Ahira's Hangar

Just wondering, as many of the lukewarm and naegative (and even many of the positive) reviews of Fatal Revenant on Amazon mention that Donaldson's vovabulary is over the heads of the people who are doing the reviews.

I find pretty much everything understandable from the context, though will admit to having to look up a word from time to time (such as "roynish").

I like learning the new words BUT I get impatient when he picks a word like "roynish" which you will never find in print anywhere else and then uses it incessantly. There are other cool, little-used words he could have chosen.

The problem I had with "roynish" was that I read the books several times before I looked up the meaning on the internet, and by that time I had a certain "feel" for the word--and it turned out entirely wrong. "Roynish" just doesn't have the right feel/sound to correspond to its meaning, IMO, so it gives readers who don't know the word--and this is only an issue because that is most of them--the wrong impression.

I think you all are too harsh on "roynish." I love that word! It's perfect for the ur-viles!

Donaldson's unique vocabulary is intrinsic to my love of the Chronicles. Sure, there have been words that confounded me, like Kasreyn's geas from The One Tree. Heck if I know what a geas is or what language it comes from, but from the context of the story I guessed that it meant his "gaze" or power over others' minds. The point is that it adds to the exotic, otherworldly feel of that realm. So I don't really mind when I come across a strange word, even if I can't find it in the dictionary. They all just add to the magic of the books.

I don't get complaints about SRD's alleged overuse of words like "puissant" or "crepuscular." They are part of SRD's language he uses for the Chronicles. Just as certain camera moves are always associated with a Kubrick movie, or certain progressions of notes are always associated with a Beethoven composition. It's a signature.

"Puissant" ans "crepuscular" are neither obsolete nor misleading by their sound. "Roynish" always brought to mind, because of the "roy-", some sort of regal or lofty image, for me. Whereas it in fact means scabby, mangy. It's one of only a few words he's used that are impossible to understand without looking up--most of them can be inferred from context.

The vocab doesn't bother me, but the next time I look up a word I don't know will be the first time. I just roll with it, and hope that the context conveys the meaning (which it doesn't always do, but I don't care that much myself).

Years ago, I actually shopped for a dictionary based on whether it included "roynish". The only place I found it was in an unabridged dictionary, so that's what I bought.

I took Spanish in school, not French, so I didn't make the roy=king connection. I just had no earthly idea what the bloody word meant.

Just a related thought to this topic: does any other fantasy writer's vocabulary bother readers to the degree that Donaldson's seems to? I have not visited other authors' forums, so I don't know how much readers pick over, say, George RR Martin's choice of words or Erikson's.

With Donaldson, if it's not his use of obscure words that bothers people, then it's his use of swearing (in the Last Chrons). I recall one long e-mail to SRD's GI in which the sender said he was so disgusted by the vulgar language in Runes that he had blacked out all the cursing and replaced it with what he felt were words more appropriate for the dignified stature of the Chronicles. Hey, it's his copy - he can do whatever he wants to it. But it shows how seriously some Chronicles readers take this sort of thing. I respect their passion for the books (hey, I'm a fan too) but Covenant is Donaldson's story, and he can do whatever he wants to it...short of handing the Last Chrons over to his chiropractor to finish.

I bet in his version of Lord Foul's Bane, TC steals an ice cream cone from Lena.

I've never been bothered by SRD's use of unique or exotic words. I seem to take it in stride that alongside proper names like Banas Nimoram, Kelenbhrabanal and Melenkurion Abatha, roynish, crepuscular and puissant are just part of the game the author is playing with his readers. Seems perfectly natural.

It never bothered me until my current reread...and it's really starting to get to me...not sure why the change...maybe cause I'm taking it slow and trying to imagine every detail.