The Wounded Land (The Second Chronicles: Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Book 1)

First off, if you haven't read the first Thomas Covenant trilogy (Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War, and The Power that Preserves), I reccomend you do that first. Mainly, it's an amazing an tremendous work. Also, you'll get a lot of background that is necessary to appreciate the second trilogy, and it's hard to really feel Covenant's sense of loss and despair at the despoiling of the Land without having seen it when it was beautiful.The Second Trilogy of Thomas Covenant is very different thematically from the first. The question of dream vs. reality is disposed of almost immediately in The Wounded Land (and arguably it was just a plot trick in the first trilogy anyway, so we could comfortably both despise and sympathise with Thomas Covenant). All that the Council represents has been shattered and the strength of their convictions must now be restored by Thomas Covenant and a few friends. He must come to terms with what he has lost, who he is, and what the Land truly meant to him. Linden Avery, his new companion from the real world who is drawn in when Covenant is summoned, is herself a flawed character - but she is a product of events she could not control. In a reverse of the original trilogy, the story of her anguish, the truth she must come to terms with, and her role in the fate of the Land is drawn out slowly, over the course of all three books.This second trilogy is more personal than the first. In the first trilogy Thomas Covenant is profoundly influnced by the Land and all the people around him, and must reconcile their strength with his own anguish, eventually confronting his own failings to earn redemption; in the second everything the Land was, is lost. Linden and Covenant must personally struggle to restore it despite their own weakness and imperfection, with the help of a group of wandering Giants, the always loyal but subtly changed Bloodguard, and two natives of the Land. Wheras in the first book we know Covenant has a latent power which if he could only discover and unleash, he could defeat Foul, in the Wounded Land Covenant's power is growing out of control and any release could shatter the Arch of Time and give Foul victory - effectively rendering Covenant's White Gold powerless.Everyone must make tremendous sacrifices in their struggle to see the land restored, and the final resolution in White Gold Wielder is amazing, thrilling, tremendously moving, and ultimately incredibly satisfying - making these books arguably the greatest work of fantasy literature ever written, eclipsing even the remarkable works of Tolkien for depth and power.

The author brings a paradox of power and vulnerability together in a manner that challenges perceptions and brings life to the characters and story.

There's a great story screaming to get out from beneath Thomas Covenant's whining and moaning in these books. I get it, I really do. Covenant is a total neurotic. If Stephen Donaldson had reduced Covenant's incessant whining to say ten or twenty percent of what it is we all would have still gotten the point and the story would have been fabulous instead of just good.Wounded Land gets off to a slow start with Thomas Covenant and his companions drifting down a river on a raft and Covenant ranting about being a leper and complaining about nearly everything. But after they reach Andelain the story gains momentum. It's a fine story with great characters and a vast world which is in deadly peril. If you have read the First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant then it is likely a world which you grew to care about. Now it teeters on the brink of oblivion once again. The story is compelling, highly original and addictive. In fact Wounded Land and the previous Thomas Covenant books could have been downright brilliant if it wasn't for the neurotic overkill of Covenant's blathering and the author's obsessive use of obtuse, archaic words and so many similes that they seem to sprout like dandelions in an unkempt yard. Still, there's a lot to enjoy here although it makes me wonder what the heck editors do to justify their pay checks.Guilt, guilt, guilt. In the course of this book Covenant strikes out against some loathsome, evil individuals who are slaughtering innocent people and then he is racked with guilt over it since they were 'only following orders' from a Raver. It's way too much. Covenant's convoluted un-reasoning finds some irrational way to feel personally guilty for everything bad that happens. Everything is his fault and the facts be damned. Any compassion the reader might feel for Covenant is sucked away by this carnival of guilt overkill.Wounded Land gets better and better as it goes on. Eventually with all the action and giants involved (the giants are cool) Donaldson forgets to make Covenant rant so much and the book becomes lots of fun. It's really about a three and a half star book in my opinion but I'm nudging it up to four because it's somehow a bit addictive once you've read a few books and that must come from the talent of the author or maybe the wild magic.

If you've read the previous Thomas Covenant trilogy (Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War, The Power that Preserves), this book continues the story of The Land. If you haven't, go read them, they're among the best books I've ever read.The key to this book revolves around the idea Covenant presents early on: "How do you hurt someone who has lost everything? Give them back something broken." Indeed, we do return to The Land, but everything is absolutely horrible. The story is made more poignant because of all we grew to know and love about The Land in the previous chronicles, and the depth of the storytelling is absolutely spellbinding. The book toys with emotions and ideas that leave you slightly unsettled, and you won't always put this book down feeling happy (when I originally read it about six years ago it managed to bring a slight depression on me).The characters are beautifully developed, the plot progresses better than I could have expected, and, as with the original chronicles, the depth of The Land is simply breathtaking. I highly recommend this book with the contingency that you have read the prior ones. If not, go read Lord Foul's Bane. Right now.

I'd honestly forgotten how much I loved this series when I first read it forty years ago. Unlike myself it has aged like a fine wine. I , on the other hand, have aged like milk...I say take a chance and read one of the finest examples of the Sword & Sorcery genre.

Stephen Donaldson is a writer or superb depth, imagination and vocabulary. In my view this series is more interesting than the wheel of time, more eloquent than most classics and more joined up in storytelling than the great lord of the rings.Superb!

Got the Kindle version, was exactly as expected of course.Great series of books. The author somehow managed to keep you rooting for the main character despite trying to make him super unlikeable. Covenant's own attempts to be a tool just seem to draw the other characters to him. If you've gotten this far in the series you aren't stopping here.

A story to cherish. My favourite read of all time. It makes my spirit soar. I will never stop reading these chronicles.g

Love this series

Like the original first book it takes a while to introduce the new cast of characters. However it soon gets going and is an exciting and thought provoking read