Review: Lord Foul's Bane

Title: Lord Foul's Bane 
Author: Stephen R. Donaldson

As I did with Babel 17, I decided to re-read a favorite book from my youth.  Lord Foul's Bane is subtitled The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Book One, and when I was a teenager, completely in love with reading, I was drawn towards book series.  I enjoyed the idea that a world would live longer than a single story.  So, when Donaldson released book one, I wanted it badly.  Of course, being a poor teenager, I still waited until it was available in paperback.  Consequently, as I re-read the book this time, I was reading a very old, dented, folded copy.  You just can't get that from Kindle.  But anyway...

Thomas Covenant is a leper.  In 20th-century America, that is rare, and to Covenant, it defines him.  He is bitter, he must constantly be careful not to injure himself, lest his leprosy lead to infection and death.  And during an act of defiance against the way his world treats him, he is inexplicably pulled into a strange, fantastic world - The Land.  Or is he?  Covenant cannot believe it.  Unlike so many other "cross-over" stories, where the "real" world, our world, intersects with a fantasy world, our hero does not accept the reality of his situation.  He is an Unbeliever.  He believes, instead, that he is unconscious and going crazy within a dream.

Yet the people of The Land treat him as if he, and they, are real in their world.  What's more, they believe him to be a successor to an important hero of their past.  And so does Lord Foul, the Despiser -- the ultimate evil which desires to destroy or subjugate The Land and its inhabitants.

Lord Foul's Bane is atypical of fantasy.  In fact, it is atypical of a Hero story in many ways.  No least among these is that Thomas Covenant is not only un-heroic, but early in the novel he behaves in such a despicable way, many readers might never get past his actions.  I know at least one person who initially stopped reading after page 91, and a modern reader could not be blamed for that.

But, a lover of the genre should continue.  The Land is unique in fantasy, with some truly innovative, and very well conceived ideas.  Even if a reader has trouble liking Covenant (which is clearly Donaldson's intent,) The Land and its protectors are heroic and honorable with a capital H. We care deeply about them, even if Covenant does not fully believe in their existence.

I am very glad I read Lord Foul's Bane again, and I am proceeding directly to Book Two.  I had forgotten so much of the story, I am sure I will be similarly surprised by all but one or two plot points in The Illearth War.

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Notes as a writer: Things I noticed this time, now that I have read, and written, much much more.

1) Donaldson is simile-crazy.  He can never just describe something.  It's always "like" or "as if" something else.  "It calmed him like a demonstration of his identity."  Really?  Really.  And, to his credit, though Donaldson uses similes which are unfamiliar (have you ever thought about something being "like a demonstration of (one's) identity" before?) the similes make sense, in context.  And they provide a level of immersion, especially immersion into Covenant's mind, that is quite deep.

2) The Land is small.  Given how far Covenant travels, it is astonishing to consider how few people he meets.  And, to be honest, the distances being traveled, while impressive in the story, are quite small compared to an actual world.  And yet, this makes complete sense, in the context of his Unbelief.  If his impending insanity is really the cause of The Land, it doesn't need to be populated by millions.  Just a few truly honorable folk provide the juxtaposition his mind needs.  And if it's not un-real, if The Land is another place, there is no reason a self-centered leper should actually realize it.