Gave up on this. Far too boring. What a shame, after the first two series of books were superb. ( )

The Land from Linden's Point of View.

Although White Gold Wielder had pretty much conclusively ended Thomas' involvement with the Land, and seemed like a good stopping point for the tale, marketing and money exert massive pressures and so SD has succombed to the lure of extending a finished series - hopefully he really means 'last' this time. However as the master talent that he is, even this offering is way better than the average fantasy out there.

10 years further on - ie about 3000 Land years, Lord Foul has managed to recover from the final defeat that Thomas inflicted on him - although this shouldn't have been possible. And is once again trying to pull someone from the Real world across so they can break the Arch of Time for him, and free him to ravage the universe. The someone he chooses is the ever weak and accessible Joan Covenant. This time however she is being cared fro by Linden who is also caring for Jerimiah - the youngest of those harmed in Foul's previous attempt at gaining the White Gold. When Roger Covenant starts showing an interest (never previous expressed) in his mother and father's history, Linden realises something is about to happen. Again.

In the land, once again everything has changed - this allows SD to play with the fundamental concepts again. Sunbane has gone forever, but the brightness of the earthpower is smothered under a yellow smog - Kevin's Dirt. The Villagers are totally ignorant of earthpower kept so byt he Haurauchi - now called Masters! Becasue in their eyes earthpower was responsible for their loss of honour. One of Linden's first tasks will be to persued the Masters that she - a potent wielder of earthpower is not a threat to them. In this cause she teams up with a innocent villager Liand, and a madman (also earthpowerful) Aneale. Together they meet the Raman, quest (again) for the lost Staff of Law.

It is pure typical Donaldson all the way through 700 pages of dense descriptive and immaginative prose. If you don't like any of his other works you won't like this, but to fans of Thomas Covenant and the Land it is another wonderful installment. New beings are described and old threads followed up upon. I personalyl hate Time Travel as a plot device, but so far it's seems to handled in a sensible manner, both in it's causes and it's possabilities. Of course trhe langauge is difficult. I'm sufficiently well read that Donaldson seldom uses a word I don't know or can't interpret from context, but I would say in tRotE he does so more than in any of his previous works - and not just the brillianc eof the colours smells and sounds of Earthpower, but the very cruicial integrety of beings thoughts and emotions.

The other downside - he finishes on a massive cliffhanger. Very disappointing for it is not his usual style which normally encompasses endings superbly.

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I enjoyed this book for the second time. I'd read it a while ago. When Fatal Revenant came out, I decided I'd better revisit Runes before heading on to Fatal Revenant. I think I enjoyed Runes because after reading six books that capitalized on the acerbic, hopeless Thomas Covenant, I was ready to focus on Linden Avery. She is a far more likable character. Although I also like Thomas Covenant, he was beginning to wear on me.I'm glad that Donaldson highlighted and expanded upon Linden Avery's character! I also enjoyed the character of Esmer. His conflict is quite interesting and I found his background really surprising. Finally, I can't wait to get my hands on Fatal Revenant!! This is one of my all-time favorite book series. ( )

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson was just lying there on the remainder table at Barnes and Noble. It's the first part of a third trilogy about Thomas Covenant who is transported from the everyday world, where he suffers from a rare form of incurable leprosy, to The Land, a magical realm where he is not only completely free of disease but the wielder of a powerful magic he does not understand.

I read the first trilogy when I was in middle school. It was one of the first books I found and bought on my own. I remember the bookstore in Pleasanton, about 30 minutes ride on my bike from where we lived, well past the library where I'd gotten every other book I'd read up to then. The woman who ran the bookstore had an English accent, and personally recommended Lord Foul's Bane, the first book in the series. Other kids remember riding their bike to the candy store, I suppose, but books were better than candy as far as I was concerned and this one....well...look at the cover. Doesn't it look like a great book to an precocious 11-year-old reader? It was too, much more grown-up in theme than Lord of the Rings. Thomas Covenant didn't really believe in The Land, even though he was right there in it. He wasn't all together a good person, either. The leprosy he had made him a fascinating character. That was a disease from biblical times, not modern times. I read all three parts of the first as soon as each new book came out. The clerk with the English accent made sure to hold a copy for me.

