Steven Meyers's Reviews > The Wounded Land

It may not be necessary to have read the first Thomas Covenant trilogy before starting the second trilogy. ‘The Wounded Land’ (published in 1980) does fill in important key points from Covenant’s previous forays into the Land but you will be missing out on a great story and colorful background information by skipping the first three books. While ten years have passed since Covenant saved the Land from evil Lord Foul, somewhere between three-to-four-thousand years have gone by in the magical land. Unlike our Earth, science and technology have not progressed in the Land but the magic has been altered. Evil traditions have taken hold and the place does not look anywhere near as nurturing and healthy as in the first trilogy. Compounding the problem is that the people view their hellish existence as normal and eternal. Covenant comes to view the abomination covering the Land as his fault because of his and Lord Foul’s previous conflict which is covered in the first trilogy, ‘Lord Foul’s Bane’ (1977), ‘The Illearth War’ (1978), and ‘The Power That Preserves’ (1979).

Mr. Donaldson invigorates the second trilogy by introducing a strong female protagonist named Linden Avery as well as upsetting the very nature of what made the Land so appealing in the first trilogy. Both Covenant and Avery are both wrestling with their own inner-demons, especially feelings of guilt and inadequacy. There are frequent clashes between these two protagonists despite them pursuing the same objects. ‘The Wounded Land’ spends a great deal of time demonstrating how the Land has changed into a hellhole. The weather and how the sun act are beyond the laws of physics. It compels Covenant to go on a fact-finding adventure in an effort to understand what happened to the Land. The poor guy has more than his fair share of being used as a punching bag during his and Avery’s trek. Also the various evil creatures they encounter are worthy of a nightmare or two. The author has a penchant for using more obscure words in place of more common ones such as ‘descried’ instead of ‘spotted,’ ‘sempiternal’ instead of ‘everlasting,’ ‘refulgent’ instead of ‘shining brightly,’ and ‘roynish’ instead of ‘mangy.’ It is not a criticism of the author’s writing style. If anything, Mr. Donaldson’s books remind me of my limited vocabulary compared to more robust wordsmiths. If you happened to not be familiar with the few examples mentioned, you’ll probably need to use a dictionary on practically every page like I did. Fortunately, the novel includes a handy glossary at the end of the book with Land terminology as well as a map of the magical world.

Beyond an interesting exciting adventure, I like that Mr. Donaldson injects a fair amount of transcendental ruminations involving such things as free will, power, and the nature of evil. It also demonstrates how culture and even traditions continually evolve and, given time, the very opposite of what is right can be believed to be the proper way of things. The author’s Thomas Covenant fantasy series is adult intelligent reading with, unfortunately, no humor to relieve the tension. ‘The Wounded Land’ is not a standalone story. It also does not end on a cliffhanger but clearly many issues are left unresolved. It will require you to read all three large books. That’s okay by me. I’m eager to start in on the second installment in this trilogy ‘The One Tree.’