Started: June 5
Finished: June 27
Notes: Despite the fact I read a lot of fantasy back in the '80s, this was another author I somehow missed, so I'm correcting that here by giving him a try. I've heard good and bad, so now I'll make my own opinion.
Mini review: This is not an easy book to decipher. At its surface, it seems a fairly simple quest tale of a modern man (at least by standards of the 1970s) who is transplanted into a fantasy world where he must play the role of hero or even savior, that he must ultimately save the world from Lord Foul, this fantasy world's version of a dark lord. But the story is more complex than that. The protagonist here is not only a leper in the real world, but he is not a likeable hero. In fact, he is quite unlikeable, even to the point of rape. Yes, early in the tale he rapes a young woman, an innocent undeserving of his rage. To many readers this would be an instant turn-off from the story, but I forced myself through to finish this tale. What I eventually came to realize is that though the protagonist himself is unlikeable, and perhaps unredeemable, at least within the fantasy world he is surrounded by a sizable group of questers who are quite noble and honorable. I feel that this is much the point, that this story is trying to show that nobility and honor but not through the protagonist but through the many side characters. Perhaps I am wrong. I can admit that. The writing here is fairly good, but I don't know if that alone is enough for me to continue with this author at a future date. Time will tell.
It's been decades since I read this series and much has faded from memory, but I seem to recall him trying to be heroic later on. (Time flows differently in the fantasy world than it does in Covenant's world, so when he goes back in the second book, the child the rape produced is an adult.) You're right, though. This is not an easy book to read.
ReplyDelete