To start, a wise man said, "Omit needless words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, chapters, and books." Donaldson ignores all six rules. He is an advocate of writing pretty. Whole paragraphs and pages of it. And when he does it, he uses an extra-dictionary vocabulary. And when it's not pretty words, it's about how they turned east around the river bend, then they made camp, ate fish and chips, slept, woke up, traveled some more, made camp, ate fish and chips, slept, woke up, looked at the coquelocot sunset, and so on. Pages...no, chapters of this. Boring. And as for plot, it feels as though he made it up as he went. Nothing happens...then all of the sudden posessed bees attack!!! In one scene, he actually cheats to make the story go where he wants. He really does. In the chapter "Blood speed."

I think what it all comes down to is that his second draft is a proofread. He doesn't revise. A wise man said that a good second draft is 90% the length of the first. In other words, you write everything that comes to mind in the first draft, then get rid of everything you don't absolutely need and you smooth and balance the flow for the second draft. I'll bet you his second draft was longer than his first. And the flow isn't smooth or balanced at all. His books don't have any unity.

I talk as if I know all about writing, but it doesn't take a lot to see the flaws in Donaldson's work. He has talent. He proved it in the first trilogy, but he was in the dark when he wrote this one. I heard that the next two aren't any better, so I don't know if I'll read on. However, I'm wondering if his latest will be better because he wrote it twenty years after these ones. Maybe he's a better writer now. He has the potential.