What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant #4
The Last Dark
Compelled step by step to actions whose consequences they could neither see nor prevent, Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery have fought for what they love in the magical reality known only as "the Land." Now they face their final crisis. Reunited after their separate struggles, they discover in each other their true power--and yet they cannot imagine how to stop the Worm of the World’s End from unmaking Time. Nevertheless they must resist the ruin of all things, giving their last strength in the service of the world's continuance.
557 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2013
183 people are currently reading
3513 people want to read
About the author
Stephen R. Donaldson
134 books2,704 followersStephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction, and mystery novelist; in the United Kingdom he is usually called "Stephen Donaldson" (without the "R"). He has also written non-fiction under the pen name Reed Stephens.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION:
Stephen R. Donaldson was born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled in making or fitting prosthetic devices). Donaldson spent the years between the ages of 3 and 16 living in India, where his father was working as an orthopaedic surgeon. Donaldson earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and master's degree from Kent State University.
INSPIRATIONS:
Donaldson's work is heavily influenced by other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, and William Faulkner. The writers he most admires are Patricia A. McKillip, Steven Erikson, and Tim Powers.
It is believed that a speech his father made on leprosy (whilst working with lepers in India) led to Donaldson's creation of Thomas Covenant, the anti-hero of his most famous work (Thomas Covenant). The first book in that series, Lord Foul's Bane, received 47 rejections before a publisher agreed to publish it.
PROMINENT WORK:
Stephen Donaldson came to prominence in 1977 with the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which is centred around a leper shunned by society and his trials and tribulations as his destiny unfolds. These books established Donaldson as one of the most important figures in modern fantasy fiction.
PERSONAL LIFE:
He currently resides in New Mexico.
THE GRADUAL INTERVIEW
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION:
Stephen R. Donaldson was born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled in making or fitting prosthetic devices). Donaldson spent the years between the ages of 3 and 16 living in India, where his father was working as an orthopaedic surgeon. Donaldson earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and master's degree from Kent State University.
INSPIRATIONS:
Donaldson's work is heavily influenced by other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, and William Faulkner. The writers he most admires are Patricia A. McKillip, Steven Erikson, and Tim Powers.
It is believed that a speech his father made on leprosy (whilst working with lepers in India) led to Donaldson's creation of Thomas Covenant, the anti-hero of his most famous work (Thomas Covenant). The first book in that series, Lord Foul's Bane, received 47 rejections before a publisher agreed to publish it.
PROMINENT WORK:
Stephen Donaldson came to prominence in 1977 with the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which is centred around a leper shunned by society and his trials and tribulations as his destiny unfolds. These books established Donaldson as one of the most important figures in modern fantasy fiction.
PERSONAL LIFE:
He currently resides in New Mexico.
THE GRADUAL INTERVIEW
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 367 reviews
July 9, 2020
This review is for all ten books in the series. My re-read of the first six books was colored through the lens of nostalgia. The first two trilogies affected me a great deal as a youth—I read them at some point during high school. When I saw that Donaldson had completed the story arc with The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a four-book tetralogy, I decided to return to the originals and read them all in sequence.
I regret the decision, but now at least I’ve completed them. I do believe that because the first series in particular is so unique, Donaldson deserved to be given the chance to resolve the story. The ending brought many strands together with a feeling of near-completion, but unfortunately his style ruined the last four books for me.
The first six books affected me powerfully. They were the first fantasy novel that I had read that treated the reader like an adult (much more so than Lord of the Rings). It’s adult in several ways. First, the language. Donaldson uses advanced vocabulary unsparingly that requires most readers to keep a dictionary (app) handy. He doesn’t dumb it down for “young adults” or even for adults for that matter. He challenges you to use your brain, and as a child who joined Mensa and was constantly solving puzzles and playing complex games like Dungeons & Dragons, I ate up the challenge. I felt more mature reading it.
The second most obvious quality that struck me as different from all the other fantasy novels that I had read, is that the main character was radically unsympathetic. Antiheroes were not unknown to me at the time—I had read quite a bit of Michael Moorcock by this point, including Elric of Melnibone and the Cornelius Chronicles. But your typical anti-hero has redeeming qualities that are appealing to read even while they behave in “anti” ways. For example, they are usually charismatic. Or clever. Or unafraid. Whatever causes them to commit questionable acts, we enjoy reading their exploits, and they end up saving the day even if only for selfish reasons. Well, here’s where Donaldson parts ways the most dramatically. The main character is not only a bad person, but he is an unlikeable person. Thomas Covenant is irritable and difficult and unfunny. He is furious at the world because it treated him harshly. He’s bony and angular and diseased and anti-cuddly. He’s a cactus of a person. And on top of that, he commits a despicable act that makes him seem unredeemable. It happens in the first novel, Lord Foul’s Bane, and I don’t consider it a spoiler because I think anyone who goes into reading it should know about it in advance. It’s a central conundrum of much of the series, how do we as the reader respond to it and how do we feel about the author’s treatment of the topic. Thomas Covenant is sucked into the fantasy world known only as The Land, and he believes it is only a grand hallucination of some sort. He feels he’s gone insane. Enraged by his lack of control over himself and his situation (which is particularly acute for him because he has leprosy and his only real-world survival method is to remain in complete control of his interactions with his environment), he takes it out on a friendly young woman trying to help him by raping her.
This act brings up the ethical question of whether cruelty in a dream is real. Covenant believes (at that time) that The Land is a dream of some sort although it’s certainly not a typical dream. But if we are willing to accept that premise then how do we feel about violence toward a dream figure? How do we feel about rape in a story, if we want to look at it metafictionally? Over the course of the series, Donaldson touches on how the assault act psychologically harms the rapist. Covenant later can’t forgive himself and carries his own self-hatred with him for many years. He frequently seeks to atone for this action that he regrets. Yes, his victim suffers from the event but in what I would describe as stereotypical ways. The focus was never on her point of view. Which isn’t to say Donaldson dismisses it, but it’s not really his strong suit. He’s clearly an Existentialist of sorts, and we as a reader come to realize that whether the world is a grand hallucination or another actual dimension doesn’t matter—Covenant is defined by his choices. From a Buddhist perspective, all of existence is a dream. All is nothingness. And yet within this nothingness, our choices still matter. The act of rape degrades the actor as well as injures the victim. A contemporary feminist critique of the storyline might analyze the events from a different perspective. While personal agency and “responsibility” are not attributes to be utterly dismissed, the decentralized and abstract self is part of a social environment. And in fact, it is society/culture/civilization that permits rape to occur. Yes, we can and should punish criminal acts, but it’s our political and cultural environment that allows it to exist, and what is required to change is not “interior” but is instead social. This brings up what could be seen as a weakness of The Chronicles and Donaldson’s treatment of rape and other issues. In the world of The Land, it’s relatively devoid of politics. There is no political economy—no Capitalism to turn people, time, and materials into products. Society is relatively egalitarian between men and women with almost no patriarchy. Struggles tend to be either between evil and good—the forces of Lord Foul (the force of “despite” or despair) versus everyone else (who mean well but may unwittingly help Foul); or the struggles are between “races.” The entire story struck me as not quite racist but racialist. Tending to give each racial group common attributes in contrast with others. He’s somewhat essentialist in his creation of races. The Hurachai, the Ramen, the Giants, the Stonedowners, the Demondimspawn, the Elohim, etc. While there is disagreement between certain members of each group, Donaldson tends to emphasize similarities. At times, for example, I became uncomfortable that all the Hurachai were inscrutable, unemotional martial artists of supreme skill (and unifying telepathic abilities). It struck me as an Asian stereotype—like they were all Bruce Lee clones.
