Debbi wrote: > Hmm, well it *was* a long time ago...I'm not sure if I > learned that through conversation -- I really don't > recognize the other characters you named below (like > the one name, though!) -- it's entirely possible that > my friend discussed further storyline(s) in an effort > to convince me to read them.
Um, he/she may have gone the wrong way about it! > instead the reader is asked to > accept that a violent, brutal act is the first impulse > of a "hero." :P Well, this forms part of the fundamental reason why the first Covenant trilogy strays from the majority of fantasy and also why I like it so much: the fact that Covenant does *not* act like a hero. He refuses to believe that the Land is real, he refuses to act decisively on a number of occasions, he refuses to kill even to save himself, and he continuely insists that nothing he does matters *because* it's not real. Donaldson describes this at the start of _Lord Foul's Bane_ as 'the fundamental question of ethics'. Is the man who refuses to save something he believes is a dream, a coward, or a hero? The key events of the trilogy all center around this one despicable act that Covenant carries out, and no one can really forsee the consequences that result, least of all him. > Sorry, no recall of more of the plot, and I must not > have cared much for any of the other characters, or > I'd remember something of what they did. Well, I liked the characters a lot when I first read the books, but that was only 6 years ago and I had forgotten everything bar the basic plot until I reread them recently. To be honest, the supporting characters only come into their own in the second book (Lord Mhoram for example) and Saltheart Foamfollower in the third (though he is cool in the first book as well). > Sort of like Tolkien's elves, eh? :) > Actually, horses *are* somewhat manipulative - part of > being social creatures; the other characteristics you > listed are of course also true. ;D You don't find out about the manipulative stuff until the second book. ;) I love these books and would recommend that you try them again. However, if you were that badly put off by the rape scene first time round, do you think the intervening years will make any difference to that reaction? Lal GSV Stone and Sea! _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
