The Illearth War

Lord Foul's Bane was a decent start to a potentially refreshing series. Illearth War fails to deliver on that and has put me off completely.
It begins well, with the build-up to Covenants summoning and the transition from his world to the next setting a good foundation.
It is a shame that the next 150 pages consist almost entirely of war council meetings. The next phase of the story takes up more than a third of the book and comprises entirely of a long war march led by a character that's new to the series. He's also a bit whiny. Thomas Covenant is not involved in this part of the story which rather contradicts the fact that the rest of the story is centered on him and his unbelief in the potentially imaginary world that surrounds him. show more When we finally get past this dull deviation, we are shown his “meanwhile" galavantings in the latter part of the book. Unfortunately, his strange attraction to his daughter (whose mother he raped), and her even stranger attraction to him, seem to become more of a focus than the actual plot.
Accompanying this are a lot of unrealistic, overblown events that are only just about acceptable due to the fact that this is a fantasy book and, I guess, you can get away with more or less anything under that umbrella.
Ah well, on to better things. show less

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

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

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 show more 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. show less