When Stephen R. Donaldson returned to the series that made
him (bad or good) famous some 20 years after the last book in that series, the
biggest question was could he recapture the same audience who read those six
tomes back in the early 80s, plus find a new audience that –most likely- never
read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Lord Foul’s Bane, The Illearth War, The
Power that Preservers) and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (The
Wounded Land, The One Tree, White Gold Wielder)?
It’s always a huge gamble to let a series sit so fallow, but
Donaldson felt to complete the series, he needed some time -"the SecondChronicles taught me that I needed to become a much better writer before Itackled The Runes of the Earth and the rest of the Last Chronicles.” So between
1983 and 2004, he spent a good amount of time writing the science fiction themed
The Gap series and penning mysteries. As mentioned previously, he was one of
the first few authors in the late 1970s to really build on what J.R.R. Tolkien
began in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. Of course, to set his own
distinctive voice, his books were darker and a bit more modern, with an
anti-hero whom refused to believe that a place like The Land could exist in the
first place. His “high fantasy” books were designed to be more realistic
(which, I realize, in a series set in a fantasy land is an oxymoron), with environmental
themes and a lot of existentialism.
When I read them back then, I remember enjoying them because
while they were much like Tolkien, they were completely different as well. But
I never re-read them (and to be honest, I never knew he had intended to
continue the series) if only because I was reading so much other high fantasy,
I could never find the time to return to The Land. So in 2004, when this book
came out, The Runes of the Earth, I began (what ultimately became) a ten year
odyssey of whether I should re-read those six books just so I could read the first
of four new books (and I had made a choice back then to stop reading multi-volume
series because A, there was so much more I wanted to read and could not devote
my time to them, and B, unlike like the first six books that where released one
year apart, it could be many years now between books.
But realizing he finished the last book in October of 2013
(almost ten years after he started up again), and that I had at least book one
sitting in the garage, I decided to come back to The Land without re-reading
the other books again, even though now in 2014, it had been thirty years since
I read them. The good thing about them is that Donaldson always wrote a “what
came before" -basically, it was “previously on Thomas Covenant" for today's audience.
While it is helpful, as I read I began to wonder if maybe I
should’ve re-read the other books. It wasn’t that I couldn’t follow the book,
it was that Donaldson kept bring back small pieces, ideas from those books with
little explanation (not that I guess I needed them, I’m assuming he felt that
anyone reading this new series was a fan and had already read them). But if you
were new to this series, you were going to be lost a bit.
The story begins 10 years after White Gold Wielder (though
in the Land, some 3,500 years have passed) and “Linden Avery is now in charge
of a clinic for the mentally ill and is responsible, among other things, for
caring for Joan Covenant. Roger, son of Thomas and Joan, comes to visit for the
first time in many years and seeks to take Joan out of care, claiming that he
wants to assume responsibility for the task himself. Roger also demands of
Linden his late father's white gold wedding ring, which she does not
relinquish. Linden remains suspicious of his intentions, but she is not able to
prevent his forceful removal of Joan at gunpoint, and his abduction of Linden's
adopted son, Jeremiah. Casualties mount as Joan is taken and — whilst
attempting to intervene — Linden, Joan, Roger, and Jeremiah are plunged into
the Land, where they must adjust to its new demands.
“On return to the Land, she discovers that the people have
no knowledge of the Earthpower she had so cherished before and this knowledge
has been denied them by the blight on the land known as Kevin's Dirt. Also this
ancient lore is kept from them by the Haruchai, who have now taken upon
themselves total responsibility for the Land's defense, discouraging the
learning of Earthpower and a knowledge of the Land's history. They have become
the "Masters” of the Land. Also, the Land has been beset by caesures (or
"Falls") which are strange disruptions created from wild magic by
Joan in her madness.
“Linden learns that the Staff of Law, which she left in the
care of Sunder and Hollian at the conclusion of The Second Chronicles, was
later lost by their son. Its loss has contributed to the degradation of The
Land and the changes she discovers, though there is evidence it may still
exist, hidden somewhere. This is her only hope, for past events have also
altered the Law of Time, the prison which confines Lord Foul, whose abrogation
and presence can be discerned in the caesures which currently roam and menace
the countryside. Thus Linden begins a long and arduous search for both her son
and the Staff, aided as well as opposed by likely and unlikely foes and allies,
including the Ramen and Ranyhyn, the Demondim and their spawn, and the
mysterious, possibly deranged and near omnipotent character Esmer, son of Cail
and the Dancers of the Sea, as well as, regardless of his father, the
implacable enemy of the Haruchai.”
While the book runs 513 pages, Donaldson spends nearly 80
pages in the real world setting up what comes after. It’s tedious and takes
forever to schlep through. But once the characters make the transition to The
Land, the narrative quickens and tale launches into a more assured and
sustained focus. Donaldson writes with all the narrative vigor and imaginative
world-building that made me enjoy the first series. His tale is rich in
paradox, with metaphor and symbolism, and he continues his explorations into
the psyches of his characters, as well as themes of madness, estrangement, guilt
and personal responsibility.
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