The Illearth War

I find myself in the unenviable position of rooting for Lord Foul Bane and his many loathsome minions. Maybe it's just the intentional feature of making all the good guys so perfectly good and forgiving and nonviolent and understanding, but Thomas Covenant DOES NOT DESERVE IT.

Therefore, I really want to see Lord Foul Bane corrupt every single one of those bastards solely for the purpose of rising up and smiting that worthless son of a bitch, the Ur-Lord Thomas Covenant.

If it wasn't crazy enough that the Rape-Child of TC loves her Rape-Father so much that she summons him from our world to save their cut-out-heaven, she thinks she's in love with him and throws herself at him.

Yes, she's his daughter.

Not only does every character in the show more Land have no more dimensionality than a piece of toilet paper, but their insane levels of acceptance, even when a rage-filled father goes after TC or when the only true hero of the tale attempts to smite TC across his head, no one gets his just deserts. The grand heroic general who deserves every accolade gets transformed into a tree, and this is despite the fact that he was summoned from the our world, just like TC. He was also the most interesting character of the bunch.

So what was actually good about this book?

Well, the battles and battles and endless battles and strategy wasn't as bad as I've read elsewhere, but it isn't my cup of tea. It reminded me of the bad old days of WoT books 7 and 8, or perhaps a bit worse, because I cared less for the Land or its characters.

Some of the fantasy elements were pretty good, though, and what's not to love about bone melding and turning a combatant's bones to ash, letting the meat sack tumble to the ground? I got into this book only late, and completely to spite TC. Good thing most of the novel didn't have TC in it, or I might have gotten through an entire season of a TV show I'm way far behind on instead of just half of it, all in a desperate attempt to alleviate the boredom I felt while reading this godforsaken novel.

I can understand why people might revere this, considering the amount and kinds of fantasy trash that might have been out and about at the time it was written. I understand why it changed the face of old fantasy, just as I understand the Mallorean books did the same.

But the fact is, they all lack the gritty realism and complexly developed characters that I have come to revere in modern fantasy, and I just can't get behind it.

Having far off pining and far off horrors and far off hopes and plans is just BORING as hell to me, and if it can't be shored up by characters that learn and develop and change when faced with singular events that OUGHT to change them, then all we've got is a spoiled asshole who's turned a veritable heaven into an ongoing hell and he actually BELONGS on the side of Lord Foul Bane and he always will. The fact that he was summoned by LFB's minion in the first place should be a dead giveaway, but what the hell do I know?

It's not like Lord Wonderful Kevin (Don't get me started with the silliness of that name, the wonderful ancient godlike hero and destroyer of the Land) had anything to do with TC's summoning, like everyone thought. It looks like everyone has been fooled, and fooled good. Maybe I'm right about TC's direction. I don't know. I'm going to have to summon superhuman stores of patience to pick up the third book to find out. show less

What a pleasure to spend time in this world again, with the Unbeliever. There's a bit of cookie-cutter work here, sending Covenant back to the land after a short respite remembering his condition, and sending him home rather unceremoniously at the height of the conclusion. But the world building skills Donaldson displays in the second installment shine. Interestingly, Covenant is joined by another refugee from his world, and the unusual, fragile relations between the two make for good reading - as does the revelation that Covenant's violent sin in the first book produced a child. I'm sorry I didn't know about this series earlier in my reading life.

4 1/2 bones!!!!!
Highly Recommended!!!!!

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 show more 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. show less

[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 show more 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. show less

Stephen Donaldson takes Thomas Covenant on another strange journey through the Land. The second book in the series is much better than the first, which the first was great already. It introduces more aspects of the world, but doesn't it in a more organic way. The first book has Thomas Covenant getting told many stories about the Land, while in Illearth War he learns more about actually being involved. The plot of this book also moves much quicker and has a bit more originality to it. Thomas Covenant character grows, and while he still laments the way we all know and love, it isn't so repetitive. There is also a second protagonist in this book that creates a refreshing look at the Land through different eyes. While the series so far has show more a recurring theme, the characters are so great that it really pulls you in. show less

Fortsättning på Furst Nids Förbannelse, som slutar med att Thomas Covenant lyckas med sitt uppdrag i Landet och återvänder till sin värld genom att vakna på sjukhuset. Nu är han mer än innan övertygad om att allt bara har varit en förvirrande dröm och att varken Landet eller dess invånare existerar.
Men efter några förvirrande veckor hemma blir han åter kallad till Landet, han ramlar och svimmar när han öppnar ögonen så ligger han i rådsalen med urfurstarna omkring sig.
Fortsättningen är lika bra som första delen, kanske t om lite bättre, Thomas Covenant är fortfarande en intressan karaktär att få följa, då han är komplicerad, inte alltid sympatisk och långt ifrån en typisk fantasy hjälte.

Furst Nids förbannelse är första boken i Krönikorna om Thomas Covenant Den Klentrogne. Thomas är en annorlund huvudkaraktär som brukar finnas i fantasy böcker, han är ingen ädel hjälte, tvärt om är han bitter och fylld av inre konflikter.
Han kommer från vår värld och har nyligen drabbats av en tragedi som har slagit hans liv. Från att ha varit en aktad författare och lyckligt gift med en son får han plötsligt spetälsk, frun lämnar honom och tar sonen och samhället fryser ut honom.
Då inträffar något oförklarligt, han blir påkörd av en bil men istället för att vakna upp skadad har han slungas genom tid och rum till en annan värld- Landet. Landet är ett land fylld av magi, jättar och andra otroliga show more varelser, och här rasar en kamp mellan gott och ont och han själv verkar ha en stor och viktig roll i Landets öde.
Jag blev fast i boken efter första sidan och ser fram mot att läsa de återstående b : 4 i betyg show less