Against All Things Ending

This is the review I've been dreading and anticipating, all at the same time.

If a book could be scored in the negatives, this would be that book. It's a horrible, fetid thing that just sits there.

For the first quarter of the book, the characters simply talk. Yes. Just. Bloody. Talk. They've reached Andelain. And now they must move on. But first, Donaldson must run every single character through his or her dialogue paces. Everyone must be heard. Everyone must blather, whine, complain, bitch and generally restate everything that's already been stated.

I mentioned that the first book in this (thankfully) final series should be subtitled Arrogance. The second book would be Apprehension. But this, the penultimate volume in this series, easily show more earns the subtitle Agony, some for the agonizing slowness of the book's pace. Some for the way each characters agonize over every simple decision. Some for the way each character has a question in their mind, a deep and abiding question that desperately needs an answer, but not one of them ever asks it directly, choosing instead to ask some oblique, barely connected question instead, then agonize over the fact that they didn't get the answer they wanted.

I swear Stephen Donaldson's Giant name must be something like Heavingwords Steamingpile or Shoveling Obscurewords or something like that.

Seriously. Imagine this.

Linden looked down at her boot. From the look on Covenant's mein, and with her healthsense, she saw he was aware. "Hell and Blood, Linden! Your boot! It's become...unfettered." Stave was at her side in a moment.

"Linden Avery," he said, his mein a rock. "You are the chosen. You must use the Staff of Law to correct this undoing. We cannot condone this abeyance."

Liand, the one and only Stonedowner, said, "Stave, you are Haruchai. YOu know this would be foolhardy. It must be corrected with the Wild Magic of the ring. She is the Ringthane."

Mahrtiir stumbled to the ever-swelling group. "I am Mahrtiir, Manethrall of the Ramen. We must call the Ranyhyn. It is only through their guidance that we shall overcome this most diabolical of hurdles."

Clyme said, "Mahrtiir, you are Ramen. All your solutions cater to the horses from the Plains of Ra. This surely is a trick by the Despiser. Using the Staff will awaken She Who Must Not Be Named."

"That's Voldemort's sister," Galt added helpfully.

"I thank you all," Linden started, "but..."

Rime Coldspray interjected. "Galt and Clyme, you are the Humbled. I believe we have many giantish tales we can tell. Surely sometime in the next few months of the listening, we shall have an answer."

"Guys," Linden said. "Really, I..."

"Rime Coldspray, Ironfist and Swordmainnir, your words are anodyne to this conundrum, still, I don't believe..."

Linden stood up."It's okay."

Stave said, "Linden? What dark sorcery is this?"

Linden ate some aliantha berries, their vivacious boon soothing her soul. "It was easy. I retied my laces."

"Surely not!" Covenant said. "Hellfire and damnation, Linden! You tied your own shoelace? DON'T TOUCH ME!"

And so on...

Yes, that's a joke, but seriously, it seems to get down to that level at times in this book.

In fact, there was a point about halfway through or so where I actually laughed out loud at the line that went something like, "These were people of action, unused to standing in one place for long." Seriously, almost snorted my coffee. The first half of the book is in two locations and they really don't move.

Seriously, Shoveling Obscurewords could have packed this story nicely into about 200 pages and spread it between the second and last books and not forced this torturous piece of crap on us.

I'd fully intended to read the four books back to back, but this one killed me. I'm reading a couple of other books before I dive back in one last time to the world of Thomas Covenant.

What a monstrous pile of shit. show less

Why oh why did I start reading this series? Nostalgia from reading the first two Covenant series when I was a kid, perhaps? Or maybe I enjoyed Donaldson's Gap series so much, I figured what could go wrong?

Where is the editor for these books? You'd think after reading the same thing, again and again, page after page, a good editor might suggest to Mr. Donaldson that he could cut a bit of the tedium and tighten things up. Nope.

I don't think I've come across a more annoying pair of protagonists that Linden Avery and Thomas Covenant. The self pity. The constant whining. I really felt sorry for their companions to have to suffer like that. Pretty much all of the other characters in the book are more interesting and more likable than these show more two. And that includes the horses.

