The Power That Preserves: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 3

I really enjoy Donaldson's work. His mastery of vocabulary makes reading his stories a cut above many other authors that dumb down their works for a bigger market.

Great stories rich characters and storyline. Will read this one again. Looking forward to the next one's. Will suggest to others.

The Power That Preserves is the sequel to The Illearth War and the final novel in the first trilogy about Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Just as in the previous two books, Covenant returns to the Land after blacking out in the real world from an injury. Seven years have passed in the Land while only a couple days have transpired for Covenant. He finds the Land in the grip of an unnatural winter brought on by Lord Foul, whose forces have overrun most of the Land and nearly defeated all resistance. The Lords at Revelstone are the only major obstacle left for Foul to defeat, and Foul with his Illearth Stone is much more powerful than they are. Covenant's wild magic is the only hope to turn things around, but he doesn't even know how to unleash it!I gave the previous novel, The Illearth War, a five-star rating. It was excellent fantasy from beginning to end. The sequel is just as good until the ending, which is a tad weaker in comparison. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great ending: explosive, climactic, and quite satisfying. But it doesn't quite "jive" with how Covenant and Lord Foul have been portrayed throughout the series. So it seems a bit contrived or artificial. You'll probably know what I mean when you get there. On the other hand, you may love the ending just as much as most of the other reviewers did. Anyway, though I think the ending is the weakest part of the novel, it's still a fine close to the series and you'll enjoy it. Solid four-star material, which ain't shabby at all! I'd rate it four and a half if that rating were available.The siege against Revelstone by Lord Foul's minions is perhaps the best part of the book. High Lord Mhoram is awesome! The enemy general and his forces truly inspire dread. Covenant's long quest in the south is full of adventure too. You'll finally get to see what's become of Lena, the girl Covenant wronged in the first book. Triock plays a major role, becoming a tragic hero in one of the finest action scenes of the novel. Dead Elena (the High Lord killed in the last book) makes an appearance, though not in the guise you may expect. A couple welcome old friends from past books accompany Covenant on his quest.Characters show more variation in personality than in the previous books, in which most of them seemed like they were cast from the same mold. There are a few quite gory moments in the battles, like one memorable scene where blood is pumping around a knife stuck in somebody's chest (sorry!). Overall, this series consists of the some of the best fantasy I've ever read. It doesn't quite rank up there with the Wheel of Time series (at least the first six books of it), but it succeeds admirably for its relatively short length. Jordan could learn a few pointers from this series, as in how to tie things up neatly.Highly recommended and a must read to wrap up the first trilogy!

Here's a riddle: What has weak knees, vertigo, cowardice, irrational guilt, masochism, self hatred, abusive behavior, memory problems, lack of common sense, endless denial, lack of curiosity, stubbornness, fear of heights, procrastination, rank stupidity, is spastic, is slow, is morally crippled, lacks imagination, suffers from terminal pessimism, and is a rapist? Answer: These are some of the more obvious traits of the protagonist Thomas Covenant. Why did Stephen Donaldson create such a despicable character and why am I reading this book? Well, I guess I sort of got sucked in because the author is a great writer and it only became apparent slowly what a hideously repulsive character Covenant is and I kept on expecting Covenant to somehow improve or learn or grow or change. Nope. What Stephen Donaldson's motives are is a mystery to me since the same story could have been told with a character with some saving graces and worthwhile human values. Perhaps such a creature as Covenant exists somewhere in the bottom .01 percent of humanity but why saddle the reader with him? It really only detracts from a very good and very original story. Covenant also has leprosy which is obviously not his fault but he mentions it continually which is annoying. The real problem is that the Unbeliever's soul or spirit has leprosy. Bits and pieces of his humanity keep putrefying and rotting away from him.The character of Lord Foul raises entirely different issues. The Defiler works at cross purposes against the intention which is frequently attributed to him. His lieutenants the Ravers are wont to give long and detailed speeches about the anguish they will visit on everyone and how they will enslave them yet Lord Foul's purpose is to destroy all life. Period. Supposedly the Defiler is driven to destroy every animal, every tree and every plant so that only barren rock remains. So why does he allow his lieutenants to muck around tormenting individuals? It makes no sense. And since the reader gets no words straight from the idiot's mouth we have no clue as to what his strategy might be. But this is the problem with writing about any purely 'evil' character. Coming up with a way to torment someone requires creativity which is a creative act and hence not purely evil. Creating malformed humans requires the creativity of a demented sculptor. And what is the strategic purpose for such an act? Any 'act' requires a creative impulse. Pure evil would be purely formless and mindless and could not contain acts of creativity. Rather it would be more like a tornado or an avalanche. The problem is that's kind of boring. So we end up with a creature like Lord Foul who is inherently inconsistent. He can't help himself. The Despiser is constantly creating stuff and play acting. Creativity and creation are demonstrably real as far as anything can be proven 'real.' Its opposite is disintegration and entropy not 'evil.' Obviously malformed or twisted individuals who create havoc or murder others need to be contained or eliminated. The issue here is rather a literary conundrum. There may be no answer for either author or reader except a suspension of disbelief. Stephen Donaldson is a great writer but he's messing around with themes that even Tolkien struggled with. In the Silmarillion Tolkien's Morgoth and his lieutenant Sauron had a different expressed goal than Lord Foul. It was Morgoth's goal to rule over creation and enslave all his 'subjects,' not to destroy all life. Their cruelty made more sense. Their strategy was to rule through fear. Lord Foul's strategy seems frankly internally inconsistent. Originally, as I said, it was to destroy all living things in The Land but as the story progresses he seems more interested in just playing the boogie man.Not as good as the first two books. Too many obscure and obtuse words and Covenant has become just plain tiresome.

