This will be the first in what will probably become the most common feature of this blog: my opinion of anything and everything I happen to read. I must first point out that my very favorite fantasy series, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, are written by this same Stephen R. Donaldson. Although my opinion of Daughter of Regals stands on its own, the context can’t be ignored.
All this is a way to say that Daughter of Regals didn’t thrill me.
The book is a collection of eight short stories, and so my opinion of it must be more complicated than “aye” or “nay.” The first two were actually quite good. “Daughter of Regals” is a political fantasy that’s both exciting and as intricate as a same-sized chunk of any of the Covenant books, meaning that every single detail is ultimately relevant to the story’s outcome. Other than a couple of ridiculous characters, it kept me interested for the whole ride. I couldn’t find any significant moral depth, but it was a good story.
“Gilden-Fire,” the second piece in the book, is an excerpt from The Illearth War, one of the Covenant books. Needless to say, it hooked me, but I can’t imagine approaching it without having read the First Chronicles. So I wouldn’t recommend it.
And the rest of the pieces were uninspired by comparison. To get an idea, they are as follows:
-"Mythological Beast" is set in a dystopian future where everyone has a job but nobody does any work. Every person is equipped with a "biomitter," a device built into the wrist that reads "You are OK" as long as he or she is "healthy." If you fall ill, the biomitter calls the hospital workers, who come and take you away. This doesn't work out very well when our main character begins to transform into a unicorn.
-"The Lady in White" is about an enchantress who captures, one by one, the men of a small village. This story's narrative style was uniquely obnoxious and difficult to read. I'll call it the worst of the set.
-"Animal Lover" is a pretty neat sci-fi story that involves cyborgs and genetic engineering. My favorite part is the fact that it's set in... well: "Here we were in the year 2011–men had walked on Mars, microwave stations were being built to transmit solar power, marijuana and car racing were so important they were subsidized by the government." All this is narrated by a gritty government agent with a laser cannon in his hand. I've been waiting for the day I could compare the present day to a sci-fi prediction (other than Nineteen Eighty-Four). In all honesty, the story succeeds in spite of this disconnection, making it one of my favorites. It's careful, complex, and energetic.
-"Unworthy of the Angel" has a story that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Donaldson, most of whose writing is rather atheistic, is attempting what he calls "religious fantasy," and it's apparent that he's outside of his comfort zone. However, he gets a lot of things right about the characterization of a guardian angel, and he hits many of the important points about the relationship between an artist and his work. I think the fantasy failed here but the philosophy held the story intact.
-"The Conqueror Worm" is a strange little horror story about what happens to a failing marriage when a large centipede attacks. I don't think I have to say any more.
-"Ser Visal's Tale" is about a fellow who becomes mixed up in the troubles of a witch who is abused by "The Temple." I tend to hate these kinds of stories for their obviousness and their attempts to be relevant and political. Of course we sympathize with the witch, because none of the other characters, especially the Templemen, are at all realistic as people. I'm also a little sour because the back cover told me this one "ends with a surprising twist." Surprise: it doesn't.
-"Animal Lover" is a pretty neat sci-fi story that involves cyborgs and genetic engineering. My favorite part is the fact that it's set in... well: "Here we were in the year 2011–men had walked on Mars, microwave stations were being built to transmit solar power, marijuana and car racing were so important they were subsidized by the government." All this is narrated by a gritty government agent with a laser cannon in his hand. I've been waiting for the day I could compare the present day to a sci-fi prediction (other than Nineteen Eighty-Four). In all honesty, the story succeeds in spite of this disconnection, making it one of my favorites. It's careful, complex, and energetic.
-"Unworthy of the Angel" has a story that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Donaldson, most of whose writing is rather atheistic, is attempting what he calls "religious fantasy," and it's apparent that he's outside of his comfort zone. However, he gets a lot of things right about the characterization of a guardian angel, and he hits many of the important points about the relationship between an artist and his work. I think the fantasy failed here but the philosophy held the story intact.
-"The Conqueror Worm" is a strange little horror story about what happens to a failing marriage when a large centipede attacks. I don't think I have to say any more.
-"Ser Visal's Tale" is about a fellow who becomes mixed up in the troubles of a witch who is abused by "The Temple." I tend to hate these kinds of stories for their obviousness and their attempts to be relevant and political. Of course we sympathize with the witch, because none of the other characters, especially the Templemen, are at all realistic as people. I'm also a little sour because the back cover told me this one "ends with a surprising twist." Surprise: it doesn't.
I suppose my lesson from this book is that mediocre fantasy is all over the place, and even the best writers can fall into it. A story, no matter what the genre, is made up of something to be said and a way of saying it. If these elements aren’t synchronized, the results are messy. If they are, then it’s a success. Genre isn’t something to be transcended; it’s always a means of reaching something that can’t be reached any other way.
Looking over my thoughts about this book, I've realized that it reflects, in a way, what I plan to do with this blog. It's a collection of short stories, not necessarily the author's best, all in one volume. The diversity makes it enjoyable, but there's also the reminder that even the cleverest writer has bad days. Years of constant practice are necessary just to produce one great book. When that happens, it shouldn't kill the writing spirit–as Donaldson explores early in Thomas Covenant's experience with leprosy–but it should be the peak in a process that is contained not only in the surviving text, but along the river of the author's life.
Looking over my thoughts about this book, I've realized that it reflects, in a way, what I plan to do with this blog. It's a collection of short stories, not necessarily the author's best, all in one volume. The diversity makes it enjoyable, but there's also the reminder that even the cleverest writer has bad days. Years of constant practice are necessary just to produce one great book. When that happens, it shouldn't kill the writing spirit–as Donaldson explores early in Thomas Covenant's experience with leprosy–but it should be the peak in a process that is contained not only in the surviving text, but along the river of the author's life.
Interesting. While I don't remember much about the story anymore (I read it about 20 years ago), Ser Visal's Tale was one of my favorites of the lot. As I recall, the twist hinged on the storyteller being the agent who helped rescue the witch. As far as Donaldson's writing being atheistic, I never got that impression. I don't regard him as an atheist. He might be. I couldn't say. But the Covenant Chronicles struck me as particularly allusive - from the creation story, establishing good and evil, personal culpability, sacrifice, and the consequences our choices produce. In fact, one of the reasons I've enjoyed Donaldson so much is precisely because I find him such a substantive novelist. In a genre seemingly stuffed with mostly transient trash of little redeeming merit, it's refreshing to find someone who deals with the psychological turmoil of his characters and the backlash of sin. But that's the glories of fiction. Our impressions are expressly personal and subjective.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure my impression of Donaldson is skewed by the fact that his high fantasy is such a keystone in a genre which, for me, illuminates so much about the human condition. When he switches to other genres and styles, it seems off-color to me, but I wonder what I would think if I could re-read these stories without knowing the author. As for the trash that fills the fantasy genre, it's precisely that refreshment I get from reading inspired authors like Donaldson, Le Guin, and Clarke (to name but a few), who dare to dream larger, that keeps me coming back again and again.
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