First hundred pages, we're just standing around in a glade. Talking. Linden either asking stupid questions, or completely forgetting to ask the obviously critical ones. Have you ever wanted to reach through a book and shake some sense into someone? I have, now that I've read this book.

Worst thing is, there might actually be an interesting story buried in this mess. It's hard to find, but I think it is there, somewhere, suffocating under the rotten writing.

And please, please, someone take the thesaurus away from Mr. Donaldson. I've never come across an author who so perversely enjoys using archaic or overly complicated language. Most of the unusual English words are not known to my Merriam-Webster dictionary (and I am far too lazy to go into the other room and look these things up in my copy of the OED).

I guess I'm just a sucker. Having received the 4th (and FINAL!) book is this series from the Early Reviewers program, I feel obligated to finish this series thing up. Afterwards, I have a feeling I'll not be reading any more Donaldson. Life is too short. show less

First of all, for those who are familiar with Donaldson, this is not the last book of the series. There is one more book after this to complete the 'Last Chronicles'.
This book is very typical Donaldson. I am not ashamed to admit that within the first 20 pages, I was looking for a dictionary to look up words such as 'orogeny' and 'surquedry' and others. Donaldson is a master of the English language, which sometimes makes his books difficult to read. Once you get adjusted to his style again, it becomes easier.
Once again, Linden Avery and her companions are attempting to save The Land from Lord Foul, and from the consequences of their actions both recent and far past. All of the deeds and misdeeds of the past have come together to form show more several crises, and several new foes.
One thing that distinguishes this book from the previous one is that there is tangible progress during the book. Much is accomplished, though there is a lot left to go.
I can see how some people will complain that the characters spend more time talking about what to do than doing it. However, in a book that is all about consequences and accepting responsibility (or not) that is what should happen. The Land can't be saved in a day with a few waves of a magic wand. show less

As so the story rumbles onwards in Donaldson's unique longwinded and verbose style that yet somehow contrives to remain exciting and enthralling at the same time. This is the 9th instalment of Thomas Covenant who died back in book 6, and the penultimate book of his adventures. It is not in anyway readable as a standalone, and at very least the two preceding books of this quadrology should be read first. Ideally you'd want to read those book immediately before embarking on this tome. I didn't, having last read them at the time of the publication of the 2nd book at least 18 months ago, and initially I found matters somewhat confusing before I caught up sufficiently with events.

Thomas has been re-incarnated by a passionate Linden, who has show more contrived to bestir the Worm At The End of The World in the process. All powerful and intelligent entities in the Land are aghast at this Desecration which will bring down the Arch of Time, freeing Despite form his Eons of imprisonment. Linden believes Thomas is the only person with enough power to oppose Despite, despite (ha) Thomas' continual protestations to the contrary, and her own evident powerful deeds. Meanwhile her son remains lost to her, Thomas' son Roger continues to bedevil them (lusting after the white gold as a chance to make himself immortal) and their various other nemeses' are still around. Thomas doesn't cope well with re-incarnation after being a dis-embodied spirit adrift in the Arch of Time, he isn't built to remember eons of history, and keeps drifting into reminiscences rather than dealing with the crisis at the present moment. In terms of new directions now that Linden has dealt with the immediate threat to the land (as she sees it) her sole goal is to redeem her son, and to that end she eventually accepts the Harrow's bargain and surrenders both the White Gold and the Staff of Law to him. He transfers the party to the Lost Deep, first home of the Viles...

This unfortunately didn't quite grab me as much as some of Donaldson's works have done. I'm still not convinced about the existence of this entire adduct to the original series, and this books feels far too much like a filler. Some events have to take place before the grand finale and showdown, but I'm not sure that 1000pages are necessary for them. We are again being introduced to new characters/abilities that should have been present in the earlier books but weren't. Little inconsistencies like this matter to me, and detract from the grandeur the series is trying to establish. Equally having Covenant remember occasional useful bits of information from his Time in the Arch seemed far too contrived as a plot resolution.

I don't normally have an issue with Donaldson's expansive vocabulary, he knows a lot of words, and generally the meaning is clear even if I can't be bothered to look up the precise infections imparted by the specific words he uses. However he seemed to be writing particularly obscurely this time out, with a higher than usual preponderance of really exotic adjectives.

