AATE: The long wait is finally over as of page 103

[aTOMiC]

Not since the end of White Gold Wielder have I really felt as though what I was reading in the Last Chronicles was genuinely COTC. Something has always seemed a bit off as if perhaps there was something in the storytelling that just didn't ring completely familiar. We have the same general themes, characters and settings but it always seemed oddly alien to me. I thought it might be that SRD's style had changed after so many years or that there was so many new and different characters and elements that I just didn't get that nice comfortable feeling I had always felt while reading the Chronicles.

That is to say until I hit page 103 of AATE and then it struck me like a punch in the face.

I was suddenly reading the story from Thomas Covenant's POV.

That was it. It suddenly all made perfect sense to me and I finally realized why I had had so much trouble with the new books.

Before any of you ask I am indeed a member of THOOLAH however that bias really had nothing to do with my observation. Since the beginning of the Last Chronicles Linden has been a serviceable central character however her inner voice is distinctly different than Covenants and I grew to love the Chrons while experiencing it mainly from TC's POV and that is what had been different to me.

I have not finished reading AATE, far from it, but the book has given me back something I frankly didn't know I was missing and I'm pretty happy about it.

aTOMiC

[Rigel]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts after you finish the book

[Zarathustra]

I had a similar realization--and I like Linden. As I noted in my review, I like her as a character, but not as a POV. This was made abundantly clear once we could see the TC chapters side-by-side with the LA chapters.

[kevinswatch]

You know, I have to say, I didn't think about this until I saw your topic, but I think you're right... There's just something *different* about having Covenant as the POV. It just feels right...

-jay

[TheSeventhWard]

I wouldn't say that it has turned the Last Chronicles around for me as yet, but the moment I felt something akin to what you're describing was when Covenant spurned Linden's need for him after 'drowning' her in the stream with the proverbial phrase "Don't touch me."

For the briefest of moments I felt like I was back in the 1st/2nd Chronicles...

[lurch]

Can't wait to hear your thoughts after you finish the book

Yeeesss..a test of the " comfort" of TC's pov along with the consequences of TC's POV..will an interesting matter to deal with by end of book.