The Second Chronicles - are they worth rereading?

[raverboy]

I've just finished reading the first chronicles for the third time. I'm still on a high and I'm looking forward to starting the last chronicles.

But I've always found the 2nd chronicles to be too dark/depressing and hard to get into. Admittedly I haven't read them since I was 19, so maybe I'll they'll gel with me this time.

I'm just wondering if I need to read them again, before starting the "Runes of the Earth". Am I missing out if I don't? And will the new book still make sense?

If I don't read them, I'd still like to read a brief synopsis to remind me of what happened. Does anyone know where I can find one?

Thanks.

[Avatar]

Welcome to the Watch. I think the 2nd Chrons are definitely worth re-reading before the last. And I think that The Wounded Land is one of the best books in the series.

Read them...you'll be amazed at the differnt perspective time and the 1st chrons reread give to them.

Dark, yes, they are dark. But then it's a dark time for the Land.

--A

[Warmark]

If I don't read them, I'd still like to read a brief synopsis to remind me of what happened.

There is a ''What Has Come Before'' passage at the start of RotE, whih reminds you of everything important, although - unless fixed in newer issuse - i think there were a few mistakes in it.

[SleeplessOne]

heya raverboy

I too recently re-read the 1st chrons and have begun tackling the 2nd chrons for the first time since I was 17 (16 years ago, eek )

- whilst it's hard in some ways to let go of the much-loved characters of the first trilogy, I've enjoyed the first half of TWL immensley ...

If I don't read them, I'd still like to read a brief synopsis to remind me of what happened. Does anyone know where I can find one?

come now friend, no brief synopsis can adequately cover the multi-faceted plights of TC and co.

as you've read the 2nd chrons previously, I'll be so bold as to offer a few juicy bits to whet yer appetite for a re-reading (and remember; I'm only about a quarter of the way thru the 2nd Chrons, all these good bits have been squeezed into the mere *checks book* 276 pages that I've completed so far) :

* spooky cults and the possibility of Foul reaching into TC's 'real world'

* The whole Sunbane thing is uber-cool : Sunbane-warped creatures and men, coloured corona's encircling the sun ..

* Ravers and venom (nah, not Spidey's arch-enemy Topher Grace)

* If you're into the noble characters of the Land, all is not lost, Sunder (and, to a lesser extent, so far anyway, Hollian) is as interesting and well-developed a character as any that appeared in the first chrons ...

* the Shades ... nah not Hile Troy's sunnies, Covenant's dead .. I've said too much eh

[Cagliostro]

Yeah, I never felt like TWL quite picked up until Andelain. That was when I finally started getting into it. The One Tree had moments of slowness, but visiting the Elohim was a nice return to what the Land used to be like. It was weird, but I felt like throughout the second chronicles like I just wanted the Land to be healthy and happy again. Every moment that puts you back into some form of that is a joy. The rest were hard to get through, but the payoff definitely comes in White Cold Welder (sorry...the lettering on that book always looked like that and became a joke with my friend and I) where everything starts to come together.

That said, I have faith that the Last Chronicles will do the same. I really had a hard time with Runes, and intend on giving it another go before Fatal Revenant comes out.

[dlbpharmd]

I say definitely re-read 2nd Chronicles prior to starting ROTE!

[Kil Tyme]

I re-read both series right before ROTE. I would honestly say you don't really need to re-read the second series, but then you would miss the re-introduction reading experience, a truely "life experience" if there is any in literature, of the glorious Giants of the Search, the Haruchai Brinn and Cail, and the most enigmatic character in all fiction and SRD's greatest creation: Vain...and your life would be that much poorer.

[Believer]

also, he has said that the 1st chrons were designed as a self-contianed story, while, in writing the 2nd, he left backdoors for the 3rd. so i expect more foreshadowing in the 2nd than the 1st.

[Herem]

I would definitely say re-read the 2nd Chronicles, as has already been said there is so much going on in ROTE that won't truly make the impact it should without this.

Also I prefer the 2nd Chronicles, on the whole, to the 1st - I know there has been much debate about this on here...the Sunbane is one of SRD's finest creations, it's simultaneously brutally simple and yet the many facets of how it affects life in the Land in general and specific features of the Quest (venom, the sunbane-warped folk of During Stonedown, etc) are brilliantly conceived. TWL is a great book, the heartbreak of being given back 'something broken' is tempered by TC's new-found sense of purpose, and the reintroduction of the Giants. The departure from the Land, and use of Linden as the main character, work really well in TOT, IMHO (I know some will disagree ). This book is as much the story of her overcoming her inner demons and past as it is the (gripping) tale of the Quest for the Staff of Law.

