Feeling nothing

Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, 1) by Stephen Donaldson.

Thomas Covenant . . . is a fantasy classic that my friends have long been telling me to take up and read, and having recently picked up the omnibus version, I have finally got around to reading it.

It's taken me a long while to read this book, but I think that's down to the size more than anything else. It's not a book I could easily carry around with me, so I've had to read other things on train journeys and the like. It's certainly no detriment to the quality of the book.

Whilst it's probably not going to fall into my list of favourite books, I've enjoyed reading it, and will certainly go on to read the remainder of the trilogy. Donaldson's voice is strong and unique enough to retain the reader's interest, and his descriptions stay in the mind long after a passage is read. But the real stand out-point of this book is the characters. Thomas Covenant is an odd anti-hero, refusing to believe that what he is experiencing is anything but a dream through fears that when he does wake up he'll go mad. Despite his actions and his moods he remains a sympathetic character throughout. This is helped by the people of the Land, whose Oath of Peace has made them a sympathetic and understanding people. Only killing unless they have to, and never forcing anyone to do anything they don't want. Through them we understand and accept Covenant's struggles.

Some people I've spoken with had issues with certain aspects of the piece, but I'm not going to go into too much detail here.

Later . . .