Anxious Anticipation - Lord Foul's Bane

Many, many moons ago - back in 1977, to be precise-ish - in the continuous hunt for the next great Epic Fantasy, I was fortunate enough to be one of the first to encounter The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, and the amazing debut novel that was Lord Foul's Bane!

 

Like the great J.R.R. Tolkien himself, I was wary of those stories of Faerie that involved travel of one form or another between the realm of reality and the perilous land, but found that I had little to worry about in this manifestation of that genre. Stephen R. Donaldson handles this transition with skill and aplomb, and the result is breath-taking!

 

 

 

Right from the start, I fell in love with The Land and its inhabitants, whether good, evil, or just filling the scenery. From Thomas Covenant - the conflicted, leprosy-inflicted hero who bears a stark resemblance to Berek Half-hand, who himself bears a striking resemblance to Beren Erchamion - through the Bloodguard, the enigmatic defenders of The Land and its inhabitants, as well as the Viles, Urviles, Ravers, Cavewights, Humans, and the Giants - one of my all-time favourite fantasy races - not to mention Lord Foul himself, Donaldson fills his creation with convincing characters and peoples, and describes his world in such beautiful detail he makes you want to be there. I read the entire series - Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War and The Power That Preserves - and read them again, and, like The Lord of the Rings and The Sword of Shannara, kept them close at hand for many years.

 

And then I moved to London. And then I moved to Canada. And, sadly, most of my beloved book collection remained back home in South Shields, where much of them became victims of age, bad storage, and the depredations of friends and family.

 

So I was thrilled when Grim Oak Press ( https://grimoakpress.com/ ) said they were publishing a limited, newly illustrated edition of the original Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant trilogy, and signed up as soon as I could to get one of the limited copies. Grim Oak had already published both lettered and limited illustrated editions of The Sword of Shannara, which I was pained to learn I'd missed out on, so was pleased I hadn't missed out of Covenant.

 

So now I am waiting in anxious anticipation on the April publication date. I have heard nothing but good things about the Grim Oak Press editions, and cannot wait to delve back into The Land and revisit one of the best fantasy worlds ever created.

Epic Fantasy Grows Up - A Song of Ice and Fire...

So, you know, I have been reading Epic Fantasy - and even non-epic fantasy - for as long as I can remember. Way back to my early childhood, starting with books such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit, and progressing over the years to Michael Moorcock, Robert E Howard, Stephen Donaldson, Terry Brooks, Tad Williams, Robert Jordan, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera - and with a few notable exceptions - Potter and the Vampires! - I have filled my library with, literally, thousands of books! My perusals have ranged from the depths of deep space science fiction (Clarke, Asimov, Niven & Pournelle) through science fantasy (Silverberg, Feist, Herbert) across Sword and Sorcery (Moorcock, Howard, McCaffery), and on into the depths if true fantasy itself (Tolkien, Brooks, Williams), so, as arrogant as it sounds, I like to think I actually know what I am talking about when it comes to these genres.

 

So, a few days ago, I was chatting with one of my best friends back in dear old Blighty, and we were discussing our current reading materials. Soss (my friend's nickname) was reading some historical fiction - now there's an oxymoron if ever there was one! - as was I. But he also mentioned that he was reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, the first volume in A Song of Ice and Fire. Of course, I had heard all of the hype around the HBO television series, but had never watched it, feeling television has been currently over run by fantasy spins-offs, and had not even wanted to approach the books, as I had been really busy over the last few years with the vagaries of the RLJ, as well as editing the works of some budding authors. But when Soss told me that he was really enjoying the book, I decided to bite the bullet, and bought the five-volume boxed set. Ordering them online meant I got a good deal on the price, too. :)

 

I had been, at the time, reading Mr. Mercedes  by Stephen King, and was enjoying it well enough. However, once I had Martin's books in my grubby little paws, the draw of The Perilous Realm exerted its influence over my mind, and I thought I'd just sample the beginning of A Game of Thrones, to get the flavour, as it were.

 

And, at this time, I am still reading...

 

I did feel it took a while (50 pages or so) to get into, as Martin takes a few chapters to introduce the main families and their provenance, but once you get through that initial exposure, I have to admit, the experience is stimulating and engulfing in a way that only a few, exceptional fantasy novels are. I am pleased to say that Martin is an accomplished storyteller, and his skill shines through in his writing. But what really makes his work shine out as a major achievement within the genre is the fact that, written with the edginess that modern literature now allows, it takes the reader into a more realistic version of the imagined world - more violent, more bitter, earthier, sexier, more physical - than has previously been seen. We would never see such brutal scenes as Jaime's attack on Bran, or sexuality like Jaime and Cersei or Daenerys and Khal Drogo, in the works of Tolkien or Brooks. What Martin has envisioned is a world where the fantasy is all grown up! These are no YA or NA soppy meanderings! These are sword through the heart, foot to the nuts, and spit in your eye yarns, full of dirt and dust, malice and lust, with a character list that rivals Tolstoy's War and Peace for complexity and sheer numbers!

 

Let's just say - I will be reading all five books, maybe more than once. And, maybe then, I will go on to watch the HBO series, and be one of those who complains about the changes made in the name of television!

 

I'll let you know how it goes! :)

Oh - and thanks for the advice, Soss! :)