The violent sexual assault, an incestuous relationship (which isn’t portrayed as healthy but also isn’t utterly condemned), and lastly the focus on morality throughout the Chronicles are the other additional elements that made the series a truly adult story that never coddles the reader. We must wrestle with our own responses rather than simply accept the story as it is. Many readers may even just quit reading it and that is certainly a valid response. Or, just as Donaldson positions Covenant as the only man who can save The Land due to his possession of a white gold ring (the wedding band from his ex-wife) which gives him tremendous, dangerous magical powers…are we stuck with the book because it’s hard to put down? Because we grow to care about The Land too? More than we care about Covenant?
In the first two trilogies, Donaldson exhibits a dramatic writing style that walks a tightrope between grand and grandiose that is not balanced by any humor. Either you accept that emotions and dangers are always turned up to 11 or you become put off by the style, and he comes across as melodramatic and bombastic. For me, it worked (mostly) through the first two trilogies. When you get to book seven, he goes off the rails.
The last four books struck me as a parody of his own style. In book nine, the word “god” is repeated 131 times. Hell gets 140 mentions. Damn gets 73. The word “mien” (you know, instead of “expression”) gets 9 mentions in book nine and 25 in book ten. Book ten finds “hell” repeated 181 times, “god” 168 times, “innominate” gets 5 mentions and “We are Giants” is spoken 14 times. Not to mention “We are Haruchai” or “We are Ramen.” Heavy handed much? Throughout the final four, Donaldson dedicates a tremendous volume of dialogue toward justifying and rationalizing the plot. He seems to complexify things in order to create barriers and challenges to raise the stakes but then feels the need to put a lot of effort into explaining them. Too many unnecessary details parsed…much like theology.
Covenant and the other main character, Linden Avery, who joins us in the second trilogy, are always plagued by self-doubt. But by book eight, the self-doubt becomes unbearable. It may authentically represent a struggle that most of us face but for fuck’s sake I don’t want to read about characters constantly doubting themselves. It’s beyond tedious. And the romance between Covenant and Linden is not epic, it’s cloying and saccharineBoth of them struggle with power and feel unworthy of it. They feel that if they accept too much power then they become dangerous. They fear responsibility and must overcome their fear of using power in order to succeed. This strikes me as a thematic concern out-of-date with our times. It feels like a meaningless abstract Existential crisis. “I have so much power I’m afraid to use it.” I keep coming back to the fact that our current struggles are about the “everyperson” being faced with a deficit of power. Corrupt figures like Trump and McConnell have no qualms about using their power. They have no inner struggle. The rest of us humanity are oppressed. So who could possibly relate to this premise of having too much power and being afraid to use it? It seems like an irrelevant out-of-date intellectual debate occurring repeatedly throughout the story.
How does Donaldson reflect on religion in The Chronicles? In general, I’d say ambiguously. I did a little research and found an interview with Donaldson where he talks about being raised as a Fundamentalist Christian and so he understands that mindset well. He said that aspects of that way of thinking remain with him, and he considers himself a “missionary for literature.” Personally, I find Biblical symbolism to be rather pompous in literature, but at the same time I find blasphemy to be generally amusing and entertaining. When fiction uses Biblical stories in some fashion to simply retell the myth (let’s say Aslan in the Narnia Chronicles is Christ returned to save humanity) then I call that proselytizing and indoctrination. But what about when the story falls somewhere in between praise and blasphemy? Thomas Covenant is a Christ figure. He’s resurrected several times in various ways. He actually has leprosy and is healed (periodically) of his condition. Christ is described as curing leprosy. His very name—Covenant: a binding religious commitment to the gospel. And he’s called “The Unbeliever” due to his refusal to believe The Land is real. A facile interpretation might pose that this unlikeable rapist asshole is a representation of “atheism,” and he doesn’t become tolerable and accept his role until he admits The Land is important—even if he never quite knows if it is real. It may all be in his head, but he becomes a better person when he cares about it and acts based upon that. Christians might call this “faith.” I would quibble that Covenant never really becomes likeable. He sacrifices and risks himself repeatedly, but I never found myself on his side. I was on the side of The Land and the supporting characters pulled in his wake.
The religious symbolism is profligate throughout. Lord Foul is our Satan. The Creator is God, Donaldson makes the Creator generally weak and ineffectual although he’s responsible for setting Covenant and Linden Avery on their paths into The Land. The Creator is a fairly clear embodiment of the aspect of Christian story that has Jesus crying, “Why have you forsaken me?” The Creator sets the ball rolling then poof—he gone. The Land is a fallen paradise, with much beauty yet corrupted by evil and plagued by toxins. There were actually times when the themes struck me as almost, vaguely environmental. The poisonous “Sunbane” that inflicts the land is like global warming. The Sunbane is fed by cruelty although they are tricked into believing they are doing it for the good of humanity. Much like we work to buy houses, clothes, electronics, and so on to give our families comfortable lives. And yet all that comfort comes at a price for our species. Humans were seduced into chopping down great swathes of the “One Forest” which subsequently allowed Lord Foul’s forces to increase their strength. There is no technology anywhere in the land, only magic and physical prowess, and so that which “pollutes” the land is driven by our Satan figure. These implications are never stated directly, but they begin to chip away at the too-obvious metaphor of Covenant “saving” humanity. The battle in his soul to avoid despair is what permits him to act and attempt to save the natural world. There is one particular scene that problematizes a simple Christian view of the story. Covenant returns to the “real world” and stumbles into a Christian revival service under a tent. Due to his leprosy, the church rejects him as diseased and literally throws him out. He finds no solace from the Earthly church, only eventually by returning to the fantasy realm and overcoming self-doubt does he find purpose. In the end, Covenant’s covenant is not religious, but it’s a commitment to action in pursuit of Good. His quest is Existential not religious. The Biblical elements seemed to me more stylistic attributes. The framework for a morality play that is about love and friendship and self-sacrifice and overcoming despair for the good of others.
I will comment briefly on the ending in a spoiler tag.
In total, The Chronicles is a groundbreaking series that confronts us with a plethora of moral questions. The adventure story that goes along with it was compelling through the first six books at least, but fell apart for me in the last four. It’s not completely true that I regret reading them all. The OCD in me is pleased to know how Donaldson wanted it all to end.
I regret the decision, but now at least I’ve completed them. I do believe that because the first series in particular is so unique, Donaldson deserved to be given the chance to resolve the story. The ending brought many strands together with a feeling of near-completion, but unfortunately his style ruined the last four books for me.
The first six books affected me powerfully. They were the first fantasy novel that I had read that treated the reader like an adult (much more so than Lord of the Rings). It’s adult in several ways. First, the language. Donaldson uses advanced vocabulary unsparingly that requires most readers to keep a dictionary (app) handy. He doesn’t dumb it down for “young adults” or even for adults for that matter. He challenges you to use your brain, and as a child who joined Mensa and was constantly solving puzzles and playing complex games like Dungeons & Dragons, I ate up the challenge. I felt more mature reading it.
The second most obvious quality that struck me as different from all the other fantasy novels that I had read, is that the main character was radically unsympathetic. Antiheroes were not unknown to me at the time—I had read quite a bit of Michael Moorcock by this point, including Elric of Melnibone and the Cornelius Chronicles. But your typical anti-hero has redeeming qualities that are appealing to read even while they behave in “anti” ways. For example, they are usually charismatic. Or clever. Or unafraid. Whatever causes them to commit questionable acts, we enjoy reading their exploits, and they end up saving the day even if only for selfish reasons. Well, here’s where Donaldson parts ways the most dramatically. The main character is not only a bad person, but he is an unlikeable person. Thomas Covenant is irritable and difficult and unfunny. He is furious at the world because it treated him harshly. He’s bony and angular and diseased and anti-cuddly. He’s a cactus of a person. And on top of that, he commits a despicable act that makes him seem unredeemable. It happens in the first novel, Lord Foul’s Bane, and I don’t consider it a spoiler because I think anyone who goes into reading it should know about it in advance. It’s a central conundrum of much of the series, how do we as the reader respond to it and how do we feel about the author’s treatment of the topic. Thomas Covenant is sucked into the fantasy world known only as The Land, and he believes it is only a grand hallucination of some sort. He feels he’s gone insane. Enraged by his lack of control over himself and his situation (which is particularly acute for him because he has leprosy and his only real-world survival method is to remain in complete control of his interactions with his environment), he takes it out on a friendly young woman trying to help him by raping her.
