Spurred on by having the first two books of his Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant on my shelf and knowing that the third and final should be out soon, I embarked on re-reading the first two trilogies, or Chronicles. Rather than review them separately, I thought I would treat each Chronicle as a whole, as I cannot concieve of not finishing any of the Chronicles once they grab hold of you. Although many disparage Stephen Donaldson’s writing, I don’t have any problem with it and like that I sometimes have to grab the dictionary to understand a work he has used. In fact, that is one of the joys of reading him as I like to be challenged with vocabulary while I read.

The Land itself is an incredible creation that for me is one of the greatest joys of reading his Chronicles and an incredible achievement for Donaldson, on par with the creation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. The land and its inhabitants are alive with health and sentience; manifested in EarthPower. The people of the land can sense the right and wrong in rock, tree, water, and fire, as well as in themselves. When their earth-sense lets them down or where despite and evil creep into the land, it has some defenses of its own. This earth-sense is something that resonates deep in my soul and in that part of me that treasures our earth. I wish I had a little more EarthSense. He has also peopled The Land with many strange and interesting inhabitants, good and bad: the giants, the Ranyhyn, Forestals, the Bloodguard, Elohim, Sand Gorgons, Merewives, Ravers, Ur-Viles and the like.

Were the books as good as I remember from reading them in my college days 20+ years ago? Suprisingly, yes. Although I still like the genre and read it occasionally, I have moved on from those times when this was my primary source of literary escape. But I found that the books have held up very well in the time since my last read. I would highly recommend them to readers interested in one of the early masters of the genre.

In The Ill-Earth War, Covenant again is summoned to the land upon falling and striking his head on his living room table. In the 4 days it has been since he recovered from his last accident and visit to The Land; 40 years have passed there. Lord Foul is making war upon the land. The Lords are in dire need and have summoned Covenant back to help them in their extremity. Suprisingly, Covenant finds that Hile Troy, another person from his world, is in command of the Lord’s armies. While Hile Troy meets the armies of Lord Foul, Covenant and the High Lord are again on a quest for the knowledge and strength to save the land and fight the Despiser. The novel builds to a suprising climax that has major ramifications for the future of The Land.

Of the three books in the first Chronicles, this was the weakest for me. ( )

The Thomas Covenant series is something like Narnia meets Middle Earth, only instead of Pevensie children entering a wardrobe, a leper enters by accidentally striking his head against a coffee table.

Once again in the Land, Covenant discovers that much time has passed since his last visit, though he was only away for a few weeks. This further solidifies in his mind that he is merely dreaming. A new set of Lords seem to know him by reputation, but the adversary is still the same old(er) Lord Foul. This time, he is harnessing the power of the Illearth Stones, which allow him to corrupt even the uncorruptable giants.

Covenant and other real-worlder Hile Troy both work towards trying to defeat Foul. Troy through military tactics, and Covenant through ancient lore. Neither being as successful as they would have hoped.

No epic fantasy written post-Tolkien can be without very heavy Tolkien influences. In this one, the heaviest tolkienoid aspect could arguably be the character of Caerroil Wildwood. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out if he's more like Tom Bombadil or Treebeard.

However, to the discerning reader, Donaldson is much less tolkienoid than authors like Terry Brooks or David Eddings (whose Sword of Shannara and Belgarath the Sorcerer both read like poor retellings of Tolkien's Legendarium).

Read this book if you love epic fantasy beyond all reason. Don't read this book if you're Tolkien's biggest fan and think that even Christopher Tolkien spoils his father's work. ( )

[Caution: contains minor spoilers.]

While just as harsh as the first book, this one makes a lot more sense - there is less metaphorical wandering. It is also helped by the fact that it is not all from Covenant's perspective as the first book is - it follows the story of Hile Troy for a good part of it. He's an interesting character - apparently from the real world. This causes some distress to Covenant (most things do) but his reality or otherwise is not resolved in this book.

Elena is another interesting character. She is definitely a bit strange in the head. She starts out seemingly normal, but the weirdness creeps out as the book progresses. I don't get the part of the storyline where she is sexually attracted to Covenant - he's her father. There are hints of incest, and yet the author skirts past it and never really explains it or delves into it or anything. I'm putting it down to Elena's mental instability.

Another mystery to me is Covenant's bargain with the Ranyhyn in the first book. I just don't get it. What is the bargain? How does it save him or absolve him from anything? It's referenced again here, and still doesn't make sense. I understand what he tries to do with Elena more - get her to accept final responsibility for the Land in his place. Still pretty flimsy though!

A good book though - more coherent and developed than the first, a definite improvement. ( )

See the review of the paperback edition. ( )

2nd part of Thomas' troubles.

Struggling to come to terms with th eimaginary events of the last book - there is no sign apart from his memories that they were real - Covenant is surprised to recieve a phone call from his ex-wife, so surprised that he trips and bashes his head, cutting it open and sending him unconscious whereby he returns to the Land.

Summoned by the latest High Lord Elena, Thomas finds that although only a week or two of his time has passed, nearly 40 years have passed in the Land, and the prophecy he carried on his last visit is near to fruition. Lord Foul has gained the Illearth Stone and raised a vast army. The new Warmark, one blind Hille Troy -nominally also from 'the real world' - has a cunning plan. The lords have not been idle but they come nowhere close to matching Lord Foul's numbers. And of even greater concern nothing has been heard of from the Giants. And so they all depart ready for a great battle. En Route they are joined by a stranger Amok. Under careful questioning he is revealed to bte 'The Way and the Door' to the 7th Ward of hidden lore. Elena and Thomas depart to persue this quest while the rest of the army tries to fight.

Much closer to a standard fantasy Thomas is more accepting of the Land, and the large parts spent following the Warward's progress while Thomas isn't there help to convince that the Land is real (Donaldson's excision of GildenFire on these grounds begins to spund spurious, but as the book is already long reducing a few chapters isn't a bad thing). There is still great continuity from the previous book, action that Thomas took are rebounding in unexpected directions, and he finds that the Land has a full claim on him, even though there is still little he can do to aid it.

Thi sis perhaps the least dark of the trilogy, despite the battles scenes which are mostly glossed over. There is little violence, littel recrimination or anger, mearly exploration and discovery, both of hte land and of relationships. However the ending is not upbeat, and Thomas still feels angst and responsability.

Adult fantasy read it. ( )