Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
by Stephen R. Donaldson · first published 1983
50% recommend43% neutral7% critical
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Stephen Donaldson also would be in with a good shot as the "anti-Tolkien" - the first Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are in many ways a mirror opposition to Tolkien's work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covena... Possibly the finest - and darkest, in the genuine sense of the world rather than…
on “The Anti-Tolkien” ↗Check out Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. It's about a leper from the modern day who finds himself in a fantasy world he doesn't believe in, and rejects the power he has. That's pretty original.
on “The Influence of Neuromancer on Cyberpunk” ↗The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson.
on “Ask YC: Favorite fantasy novel(s)?” ↗For fiction, I'd vote for the First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson. He's often mocked for deploying the less-visited corners of the OED, but some people love that sort of joy in language. The antihero has never been done better, and the inversion…
on “Ask HN: What is the greatest book you've ever read?” ↗…I love C.S. Lewis, but the Chronicles feels very artificial. A new venue to preach his religious motives. Fun, and well done for sure. But not the same. I also love the Steven R. Donaldson series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It's a moral journey just as LoTR and Narnia are, but it's a deeply personal struggle for a guy trying to manage his own mix of character successes and failures, rather than epic characters who each…
on “The First Woman to Translate the ‘Odyssey’ into English” ↗Although I'm not generally into fantasy, I found "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen Donaldson to be fantastic. I tried to start it twice and gave up (there are some disturbing elements) but once I got into it I was hooked. Loved that the hero wasnt into being a hero and…
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗…realize I've read the book before, and then immediately grow bored of it. The "Support Your Local Wizard" Omnibus edition (Containing "So, You Want to be a Wizard, Deep Wizardry, and High Wizardry) and the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Decalogue are the only 2 series I have been able to read more than once. I do have the Wheel of Time complete series in my to read group, they take up a whole shelf so it's daunting but I'll get to it…
on “The Unexpected Heaviosity of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” ↗…serious untreated mental issues. Afterward that revelation I started noticing the author of a book instead of just paying attention to the content of the book. Similarly to L Ron Hubbard, I found The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson impossible to finish. There's something deeply wrong about him that I can't quite put my finger on. (I did finish his Gap Cycle series, but felt dirty in my brain after.) I picked…
on “Alan Moore: Every aspiring writer should read terrible books (2022) [video]” ↗> read next? Stephen R. Donaldson: He's more known for The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but you might prefer The Gap Cycle; it's more typical SF. Also, the Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. Perhaps Dan Simmons? And of course anything by Charlie Stross.
on “Player of Games” ↗…work which was equally impressive: * She also created atlases for the worlds of fantasy authors Anne McCaffrey, creator of the “Dragonriders of Pern” series, and Stephen R. Donaldson, who wrote “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” series.
on “The Wisconsin cartographer who mapped Tolkien's fantasy world” ↗> I don't think it's useful to attempt to hold 150 pages of code in my head Not sure it was about holding the actual code in one's head so much as the structure, flow, or shall we say, "plot". The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant runs 4948 pages, Song of Ice and Fire is 4195 pages so far, and even LotR is 2144 pages. This is one of the reasons I think there's a high correlation between great developers and developers who love…
on “Why doesn't every company buy developers the best hardware?” ↗The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Cov... Some people love it, some hate it. Also by the same author, The Gap Cycle: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_Cycle
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗…British migrations to America - each came from a different part of Britain, and went to a different part of America, creating four separate cultures in what became the United States. Also the entire Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (currently midway through the final book).
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗Tolkien's approach is common in fantasy, or perhaps is the model that so many have aspired to. Written in the 1970s, "The Land" in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Coven...) shows no real advancement after modern-day Covenant returns (via portal) 4,000 years later. There is still a clear good/evil distinction,…
on “There Is No Planet B (For Worldbuilding)” ↗