This act brings up the ethical question of whether cruelty in a dream is real. Covenant believes (at that time) that The Land is a dream of some sort although it’s certainly not a typical dream. But if we are willing to accept that premise then how do we feel about violence toward a dream figure? How do we feel about rape in a story, if we want to look at it metafictionally? Over the course of the series, Donaldson touches on how the assault act psychologically harms the rapist. Covenant later can’t forgive himself and carries his own self-hatred with him for many years. He frequently seeks to atone for this action that he regrets. Yes, his victim suffers from the event but in what I would describe as stereotypical ways. The focus was never on her point of view. Which isn’t to say Donaldson dismisses it, but it’s not really his strong suit. He’s clearly an Existentialist of sorts, and we as a reader come to realize that whether the world is a grand hallucination or another actual dimension doesn’t matter—Covenant is defined by his choices. From a Buddhist perspective, all of existence is a dream. All is nothingness. And yet within this nothingness, our choices still matter. The act of rape degrades the actor as well as injures the victim. A contemporary feminist critique of the storyline might analyze the events from a different perspective. While personal agency and “responsibility” are not attributes to be utterly dismissed, the decentralized and abstract self is part of a social environment. And in fact, it is society/culture/civilization that permits rape to occur. Yes, we can and should punish criminal acts, but it’s our political and cultural environment that allows it to exist, and what is required to change is not “interior” but is instead social. This brings up what could be seen as a weakness of The Chronicles and Donaldson’s treatment of rape and other issues. In the world of The Land, it’s relatively devoid of politics. There is no political economy—no Capitalism to turn people, time, and materials into products. Society is relatively egalitarian between men and women with almost no patriarchy. Struggles tend to be either between evil and good—the forces of Lord Foul (the force of “despite” or despair) versus everyone else (who mean well but may unwittingly help Foul); or the struggles are between “races.” The entire story struck me as not quite racist but racialist. Tending to give each racial group common attributes in contrast with others. He’s somewhat essentialist in his creation of races. The Hurachai, the Ramen, the Giants, the Stonedowners, the Demondimspawn, the Elohim, etc. While there is disagreement between certain members of each group, Donaldson tends to emphasize similarities. At times, for example, I became uncomfortable that all the Hurachai were inscrutable, unemotional martial artists of supreme skill (and unifying telepathic abilities). It struck me as an Asian stereotype—like they were all Bruce Lee clones.
The violent sexual assault, an incestuous relationship (which isn’t portrayed as healthy but also isn’t utterly condemned), and lastly the focus on morality throughout the Chronicles are the other additional elements that made the series a truly adult story that never coddles the reader. We must wrestle with our own responses rather than simply accept the story as it is. Many readers may even just quit reading it and that is certainly a valid response. Or, just as Donaldson positions Covenant as the only man who can save The Land due to his possession of a white gold ring (the wedding band from his ex-wife) which gives him tremendous, dangerous magical powers…are we stuck with the book because it’s hard to put down? Because we grow to care about The Land too? More than we care about Covenant?
In the first two trilogies, Donaldson exhibits a dramatic writing style that walks a tightrope between grand and grandiose that is not balanced by any humor. Either you accept that emotions and dangers are always turned up to 11 or you become put off by the style, and he comes across as melodramatic and bombastic. For me, it worked (mostly) through the first two trilogies. When you get to book seven, he goes off the rails.
The last four books struck me as a parody of his own style. In book nine, the word “god” is repeated 131 times. Hell gets 140 mentions. Damn gets 73. The word “mien” (you know, instead of “expression”) gets 9 mentions in book nine and 25 in book ten. Book ten finds “hell” repeated 181 times, “god” 168 times, “innominate” gets 5 mentions and “We are Giants” is spoken 14 times. Not to mention “We are Haruchai” or “We are Ramen.” Heavy handed much? Throughout the final four, Donaldson dedicates a tremendous volume of dialogue toward justifying and rationalizing the plot. He seems to complexify things in order to create barriers and challenges to raise the stakes but then feels the need to put a lot of effort into explaining them. Too many unnecessary details parsed…much like theology.
Covenant and the other main character, Linden Avery, who joins us in the second trilogy, are always plagued by self-doubt. But by book eight, the self-doubt becomes unbearable. It may authentically represent a struggle that most of us face but for fuck’s sake I don’t want to read about characters constantly doubting themselves. It’s beyond tedious. And the romance between Covenant and Linden is not epic, it’s cloying and saccharineBoth of them struggle with power and feel unworthy of it. They feel that if they accept too much power then they become dangerous. They fear responsibility and must overcome their fear of using power in order to succeed. This strikes me as a thematic concern out-of-date with our times. It feels like a meaningless abstract Existential crisis. “I have so much power I’m afraid to use it.” I keep coming back to the fact that our current struggles are about the “everyperson” being faced with a deficit of power. Corrupt figures like Trump and McConnell have no qualms about using their power. They have no inner struggle. The rest of us humanity are oppressed. So who could possibly relate to this premise of having too much power and being afraid to use it? It seems like an irrelevant out-of-date intellectual debate occurring repeatedly throughout the story.
How does Donaldson reflect on religion in The Chronicles? In general, I’d say ambiguously. I did a little research and found an interview with Donaldson where he talks about being raised as a Fundamentalist Christian and so he understands that mindset well. He said that aspects of that way of thinking remain with him, and he considers himself a “missionary for literature.” Personally, I find Biblical symbolism to be rather pompous in literature, but at the same time I find blasphemy to be generally amusing and entertaining. When fiction uses Biblical stories in some fashion to simply retell the myth (let’s say Aslan in the Narnia Chronicles is Christ returned to save humanity) then I call that proselytizing and indoctrination. But what about when the story falls somewhere in between praise and blasphemy? Thomas Covenant is a Christ figure. He’s resurrected several times in various ways. He actually has leprosy and is healed (periodically) of his condition. Christ is described as curing leprosy. His very name—Covenant: a binding religious commitment to the gospel. And he’s called “The Unbeliever” due to his refusal to believe The Land is real. A facile interpretation might pose that this unlikeable rapist asshole is a representation of “atheism,” and he doesn’t become tolerable and accept his role until he admits The Land is important—even if he never quite knows if it is real. It may all be in his head, but he becomes a better person when he cares about it and acts based upon that. Christians might call this “faith.” I would quibble that Covenant never really becomes likeable. He sacrifices and risks himself repeatedly, but I never found myself on his side. I was on the side of The Land and the supporting characters pulled in his wake.
