Since I don't have the energy to write another review, I'll just quote what I put on Goodreads:
Make no mistake: among all the Thomas Covenant books (of which this is the 9th, and one more to come ~2012), this is the most difficult to read. Not for the prose or style (which has been called, by various people, "Epic," "Operatic," and "too d***ed wordy,") nor for the vocabulary (even the most astute readers tend to keep their dictionaries handy when reading a Donaldson tome), but for the sheer emotional impact it will have on you.
The book is perfectly named. The ancient enemy of the Land, Lord Foul the Despiser, raged a physical war in the first Chronicles. In the Second chronicles, nature itself was mercilessly perverted in the form of the Sunbane, which destroyed the natural order of the seasons. In the Final Chronicles, the nature of time and space themselves are under attack, as Lord Foul attempts to end his eternal imprisonment by destroying reality itself.
In a fight to save the very fact of reality and existence, Thomas Covenant, Linden Avery, and their companions are forced to make extreme sacrifices. You will be horrified by the cost of fighting despair; but you will also exult in the victories gained.
With this addition, the Final Chronicles have finally surpassed the previous series, and rival Donaldson's GAP Cycle as his magnum opus. Now, all that's left is the final chapter ("The Last Dark," due out in 2012) and it will be complete.
A few more thoughts...
I can't believe how suddenly the characters started dieing. It's like a Rob Zombie movie.
Elena's fate halted my reading for the day. Her betrayal really hit me hard.
SHE is necessary to the story, not as the monster-of-the-week, but because of WHO she is. Unfortunately, we don't know yet. And, while I'm tempted by the "Linden of the future who went back in time" idea, I don't see how to fit Covenant and Linden into the creation story as we know it. Either the creation story is wrong, or Tom and Lin aren't Foul and SHE.
The stars going out... this is it, guys, the world really IS going to end.
Anyway, that's it for tonight.
"You make me think Hell is run like a corporation."
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information
I can't believe how suddenly the characters started dieing.
I know! Each death was so unexpected as to shock me greatly. But I will also say that I absolutely loved the way the Harrow was killed. That SoB had it coming. I was exuberantly happy about his end.
"Verily, wisdom is like hunger. Perhaps it is a very fine thing--but who would willingly partake of it."
--Saltheart Foamfollower
"Latency--what is concealed--is the demonstrable presence of the future."
--Jean Gebser
I can't believe how suddenly the characters started dieing.
I know! Each death was so unexpected as to shock me greatly. But I will also say that I absolutely loved the way the Harrow was killed. That SoB had it coming. I was exuberantly happy about his end.
SUCK-er!
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Maybe there is something I don't understand, but I thought that the Harrow's death was a bad thing for the story. Given the way he died, it almost made his character useless. His only function apparently was to bring LA to Jeremiah.
SkurjMaster wrote:Maybe there is something I don't understand, but I thought that the Harrow's death was a bad thing for the story. Given the way he died, it almost made his character useless. His only function apparently was to bring LA to Jeremiah.
Not "useless" per se, but as if the Harrow was just another "Red shirt" throwaway character. (A similar thing was stated about the Mahdoubt.) The Harrow did save them a long trip, after all.
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I understood the Mahdoubt's death. That made sense in the story. She made certain things possible and then sacrificed herself for a greater good. Although, I still have some concerns raised from when she was still in Revelstone. Now when an Insequent pops up, splat!
Now the Harrow seems like just a means of transportation. I expected LA to conquer him or that he would turn out to either be almost a good guy or to redeem himself through sacrifice.
SkurjMaster wrote:I understood the Mahdoubt's death. That made sense in the story. She made certain things possible and then sacrificed herself for a greater good. Although, I still have some concerns raised from when she was still in Revelstone. Now when an Insequent pops up, splat!
Now the Harrow seems like just a means of transportation. I expected LA to conquer him or that he would turn out to either be almost a good guy or to redeem himself through sacrifice.
I'd never thought about it this way before, but maybe the Insequent really are just "red shirts" like the haruchai. Yes, the haruchai definitely have control-freak issues in the present Chrons, but look at Ceer, Hergrom, Cail. And now in the present Chrons...
(Do you supposed Donaldson decided to give Galt a painful death the moment he found out that Galt shares his name with an Ayn Rand hero?)
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Orlion wrote:I hate to be the cause of more despair, but TLD comes out in 2013.
Son of a *****! I know it's 3 years, how did I screw up the date that badly?!?
What really surprised me about the deaths in this book were that they just happened. It's as if the character arcs just suddenly stopped... it made them more shocking.
"You make me think Hell is run like a corporation."
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information
Rigel wrote:Since I don't have the energy to write another review, I'll just quote what I put on Goodreads:
Make no mistake: among all the Thomas Covenant books (of which this is the 9th, and one more to come ~2012), this is the most difficult to read. Not for the prose or style (which has been called, by various people, "Epic," "Operatic," and "too d***ed wordy,") nor for the vocabulary (even the most astute readers tend to keep their dictionaries handy when reading a Donaldson tome), but for the sheer emotional impact it will have on you.
The book is perfectly named. The ancient enemy of the Land, Lord Foul the Despiser, raged a physical war in the first Chronicles. In the Second chronicles, nature itself was mercilessly perverted in the form of the Sunbane, which destroyed the natural order of the seasons. In the Final Chronicles, the nature of time and space themselves are under attack, as Lord Foul attempts to end his eternal imprisonment by destroying reality itself.
