The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

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Any Thomas Covenant fans out there. I got into the books because a friend of mine loaned me the first 6 books and was so enthusiastic about them that I gave them ago, even though in the first book went Covenant enters the Land he does some pretty awful things. I thought, why has he reccommended this to me? But I was hooked.

The first chaper of the new book, Against All Things Ending, is now online:
http://www.stephenrdonaldson.com/281673 ... apter1.pdf

Don't click on this if you have never read any of the books. It gives away then end of the last book. Stupid Linden Avery...

I read them back in 1978, when the market was glutted with fantasy but nothing measured up to Tolkien (as if anything ever will). I thought they were a fascinating breath of foul air, simply because they deconstructed Tolkien - nothing lovable about Covenant's alternate reality (or maybe it's just him), and yet it is compelling, perhaps because of his stubborn refusal to admit that it's really happening to him ('Gregory House goes to Oz'). It gripped me, even though I wanted to dislike the whole story - I kept buying them until I'd read all six. As I recall though, the first trilogy really tells as much story as is necessary (if my thirty-year-old memories are accurate, the ending is a terrifically suspenseful page-turner) and the second reeks of a publisher pressuring an author to repeat a success with a sequel.

Last edited by Willard on 13 May 2010, 10:05 am, edited 4 times in total.

I've been wanting to read these books as I have a series of other books written by Stephen Donaldson which are my favourite.
What sort of themes occur in the books?

"Gregory House goes to OZ" love it! That's exactly what the books are.

Yeah, from reading Stephen Donaldson's website he was pressurised by his publisher to produce 3 more books, but I felt that the last one didn't really end well, and then I was told there were more books, Aparently they were planned all along and complete the 2nd Chronicles.

The first of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Runes of the Earth, is a bit rubbish, too much time travel and too much Linden Avery, but the 2nd, Fatal Revenant is better.

I love his writing. I never know what is going to happen. I love how the story twists and turns.

Themes, Hmm. Despair, Love, Good vs Evil. I love how emotional the writing is. I was a bit woeful when I started reading the first books and it just struck a chord with me.

How many are there now? Has Donaldson gone from two trilogies to a running series?

I read the original two trilogies a while back, found them to be a real slog, though tedious as they are and whiny as TC is there's something about the tone and aim which lifts them above the usual endless reams of fantasy dross. Tried to reread them recently and didn't get much further than TC's "things I do for love" moment, but I do kinda feel like I should go back to them some time.

I read the original Thomas Covenant series. I found them at times rather depressing in tone but on the whole they were fascinating reading. There is a true originality to Donaldson's writing that is so often missing in all the Tolkien copycats.

There are 3 in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

3 more in the Second Chronicles

Currently 2 in the Last Chronicles with 1being published this year and then 1 final book and that will be the whole lot finished.