Sign in with Facebook
Thomas's Reviews > The Wounded Land
The Wounded Land (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, #1)
by
by
More than anything that has gone before, the fourth installment of Donaldson's psycho-fantasy can be read and enjoyed in two ways - a dark, violent fantasy adventure or the frightening dreams of a man filled with guilt and illness trying to work through his nightmares with heroic effort. Covenant, by now, has accepted the Land as real in so far that he loves and cares for it and wants to save it. Set thousands of years after his showdown with alter-ego Lord Foul, Covenant returns to find all that he thought he'd acheived undone by Foul and the Land under the grusome spell of the Sunbane, an affliction that replaces weather with extreme, supernatural microclimatic changes, from extreme desert heat that dries the rivers in hours, to a sun of pestilence with rots everything in sight and throws up all manner of giant insects.
Covenant's new companion, Linden Avery, is battling her own demons and regrets and, as a doctor, becomes the perfect counterbalance to Covenant the leper now that the Land itself is unable to heal him. She develops quickly at the start in an action packed summoning sequence involving Covenant's wife, but then fades a little, perhaps aptly as she suffers a kind of slow, crucifying torture because she can sense the disease in the Land. Her role as potential savior is part of Donaldson's cleverness. Covenant is cursed by Foul's predictions, doomed to place the wild magic into his hands but still strives to battle his fate. Linden is billed as the Chosen who can heal the Land but is wracked by doubts, more melancholy than Covenant's in the first three books, that put her reliability as a heroine in peril.
As a dream sequence of two very troubled souls, The Wounded Land works brilliantly, perhaps even more so than the excruiciating crucifiction Covenant's went through in the previous book. Linden has to come to terms with the Covenant's past crimes and he himself has to face the dead as part of his grieving and retributive process. The cathartic ending in Coerci is an explosive release of all the tragedy that has gone before, a step towards redemption.
Like the psychological progress of his characters, Donaldson's doesn't make the adventures easy either. They are often in such dire straits that it take almost magical authorial invention to get them out of it, but Covenant's powers are so intricately tied to his personal struggles and internal battles that it rarely seems forced. Vain, a shadow creation gifted to Covenant with mysterious purpose, is a fantastically intriguing plot device and his presence, tredding a fine line between spooky and ridiculous, drives and create some of the book's best dramatic moments.
Sometimes the perils seem too great. There are hand sized mosquitos, mutants with snake arms, acid men, the return of the ravers (raving around as manifestations of Covenant's madness?) a monsterous Lurker and swarms of giant bees. But Donaldson's eloquent, wordy sometimes archaic style, his magical vocabulary, make it all seem real and important. The book closes with redemption still a long way away, vemon pulsing in Covenant's blood and a burning desire to keep reading their nightmare journey. 8
Covenant's new companion, Linden Avery, is battling her own demons and regrets and, as a doctor, becomes the perfect counterbalance to Covenant the leper now that the Land itself is unable to heal him. She develops quickly at the start in an action packed summoning sequence involving Covenant's wife, but then fades a little, perhaps aptly as she suffers a kind of slow, crucifying torture because she can sense the disease in the Land. Her role as potential savior is part of Donaldson's cleverness. Covenant is cursed by Foul's predictions, doomed to place the wild magic into his hands but still strives to battle his fate. Linden is billed as the Chosen who can heal the Land but is wracked by doubts, more melancholy than Covenant's in the first three books, that put her reliability as a heroine in peril.
As a dream sequence of two very troubled souls, The Wounded Land works brilliantly, perhaps even more so than the excruiciating crucifiction Covenant's went through in the previous book. Linden has to come to terms with the Covenant's past crimes and he himself has to face the dead as part of his grieving and retributive process. The cathartic ending in Coerci is an explosive release of all the tragedy that has gone before, a step towards redemption.
Like the psychological progress of his characters, Donaldson's doesn't make the adventures easy either. They are often in such dire straits that it take almost magical authorial invention to get them out of it, but Covenant's powers are so intricately tied to his personal struggles and internal battles that it rarely seems forced. Vain, a shadow creation gifted to Covenant with mysterious purpose, is a fantastically intriguing plot device and his presence, tredding a fine line between spooky and ridiculous, drives and create some of the book's best dramatic moments.
Sometimes the perils seem too great. There are hand sized mosquitos, mutants with snake arms, acid men, the return of the ravers (raving around as manifestations of Covenant's madness?) a monsterous Lurker and swarms of giant bees. But Donaldson's eloquent, wordy sometimes archaic style, his magical vocabulary, make it all seem real and important. The book closes with redemption still a long way away, vemon pulsing in Covenant's blood and a burning desire to keep reading their nightmare journey. 8
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Wounded Land.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
July 16, 2015
–
Finished Reading
February 10, 2016
– Shelved
