Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Wounded Land (original 1980; edition 1987)by Stephen R. Donaldson
Work InformationThe Wounded Land by Stephen R. Donaldson (1980)
Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. One of the things one should watch for while reading, to tell whether or not one is perusing literature rather than entertainment, is character development. Mr. Donaldson hasn't bothered to move Thomas Covenant to a different head-space than the one inhabited by the misanthrope explored in the first three novels. That being said, we come to the matter of entertainment value. Thomas covenant is not entertaining, and while the world constructed by Donaldson in the first three volumes is complicated, it is neither intriguingly complex, nor attractive to me. I haven't read anything by Stephen since, nor felt the desire to. no reviews | add a review
Fantasy.
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
Thriller.
HTML:??Wounded Land is . . . a deeper, richer world than that presented in the previous volumes. . . . [Stephen R.] Donaldson is extending himself, creating a fuller, more mature world of imagination.???Seattle Post-Intelligencer Four thousand years have passed since Covenant first freed the Land from the devastating grip of Lord Foul and his minions. The monstrous force of Evil has regained its power, once again warping the very fabric and balance of the Land. Armed with his stunning white gold, wild magic, Covenant must battle not only terrifying external forces but his own capacity for despair and devastation. His quest to save the Land from ultimate ruin is exciting and heroic No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Thomas Covenant is still rages against himself while still learning to control his wild magic. Now though he does display moments of power that are capable of sundering the earth wide open. Through events in his own world he now has a travelling companion who has ‘issues’ of her own not too dissimilar at root to Covenant’s own.
The Wounded Land then, is in reality one seriously long prologue without which the rest of the chronicles would actually collapse into mediocrity. I say this because at the time of writing this review I am well into the next part and enjoying more because of the lengthy intro. There is a lot more subtly to the story’s deeper reaches.
The Land itself is a ruin of its former glory which tears at the heart of Thomas Covenant driving him to restore that land that he feels responsible for destroying. A vile and corrupted sun keeps the under its bane shifting between ravenous forms. The fierce heat that desecrates: the verdant sun that enforces wild growth, and the pestilent sun the withers life to a diseased pulp. Revelstone is in the hands of a Raver feeding the Sunbane with the blood of the people.
Covenant knows that the only hope is to restore the Law, to do that he will need to re-make the Staff of Law and thus the quest is born. A quest that will take him from one side of the land to the other and back again until at last he reaches the sea and ship-full of giants seeking to cure the ill of the earth.
So, as you can see there is a lot to get through in a single book, so fittingly, Stephen Donaldson does not try to cram it all in. Instead he spreads it out over a whole saga and digs deep into the psyche of Covenant, Linden, and a whole host of giants.
In short I found this book to be the best so far, not because of the story but because of its expanding detail and greater depth.
( )