Tired of the Land?

[BT Shire]

When I first read The One Tree, in my much younger days, it was my least favorite book of the (then) six. The first reason was that it was almost all from the perspective of Linden Avery, a character I, at the time, didn't fully appreciate. The second reason was that it didn't take place in the Land. I didn't care for all the sea-faring stuff, and most of the places they visited didn't entrance me like the Land did.

Upon my most recent reading of the Chronicles (my third, to be specific), I found The One Tree to be among my favorite books in the series, if not my very favorite. After so much time in the Land, it just seemed so exotic to explore other areas of the world. Also, I now very much like Linden as a character, but that is beyond the scope of this discussion.

I enjoyed The Runes of the Earth and am looking forward to the next volume. However, I wish Donaldson would take us outside the Land again to explore the rich tapestry of this world he created. As much as I am enjoying the characters and events in the story, the setting has become a little boring to me. I know the land is supposed to be vast, but we always seem to visit the same locations.

Is anyone else tired of the Land?

[danlo]

I still love the Land but I've always said that The One Tree is my favorite book of the series--seems to give a refreshing juxtaposition (I love that word) to the story and reminds us that this is all taking place on a planet, not just local field of torment.

[iQuestor]

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the second chronicles, and Linden Avery. I still dont like her much (THOOLAH!)

I have read all six books 7 times now, and couldnt wait until the search got back to the Land. I was OK with the other areas , except Bhratherain, I didnt care for it and it seemed to be an episode that was a way to fill pages. I know better now I guess.


Short answer, I wouldnt mind seeing new places, or revisiting old ones, but I am not as tired of the Land as you guys seem to be. ...


BTW Danlo, almost finished with Broken God.
Runes spoiler:

Spoiler

What if the Covenant riding up to Revelstone at the end of Runes is a Slel-Mime???

[drew]

Tired of the Land?

Not me; for the simple reason that the Land is different in each Chronicle.

We explore the beauty in the first, and that's what a lot of readers fell in love with.
Then we explore the destruction of that beauty in the second; and dissheartening as it is; we are so intrigued, we have to read on.
That being said, I can understand why a book and a half didn't take place in the Land, and it goes on with what you are saying..if the second Chronicles were 100% Land-based, then we'd get awfuly bored with how the sunbane is destroying the Land.

Without giving much away, the third Chronicles sure seem like they will be in a different Land

[Reave the Unjust]

Although I'm not tired of the Land as such, it would be great to visit more locations beyond its borders.
The Haruchai home land of course, the giants' country, past the southron wastes or anywhere new would be good.

I first began reading the Covenant books with The One Tree and really enjoyed the sailing and travelling to new places (even though I had no clue what the Land was!).
Maybe it's because I grew up in a seaside village (sonofafisherman!), and always heard tall tales of adventure at sea. I loved the book (even the ending )despite the backstory being a mystery to me, which is a compliment to SRD's writing in itself.
In the proper context, TOT is a change of pace and even more of a journey into the unknown than other parts of the saga.

I'm not sure if the new books will have this need to change pace and setting, but if they do the story will eventually come back to the Land. Probably because Donaldson will want to show us something even more horrific happening to it(!), but also I get the feeling it's an important place: Why else would Foul take up residence there time and again?
It's like the surface of the earth is stretched thin, bulging, with Earthpower closer to the surface in the Land than elsewhere.

[Waddley]

I'm not tired of the land, per se, but I really did love seeing Donaldson's creativity with other parts of the world in TOT. I would love if he could write more in other parts of the world.
Even if the books had completely different characters, I would still like to read about what's taking place in other places aside from the Land.

Oh, and there's the fact that if they'd never left the land, they'd never have met Nom, and Nom is my favorite thing since fluffy bunnies.