In a fight to save the very fact of reality and existence, Thomas Covenant, Linden Avery, and their companions are forced to make extreme sacrifices. You will be horrified by the cost of fighting despair; but you will also exult in the victories gained.
With this addition, the Final Chronicles have finally surpassed the previous series, and rival Donaldson's GAP Cycle as his magnum opus. Now, all that's left is the final chapter ("The Last Dark," due out in 2012) and it will be complete.
A few more thoughts...
I can't believe how suddenly the characters started dieing. It's like a Rob Zombie movie.
Elena's fate halted my reading for the day. Her betrayal really hit me hard.
Don't you suppose Elena volunteered for the job? Don't you think she wanted it? Nobody forced her to confront SHE. Elena was offered a chance at redemption and she took it.
And since Elena still exists, even if not as an individual, there might be a way out for her in the end.
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I'm certainly hoping that a way will be found to redeem Elena. However, the impression I got from the reading was that she didn't know what she was getting into when she appeared.
"You make me think Hell is run like a corporation."
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information
Rigel wrote:I'm certainly hoping that a way will be found to redeem Elena. However, the impression I got from the reading was that she didn't know what she was getting into when she appeared.
There are likely as many impressions as there are readers.
And with Donaldson, I find that thinking 'outside the box' of my own impressions of the text is the wisest course.
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Just finished reading AATE yesterday and relieved to be able to come back on the Watch!!
I've only read it once and I've learned now not to judge these books on one read, but my first impressions were:
I loved the first chapter. I thought it was one of the best chapters of the Chronicles as a whole. Just fantastically realised. And what a great way to provide some glimpses into the backstory.
150 pages of deliberating at the start of the book did try my patience as much as the Harrow's. I liked some of it, but I just wanted them to get a move on at points!
After TC's resurrection, I was also frustrated by the lack of his POV in the book overall. Most of the sections I really enjoyed were his POV sections. Particularly in the last third of the book, I couldn't wait for it to revert to his particular quest.
I also think maybe that SRD left himself with too many characters altogether for the first two thirds of the book. There were sections where something happened/something was said and you'd then get a whole page of the reaction of the Giants, the Ramen, Stave, the Humbled etc in turn, that just seemed a bit formulaic. I much preferred the end of the book where there were just two discrete quests with fewer protagonists.
Having said that, I did like Linden's slide into despair. Her self-hate, self-mutilation, self-blame. It felt real. Particularly, after Liand's death and when confronted by Pahni's pain. And her wholesale slaughter of cavewights. The only thing is that having taken her down that road so far, first with her damn the consequences anger and then her guilt and despair, I really don't think there should be any way back for her. She should be ruined - gone. Jeremiah's return to sentience notwithstanding!
Not sure about the whole She bane. I'm with those who don't like the name - the chase was also strung out too much for my liking and lacked credibility (I know, I know, it's fantasy!)
At first glance I liked being shocked by the sudden demise of the Harrow. Equally with the sudden demise of Liand (particularly as this sent Linden into even deeper depths of despair). But that is slightly tempered by the thought that the story arcs for these characters appear to have been truncated abruptly, particularly in Liand's case. Perhaps I should just accept that as a reader I shouldn't expect every major character to have a full role and that it isn't only red shirts who get killed off prematurely?
Disappointed by Anele's end. He seems to have overestimated his own worth with the "I am the hope of the Land" speeach. Surely he should have said Jeremiah is the hope (and only indirectly I am the hope). I would have liked at least a period of coherence from him before he slipped the bounds of life.
The death of Galt, Stave's son, seemed underplayed? OK, the Haruchai would underplay it, and I suppose Linden had enough on her plate already to belabour the fact that Stave's son had sacrificed his son to save hers? (I have to reread this bit, I may not be doing it justice.)
Esmer's end too was just very sudden. Too sudden? I expected it to be explored in more detail, or at least Stave's decision to kill him with the krill to be explored in more detail. It's a shame he's gone - I didn't like him when he first appeared but grew to appreciate him and his complexities.
I still don't like the Insequent. What Linden needed when the Ardent turned up wasn't another Insequent, she needed a LAWYER! "In consideration of the delivery of one Staff of Law and one white gold ring, the Harrow hererby agrees to transport Linden Avery [and as many of her friends as she sees fit to include with her] to the abode of one Jeremiah Avery (adopted name)..... etc etc". Any of her friends could have done the same as the Ardent here! All they needed to say, was "Be careful, Linden. Make sure you know what you are agreeing to!"
The denouement with TC and Joan and calling the Ranyhyn to distract her while he killed her was great too. The whole atmosphere, the situation, the bleakness, the Raver. SRD doesn't necessarily need anything new in the Land to produce great set pieces. But the disruptions of weather systems, tidal forces etc etc, just seemed right at this stage as a precursor to the appearance of the Worm.
Jeremiah? I just hope that he doesn't suddenly become the perfect son!! I want him to be tainted, I want him to be confused, he could be another Esmer. Let's hope.
I did, I admit flag a bit at around page 550. It did become a bit of a chore to read for a time (though I was equally distracted by some hospital visits). It was also around the time I'd had enough of Linden and was just desperate for the POV to change to Covenant.
I need to read it again - I'll enjoy it (even) more second time - I was a little frustrated by elements of it and also certainly my anticipation was too heightened in the build up to its release. But after reading that first Chapter my hopes were so high, and as a whole it didn't quite live up to those expectations.
