because, why not?
[3] You discover the world is an illusion perpetrated by a machine intelligence to keep humanity enslaved as a power source. You immediately shoot your rescuers, rape their bleeding corpses and beg the AI's to insert you back into the matrix ... because, why not?
The main character, Thomas Covenant commits a heinous crime because he believed at the time that he was living in a delusion (as if that makes it right???) who then spends the rest of the series attempting to redeem himself by realizing his destiny, instead of avoiding it.
The scary thing is - this book was popular.
I read it once, I would not read it again (EDIT: 27Dec2021 ... And yet, I have returned...)
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Reading Progress
September 21, 2016
– Shelved
April, 2019
–
Started Reading
April, 2019
–
Finished Reading
April 22, 2019
– Shelved as:
mostly-garbage
December 13, 2021
–
Started Reading
(Kindle Edition)
December 13, 2021
– Shelved
(Kindle Edition)
December 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
egregiously-bad
(Kindle Edition)
December 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
mostly-garbage
(Kindle Edition)
December 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
re-read
(Kindle Edition)
December 22, 2021
– Shelved as:
the-one-star-dungeon
(Kindle Edition)
December 26, 2021
– Shelved as:
egregiously-bad
December 26, 2021
– Shelved as:
the-one-star-dungeon
December 29, 2021
–
Finished Reading
(Kindle Edition)
Comments Showing 1-12 of 12 (12 new)
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Jennifer
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rated it 5 stars
Apr 24, 2019 05:11PM
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Probably because Karsa is a savage taking down a foreign village - not raping would seem odd - whereas TC is supposed to be 'civilized,' his rape behavior then becomes a WTF? moment.
Context drives meaning.
TC knows rape is wrong but does it because he believes it's not real, and hence has no consequences.
That's just bizarre, especially given 'The Land,' is a vivid comprehensive reality. TC gets off on doing something heinous that he knows is wrong purely because he thinks he can get away with it - and furthermore - he rationalizes the girl's suffering as 'not real.'
This is wrong on so many levels.
The next-to-last sentence is great. Agree 100%.
Graeme wrote: "There is substantially better epic fantasy around. Anything written by Feist, Erikson, Wurts, Zelazny, Tolkein, Howard, Jordan, Sanderson, and plenty of other authors is anywhere from better to far..."
May I add Glen Cook and Michael Moorcock to the list?
May I add Glen Cook and Michael Moorcock to the list?
All my notes and highlights are at https://www.goodreads.com/notes/32179...