Story ruined by narrator

I read the series back in the 80's and I thought it was great. However when it comes to the audio version, the narrator ruins it. He talks in a drawl which in my opinion, is like listening to a preacher giving a sermon.

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classic but doesn't age well

not allowed enough words to describe the good and bad aspects of this book

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incredible

the beauty of the land described. The characters were brought to life in more than vivid detail.

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Wonderful in every regard

This is the only book I have come across that can be meaningful compared to The Lord Of The Rings, because the quality of the writing, the depth of characters and world building are similar to The Lord Of The Rings, but it does not borrow any ideas from it.

The Lord Of The Rings is so rich and so complete, that it makes it very difficult to construct another story that is equally complete without copying anything, but Donaldson managed to do exactly that.

I first read this book as a young teen, and was totally enthralled. I was wondering if it would still have that appeal for me 40 years later, and was not at all disappointed. This is a true masterpiece of fictional writing that listers of all ages can lose themselves in.

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Remarkably Mature Fantasy

Stephen R. Donaldson provides a gritty extremely atmospheric take on the Fantasy genre. The book is essentially an Isekai tale - taking someone from our world and thrusting him into a fantasy reality - but Thomas Covenant is a bitter self-doubting victim of leprosy in our reality and a perhaps reborn magic-bearing hero among the Elven & Giant peoples.
The writing is commendable, the author's description skills are excellent, and Donaldson conveys a mood of seriousness that draws readers into the story. The solemnity of the narrative is a little bit overdone, but I enjoyed the book.

As to presentation: Scott Brick is on his game here - providing his characteristic excellent reading skills to the book. As in any case where Mr. Brick reads, you should increase the playback speed to 1.15X.. but Brick by Brick Inc. was a great choice for producing the audiobook version of the novel.

Altogether, 'Lord Foul's Bane' is an 7/10-star story and a great introduction to the 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever' series. Spend the Credit.

Minor Spoiler Below:










Sadly, the event most likely to stick with you after reading the book is a violent rape scene. I understand the author's intention to underline his portrayal of Covenant as a flawed, psychologically-destroyed, reluctant antihero in need of redemption.. but the scene actually ruins the book: 1. By making the protagonist frustratingly insupportable (we want to cheer on his battle against evil), and 2. By overwhelming his readers (very little after that point sticks in the mind). 😩 When people ask you about the book in the future, you will reference the rape over any other element in the book. Donaldson doubtless regrets including it.

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Awesome series.

Looking forward to the rest of the books in the Thomas Covenant series. Well read as well.

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A Fantasy Classic, beautifully written

One of my all time favourite series, it was great to hear it once again. The writing is beautiful and moving, and the struggle between heroism and despair, between responsibility and impotence, is extraordinary. The reading was not what the best I have ever heard, but these books are so well crafted that it does not matter. Highly recommend!

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Ugh. Zero stars. I think i caught leprosy.

Spoiler alert!! Hours of my life I will never get back. I just wanted it to stop. In the end, i could not finish the last 43 minutes. The ‘protagonist’ has zero redeemable qualities. I hoped this was just a novel character. Unfortunately, he is not only a whiny rapist pedophile, he is also a manic depressive leper. Hes a leper. We get it. Its the excuse the author uses for every missed opportunity in the story. Belligerent and rude? Hes a leper. Doesnt want to do anything or participate? Leper. Sulky and non interactive with other characters? Because hes a leper. Hours and hours of depressive inner monologue that justifies nothing at all. Every single character has the same personality. It is a 2 dimensional gruff lecturing dialogue in every interaction. Not one character evolution or interesting distinction among them. I drowned in the pretentious inane verbiage. The author actually refers to writers as gods so good for him. Most of the sentences were long words strung together in a confusing pointless effluence. Ie: what does ‘the wings of fluttering midnight beat against my cheeks’ mean? Even the attempt at flowery speech is repetitive. Also, the guy has leprosy. Even though he ate healing plants. There is virtually no world building. In fact, this is addressed and excused by the author as the protagonist being too grumpy to notice his surroundings. So he takes our hand and yanks us along on a journey with barely a glimpse around, and 2 characters with different faces (probably, since their descriptions are vague) to do a bunch of eating and beating on vaguely described demons that they dont really want to hurt, (why? They seem pretty mean and evil) to go somethere for some reason (trust the author since the characters cant explain why) (head scratch) to listen to suicidal depressive thoughts of guilt and.... wait, theres magic! Theres magic? Well there is at least when the plot needs it. We are told there is magic, but not much more. Again. Our depressed leper doesnt care enough about it to make it interesting . There was an attempt at a humorous character... at least we are told he is humorous, but no proof. Hey! dont worry, he becomes depressed and irrelevant half way through too. Im just so sick of the lepers rude distain for his own story. I didnt need hours of dialogue of him sulking about his divorce. And in the end the characters are all the same, the world is inherently unchanged and the pointless journey to get the leper back into a world where he was suicidal and unredeemed was probably! the reward he got for wasting my time. Nothing redeemable here.

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Just awful

Just like the main character this story is irredeemable. No world building, the secondary characters are flat and one dimensional, the main character is a whiny, self obsessed rapist who shows no remorse or inclination towards betterment. I lasted as long as I did listening to this in the hopes that they just killed him off. The narration didn't help it any but nothing could save this trash.

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unlistenable

inexplicable sermon-like cadence and inflection, over and over, from the reader... every line the same. bizarre that this was selected and approved by anyone who loves the series. i sure hope it gets another treatment, as i'd love to revisit this material.

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