But that was 30 years ago. Since then, I'd lost track of these books and of Mr. Donaldson altogether. Then I saw the first part of a third trilogy and thought it might be fun. Since summer was just about to start, maybe a big fat fantasy novel would be great. Revisit your childhood, go ahead. It was only $4.98. I didn't even know there was a third trilogy. The hero had died at the end of the sixth book, after all.

Maybe it's just a case of "you can't go home again," but The Runes of the Earth was a big disappointment. It started out well, in the modern world like the other books do, with an exciting plot line about Thomas Covenant's son trying to get his father's ring from Linden Avery the woman he gave it to at the end of the sixth book, just before his death. But as soon as Linden entered the fantasy world of The Land it was like Dorothy had gone from technicolor to black and white. The previously riveting pacing slowed to glacial , the characters became less interesting and lacking in motivation, and all anyone seemed to do was sit around and talk about what had already happened and what they should do next. I kept thinking of that great line in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, "If you're going to shoot, shoot, don't talk."

3000 years had passed in The Land since Linden Avery was last there, so she had a lot of catching up to do. Everything she encountered had to be explained in great detail and for pages and pages of pointless dialogue. I'd forgotten just how much time is devoted to discussing what to do in a fantasy epic. I honestly estimate 40% of The Runes of the Earth is spent arguing about what to do next. That's 40% of an almost 600 page book. I ended up finishing it just because I can count it in the A-Z challenge and I will confess here that I did skip a few chapters.

The back of the book claims that 10 million copies of the Thomas Covenant books have been sold worldwide, so I was not alone in liking them as a child. But this one, I did not like. I'm giving The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson two out of five stars. ( )

The Runes of the Earth begins the third and last chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson. My passion for reading was forged as a teenager with fantasy books by the likes of Lewis, Tolkien and Donaldson. When my eyes first fell upon Lord Foul’s Bane, the first book of the first chronicles published in 1977, I saw that it was another story about a ring of power craved by an evil lord, and thought that it must be another Lord of the Rings knockoff. Wow, was I wrong. Donaldson is a master of psychological adventure, taking readers deep into the interior of complex characters such as the anti-hero, Thomas Covenant, who disbelieves in the Land to preserve his health and sanity in our world. The fantasy genre uses symbols literally, and often crudely. Symbols are the language of the unconscious, and only a few like Donaldson can use them effectively.

Lord Foul is back after being twice defeated in his attempts to use Covenant’s white gold ring to destroy the Arch of Time. Covenant was slain at the end of the second chronicles, but the manner of his death promises a return in some form. Linden Avery reappears from the second chronicles as a worthy protagonist, equally tortured in her circumstances and decisions. Her son, Jeremiah, has been taken by Foul to manipulate her use of Covenant’s ring: “Tell her that I have her son.” Covenant’s family has been twisted into the service of Foul. The Staff of Law was lost a generation after Linden’s last victory over Foul, permitting new evils, including a smog called Kevin’s Dirt, and distortions of time called Falls or caesures. In the absence of any other leadership, the Haruchai have turned from servants of the Land to Masters, forbidding the use of Earthpower (health incarnate) to fight Foul. Linden’s only friends seem to be mad old Anele, who clings to her for protection, and young Liand, an untried Stonedowner.

Like any psychological journey, the action is more internal than external. The reader is treated to pages of deliberation, garnered in unfettered use of uncommon English (words like thetic and threnody), and dialog stretching over paragraphs at a time. Metaphysical questions are pondered deeply: can good come of evil? Readers travel leagues with Linden with only skirmishes for action. But when the moments of truth arrive, Donaldson delivers with fireworks. I recall that the conclusion to the second chronicles had me uttering aloud, “Oh my God!” These books are Old Testament fire and brimstone.

Thirty years after the first work was published, I wondered again if anything original could happen here. How many times can Foul return? I was not disappointed. This story had to be told. Consider that the villain has many names — Lord Foul, the Despiser, Despair. Despair is by nature a persistent foe. Donaldson is psychological novelist. Perhaps despair seldom wins, but can any of us truly vanquish despair for good? A major theme is this book is that of reckonings. When Stave the Haruchai is persuaded to assist Linden, he promises there will be a reckoning. What reckoning will be required to finally settle things with Foul? My hope is that by the end of this last chronicle, Donaldson will resolve the cycle in a new way, finding some kind of balance or synthesis in the Land between hope and despair.

http://johnmiedema.ca/2008/01/12/desp... ( )