All that said, this is still a good book with poetical descriptions of beguiling characters, deep set motivations and personal courage. It is nowhere near as dark in imagery as some of Donaldson's work and enjoyable throughout. It just isn't as good as some of his other works. Can't wait two years? for the last and concluding episode to be published though.
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Re-read picking up the series here prior to engaging with the Last Dark. The preface notes on What Has Gone Before are really useful. And I recalled enough from three years ago for it all to make sense, more or less. That's how powerfully Donaldson writes, I've probably read close to 300 books in the intervening time, but this is still a story to be remembered.

Far from being to everyone's taste Donaldson is an epicuric writer of prodigious talent, challenging heroes villains and readers a like. This still doesn't possess the grandeur of the first series, but it remains rewarding and enthralling throughout. You care about the privitations that are required to overcome the necessity choice. show less

This, the third book in "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" was the best read of the story arc. Detailing the "adventures" of Linden Avery and her quest to recover her son Jeremiah, who is under possession of a/the croyel. This book screams with a mother's yearnings to reclaim her lost son and the lengths she is willing to go to recover her progeny. In the previous book Linden has called Covenent from the Arch of Time and thus committed a desecration (most of those seem to involve bringing the dead back to live) and has awakened the Worm of World's End. This volume relates the events that lead towards the destruction of the land.

There are elohim, Insequent, giants, ravers, haruchai and any number of now familiar entities of the show more land, all with their own agendas. They all seem to make an appearance in this book, with many sacrifices, twists and turns. Through it all Covenent is beset with memory loss and lapses of cognitive ability due to his experiences in the Arch. The final quarter or so of the book relates his own journey to meet his ex-wife Joan (who has been causing time-rips called caesures due to the influences of another raver). The book can be quite brutal at times, however the action pulls the reader through those moments. Linden's anguish and despair are quite evident and pulls one into the book like a drug as the Worm begins to feed.

I received this copy as part of the LT Early Reader program - if you haven't signed up you should. I can't wait for the final volume. show less

A gloomy masterpiece, though it took me a few pages to come to that conclusion.

I have always been impressed by Donaldson's craft. Few bring to life such vivid protagonists as Donaldson. Few invoke such a sense of reality. This book didn't disappoint.

Near the beginning I was slightly put off by what I perceived as a staggering display of writerly self-indulgence -- a minute-by-minute play-by-play of characters thoughts and emotions.

But once I figured out what this book was actually about -- for me, at least -- an intense, unflinching look at despair (which shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering it's been a running theme throughout the entire series) I was hooked.

As others have said, not for everyone. But definitely for me.

Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is a masterpiece from book 1 up to and including this book, the ninth in the series and the next to the last book in the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Donaldson uses complex character development and deep explorations of human motivation to weave an intricate tale of bigger than life heroes and flawed anti-heroes who must combine their efforts to save the precious Land. His fantasy realm, The Land, rivals that of Tolkien's Middle Earth, and his characterizations are reminiscent of Stephen King. Ultimately the tales of Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery are epic stories of good versus evil, but Donaldson's heroes are flawed human beings who must strive to overcome evil, not by show more superpowers or by might, or even right, but simply by trusting who they have been created to be - imperfect, flawed beings who want to be more and want the world to be a better place. They must overcome evil by overcoming their own flaws and shortcomings. Time and again they rise to the challenge. But as we discover in each of the first two trilogies, evil never disappears for long or is completely defeated. This time Covenant and Linden Avery face an apocalyptic event and yet again, accompanied by the last heroes of the Land, they must find a way to overcome their imperfections, their own desires, and their own shortcomings to rise to the need of the world, the Land, and ultimately their own reality as well. This is a wonderfully adventurous journey, but is not a simple read. Donaldson's characters are complex, and he spends a considerable number of pages exploring their motivations and character flaws. This is part of what makes his books so memorable. His characters come to life under his narration and the Land takes shape as we journey with the Humbled, the Giants, the Ramen and Stowndowners toward either the ultimate doom or their final salvation. It is an epic journey. show less