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The Illearth War (The Chronicles of Thomas…
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The Illearth War (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #2) (original 1977; edition 2012)

by Stephen R. Donaldson

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4,577322,469 (3.81)55
Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:â??The Thomas Covenant saga . . . will certainly find a place on the small list of true classics in its specialized field.â?â??The Washington Post Book World

After scant days in his â??realâ? world, Thomas Covenant finds himself again summoned to the Land. There, forty bitter years have passed, while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moves to fulfill his prophecy of doom.

The Council of Lords find their spells useless, now that Foul the Despiser holds the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. At last High Lord Elena turns in desperation to Covenant and the legendary white gold magic of
… (more)
Member:morgensd
Title:The Illearth War (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, #2)
Authors:Stephen R. Donaldson
Info:Del Rey, Kindle Edition, 546 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
Tags:None

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The Illearth War by Stephen R. Donaldson (1977)

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» See also 55 mentions

English (30)  Spanish (1)  French (1)  All languages (32)
Showing 1-5 of 30 (next | show all)
Definitely better than book 1 because there was a huge section without Thomas Covenant in it, but even the part with him in it at the end wasn't terrible. I'll definitely be finishing the trilogy, but that third book will help me decide whether I do the 2nd trilogy or not.

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When confronted by his daughter and she says she wants to be his lover, what does Covenant say? Not, "eww that's gross you're my daughter.", Not "Well you are hot, but you're my daughter so no." But instead he says, "We can't because I'm a leper." EVEN THOUGH he totally can, because he's not really a leper in the fantasy world. But of course, he has to bring up being a leper. He's worse than a vegan! ( )
  ragwaine | Mar 4, 2024 |
I'm well over half done and the thought of picking this up again is filling me with dread. Maybe I'll try again when winter has settled in. But now I need something with some life in it. Something that won't leave me rolling my eyes at the characters and wishing that they'd get on with it. I'm starting to understand why Kevin just said "Fuck it. I'm just gonna burn it all down. These asshats just won't STFU."

How did my judgement fail me so horribly when I was a teenager/young adult?

Oh wait.

I was a moody, hormonal teenager/young adult. That might be it right there.

I'm leaving an extra star because there are a lot of moody, hormonal people out there who might like this as much as I did back in the day. ( )
  rabbit-stew | Dec 31, 2023 |
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. 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. ( )
  TheScribblingMan | Jul 29, 2023 |
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!!!!! ( )
  blackdogbooks | May 7, 2023 |
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 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. ( )
  bradleyhorner | Jun 1, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 30 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (10 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Donaldson, Stephen R.primary authorall editionsconfirmed
Donaldson, Stephenmain authorall editionsconfirmed
Goodfellow, PeterCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sweet, Darrell K.Cover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wyeth, S. C.Cover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
That beauty and truth should pass utterly
Dedication
For James R. Donaldson, M.D., whose life expressed compassion and commitment more eloquently than any words.
First words
By the time Thomas Covenant reached his house the burden of what had happened to him had already become intolerable.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:â??The Thomas Covenant saga . . . will certainly find a place on the small list of true classics in its specialized field.â?â??The Washington Post Book World

After scant days in his â??realâ? world, Thomas Covenant finds himself again summoned to the Land. There, forty bitter years have passed, while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moves to fulfill his prophecy of doom.

The Council of Lords find their spells useless, now that Foul the Despiser holds the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. At last High Lord Elena turns in desperation to Covenant and the legendary white gold magic of

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