The religious symbolism is profligate throughout. Lord Foul is our Satan. The Creator is God, Donaldson makes the Creator generally weak and ineffectual although he’s responsible for setting Covenant and Linden Avery on their paths into The Land. The Creator is a fairly clear embodiment of the aspect of Christian story that has Jesus crying, “Why have you forsaken me?” The Creator sets the ball rolling then poof—he gone. The Land is a fallen paradise, with much beauty yet corrupted by evil and plagued by toxins. There were actually times when the themes struck me as almost, vaguely environmental. The poisonous “Sunbane” that inflicts the land is like global warming. The Sunbane is fed by cruelty although they are tricked into believing they are doing it for the good of humanity. Much like we work to buy houses, clothes, electronics, and so on to give our families comfortable lives. And yet all that comfort comes at a price for our species. Humans were seduced into chopping down great swathes of the “One Forest” which subsequently allowed Lord Foul’s forces to increase their strength. There is no technology anywhere in the land, only magic and physical prowess, and so that which “pollutes” the land is driven by our Satan figure. These implications are never stated directly, but they begin to chip away at the too-obvious metaphor of Covenant “saving” humanity. The battle in his soul to avoid despair is what permits him to act and attempt to save the natural world. There is one particular scene that problematizes a simple Christian view of the story. Covenant returns to the “real world” and stumbles into a Christian revival service under a tent. Due to his leprosy, the church rejects him as diseased and literally throws him out. He finds no solace from the Earthly church, only eventually by returning to the fantasy realm and overcoming self-doubt does he find purpose. In the end, Covenant’s covenant is not religious, but it’s a commitment to action in pursuit of Good. His quest is Existential not religious. The Biblical elements seemed to me more stylistic attributes. The framework for a morality play that is about love and friendship and self-sacrifice and overcoming despair for the good of others.
I will comment briefly on the ending in a spoiler tag.
In total, The Chronicles is a groundbreaking series that confronts us with a plethora of moral questions. The adventure story that goes along with it was compelling through the first six books at least, but fell apart for me in the last four. It’s not completely true that I regret reading them all. The OCD in me is pleased to know how Donaldson wanted it all to end.
November 7, 2013
I read the negative reviews and I agree with them completely. They were expecting and hoping for something else, and for them, The Last Dark did not deliver. Scenes and characters were found to be contrite, lacking, or at best merely 'decent'... for them.
The problem here (for them) is that Stephen R. Donaldson clearly wrote this book for ME, not for them. He tapped right in and analyzed my needs and wants, my expectations and my emotional state. Boy did he ever deliver!
I cannot imagine a finer conclusion to the series or a more riveting, climactic book on its own.
I have always understood Thomas Covenant. When he thought the Land was merely a dream, and one that threatened his means of survival with his disease, he did horrible things. If we are ever held to task for the atrocities we are apt to perform in our dreams our world would collapse around our ears.
When at last he chose to fight and played right into the Despiser's hands, I railed against him, but I could not fault him. I have only ever had compassion for Thomas Covenant. I have only ever adored every harrowing trip to the Land. On every page I feared for his and Linden Avery's survival. No promises were ever given anywhere along the way that they would survive their next encounter with a minion of the Despiser.
Here comes the thing that will startle many: I have always seen Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery as heroes, though they themselves seldom did. I have always found the horrendous sacrifices made by their companions to be valorous and just. And in this book, I even felt compassion for the Lurker in the Sarangrave.
I would be a Giant in a heartbeat, a Bloodguard in the next. I wanted to shoulder the burdens of each character. I wanted call on Earthpower, stroll through the Andelain, and taste the burst of life from a treasure berry. The Land for me is a place easy to believe in.
With each word Donaldson wrote of the Land, he brought me there. He brought me into his world. I will be reading all of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant throughout the remainder of my life. My first trip to the Land was during my high school years, and its wonderful to know I can open a book and go back any time I please.
Thank you, Steve, for writing these stories for me. For what it's worth, you are right, your story DOES need the ring more than those other 'ring' books. It always has.
The problem here (for them) is that Stephen R. Donaldson clearly wrote this book for ME, not for them. He tapped right in and analyzed my needs and wants, my expectations and my emotional state. Boy did he ever deliver!
I cannot imagine a finer conclusion to the series or a more riveting, climactic book on its own.
I have always understood Thomas Covenant. When he thought the Land was merely a dream, and one that threatened his means of survival with his disease, he did horrible things. If we are ever held to task for the atrocities we are apt to perform in our dreams our world would collapse around our ears.
When at last he chose to fight and played right into the Despiser's hands, I railed against him, but I could not fault him. I have only ever had compassion for Thomas Covenant. I have only ever adored every harrowing trip to the Land. On every page I feared for his and Linden Avery's survival. No promises were ever given anywhere along the way that they would survive their next encounter with a minion of the Despiser.
Here comes the thing that will startle many: I have always seen Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery as heroes, though they themselves seldom did. I have always found the horrendous sacrifices made by their companions to be valorous and just. And in this book, I even felt compassion for the Lurker in the Sarangrave.
I would be a Giant in a heartbeat, a Bloodguard in the next. I wanted to shoulder the burdens of each character. I wanted call on Earthpower, stroll through the Andelain, and taste the burst of life from a treasure berry. The Land for me is a place easy to believe in.
With each word Donaldson wrote of the Land, he brought me there. He brought me into his world. I will be reading all of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant throughout the remainder of my life. My first trip to the Land was during my high school years, and its wonderful to know I can open a book and go back any time I please.
Thank you, Steve, for writing these stories for me. For what it's worth, you are right, your story DOES need the ring more than those other 'ring' books. It always has.
August 3, 2013
I have an ARC. Reading it now, about 1/4 of the way in, excellent so far. Will report in full when I'm finished. :) ...
... And now I'm done. :) And I'm going to be super vague below details-wise so I don't ruin it for anyone: no spoilers herein.
First off: SRD is one of my favorite two writers in the universe (the other is Anne Rice). The Second Chronicles are, word for word, pound for pound, my absolute favorite books bar none. *Nothing* will surpass the buzz of reading those for the first time -- even the tenth time. The world of the Sunbane, the Clave, the Elohim, the Brathair with Kasreyn of the Gyre ... it was just so awesome and so original ... I knew going into the Last Chronicles, the bar was going to be set to the moon for me, unrealistically so.
Here's the verdict on How It All Ends: Some of it -- most of it -- utterly brilliant, everything we wanted. And some of it doesn't satisfy, some questions are not answered that I had assumed would be. It's nowhere near that sinking empty feeling we all had when LOST non-ended, he didn't blow it by any stretch. It's just not 'complete'. (Down the road, after the book is released, I will be specific about this with an edited review here.)
I just finished the book yesterday, so I'm still digesting the finale ... and like all Donaldson books, it sort of weirdly grows more awesome in your head AFTER you read it than at the time you actually do so. So I may change my mind on this over time.
The last thing I wanted SRD to do with this book is repeat himself. HE DOESN'T. The ending is extremely original and different from what went before.
That having been said: Second Chronicles trumps Last Chronicles. Still: Really glad we GOT a Last Chronicles. But of course, hellfire! And bloody damnation! Go buy this and read it, you fools! You *know* you have to know how it ends and then argue with me endlessly here on whether I got it right or not! :)
THANK YOU, SRD for the biggest reading buzz of my entire life. You inspired me to write novels as well (now on my fifth, published by Harper Collins) you were the dude who made me want to do it!
... And now I'm done. :) And I'm going to be super vague below details-wise so I don't ruin it for anyone: no spoilers herein.
First off: SRD is one of my favorite two writers in the universe (the other is Anne Rice). The Second Chronicles are, word for word, pound for pound, my absolute favorite books bar none. *Nothing* will surpass the buzz of reading those for the first time -- even the tenth time. The world of the Sunbane, the Clave, the Elohim, the Brathair with Kasreyn of the Gyre ... it was just so awesome and so original ... I knew going into the Last Chronicles, the bar was going to be set to the moon for me, unrealistically so.
Here's the verdict on How It All Ends: Some of it -- most of it -- utterly brilliant, everything we wanted. And some of it doesn't satisfy, some questions are not answered that I had assumed would be. It's nowhere near that sinking empty feeling we all had when LOST non-ended, he didn't blow it by any stretch. It's just not 'complete'. (Down the road, after the book is released, I will be specific about this with an edited review here.)