As for WGW, what can I say? This for me is the pinnacle of all the Chronicles and made me actually shed copious tears at many points (the Banefire, TC and Linden in Revelstone, Hollian, and of course the small matter of 'The Sun-Sage'). Its near-unremitting grimness is shot through with just enough hope to make it utterly compelling. What an ending. Amazing.

[Avatar]

TWL is a great book, the heartbreak of being given back 'something broken' is tempered by TC's new-found sense of purpose, and the reintroduction of the Giants.

Totally agree. One of the most powerful books as far as I'm concerned.

--A

[Relayer]

I wish I had re-read the 2nd chronicles before Runes ... as I've shared elsewhere I didn't even know Runes was being published until I ran across it at a store one night, and was reading it that same night.

The problem was that it'd been so many years since I'd read TCTC (or any SRD for that matter) that it took most of Runes for me to get back into "Land-mode" ... so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have.

[Waddley]

I'm another who prefers the second chrons to the first. So, read them.

(Although The Wounded Land gave me my first nightmare, ever. It's still my favorite book.)

[dANdeLION]

Don't let THOOLAH fool ya. The second chronicles are excellent. And the ycontain Linden's back story, which is helpful in understanding her actions in Runes.

[matrixman]

Why is it that in threads like this one, we 2nd Chrons fans have to ardently defend the books while the 1st Chrons always gets a free pass?

No question that the 1st Chrons are great, but they're not perfect either (in my opinion). As Believer said, they form a magnificent self-contained saga, which is certainly perfect for the reader who may not be interested in "sequels."

I'd say that the 1st Chrons was more emotionally intense, more hugely operatic, whereas the 2nd Chrons affected me in a more philosophical, psychological way (for lack of better words).

[Cagliostro]

Yeah, I'm a fan of the 2nd. What I don't get is what holes were there for the 3rd and final? I could never imagine another set of books. I remember hearing rumors as a young 'un, but always thought they were hooey (and probably were). I definitely think the writing is better in the 2nd.

[wayfriend]

The second chronicles is a mixed bag in my opinion. One the one hand, you have bigger big moments and more emotion. On the other hand, I think the writing gets tedious in places, and most of it doesn't take place in the Land. The tradeoff works in my favor, but maybe not everyones.

[kevinswatch]

The 2nd Chrons mean Linden...so no. There is no reason at all to reread them.

Heh, sorry. I'm tired and felt like getting a Linden jab in. Sue me. Heh.-jay

[danlo]

I've been searching for a way to defend Linden in light of you Sahib, but the angle I'm looking at her with today gives me a headache...

[burgs]

When Donaldson wrote the 2nd Chronicles, he did so with the Last Chronicles firmly in mind - they were part of the same story - so there is much in the 2nd that will be relevant in the Last. Someone spoke of holes not being apparent in the 2nd Chrons. I believe SRD wrote the 2nd Chrons with the understanding that he might never write the Last Chrons, so he tried to make it a self contained story that didn't beg for a sequel. That may have hurt him, in some reader's eyes. If you look at reviews on Amazon, some criticize SRD for gold-digging (or pulling a Brooks). Of course, they don't know that SRD had planned the Last Chrons since the late 70s.

We've gotten glimpses of what I spoke of as "relevancy", but that's all, glimpses. SRD will surely surprise us, and I think you would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading the 2nd Chrons.

I'm considering re-reading the 2nd Chrons yet again before FR comes out. I'm not a member of that silly THOOLAH group and think that in some ways the 2nd Chrons outshine the first.

Just one: The 2nd Chrons are superficially reminiscent of LOTR. The 2nd Chrons aren't. For everyone that criticized SRD for being another Tolkien imitator, he proved them wrong - IMHO.

[Cagliostro]

I think that's what definitely drew me more to the 2nd Chroncles as well. I definitely remember thinking it was something like a rip-off, what with rings and ent-like beings (giants) and so forth, but I definitely think it surpassed all that with a completely different character, and...oh, so many differences. One thing - I don't think Donaldson surpassed Tolkien on scariness though. And a quieter Lord Foul is a scarier Lord Foul. I was always annoyed with the sneering and so forth. It always felt a little cliche, if I can criticize our dear author. The ravers, on the other hand, were pretty damn scary. But the fear in Covenant mainly came from a more human standpoint, and not from some ghosties and evil beings and such. The darkness of human nature seems a lot more...oh...what's the word I'm looking for...real (for lack of a better word) than supernatural beings, which was what Tolkien did well. The first time you run into a ringwraith....scary! Paths of the dead, the Barrow-wights, yikes. Gollum came pretty close, but Donaldson definitely did better, and with just the main character alone. So I guess to sum up, Tolkien did better on the fright front, but Donaldson got under your skin a bit more.



Ahh..I don't know what I'm talking about.