The Runes of the Earth: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

I know a lot of people won't like this book. It's heavy on some of Donaldson's "weaknesses." If I ever have to read the words "condign", "frangible," etc., again, it'll be too soon. His vocabulary is staggering to the point of being distracting. I know that these grandiose or obscure words add a sense of urgency to the proceedings, but because they pop out when you first encounter them, you almost begin counting the number of times they appear, which is distracting.And some people might not like the fact that Thomas Covenant doesn't really appear in this first volume.But I have to figure that if a reader is picking this book up, chances are they've read the other two trilogies, and liked them enough to read more.I am NOT a big reader of "fantasy fiction." When I was in high school, LORD FOUL'S BANE came out, and a friend sorta forced it one me. I devoured it in a few days and never looked back. I read each book eagerly (and now, these many decades later, I've read them all three times each, at a minimum). But other similar work that I've tried just hasn't engaged me. There is something pecularily haunting about the tone of these books. No one in these books makes little choices or does mundane things. Every moment is a life and death moment. Everything is FRAUGHT with meaning, possibility, danger, hope, menace, etc. They are richly rewarding.I was so absolutely thrilled to be revisiting The Land. I remember when the 2nd book came out, it was great to see how Donaldson's imagination had wrought new despair upon the Land which had been saved at the end of the first trilogy. Naturally, a lot of time had gone by, and this helped a great deal. It's just the same with RUNES OF THE EARTH. Another couple thousand years have passed and things are pretty bad once again.Linden Avery, Covenant's companion and love from the second trilogy, is sucked back into the land to try to rescue her adopted son, and to save the land from the return of Lord Foul, plus some new villains (I won't mention them here...trying to avoid spoilers if I can). She arrives, of course, in Mithil Stonedown, the village where Covenant so frequently arrived himself. She meets many of the familiar KINDS of characters as appeared in other books, although the exact characters are long dead, of course. Best of all is the evolution of the haruchai, the stone-faced, impossibly resolute former guards of the lords of the land. Their role in the Land has undergone some dramatic shifts, and Linden (and the reader) is horrified.The pacing of this book is perhaps a mite slower than some of the former ones. It's a big volume, and is not a fast read. But its rewards far outshine its weaknesses. I'm an avid reader, probably a book a week (I do have a full time job and family too, so that's about all I can manage). I enjoy most things I read, but FEW things actually pull me right into them and involve me on a visceral level. For some reason, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant have always had this effect on me. If you've felt as involved in these books as I have...you'll be glad to dive back in and see what's going on in The Land. (Be warned, though...there's a doozy of a cliffhanger AND the next book isn't due until 2007!)

Summary: Good, not great, but a fun read. For the book's length, the actual plot line is quite simple. I would say this book is 125 pgs. too long (or those pages could have at least been used to better ends), but when the story stops at its cliff-hanger (in a rather predictable place), one wishes there were a few more chapters before resigning to the wait. Also, the ending does not really come as a surprise (the series is of course entitled the Chronicles of THOMAS COVENANT), but I won't dwell on it other than to say character interaction should improve in the next installment.Good News: Gone are 95% of Donaldson's annoying writing habits that virtually crippled the narrative of the first six books. Donaldson's writing has improved, with (thankfully) far less use of his unabridged Roget's thesaurus and unnecessaryily obtuse language. Also, it's easy to see Donaldson has put more into this than necessary for simple "money".Bad News: When Linden Avery finally arrives in the Land atop Kevin's Watch and tumbles down to face her challenges, Donaldson surrounds her with the stoicism of the Haruchai, the single-mindedness of the Ramen, a brave but clueless Stonedowner, a babbling madman, an enigmatic spirit, and bands of creatures that cannot be understood in English. That leaves Donaldson's Avery in the unenviable spot as the only character the reader can hope to latch on to. While she is a fully realized character, and was a compelling counterpoint to Covenant in the Second Chronicles, she is just not a strong enough central figure to carry this 500 page book on her own. Also, the book covers a lot of old ground ... a lot. And Liand ("Land" with an "i" so assume Donaldson considers him important) is the only character unaware of all of this history. So apart from readers new to the series, this information is a revelation only for Liand, but the chance to explore this is squandered in favor of more re-hash. So far Liand only riles against his Hurachai-imposed ignorance and shadows Avery like a puppy.All that said, I'm still a fan of Donaldson's ability to capture my imagination, hence the 4 stars.Bottom Line: Runes of the Earth is a must have for Covenant Chronicle fans, and a nice continuation of the story. Those new to the series are best served by starting at the beginning and if they can work their way through the first six (books 5 and 6 were a bit disappointing comparing them to 1-4), then come and read this one (and by that time they can save money on the paperback version). Marginal fans can easily and rightly say, "A third series? Who cares?"