I just finished the book yesterday, so I'm still digesting the finale ... and like all Donaldson books, it sort of weirdly grows more awesome in your head AFTER you read it than at the time you actually do so. So I may change my mind on this over time.
The last thing I wanted SRD to do with this book is repeat himself. HE DOESN'T. The ending is extremely original and different from what went before.
That having been said: Second Chronicles trumps Last Chronicles. Still: Really glad we GOT a Last Chronicles. But of course, hellfire! And bloody damnation! Go buy this and read it, you fools! You *know* you have to know how it ends and then argue with me endlessly here on whether I got it right or not! :)
THANK YOU, SRD for the biggest reading buzz of my entire life. You inspired me to write novels as well (now on my fifth, published by Harper Collins) you were the dude who made me want to do it!
October 31, 2013
I remember clearly the spring of 1988. It was the end of my first school year in Alabama. We were taking some sort of standarized bubble-filler test that I'd completed very early, leaving me with Lord Foul's Bane and a lot of time to kill. That was the first time I recall burning through a book, being completely caught up in the vision of it. I plowed right through the first and second Covenant trilogies shortly after. Now I find myself in 2013, and the final page of Covenant's story has been read.
I expected to be much more emotional about things, although the events at the midpoint of The Last Dark brought tears to my eyes - tears of relief, tears of hope. These books are almost relentlessly dark (moreso in the absence of Giants) and a Donaldson reader takes whatever he or she can get. In the end I was very satisfied with the resolution of Thomas, Linden and Jeremiah's story. There was necessary growth and ultimately redemption as well.
I will always feel badly for readers who don't find these books to their tastes. Nothing I could say about the tenth book will make you go back. There is and will be a story here of substance and meaning, and those of us who took this journey together will hold this story, "our story", close to us.
I expected to be much more emotional about things, although the events at the midpoint of The Last Dark brought tears to my eyes - tears of relief, tears of hope. These books are almost relentlessly dark (moreso in the absence of Giants) and a Donaldson reader takes whatever he or she can get. In the end I was very satisfied with the resolution of Thomas, Linden and Jeremiah's story. There was necessary growth and ultimately redemption as well.
I will always feel badly for readers who don't find these books to their tastes. Nothing I could say about the tenth book will make you go back. There is and will be a story here of substance and meaning, and those of us who took this journey together will hold this story, "our story", close to us.
October 25, 2013
So this was thoroughly disappointing.
I am a very big fan of Mr. Donaldson. The first two Thomas Covenant trilogies were some of the best books you can read. "It boots nothing to avoid his snares..."
The tales of Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery are tales about morality and choices. They are less about action and more about inaction and self-doubt. They are almost never about knowing exactly what to do. They are only about choosing a path that mirrors their own morality in a given moment.
The first three books in this final series were okay, but they were not up to the level of writing and story-telling that you'll find in the first two trilogies. I was okay with that, especially since the third book was close to that level. I had reasonable expectations that Mr. Donaldson would come up with something as cool as Vain to solve the problem of the Worm of the World's End.
This book was given almost no serious thought at all. Donaldson simply took a list of characters and weaved them through inane battles that had little or no cost. There were no losses, no challenges that presented any drama or concern for the main characters. He presented no moral dilemmas for the characters to confront and choose poorly or well.
In a few scenes I'm sure he thought he was writing something grand and important, specifically the "wedding", but it was just embarrassing and trite.
I cared about these characters, but from front to back, I felt they were acting in a play they despised. Had they a chance, they most certainly would have rewritten the bulk of the play themselves.
It's unfortunate. He can't take it back and do it over. It's just a bad book from an author with a legacy of profoundly great books.
I am a very big fan of Mr. Donaldson. The first two Thomas Covenant trilogies were some of the best books you can read. "It boots nothing to avoid his snares..."
The tales of Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery are tales about morality and choices. They are less about action and more about inaction and self-doubt. They are almost never about knowing exactly what to do. They are only about choosing a path that mirrors their own morality in a given moment.
The first three books in this final series were okay, but they were not up to the level of writing and story-telling that you'll find in the first two trilogies. I was okay with that, especially since the third book was close to that level. I had reasonable expectations that Mr. Donaldson would come up with something as cool as Vain to solve the problem of the Worm of the World's End.
This book was given almost no serious thought at all. Donaldson simply took a list of characters and weaved them through inane battles that had little or no cost. There were no losses, no challenges that presented any drama or concern for the main characters. He presented no moral dilemmas for the characters to confront and choose poorly or well.
In a few scenes I'm sure he thought he was writing something grand and important, specifically the "wedding", but it was just embarrassing and trite.
I cared about these characters, but from front to back, I felt they were acting in a play they despised. Had they a chance, they most certainly would have rewritten the bulk of the play themselves.
It's unfortunate. He can't take it back and do it over. It's just a bad book from an author with a legacy of profoundly great books.
November 2, 2013
“You will not fail, however he may assail you. There is also love in the world.”
In hindsight one can see the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant building up to the Götterdämmerung that is The Last Dark.† In the first Chronicle, Thomas Covenant, an outcast leper in our world, is translated to the Land. There one’s physical and mental health are tangible, and all is threatened by Lord Foul the Despiser, who desires to destroy the Arch of Time (and, thus, the Earth) and escape his prison. Covenant learns that he is the wielder of the wild magic of white gold, the paradox that both sustains Time and is the only thing capable of destroying it. Initially, Covenant resists belief in the Land (hence his sobriquet of “Unbeliever”) and refuses to actively help the many people who befriend him. But events in the course of the first three books contrive to force him into a confrontation with Lord Foul, where he laughs Despite into irrelevance. With Foul impotent, Covenant finds himself back in our world. In the second Chronicle, Covenant is again translated to the Land along with Linden Avery and finds that in saving it the first time, he unwittingly laid the seeds for Lord Foul’s corruption of the Council of Lords and the abomination of the Sunbane. In order to defeat Foul this time, Covenant and his friends seek the One Tree in order to recreate the Staff of Law (destroyed in the first Chronicle) and (hopefully) restore the Land to health.†† Ultimately, they succeed. Covenant gives Foul his white gold ring, and the Despiser unleashes the power of wild magic. The results are not what Foul desires, however. While Covenant’s physical body is destroyed, he becomes a part of the Arch (hence his other sobriquet of “Timewarden”) and again Foul’s desires are thwarted. The third Chronicle begins 10 years (in our world) after the events of the second. Linden is a doctor at the institution where Covenant’s first wife is immured, driven insane by Lord Foul. She has also adopted Jeremiah, a boy whom Covenant saved from sacrifice to the Despiser in the second Chronicle but who’s suffered such abuse that he’s retreated into his mind and appears unreachable. We also meet Roger Covenant, Thomas’ son by Joan, who’s also been touched by the Despiser and is under the control of a Raver. Eventually, all find themselves translated to the Land. Thousands of years have passed and the Land is ruled by the Masters, Haruchai who have determined that the only way to save it is to keep its inhabitants ignorant of Earthpower and the Lore of the old Lords. They’ve also developed an unhealthy fetish for Covenant that takes its most extreme form in the Humbled - Haruchai who have voluntarily emulated Covenant’s halfhand. In order to save her son, Linden selfishly breaks the Law and restores Covenant to life. In the process she awakens the Worm of the World’s End and grants Lord Foul’s greatest desire – an escape from the Earth.†††
The Last Dark opens in the last days of the Earth. The Sun no longer rises and the Worm is devouring all of the Elohim, causing the stars to fade from the sky. Though everything they know tells them that all their efforts will prove futile, Covenant and his companions set out to do several things. Jeremiah will build a fane that will protect the remaining Elohim; Linden will go back in time to gain the knowledge of forbidding from Caerroil Wildwood; and Covenant will journey to Mount Thunder to confront – once more – Lord Foul in his lair.
