Any fly brain that digital can't fly... all they know is play Doom, trade bitcoin, cut doner kebab and lie.

wut

What the fuck has reddit got to do with anything? Touch grass, this keyboard warrior outrage isn't changing shit.

"The" in those names is referring to the structure of the state, rather than the name; "The United States", "The Union" (Maldives is actually "The Republic of the Maldives").

From wikipedia:

In the English-speaking world during most of the 20th century, Ukraine (whether independent or not) was referred to as "the Ukraine".[19] This is because in Russian, the word ukraina means 'borderland' so the definite article would be natural in the English language; this is similar to Nederlanden, which means 'low lands' and is rendered in English as 'the Netherlands'.

When it was a part of the USSR it was mainly called "The Ukraine". Since independence, dropping "the" is preferred. But older people will have heard it called "The Ukraine" most of their lives.

I often randomly wake up at 3am and can tell when I'm not going to get back to sleep. After a couple of coffees I usually sit on the couch coding and its deeply enjoyable to just be cozy in the dark, cat curled up next to me, totally in my own world.

Very nicely put.

That's fair enough I guess. I just think that those details that you're looking for aren't what the novels are about. They aren't trying to create epic fantasy world building and evocative battles, they're an exploration of a man's pain and self loathing and his search for meaning and values.

I think getting into traditional fantasy heroics undermines that intent. If I remember correctly most of, if not all of, those kind of events that are portrayed in the book are essentially there to heighten the tragedy of what comes after. You mention in your OP writers like Tolkien and Martin and their explorations of morality and ethics but I don't think they are at all comparable to what Donaldson is doing. Tolkien's morality is incredibly simplistic, and Martin's characters display a variety of moral attitudes but they are rarely explored in any depth. The intent of those books is very different to the Covenant Chronicles.

I am curious now to reassess them, I'll have to make the effort.

I've only read the first trilogy, and it was when I was much younger so my impressions if I read it today could be different.

I think most of your criticisms are intentional decisions by the writer, the focus of the book is much more about the protagonist's point of view and the internal struggle they are going through, and the philosophical implications of his experiences. I remember finding the world building very unique and compelling when I read it, but its not "fleshed out" because you only see what Covenant sees, your perspective is confined to his.

But I also think the world building intentionally both mimics and subverts common fantasy tropes, with the cliched or shallow characters being used to explore the themes. After all, isn't the whole thing just a delusion that the main character is experiencing? Wouldn't his delusional brain populate it with archetypes and cliches? That would be a cop out of if that was the only reasoning, but I think he does successfully subvert or manipulate those tropes in a lot of ways.

When I first read it in the late 80s, I hadn't read anything else like it. Dark fantasy of this kind was not common (there was Sword & Sorcery stuff but I don't think that has the same kind of grounded, personal bleakness) and I found the unrelenting grimness of the main character and his experiences very provocative. I still don't think that there is a better example of a dark lord type villain that thrives on corrupting his opponents; the way that characters (and sometimes entire cultures) are manipulated into becoming the thing they hate the most is vivid and horrific in these books.

I've been meaning to re-read the series and see how it compares to my memories, I'll post here if I get around to it.

edit: I just looked it up and it was published in 1977. That's actually blown my mind a bit, I think this book was way ahead of its time in style and themes and was incredibly influential in genre fiction.

Yeah it's a tough choice. Plainsong and A Forest round out my top 3.

Strong contender for best Cure song.