 "As good as the first Chronicles, maybe better." | 2009-08-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A6VFSC0BW75Y0 |
I just finished reading this first book in the second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, so my perspective does not include the conclusion of this adventure. The way the book just ends is not like the previous trilogy, but it's not unexpected or necessarily bad... in fact, it might be tedious to keep sending Covenant back to "our" world, and, as one might surmise (I won't give anything away), there might be a good reason he doesn't go back.
As usual, I think Donaldson enjoys patting himself on the back for coming up with the most obscure, uncommon words he can. Either be prepared to figure out the meanings from context, have a dictionary next to you, or just ignore it. I've done all three.
That said, Donaldson's writing style is excellent; despite the vocabulary, I found this book an easier read than any of the first three books; the story is compelling, sad, and has drawn me in a lot more than the first book of the first trilogy did.
We start off with Covenant being drawn back into the Land as he has been before, but the means by which he gets there have changed drastically, and involve a lot of people on "our" side, including his ex-wife and Doctor Linden Avery, a new doctor in town tasked with keeping tabs on Covenant. When he gets there, he finds things are vastly different than he previous visits, all for the worse. He has the task of explaining what's going on to his new companion (Avery), trying to keep her sane while he figures out what's going on.
Like most "quest" stories, he picks up companions along the way to help him along. The land has been corrupted by Foul, and the ravers are back causing problems that have deeply rooted themselves and disrupted the Earthpower by which occupants of the land previously lived by. As usual, Covenant blames himself... and tasks himself with setting things straight, starting with his decision to recreate the Staff of Law that was violated and ultimately destroyed by High Lord Elena on his previous visit to the Land.
If I had to make a one line summary of how I feel about this book right now it would simply be that I cannot wait to pick up the next book.
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 "Fantasy reading,Thomas Covenant -THE BEST!" | 2008-12-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: AKLZX847DUKIY |
I started with the first set- "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" back in the late 1970's and waited feverishly for each book to come out.
I thought that would be the end of it. Then in the early 1980's, this, the second set back to "The Land" came out and I couldn't have been more pleased. These books are an excellant read, with or without the first set, though obviously it will be more meaningful to anyone that has been to "The Land" with Thomas and Stephen Donaldson before.
Now here I am, getting close to my half century age, and imagine my suprise and delight to see that Stephen Donaldson is back at it with a third set of "Thomas Covenant" books!
Even though I have read these first two sets many times since I first discovered them, it's been about 10 years. So here I am, I have replaced for the 3rd time the 1st set of three books, the 2nd time for these, the second three books, and now the first two that I just found out about.
That is how good these books are, every time I read them I enjoy them more, in my teens and twentys- then 30's, now almost 50 (2 more years).
The only downside that I'm aware of is that some individuals that don't have a wide vocabulary MAY have a difficult time with some of the language. The words "of The Land" are in an appendix at the back of each book, however alot of the very descriptive words that Stephen uses to help us FEEL his creation are not in common usage today. I would suggest anyone keep a dictionary handy just in case.
ENJOY!!! |
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| "Return to the Land" | 2008-09-04 |
| - Reviewed By noxush |
| It is 10 years after 'The First Chronicles' and Thomas Covenent has returned to the Land. It has been 4,000 years by the Land's reckoning, and much has changed. The land is plagued by the Sunbane, a corruption of the sun which causes either rainstorms, desertification, putrefaction or unrestrained fertility for days at a time. Summoned with Covenenat to the Land is Linden Avery a doctor in our world with a troubled past. br /'The Wounded Land' is the first book of 'The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever'. As good as the first series was 'The Wounded Land' is even better. The horrors of the Sunbane are well conceived (reminding me somewhat of David Lindsay's 'Voyage to Arcturus') and Covenant is a much more symapthetic figure this time around. |
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| "Not Free SF Reader" | 2008-04-21 |
| - Reviewed By bluetyson |
It was easier being green.
Around a decade after the first trilogy Covenant is in the real world, mostly functioning ok again.
A new character enters the picture in Linden Avery, a doctor with emotional problems of her own, and she gets caught up in the conflict as Foul tries to get to Covenant in his world.
Back in the Land, things are nasty, as the weather and ecology have gone to hell, human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together, and worse.
Plus the usual evil dark lord and minions to deal with.
3.5 out of 5 |
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| "A difficult read but a great book" | 2007-09-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: AOY68D6SAS2QY |
A great book, an unreserved 4 stars.
On the "difficult read" point many reviewers keep in raising. I've always held the opinion that when writing use the simplest and clearest language of conveying your ideas - so do not use uncommonly used or difficult world when they can be avoided. I've always associated an author who uses difficult words as an intellectual snob.
In this regard the 2nd Chronicle is a lot worse that the 1st, it seems like Donaldson has swallowed a thesaurus.
Just for the amusement of all here are a few Donaldson classics:
Why use "Celerity" when you could use "Speed".
Why use "Mien" when you could use "Expression".
Why use "Filigree" when you could use "Delicate Pattern"
And...
Why the use "Tintinnabulation" when you could use "ringing of bells"!?! |
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| "Somewhat Depressing Story, but Very Entertaining" | 2007-07-07 |
| - Reviewed By martinja |
If you have read the other books in the series, you sort of know what to expect. Covenant gets transported to the Land where Lord Foul is back to his old tricks. Unfortunately Covenant always gets transported to the wrong place. Covenant is weak and helpless and his misfortunate companions drag him from point A to point B, then to point C while being attacked by various evils. Evil prevails and innocents die by the score, while Covenant always just manages to evade death. Covenant's timidity results in either the under or overuse of his power, which usually results in the deaths of more innocents. Somehow a few of the good guys manage to survive to fight another day.
The good news is that Covenant is not his usual whining self in this book. The bad news is that he has brought along a pal, Linden, to do the whining we are so used to. Covenant has become the Peter Sellers of heroes. He always blunders his way through a situation, but manages to end up with a successful solution.
One thing that I really hate about the whole series is the Ravers. Donaldson has created 3 immortal evil beings that keep coming back time after time. When their host is killed they simply take over some other creature or person. I hate it when a super powerful creature, weapon, form of magic, etc. is created in a story, then can't really be put into full use, because it's use would obviously end the story. Face it, if the Ravers really wanted Covenant dead he would have died in book one. They could take over one of his companions easily enough and cut off his head and his stupid ring finger while he slept. The all powerful Ravers appeared time and again in this story in various forms taking Covenant to the brink of death time and again only to back off instead of easily finishing him off. Why? The only reason is so that the series can continue to another book.
This book is somewhat dreary and depressing like the others, but there is enough interesting stuff happening that it is pretty entertaining. If you plan to read it, you had better keep a dictionary handy. Only book 2 of the series comes close to this one for the number of incomprehensible words used.
I actually liked this book the best of the series so far.
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