But there is “hope in contradiction,” as Donaldson observes several times in the novel; and means speak louder than ends. As the Giant Cirrus Kindwind explains to Jeremiah when Stave and Cabledarm are nearly killed finding the malachite the boy needs to build his fane:
The passage above also contains another important theme – the primacy of agency. The worst thing a person can do or suffer is possession, the loss of the ability to choose. There’s a later scene where Jeremiah has been possessed by moksha Raver, who tempts the boy with the seductiveness of submission:
Reading this passage, I was immediately struck by the parallel to Matthew 3:16-17:
It’s too simplistic to say that Donaldson is anti-Christian. One could argue that his defense of unconditional love and nonviolence are Christian in the best sense of the word. But Christianity (and Islam and Judaism, for that matter) demands its adherents submit themselves entirely to the will of a god who will use their lives to further his purposes. And – to be honest – I’ve always found such abnegation of will distasteful; certainly a factor in my admiration for Donaldson. (There’s a thesis paper in here somewhere.)
Another parallel with a major literary work – and another thesis – that came to mind while reading The Last Dark is to the Lord of the Rings. Again, it would be simplistic to reduce the Chronicles to the anti-LotR. Tolkien did not glorify war or violence. He lost two of his closest friends to the First World War, and endured the trenches himself. He had few illusions but it’s unlikely that Gimli, storming an Orc stronghold, would have ever uttered these words: “Covenant wheeled on Branl. ‘We have to get out of here! These are their homes! We can’t start killing their children!’” (p. 461)
Or that Aragorn, in the midst of the Battle of the Pelennor, would have agonized:
I want to avoid spoilers in this review so I can’t go into any detail about the novel’s end, another example of the book’s “anti-LotRism." I will say, however, that Lord Foul’s fate is very different from either Morgoth’s or Sauron’s.
On the other hand, I would argue that Linden’s struggle with her own role mirrors Frodo’s:
And that both come to the same conclusion (cf., Frodo’s actions in “The Scouring of the Shire,” The Return of the King):
Another passage that recalls LotR takes place at the end. Actually, it reminds me more of passages from the History of Middle Earth, where Tolkien is discussing the nature of Morgoth’s evil:
Compare the “Ainulindalë,” where Melkor/Morgoth is the mightiest of the Ainur and its his very love, hope and eagerness for Eru’s Creation that curdle into the despite that mars Arda.
I recommend The Last Dark, and the final Chronicle overall. Enough that I’m nudging my initial three stars to four; it inspired me and made me think so despite its manifest flaws (which I mentioned in my reviews of previous books), it’s become one of those books that will color everything else I read for years to come.
† Another reviewer commented that anyone reading this book has almost certainly read the preceding nine so the synopsis that follows is brief and written as if the reader will know of the places and people mentioned. (And that they'll forgive the spoilers from the first two series.)
†† I’m not going to touch on the theme of uncertainty that is a major element in all three Chronicles in this review. Not much, at any rate, except to mention that often (always?) the characters set off to accomplish things not knowing if it’s the correct thing to do or if it will help in the end.
††† There’s a parallel here between Elena’s breaking of the Law of Death to bring back Kevin Landwaster and Linden’s. Where Linden’s differed was that her motivation was unconditional love; Elena’s love was contaminated with her insanity.
In hindsight one can see the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant building up to the Götterdämmerung that is The Last Dark.† In the first Chronicle, Thomas Covenant, an outcast leper in our world, is translated to the Land. There one’s physical and mental health are tangible, and all is threatened by Lord Foul the Despiser, who desires to destroy the Arch of Time (and, thus, the Earth) and escape his prison. Covenant learns that he is the wielder of the wild magic of white gold, the paradox that both sustains Time and is the only thing capable of destroying it. Initially, Covenant resists belief in the Land (hence his sobriquet of “Unbeliever”) and refuses to actively help the many people who befriend him. But events in the course of the first three books contrive to force him into a confrontation with Lord Foul, where he laughs Despite into irrelevance. With Foul impotent, Covenant finds himself back in our world. In the second Chronicle, Covenant is again translated to the Land along with Linden Avery and finds that in saving it the first time, he unwittingly laid the seeds for Lord Foul’s corruption of the Council of Lords and the abomination of the Sunbane. In order to defeat Foul this time, Covenant and his friends seek the One Tree in order to recreate the Staff of Law (destroyed in the first Chronicle) and (hopefully) restore the Land to health.†† Ultimately, they succeed. Covenant gives Foul his white gold ring, and the Despiser unleashes the power of wild magic. The results are not what Foul desires, however. While Covenant’s physical body is destroyed, he becomes a part of the Arch (hence his other sobriquet of “Timewarden”) and again Foul’s desires are thwarted. The third Chronicle begins 10 years (in our world) after the events of the second. Linden is a doctor at the institution where Covenant’s first wife is immured, driven insane by Lord Foul. She has also adopted Jeremiah, a boy whom Covenant saved from sacrifice to the Despiser in the second Chronicle but who’s suffered such abuse that he’s retreated into his mind and appears unreachable. We also meet Roger Covenant, Thomas’ son by Joan, who’s also been touched by the Despiser and is under the control of a Raver. Eventually, all find themselves translated to the Land. Thousands of years have passed and the Land is ruled by the Masters, Haruchai who have determined that the only way to save it is to keep its inhabitants ignorant of Earthpower and the Lore of the old Lords. They’ve also developed an unhealthy fetish for Covenant that takes its most extreme form in the Humbled - Haruchai who have voluntarily emulated Covenant’s halfhand. In order to save her son, Linden selfishly breaks the Law and restores Covenant to life. In the process she awakens the Worm of the World’s End and grants Lord Foul’s greatest desire – an escape from the Earth.†††
The Last Dark opens in the last days of the Earth. The Sun no longer rises and the Worm is devouring all of the Elohim, causing the stars to fade from the sky. Though everything they know tells them that all their efforts will prove futile, Covenant and his companions set out to do several things. Jeremiah will build a fane that will protect the remaining Elohim; Linden will go back in time to gain the knowledge of forbidding from Caerroil Wildwood; and Covenant will journey to Mount Thunder to confront – once more – Lord Foul in his lair.
But there is “hope in contradiction,” as Donaldson observes several times in the novel; and means speak louder than ends. As the Giant Cirrus Kindwind explains to Jeremiah when Stave and Cabledarm are nearly killed finding the malachite the boy needs to build his fane:
Beckoning for Jeremiah to accompany her, Kindwind stepped away. When they had withdrawn a few paces, she said, “We must trust, Chosen-son, that his folk restore themselves in this manner. It appears that his spirit has turned inward. But I will believe that a man who has performed his feats must soon heal himself and return to us.”
Jeremiah swallowed against the dryness in his throat. “I hope so. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“Ah, deserve,” sighed Kindwind. “The notion of deserved and undeserved is a fancy. Knowing both life and death, we endeavor to impose worth and meaning upon our deeds, and thereby to comfort our fear of impermanence. We choose to imagine that our lives merit continuance. Mayhap all sentience shares a similar fancy. Mayhap the Earth itself, being sentient in its fashion, shares it. Nonetheless it is a fancy. A wider gaze does not regard us in that wise. The stars do not. Perhaps the Creator does not. The larger truth is merely that all things end. By that measure, our fancies cannot be distinguished from dust.
“For this reason, Giants love tales. Our iteration of past deeds and desires and discoveries provides the only form of permanence to which mortal life can aspire. That such permanence is a chimera does not lessen its power to console. Joy is in the ears that hear.”
