Stephen R. Donaldson

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is composed of Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War, and The Power That Preserves.

Thomas Covenant finds his world turned upside down when he contracts leprosy and his wife divorces him, taking their son with her. Having managed to survive this experience, but never really recover emotionally beyond it, Covenant is universally ostracized by his community. One day he inexplicably finds himself transported to another world, a dream world that is somehow so full of life that his leprosy starts to fade.

But there is a shadow that drains the vitality of this place, and he is called the Despiser, who summoned Covenant to the Land for the purpose of delivering a message of doom to its people. Thinking this to be the cruelist of all dreams, Covenant can hardly wait for it to end. But he finds himself drawn further and further into the Land, and regarded as a hero come again by its inhabitants - for he bears a wedding ring of white gold, a substance containing the power to stay the Despiser's hand that can only be wielded by Covenant himself.

But the Land cannot be real, and Covenant is overwhelmed by the raw need to survive in the face of beauty so profound that he fears he will be carried away and lose himself in it. For accepting the Land as real and believing his leprosy has been healed is to forget his own world, rendering himself powerless in the face of harsh reality where even the smallest injury can kill him. The Land needs him, but to save it Covenant must doom himself.

So he is forced to watch the death of beauty and the destruction of happiness, knowing he could stop it, if he was only free to act. The reader aches for Covenant to reach out and touch the vitality that courses through the Land, for Covenant to allow himself to feel something good, to feel awe and wonder. Donaldson's writing is so rich, so heady... I drink up the words as if I were starved and I am left breathless afterwards.

A note of caution - while some love this story, the Chronicles do not sit well with others. Many of them find Covenant's character to be so offensive that even the vibrant beauty of the Land will not keep them turning pages. I have a theory on why the reactions are so polarized - what Covenant is going through is very similar to a bout of major depression, and if you've never experienced that personally, it could be very difficult to empathize with the character. For those of us who have walked that path, Covenant is an intense combination of cathexis and catharsis. It re-creates the war in head and heart of wanting to embrace something vital and beautiful, something that will destroy us if it is lost again.

The Runes of the Earth

Readers who have not read the preceding pair of trilogies should do so. Although there is an excellent forward to the book explaining the events that have come before, much of the value in the first book is present by reference to the earlier books. Without the emotional investment of the prior novels much impact will be lost.

Even with the benefit of prior reading, however, the emotional impact of this book is muted. The Land's impressive vitality is concealed and the protagonist, Linden Avery, seems somehow emotionally disconnected from events. She speaks the dialog of passion but lacks the accompanying force. Overall, the experience has the feel of an author returning to a beloved setting out of duty rather than desire.

That said, like any first book, most of the plot is composed of setup. The reader is presented with a number of mysteries and an entirely new Land to puzzle out. Those seeds should bear fruit in future books, and until we are presented with the resolution it is difficult to judge their true worth.

Readers who enjoyed the First Chronicles but never read or never liked the Second should avoid this book and its sequels. Readers who liked the Second Chronicles should not be disappointed.

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