I approached this book with trepidation. I love the first and second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and I could see no way that Stephen Donaldson could match his former achievements. I need not have worried.It is impossible to explain how Donaldson resolves the seeming finality of the ending of "White Gold Wielder " without giving away too much of the plot, so I shall just say that he certainly does manage this, and I did not feel that it was at all contrived in the way that it was done.The opening section covering Linden's life back in 'reality' following the death of Covenant is absolutely gripping. Even without Covenant beside her she is an excellent focus for the reader, at once sympathetic, and yet unsympathetic, although not the same way that Coevenant himself is.Without giving too much of the game away and spoiling the book, I would remind readers of the sense of difference between the land at the end of "The Power that Preserves" and at the start of "The Wounded Land " . Dondaldson pulls of a comparable tour de force in his depiction of the land as it is now, completely different again, and still totally convincing.The same feelings of desperation and urgency which he evoked so well in the past are evoked in this book as well. LIkewise, the idea of a quest is at its heart too, which always paid dividends in earlier novels. The ending is remarkable, but I shall say no more about it for fear of spoiling it.Its probably superfluous for me to say this, but I will anyway - do please read the othr six novels before embarking on this one.

I read the first two series a long time ago, at a guess when I was around 17. I read a lot of SF and fantasy in those days.The first series was really good. It was captivating, even if Covenant gets on your nerves (as I presume he's supposed to). The second series dragged on a bit, although it was nice to be back in that world.Now I'm older. I seem to have lost patience and am more depressed, cynical, bitter and twisted myself ( :-) ) so I don't find the characters' annoying behaviour as entertaining as perhaps I used to.Then I'm not really happy with the internal logic of the magic. In the Lord of the Rings Sauron puts a lot of his power into the ring. Then he loses the ring and becomes a puff of smoke. Over time he regains much of his strength and with the ring would become extra powerful. Ok, weird, but at least it's clear that destroying the ring would be bad (for him). And it can only be unmade in the same fire it was made. Ok, I'll trust Gandalf on that.Spoiler non-alert: none of the following happens.But what would happen if you were to stir a shard of the Illearth stone in some Earthblood and water from Lake Glimmermere with the Staff of Law? If it were to dissolve and the One Tree were watered with it, and a fruit were to drop from the tree and be consumed by the offspring of a Haruchai and Linden Avery, whilst in Andelain, what would happen to the Worm and the Arch of Time? I don't know—and I don't care.I'd read a few dozen pages and was thinking to myself, "that's odd! He hasn't used 'crepuscular' yet. And bang! There it was on the next page. So that's the same as always.In summary, If you liked the second series, I guess you'll like this one too.

I don't quite know why I waited so long to read this. I've read the first chronicles twice and the second thrice. I love those books so much. So why did I wait?At first I was simply unwilling to start another series before they were finished. I've done that before and it's a pain. Are you listening GRRM? Then I kind of fell out of reading much other than in audiobook format, which AFAIK this first final chronicle is only available abridged. Why do they even do that?But a recent reread of the second chronicles got me into the final chronicles, at last!I enjoyed the opening scenes, but when we got to the Land I was a little unsure. It felt like more of the same and a little contrived, but as the story unfolded I got drawn right back in and having to use the dictionary again to look up words whose meaning I had forgotten from the other chronicles.I read the last quarter in one sitting - that's where it really ramps up into a cracking finale.I'm going to keep going this time and hope that the story continues at this pace. Inchoate, argent, puissance and all!

I own this in hardback, or should i say i used to...my wife needed a large book for a book folding project and asked if she could have it. As this is one of the best books i have ever read, it seemed fitting that one work of art should be turned into another, so I said yes, and then bought the kindle version, as I periodically re-read the books in the Thomas Covenant series.To the book...All the books in the series are excellent; they are gripping, moving, at times shocking, and depict a world, and characters, better realised than any others i have encountered in 50+ years of reading. If you have read the first and second chronicles, and are contemplating this book, then you will need no encouragement from me. If you have not, know that this is a marvelous book, but go read the preceding ones first - it may take you a bit of time, but you will be well rewarded, and much of what transpires in this book is underpinned by the earlier chronicles.When these books were first published, one of the quotes on their covers was "Comparable to Tolkien at his best". That quote is entirely justified, and damn, i would love to see what Peter Jackson could do with them.

It must be twenty years since I last read the 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' by Stephen Donaldson. I was hooked by the whole story and couldn't wait to get the next in the series.So when I picked up a copy of 'Fatal Revenant' in a remainder store I was fascinated to find I had missed the return of the saga and that Thomas Covenant, though long dead, had returned.I soon found that 'Fatal Revenat' was the second in the new series so I obtained this copy of the first, 'The Runes of the Earth'. As I started reading, those twenty years disappeared and I was immediately swallowed up by the saga of The Land. All the old favourites are there - The Despiser or Lord Foul, Haruchai, the Stonedowners, Ranyhyn & Ramen, Elohim, Demondim, ur-viles, waynhim etc - all trying to help or stop Covenant's lover, Linden Avery from rescuing her son from the clutches of Lord Foul. Great stuff!Ten years since Thomas Covenant died is three thousand years in The Land but not much has changed - no technology here, just wild magic! I found the storyline as riveting as ever and got through the 500 pages in a few days.For those who've been here before, a great sequel. For those who haven't, best read the first and second chronicles first!