Her assertion startled Jeremiah. It seemed to question his foundations. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the extremity of Stave’s fall. The hard throb of Cabledarm’s bleeding and the excruciation of her shoulder cried out to his senses. Awkwardly he reached for Kindwind’s last waterskin. When she released it, he drank as if his thirst – his dismay – had the force of a moral convulsion.
“So you’re saying,” he protested or pleaded, “what Stave did is worthless? What Cabledarm did is worthless? It’s all dust?”
“Aye,” Cirrus Kindwind assented, “if that is how you choose to hear the tale.” Her tone was mild. “For myself, I will honor the effort and the intent. Doing so, I will be comforted.”
Jeremiah wanted to shout. Instead he fumed, “You sound like the croyel.” Was joy in the ears that hear? Then so were agony and horror. So was despair. “It was forever telling me everything Mom did was useless. Nothing matters. It’s all dust. That’s why Lord Foul laughs – and Roger – and those Ravers. They agree with you. In the end, they’re the only ones who get what they want.”
Kindwind looked at him sharply. Like the flick of a blade, she retorted, “Then her me, Chosen-son. Hear me well. There is another truth which you must grasp.
“Mortal lives are not stones. They are not seas. For impermanence to judge itself by the standards of permanence is folly. Or is it arrogance? Life merely is what it is, neither more nor less. To deem it less because it is not more is to heed the counsels of the Despiser.
“We do what we must so that we may find worth in ourselves. We do not hope vainly that we will put an end to pain, or to loss, or to death.”
Failure isn’t something you are. It’s something you do.
Without warning, Jeremiah found that he ached to share Kindwind’s beliefs, and Linden’s. Perhaps the monolith had never contained enough malachite. Perhaps the deposit had shattered. Perhaps Stave and even Cabledarm would die. Perhaps Mom would never come back. Perhaps futility was the only truth. Still Jeremiah would have to find a way to live with it.
To himself, he muttered, “It’s not that easy.”
Cirrus Kindwind had never been possessed.
Her response was a snort. “We were not promised ease. The purpose of life – if it may be said to have a purpose – is not ease. It is to choose, and to act upon the choice. In that task, we are not measured by outcomes. We are measured only by daring and effort and resolve.” [emphasis mine] (pp. 187-8)
The passage above also contains another important theme – the primacy of agency. The worst thing a person can do or suffer is possession, the loss of the ability to choose. There’s a later scene where Jeremiah has been possessed by moksha Raver, who tempts the boy with the seductiveness of submission:
Do you now discern truth? asked the Raver kindly, eagerly. Long have you striven to evade our intent, long and at great cost. Long have you concealed yourself from suffering, though your wounds festered with every avoided day. Do you now grasp that there can be no surcease or anodyne for an implement, except in its condign use? Do you comprehend that there is both freedom and exaltation in the acceptance of service?
This all true believers know. They submit every desire and gift to the will of beings greater than themselves, and by their surrender they gain redemption. Self-will accrues only fear. It achieves only pain. The highest glory is reached solely by the abdication of self.
Do you understand? Do you acknowledge at last that you are the Despiser’s beloved son, in whom he is well pleased? (p. 498)
Reading this passage, I was immediately struck by the parallel to Matthew 3:16-17:
Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (NKJV)
It’s too simplistic to say that Donaldson is anti-Christian. One could argue that his defense of unconditional love and nonviolence are Christian in the best sense of the word. But Christianity (and Islam and Judaism, for that matter) demands its adherents submit themselves entirely to the will of a god who will use their lives to further his purposes. And – to be honest – I’ve always found such abnegation of will distasteful; certainly a factor in my admiration for Donaldson. (There’s a thesis paper in here somewhere.)
Another parallel with a major literary work – and another thesis – that came to mind while reading The Last Dark is to the Lord of the Rings. Again, it would be simplistic to reduce the Chronicles to the anti-LotR. Tolkien did not glorify war or violence. He lost two of his closest friends to the First World War, and endured the trenches himself. He had few illusions but it’s unlikely that Gimli, storming an Orc stronghold, would have ever uttered these words: “Covenant wheeled on Branl. ‘We have to get out of here! These are their homes! We can’t start killing their children!’” (p. 461)
Or that Aragorn, in the midst of the Battle of the Pelennor, would have agonized:
With every slash and thrust, every frantic swing, he appalled himself. He had to goad himself with curses like groans in order to keep moving. Otherwise he would have plunged to his knees, crippled by abhorrence. The Cavewights were only simple in their thinking: they were not unintelligent. And they had a long history. On their own terms, they had a civilization. They had never deserved the use which Lord Foul had made of them. They did not deserve what Covenant did to them now.
He promised himself that the Despiser would pay for this; but no promise sufficed to condone such slaughter. (pp. 452-3)
I want to avoid spoilers in this review so I can’t go into any detail about the novel’s end, another example of the book’s “anti-LotRism." I will say, however, that Lord Foul’s fate is very different from either Morgoth’s or Sauron’s.
On the other hand, I would argue that Linden’s struggle with her own role mirrors Frodo’s:
But she could not keep meeting peril with violence, striving to out-do the savagery of Lord Foul’s servants and allies. She could not. She needed a different purpose, a better role in the Land’s fate. She had passed through the wrath of Gallows Howe to the gibbet’s deeper truths; to the vast bereavement which had inspired Garroting Deep’s thirst for blood. The time had come to heed the lessons which her whole life had tried to teach her.
If she did not give up, and did not fight, what remained? She thought that she knew, although she trembled to contemplate it; or she would have trembled had she been less weary. (p. 351)
And that both come to the same conclusion (cf., Frodo’s actions in “The Scouring of the Shire,” The Return of the King):
She understood that now. She recognized, if the bane did not, that healing was both more arduous and more worthy than retribution. And sometimes healing required measures as extreme as the patient’s plight. Surgeons amputated or extirpated. They performed sacrifices. They transplanted. They did not judge the cost. They only did what they could. [emphasis mine] (p. 488)
Another passage that recalls LotR takes place at the end. Actually, it reminds me more of passages from the History of Middle Earth, where Tolkien is discussing the nature of Morgoth’s evil:
Covenant grimaced. He almost smiled. “It’s easier than it looks. Or it’s harder. Or maybe it’s just worth the effort.” He ran his halfhand through his hair. “I don’t know how else to explain it. Lord Foul makes us strong.”
“Strong,” Jeremiah objected. “The Despiser? He would have slaughtered the whole world and laughed about it.”
“Well, sure,” Covenant shrugged. “But ask yourself why he’s like that. Berek said it. ‘Only the great of heart may despair greatly.’ All that malice and contempt is just love and hope and eagerness gone rancid. He’s the Creator’s curdled shadow. He –“
He grimaced again. “I’m not saying this right.
“He gives us the chance to do better.” (p. 527)
Compare the “Ainulindalë,” where Melkor/Morgoth is the mightiest of the Ainur and its his very love, hope and eagerness for Eru’s Creation that curdle into the despite that mars Arda.
I recommend The Last Dark, and the final Chronicle overall. Enough that I’m nudging my initial three stars to four; it inspired me and made me think so despite its manifest flaws (which I mentioned in my reviews of previous books), it’s become one of those books that will color everything else I read for years to come.
† Another reviewer commented that anyone reading this book has almost certainly read the preceding nine so the synopsis that follows is brief and written as if the reader will know of the places and people mentioned. (And that they'll forgive the spoilers from the first two series.)
†† I’m not going to touch on the theme of uncertainty that is a major element in all three Chronicles in this review. Not much, at any rate, except to mention that often (always?) the characters set off to accomplish things not knowing if it’s the correct thing to do or if it will help in the end.
††† There’s a parallel here between Elena’s breaking of the Law of Death to bring back Kevin Landwaster and Linden’s. Where Linden’s differed was that her motivation was unconditional love; Elena’s love was contaminated with her insanity.
