First, I'm going to start with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson.
I've never read any of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, though I've read a lot of positive things about them. I'm currently having a really difficult time, mainly because I detest the main character.
To start at the beginning: Thomas Covenant is a leper. While writing the follow-up novel to a best-seller, he becomes ill and is taken to the hospital with a necrotic hand. He wakes up several days later, missing two of the fingers on his hand and is told by his wife that he is a leper and she is leaving him and taking their newborn son. Covenant becomes bitter and angry, inflicting his presence upon the people in his town as a type of punishment for his illness. Just before he is hit by a car, he is transported to a place called The Land by the villain of the piece, Lord Foul. Lord Foul has given him a message for the chief caretakers of the land, as well as offering Covenant a place by his side. Covenant refuses, which is the only truly "heroic" thing I've seen him do thus far.
In the land, he is aided by a young girl named Lena who mistakes him for an ancient hero: Berek Halfhand. Not only does Covenant vehemently deny his connection to this long-dead hero, he denies the reality of his experience and names himself Unbeliever, as he does not believe in The Land, prefering to call it a dream.
As repellent as I find the main character, The Land is compelling. The Land aids those who care for it, curing them of illness and despair, feeding them when they are hungry, helping them when they travel. Inhabitants of the land see health and disease not only in the plants and animals, but in eachother. They can see the hopes and dreams of their fellow inhabitants, which results in increased respect for life. Inhabitants swear an oath of peace, in which they promise not to hurt one another or the land. It might seem that these qualities would come off as saccharine, but I truly believe, when I read, that these people care deeply about other people as well as their land.
This is a very brief description of the action thus far, and I have left out important information regarding a ring of white gold, Lena's mother and the cavewight Drool. The novel is good- the writing is evocative and lyrical and most of the characters are sympathetic. I'm just really having a hard time getting past my dislike of Covenant.
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