How old were you when you first read Covenant,

[Coercri]

I was in 7th grade, pulled it out of the fantasy & science fiction section as a matter of routine, most likely because I liked the cover . What a surprise, I was hooked - I never looked back, just fell in love with the characters!!

Now, many, many years later I still love the series picking it up to reread occasionally.

[Evans Caamora]

I know I was in Junior High. It was English class. We were always suppose to bring a book to class for personal reading. I had forgotten my book so I just laid my head on the desk. The kid who sat behind me tapped on my back and asked me if I'd like a book to read, because he had an extra one if I'd like to read it. He'd handed me LFB.

The rest is history.

[Mysteweave]

I was twelve when I first read the First Chronicles.

I believe it was about ten years later when I realised that there were three more books, so naturally, I had to rush out and read those too!

[matrixman]

ControlFreak, your avatar is awesome!

[Mysteweave]

Thank you!

I just wish I could take credit for making it.

[MountainMan]

I first read the chronicles in the early '80s. I was home on leave for the first time and my parents lived out in the country in the middle of nowhere - there wasn't a whole lot to do. I was an avid reader and had lots of time on my hands, so I went to the public library and found the chronicles (I had to buy the ones they didn't have). I read all six books in about 2 weeks - It was the best vacation I ever had . I was 23 then...

[RDGO_50]

I first read the chronicles in the early '80s. I was home on leave for the first time and my parents lived out in the country in the middle of nowhere - there wasn't a whole lot to do. ... I was 23 then...

Mountain Man - What branch of the Service were you in?

For the rest: Even though it seems the average age of 1st readings for TC is around the TEENS ... I would remind us all, that for us older types, the books hadn't been written when we were your age - all we had was LOTR and other not-so-intricate Fantasy rumblings.

I read LOTR while I was in the USAF, and stuck on a mountain in West Germany with no leave to take, middle of Bavarian Winter, at that. [circa '75] I was 20-21 at the time.

I may have mentioned before - but I found out about TC when I joined the Sci-Fi Book Club in the late 70's. Still have the original 1st Trilogy that was bought back then. All of the rest of my SRD colleciton is first print and in pretty much mint condition - never buy paperbacks unless I see a need to keep one around for others to borrow.

I have two more "The Man Who" to collect and maybe two others which have been consolidated since first-run printing(s).... Regals is one of them. All of SRD is definitely worth collecting.

[MountainMan]

Hey RDGO_50! I was in the Air Force also - I was stationed in Montana, fixing missiles.

[RDGO_50]

Hey RDGO_50! I was in the Air Force also - I was stationed in Montana, fixing missiles.

Lackland, Sheppard, Williams, then HAHN (WG/NATO) - '72 to '76
HAHN was the toughest, and ended up being the best.
It was good to get out-of-Country and have Uncle Sam pay for it

Which TC book is your fav?

[MountainMan]

Which TC book is your fav?

Boy, that's a tough question! I'd have to say TIW.

[RDGO_50]

I'd have to say Wounded Land is my fav ....

After reading the 1st Trilogy, you wonder if anything would ever beat it.
Then he comes back with TWL and brings back a flood of all that happened before and adds onto it. Very few movies are able to achieve such a feat, but Donaldson goes about it without much effort IMHO. He twists it - lays out the time frame and sends you on an intriguing 2nd trip.

The oddest book of them all - to a certain extent - is the One Tree. Yet, it comes close to being my second fav - go figure!

[Endymion9]

When I first started reading the series TWL was latest published book in the series. Me and my friends, who I passed my books around to, were all dissappointed. We all loved The One Tree when it came out and it is still probably my favorite.

When I went to reread the series about 12 years later, I kind of grimaced when I got to TWL. But on second read I loved it.

If I try to analyze why, I think our dislike had to do with missing so many characters we had grown to love, Elena, Mhoram and the Lords, Salthoam Foamfollower. Plus I hadn't grown attached to Linden yet. I have to admit I've fallen more for Elena and Linden than I have for any woman in a book or series that I've read. SRD writes female characters that I would love to be with.

Elena had that passion of life and was one of those people that i describe as a bright flame drawing moths.

Linden has that, I'll always be there for you and take care of you thing going.

[Lord Robertus]

I think I was around 13 when i started reading them. I can't remember how i got to reading them, but I know I bought the first two books (In the cool Paperback version with The Pryamids floating in space) and then stole the other 4 off my uncle.

[AjK]

Well, I started reading the Chronicles right after White Gold Wielder came out so I had the advantage of being able to buzzsaw through all 6 books in one wild spasm. I couldn't stop. I had just finished undergraduate study and I guess these books were my way of maintaining a certain distance from the "real working world", LOL. That was, of course, in 1983. I am 46 years old now.

[michaelm]

I think I was 18. I had read some fantasy novels previously (notably the works of Tolkien), and had read a lot from a very young age.

Some of the words I read needed a quick trip to the dictionary, but I think that was mostly due to my age and the fact that I hadn't really expanded my vocabulary to the point that it is at now.

[DrPaul]

I was 22 when I first read The First Chronicles and started The Second Chronicles, and 23 when I finished The Second Chronicles. I was 45 when I started reading The Last Chronicles and 54 when I read The Last Dark.

[Ryzel]

The great thing about the chronicles is that each time I read them I discover new and greater things about them. Details I missed, or just characters that I now suddenly understand a lot better.

[michaelm]

I finished The Power That Preserves last night and started on The Wounded Land.

What really surprised me about the First Chronicles is how well I remembered Lord Foul's Bane and The Illearth War, but how little I remembered of The Power That Preserves.

Now I'm wondering how much I'm going to remember about the books of the Second Chronicles.

[bikebryan]

I finished The Power That Preserves last night and started on The Wounded Land.

What really surprised me about the First Chronicles is how well I remembered Lord Foul's Bane and The Illearth War, but how little I remembered of The Power That Preserves.

Now I'm wondering how much I'm going to remember about the books of the Second Chronicles.

I had the same problem with TPTP. In my case I was blacking it out. I didn't want to remember it. Except for the battle at the end between Covenant and the Despiser, I despised that book. It did set up the second series, I'll give it that much, but still I found it slow paced and boring.

[ussusimiel]

I recently did a full reread of TPTP (I usually skip most of it, except for Mhoram's Victory and the Foamfollower's fire walk). This time I gritted my teeth and read it all. I found that it wasn't that the book is poorly paced or badly written, it's that the story itself is coming to some really grim conclusions: Lena dies, Trell goes mad, Triock dies, Pietten dies, two Unfettered die, Quirrel dies, Yeurquin dies, the Land is locked in winter and on and on. There is an amazing amount of misery and death for one book (it makes GRRM look beneficient! ).

It is not a pleasant reading experience for a reread, yet in another way it is a very well realised book, and the first time I read it I found it a really satisfying ending to the 1st series.

u.