[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Anybody else read him? His reviews and a link from his website are what got me into Erikson in the first place. Good stuff, although not immune to criticism. Thoughts? Specifically, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, although he's written plenty of other good stuff.

[Hume]

I thought his stuff was pretty good overall.

It is a bit hard to get into though initially as he presents to the perfect anti-hero. And it is naturally hard to warm up to that kind of character.
Although there are some classic scenes in his books as well. He does his characters pretty well too.
Absolutely loved the Hurachai(?) they were cool.

Liked the way he wasnt afraid to do what he did to the land in the second series.

[Dr Trouble]

I liked his two Thomas Covenant series. I have yet to read the third.

I must admit though I struggled through both sets. I read The first chronicles over a year and it was one of the most difficult series I have ever read. I liked Covenant straight away even though he wasn't what I would call likable.

I didn't like the woman in the second series however. She made the books very hard to read.

[Werthead]

The Gap series is excellent, one of the better space operas out there (although Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, David Brin and Iain M. Banks are all better). However, I immensely disliked Thomas Covenant. The writing was weak, Covenant himself was utterly repellant, the Land was made of cardboard and utterly lacking in originality. I could kind of see what Donaldson was doing there, but IMO Bakker and Martin are much, much better at creating really dislikable chracters whom nevertheless fascinate the reader and demand they read on.

[McLovin]

Read Lord Foul's Bane and couldn't stand it, so didn't continue the series. I nearly didn't continue the Gap cycle after The Real Story either, then finally I picked up the second book after a couple of years and really got into it after that.

[Blind]

I read Lord Foul's Bane, but I didn't like it much. Covenant himself was an interesting point of view, but his constant self-pity and denial got tiresome after a while. The Land was also rather boring and unoriginal.

[Dolorous Menhir]

But don't you get it???? He was a LEPER!!!!

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Covenant's attitude could be grating after a while. I don't think it's fair to say that the land was boring and unoriginal after just reading the first book. It developed much more as the series progressed. The thing I liked about it was you never had to get to the point of where you liked or forgave Covenent in order to get on with the story. You could go on hating him for everything he had done and still enjoy the series. The Haruchai were great, the giants were fun, I felt there was a lot to offer there.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I'm surprised more people haven't read SRD. For anyone who has read the first and second chronicles of THomas Covenant and enjoyed them, you should know that after 20 or so years he has started the third and final chronicles. One book is out already. If you like books starring an anti-hero, give this stuff a try.

[maynard]

I must admit I never really liked the Thomas Covenant books. The gap series on the other hand is great.

[Tom]

I found it difficult while reading it... but when I thought back on it, I could realise how good it was - it just didn't sink in. Maybe he just didn't convey the images very well, or maybe it was simply the fact that the small, close print in the edition I read doesn't lend itself well to easy reading. An unfortunate thing I find with many books - if the print is small / ugly then I struggle. Well, maybe small's not quite right, because 'Night's Dawn' had tiny letters and that was fine, as did all the Reynolds novels - so i guess it's its density / dark colour of the pages that made it hard for me.

Anyways, after finishing (and admittedly enjoying) the series, I bought myself a white gold ring, which currently resides on my left hand index finger.

I think I loved the fact that he used mostly original creatures, apart from giants and griffins and wights - which he made original. Those twisted mud creatures, the Weinyhim (sp?), the dark magic creatures whose name currently eludes me.. (Voynheim?), the Reavers, Crimson-I mean *Blood*guard *cough*, the Elohim, the mermaid type beasties, the acid creatures... many others which I can't recall ATM. And the history and world was good - all the different lords, the beauty of the Land, how it was gradually corrupted through the actions of men like Kevin Landwaster, the way people could have mastery over wood or stone, the sentient forests... there was a heck of a lot to like about The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Lots of stuff Tolkien / other authors hadn't tried. Runes of the Earth served me a lot better because the pages weren't so grey / dark as in my copies of the earlier novels, which I have in two box sets. /random ramble.

[Grimjust Bearegular]

I quite enjoyed the two first chronicles, haven't read the third yet. I liked the fact that there wasn't always a happy ending or a silver lining. It was gritty and bloody, and I liked his creatures and how the creatures and the lan was slolsy corrupted and warped.

[Dagger]

I read those back in the Second Age, over 3000 years ago (or at least it feels like it). And all I can remember is how repellant Thomas Covenant was. If he experienced some growth or redemption or something but the character remained the same no matter what. I can take an anti-hero (take not my Flashman books from me) but TC was such a one-note whining wretch that I sold the books and didn't even bother to read the Gap series.

[Red_orbiT]

I don't agree. Covenant develops A LOT during the first serie. Actually, I think that's what the first serie is about. And despite all the misery, I'm left with a warm feeling in my heart after finishing the first serie.

The second serie I like less. But it does get more comprehensible at a second read. The first time I read it I found the characters acting strange and whining all the time. Still, the second serie simply gets to depressing at times.

The third series... I'm curious. I've read the first book and I will at least read the second to see where it all goes(after all, it's the FINAL cronicle).

Loved the gap series. Poor Morn Never seen such an abused character...

[Tsundoku]

Tried the Covenant stuff, didn't really get into it much.

Have just finished the Mordants Need stuff, and it was torturous. I had to make myself finish it, just to see what was going to happen. The only thing I liked about it was little bits of logic coming into play many chapters later, indicating just about every phrase was well-planned. Trouble is, the characters are annoying and the actual writing style (again) gives me a headache. And the main bad guy is a genius with one fatal flaw - he's one of those "No I won't kill you now, I will leave you to glory in my hugeness and your powerlessness ..." yadda yadda yadda. Also every conversation was repeated almost verbatim on every iteration. Yeesh.

Here's a hint to all authors: don't do this to us. We're not morons - well, most of us aren't.
I want to see a situation where the bad guys kill any threats efficiently, and any resistance comes from someone besides the anti-hero, or the poor orphan farmboy. I want REAL bad guys!

Cheers,

La Sombra, doesn't believe shooting is too good for his enemies, as per #4 on the evil overlord list http://www.eviloverl...s/overlord.html

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

You can't judge the Gap series by Covenant. Even if you hated Covenant, try Gap. Totally different. I would agree that TC does whine too much, but have to disagree about him not changing at all. It's been too long since I read Mordant's Need to comment on it, maybe I should reread that. Gotta go buy it first, I suppose.

[PannionDude]

I really enjoyed the Gap series. The only problem I had was that there did not seem to be one single moral character. I could sympathize with literally no one. Other than that, the series was excellent, very interesting plot that kept me guessing.