Bonnie's review

Bonnie's review

The Runes of the Earth (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1) The Runes of the Earth (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1)
by Stephen R. Donaldson

173789 Bonnie's review
bookshelves: to-read

Working on trying to finish this. My sense is that no one gave this book a "deep edit" which is what it needs. Sometimes, (I've heard this and it is definitely not from experience), a good writer is not assigned to an editor that will actually edit him/her closely. In this case, I think this is a major mistake. One line struck me as very telling.

"The abruptly she left the room so that Sandy would not see the sudden tears in her eyes, or notice the lump of love and fear in her throat."

A good editor would have torn the above line apart by asking --
How the hell could Sandy see the "lump of love and fear in her throat?"

Sorry, but that line messed with me. Then there are words I've never seen in print before, let alone been able to decipher.

carious?
fug?
scree? (well, I do know this one but I've rarely seen it, especially in a fantasy context).

There are other words. I know there are. And, don't get me wrong, the story is good thu...more

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message 1: by Michael
02/01/2008 04:33AM

155411 SRD uses vocabulary like that in all of his novels - you can't blame this particular book for that fault.

I'll admit that Runes is weaker than Fatal Revenant, but being a Donaldson fanboy, I tend to give extra stars.

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message 2: by Bonnie
02/01/2008 04:49AM

173789 Okay - thanks for pointing out vocabulary thing. I know that every author has his/her own special way or writing. And too, It's been over twenty years since I read his other books.

This has not been a bad read. I'm still turning the pages. I just felt a little need to vent.

b

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message 3: by Michael
02/01/2008 04:50AM

155411 If you can wage through this one, the next one's great!

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message 4: by deleted member
02/01/2008 06:40AM

Do you have to go back and read the other books to understand what's happening in this one?

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message 5: by Greg
02/01/2008 08:17AM

623126 There is a good summary of "What Has Gone Before" that should catch you up with the other novels. I read them in the 80s and didn't suffer much from not rereading them before. I've got Fatal Revenant on the TBR pile.


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message 6: by deleted member
02/01/2008 08:19AM

Thanks, bud.

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message 7: by Greg
02/01/2008 08:22AM

623126 Also, Donaldson sometimes is criticized for writing with a thesaurus firmly in hand, but I actually like the odd words popping up here and there.

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message 8: by deleted member
02/01/2008 08:29AM

Don't read Wolfe's BOOK OF THE NEW SUN if you don't like obscure words. He adds them for flavor.

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message 9: by Greg
02/01/2008 02:45PM

623126 OK, I need to put BOOK OF THE NEW SUN on the TBR pile. I read it in 80s too, but it may be time to reread.

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