The Covenant series is a tough read. There is a great fantasy story here, but it's hidden a bit underneath an utterly unlikeable main character and an author who consistently uses words and phrases that are very difficult to understand. At times, it's almost like the author is writing with a thesaurus next to him at all times, and deliberately chooses the 10th or 11th choice in the word list at least once or twice per page. Anyone reading a Covenant book on a Kindle will make full use of the dictionary function!I've always felt that the best chapters of any Thomas Covenant book at the ones where Covenant is not present and the story can shine through. The Land is richly detailed and the native characters and storyline are compelling. This book, IMO, is a step down from The Illearth War, which had a great story, dropped Covenant from a large section of the book, and had him be a lot more easy to relate to in his sections.. I had higher hopes for the conclusion of the Trilogy - not necessarily for Covenant to be largely absent again, but for his character advancing to the point where he fit in with the story better. Instead, the story grinds to a halt far too often under Covenants repeated denials, excuses, and tirades. Despite this, however, there is still a compelling story underneath and a satisfying resolution to the trilogy. My four star review comes from a combination of a five star review for the story and a generous three star rating for the writing style.

The blurb informs us that someone at Washinton Post has considered Donaldson's (first) Covenant trilogy as "comparable to Tolkien at his best". This is untrue, but I might allow "at his best comparable to Tolkien", because when he is in the zone he is full of ideas and provides a really good read. This is particularly true for the third and final installment, here under review. Revelstone, led by resourceful High Lord Mhoram, under siege; Covenant squaring up against both Ravers and Lord Foul the Despiser (one now and then wonders about Mr. and Mrs. Despiser's thinking when naming their little one: "OK. We're down to three names now: Jimmy, Ben or Foul. What do you think darling?")Long odds against always energises the reader - we certainly know who to root for. Also, and in stark contrast to later books, this is no episodal roadmovie where individual scenes barely fit together. Donaldson has an uncluttered idea where it is going, and we can tell. In the Lord of the Rings, we never see Sauron being defeated. Sure, his Tower tumbles, and a great wind disperses that final cloud-hand of his. But wouldn't it be more satisfying to see a pumped-up, ring-toting Gandalf duking it out with Sauron in a K1 rumble? Well, here you get the works. Lord Foul (and what Lord is that? A Duke? A Viscount? A shoddy life-peerage Baron?) faces Covenant in a final battle.I for one, also enjoy the subsidiary battles (Donaldson is good at this). Green laser-beams shooting out of a fist-shaped rock to fell the big bad Ravers? What's not to like there? Mhoram super-charged with old-lord power - so much more effective than the weakling oath-of-peace stuff the sissy new lords have gone for up to that point. Of course there ARE outstanding questions. The uselessness of the "Warward" (the army) is striking for instance. How can a professional army be so terminally tired, and lacking in ability? And the consistently boring drifters and derelicts called "The Unfettered Ones"? What good are they? I get to think of mighty superheroes like Bouncing Boy or Matter-eating Lad, when I read about them. "Reading in Stone"? Come on! And the Giants! The potentially most able strikeforce in the Land allow themselves to get mass-slaughtered by a single bad egg and brawler. Finally the hitherto so solid Bloodguard. "We was fooled, so we is going home." Thanks a bundle for that Bloodguard-scum. You wouldn't consider staying on for just another ten years to help us out of this spot we're in? You DO know that Foul said he was coming soon? "No. We was fooled, so we is going home."This book is hugely buyable, and enjoyable. One word of warning though. After you have completed this trilogy: do NOT proceed to buy anything else by Donaldson. It is all downhill from this point - and I don't mean downhill in the sense of a pleasant slope, but a precipitous fall from a ledge.

The final confrontation between the anti-hero Thomas Covenant and Lord Foul was satisfying and well done. The downside is that to get there the reader has to persevere through an unremittingly grim earlier half of the book.

Loved this trilogy, love the story, the chats and the language- my kind of books :-). Can’t understand why I never finished book1 back in the ‘70’s - to give me a lot of pleasure now maybe .....

This is a complex story written over several books and it leaves me in awe of authors that are able to construct a story of such complexity and written so well. I have enjoyed this series and look forward to reading the next books in this saga

Read this in the 80s. The three. Lord fouls bane the ileath war. And power that preserves . Tried to get hold of the 3 books. In 2000 started reading. Again in. June 2018, first opurtunitiy. To purchase since 90s. glad i did i remember first time around. The first book. Took a little while. to get going . But. Well worth the. MoneyLot detail captervating. Story.