Yorick,
Thomas Covenant series is a brilliant piece of work, in fact I have read all of Donaldsons work including his latest journey in SCI-FI, great stuff. However (diplomatic part) I must agree a little with Arak, the Thomas Covenant series could easily put someone off, due to his annoying non believing-I'm in a dream nature that carries on far too long, putting that aside though it was still a great piece.
Still even though I have read lots of Fiction, Eddings, Feist, Lieber, Donaldson, Asimov, Brooks, salvatore, etc. I still find myself going back to Tolkien and LOTR. What causes that? is it a madness of mine or the fact that it is a damn good read. Regardless of who started the genere, it was a stroke of genius, a piece befitting its award of Best Work of the century, (or something like that). The start may be a bit drawn out but that is what it is meant to do, I think. He spends time building up the characters personalities, subtly drawing you into their lives, which is why the book is so hard hitting, building you up to a huge tumultuous climax. The problems that befall the fellowship almost affect you..... Now that must be good writing.
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