I tried reading the Thomas Covenant books back in the '80s when a close friend raved about them, and the only reason I struggled through the whole trilogy was because I promised her I would. Else I'd've tossed the lot in the trash after the first 200 pages.
I *loathe* that series. The hero is loathesome and never achieves any insight or growth, just lays waste to one world and is a self-pitying fool in the other. (I also didn't care for the pathetic creatures in the other world he goes to - who, if I remember correctly, might as well as have had the words "I Am A Dumb Trusting Doormat" tatooed on their brows.) I hated those books so much I was pissed off at my friend for making me promise to read them!
Koontz is...really hard to evaluate. His best work is amazing - "Watchers" makes me cry *every time* - I love his 2-book series about Christopher Snow, and quite liked "From the Corner of His Eye." But he's gotten really, bitterly anti-science and anti-bioethics of late, so much that it twists his story and characters out of shape.
Have you tried The Baroque Cycle yet? I recommend it highly (esp. now that the final volume has been published), though reading it requires a monumental commitment of time and attention!
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Covenant & Koontz: Sounds like a law firm :)
Date: 2004-12-13 12:31 pm (UTC)I *loathe* that series. The hero is loathesome and never achieves any insight or growth, just lays waste to one world and is a self-pitying fool in the other. (I also didn't care for the pathetic creatures in the other world he goes to - who, if I remember correctly, might as well as have had the words "I Am A Dumb Trusting Doormat" tatooed on their brows.)
I hated those books so much I was pissed off at my friend for making me promise to read them!
Koontz is...really hard to evaluate. His best work is amazing - "Watchers" makes me cry *every time* - I love his 2-book series about Christopher Snow, and quite liked "From the Corner of His Eye." But he's gotten really, bitterly anti-science and anti-bioethics of late, so much that it twists his story and characters out of shape.
Have you tried The Baroque Cycle yet? I recommend it highly (esp. now that the final volume has been published), though reading it requires a monumental commitment of time and attention!