bookoftheweek: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

When I was a 'tweener, I got a copy of The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant for Christmas at a Booksale store (remember those? Not really used books, but cheap publisher overruns. I got the complete set of Dragonriders of Pern from there as well). My first thought was: boy, is this depressing or what?

Three days later, I had finished the entire series. A bit disappointed with the ending (hey, seeing as I was a comics geek as well I wanted action! with Covenant wielding his ring like Green Lantern), but wow--the trilogy rivalled Tolkien in scope (unlike the Shannara series, which started with a complete rip-off of LOTR--but I digress), and had memorable characters (you're so Vain....). I then started reading everything by Stephen Donaldson, including the Daughter of Regals and The Mirror of Her Dreams. Then my interest in him waned. I didn't even get into The Gap Cycle.

Then I saw Runes of The Earth.

The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

Wha-?

So I borrowed it from the library and began reading it. Normally I would've plowed through it in a day, but the choy-choy twins demanded a lot of attention, so it took me a week to finish.

Not bad--the first part was a bit slow (get to the Land already!) but then things started picking up. Linden's back--but the title doesn't say The Chronicles of Linden Avery, does it now? So you figure Tommy's gonna show up at some point.

I won't spoil whether he does or not (duh), but when Linden gets to the Land, everything's changed (of course). Seems like they've lost the Staff of Law. Oh, and Lord Foul's back, baby!
No nasty Sunbane to mutate things (that was so cool), but something called Kevin's Dirt.

The rest of the book then details Linden's quest to find the Staff of Law and figure out just what the heck's going on. She meets familiar races, but not familiar faces. She also finds out the fate of one of her companions from the previous series. This leads to one of the coolest fight scenes I've ever read. Of course, it ends in a semi-cliffhanger.

So, did I like the first book in this series? Yes and no. Yes, because I'm a Covenant fan. Unfortunately, it's doesn't quite measure up to either of the previous series. It just didn't feel as...well, creative to me. Some parts felt like he was pulling old themes from the previous books and then rehashing them. And the Land just doesn't grab you the way the previous books did. For example, the Sunbane felt real to me; I used to pretend that I had to step on rocks to avoid its debilitating effects. Kevin's Dirt? meh. At least the Haruchai are still kickass.

The story still draws you in, though--I wouldn't have finished the book that quickly if it didn't--but it pales in comparison to the previous two series. I'm giving it a chance, though. Despite all the small complaints, you still want to find out what happens.

Formication. Heh, heh. Yup. Donaldson still likes 'em thesauruses...