The Wounded Land: The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1

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.

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.

The Wounded Land is the first book in the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. In the first excellent trilogy, Covenant ultimately triumphed over the evil Lord Foul and brought centuries of peace and prosperity to the Land. Unfortunately, Foul was not destroyed, only forced to retreat and lick his wounds for a while. But surprisingly, Foul finds a way to strike at Covenant in his own world. This leads to Covenant returning to the Land, accompanied by a rather bitter and serious woman named Linden. Sort of a female version of Covenant I guess, but unlike Covenant her strength stems from a couple tragic childhood events that hardened her to emotion.Covenant returns to the Land (where about four thousand years have passed) to find it shockingly wasted, as if the Apocalypse itself had hit it. The change was caused by the Sunbane, a sinister creation of Foul's. Covenant spends half the book just trying to figure out what the heck went wrong and how he can turn things around. Fortunately he finds that he can unleash the wild magic at will, or at least whenever he's upset (sort of like Nynaeve's channeling block in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series).Each book of the first trilogy had a major resolution at the end. The Wounded Land is difficult to evaluate on its own because there is no real resolution or even climax. About two thirds of the way through the book, Covenant's party embarks on a major quest that clearly will not be completed by the end of the novel. The ending isn't really climactic, but merely segues nicely into the sequel The One Tree.Donaldson's pace is generally slower in this trilogy than in the first one, but that's not to say that The Wounded Land doesn't contain plenty of action. Covenant barely escapes death a few times. The times when he uses the wild magic are exciting moments, and Donaldson is skillful at quickly heightening dramatic tension. Covenant's stay at Revelstone and his discoveries there are a high point in the novel. The page-turning trek through the treacherous Sarangrave Flats recalls the similar quest of the Bloodguard in The Illearth War.I haven't read the two sequels yet, but this second trilogy is looking great so far! Highly recommended for fans of simple fantasy with a dark flavor to it.

Boom was delivered to me sooner than the estimated date which is always great. The book itself is in superb condition and includes a bookmark. Extremeley happy customer.

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

I read the Chronicles when they first came out. This is genuinely unique in terms of modern literature. It takes time to get into but then you get sucked in completely!

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.

Replacing really old paperbacks so not a new read, but no detracting from fact whole 2 series are an absolutely terrific read and this book pivotal. Must be read in order but a series to match Tolkien.