February 4, 2014
This negative review mainly concerns The Last Dark, but also applies more generally to the entire series of four books that it concludes. In a nutshell: the plot is OK, the characters are OK, but the writing is definitely not to my taste. In fact, I found it excruciating.
I read these because I enjoyed the first two Covenant series as a teenager, and I was sufficiently curious that I wanted to know what happened next. And what happens is generally interesting, although the ins and outs of who can and can't achieve things by means of magic at any particular time don't make a lot of sense. (Covenant, Linden, Jeremiah, the Elohim, and the various baddies all have stupendous powers at some times, and are comparatively helpless at other times.) But it's possible to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the plot.
Similarly, the characters are fine. If you got to know Thomas, Linden, and the others in the first two series, you'll feel attached to them enough to want to follow their further development here. Also, the Haruchai and Giants develop too, and Stave is quite an interesting (and likeable) character. Sometimes they do things that don't make a lot of sense, but again, it's possible to suspend disbelief.
What I find to be unforgivable is the writing. First, it feels like you're wading through a tar pit, with all the "eldritch puissance", "verdant restitution", "palpable yet transient gloaming", "dire theurgies", "torrents of afflictions", and "rending scourges." (Barf.) I understand the intention is to convey an archaic feel, but I think Donaldson goes way, way overboard on this.
Second, Donaldson writes about every event and every thought running through the characters' heads as though it's of monumental importance. Pick a page, any page at random (as I just did), and you'll find stuff like this: "She had done and endured things which had shaken her heart to its foundations," "He had no language for the extremity of his heart," and "It was too urgent, full of need," plus many more. The overall effect on this reader, at least, is numbing: "yeah, yeah, whatever, get on with it." Skimming is mandatory; not that much happens, really, but there's an enormous amount of this kind of padding.
My final criticism is related to the previous one. A good author shows what a character is thinking rather than telling us explicitly. (Alice Munro is a master at this, for example.) In this book, perhaps even more than the previous ones in the series, there is no thought process of Covenant's, Linden's, or Jeremiah's that is too tedious not be detailed ad nauseam, and in momentous terms. Self-doubt is displayed in minute detail five times a minute. Spare me!
In short, I wish a better writer had transformed these last four novels into one short one. It would have saved me a lot of time and suffering. (Why did I bother, you ask? Good question.)
October 18, 2013
I believe this is the first time since A Man Rides Through that the ending of a Donaldson novel has left me grinning from ear to ear.
First, a little background geekery: I am a huge, unabashed fan of Stephen R. Donaldson, and have been since 1980 or so -- ever since I discovered Lord Foul's Bane in my local library and remembered that a college friend had said it was a terrific book. (Thank you, Elizabeth, wherever you are.) I've read all of his published work, I think, and have met him in person several times. In addition, I've been an active member of the message boards at kevinswatch.com for more than ten years (ask me about the EZ Board days -- on second thought, don't) and I count many of the posters there as real-life friends. One of those friends loaned me an ARC of this book, and this review is based on that version, although I've got the final one on my Kindle right now.
The three novels that comprised the original Chronicles (over at the Watch, we call 'em the Chrons for short) were all published in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant were released. And then there was a 20-year hiatus while the author got on with living his life, learning what he needed to know in order to write the Last Chronicles.
The setup for the series is this: Bestselling author Thomas Covenant contracts leprosy and his life falls apart. His wife leaves him, taking their infant son, and he becomes a pariah in his hometown. (Leprosy is still not a fun disease today, but it was scarier in the '70s, before there was a cure.) Covenant runs into a beggar who hands him a piece of paper that asks him about the necessity of freedom. Soon afterward, he finds himself translated to an alternate reality/parallel universe/place in his own head called the Land. There, he is cured of leprosy and revered for his white gold wedding band, as white gold is a conduit for a kind of power called wild magic. In addition, a bad guy named Lord Foul the Despiser claims anything Covenant does will play right into his hands. Covenant buys none of this; his life since his diagnosis has been harsh reality, and so he spends the first three books both doing and not doing stuff he regrets while he decides whether the Land is real -- and whether it even matters.
In the Second Chrons, Covenant's experiences in the Land have changed him, but he still has work to do. Enter Linden Avery, a doctor new to town, but with a horrific past. As a child, her father forced her to watch him commit suicide; as a teen, she suffocated her abusive mother. She, too, meets up with the beggar, who tells her there is also love in the world. She is present when Covenant swaps places with his ex-wife, Joan, as the sacrificial victim of a cult. Both Linden and Covenant are then transported to the Land, where Lord Foul is in the process of destroying the ecosystem. Linden, it turns out, has a magical health-sense that allows her to use Earthpower to heal. Of course, the power can also be misused, and she has her share of missteps along the way. And she and Covenant fall in love.
The Last Chrons open again in the real world, where Linden heads the local mental hospital in which Joan is a patient. She has also adopted Jeremiah, a boy whose hand was damaged in the same ritual in which Covenant was killed and who consequently suffers from dissociation disorder. This time, a whole bunch of people suffer fatal injuries in a gunfight before their translation to the Land -- Linden, Jeremiah, Joan, and Covenant's son, Roger. Roger has been turned by Lord Foul and is using his mad mother to trick Linden into bringing down the Arch of Time so Foul can escape the Land. Roger also kidnaps Jeremiah, and Linden will do almost anything to get the boy back -- including resurrecting Covenant.
There's a lot to wrap up in this final book of the ten-book series, and Donaldson does an admirable job. As the book opens, Linden is coming to terms with Jeremiah's recovery, while Covenant must find his way back from the edge of the Sunbirth Sea where Joan died. The Worm of the World's End is coming -- it's beginning to gobble up stars -- and the Elohim mistrust Jeremiah's solution for protecting them. Covenant's leprosy is back, courtesy of Kevin's Dirt, and Linden is still kicking herself for not apologizing to Covenant's lost daughter Elena. And there's every indication that this journey in the Land is going to end where the whole thing began: in the bowels of Mount Thunder.
The Last Dark has everything Donaldson fans love him for: big words, big ideas, and extreme peril; noble horses, Haruchai, and Giants; and Thomas Covenant. And in the end, as that beggar told Linden, there is also love in the world. I can't wait to read it again.
***
This review was originally published at http://hearth-myth-rursday-reads.blog...
First, a little background geekery: I am a huge, unabashed fan of Stephen R. Donaldson, and have been since 1980 or so -- ever since I discovered Lord Foul's Bane in my local library and remembered that a college friend had said it was a terrific book. (Thank you, Elizabeth, wherever you are.) I've read all of his published work, I think, and have met him in person several times. In addition, I've been an active member of the message boards at kevinswatch.com for more than ten years (ask me about the EZ Board days -- on second thought, don't) and I count many of the posters there as real-life friends. One of those friends loaned me an ARC of this book, and this review is based on that version, although I've got the final one on my Kindle right now.
The three novels that comprised the original Chronicles (over at the Watch, we call 'em the Chrons for short) were all published in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant were released. And then there was a 20-year hiatus while the author got on with living his life, learning what he needed to know in order to write the Last Chronicles.
The setup for the series is this: Bestselling author Thomas Covenant contracts leprosy and his life falls apart. His wife leaves him, taking their infant son, and he becomes a pariah in his hometown. (Leprosy is still not a fun disease today, but it was scarier in the '70s, before there was a cure.) Covenant runs into a beggar who hands him a piece of paper that asks him about the necessity of freedom. Soon afterward, he finds himself translated to an alternate reality/parallel universe/place in his own head called the Land. There, he is cured of leprosy and revered for his white gold wedding band, as white gold is a conduit for a kind of power called wild magic. In addition, a bad guy named Lord Foul the Despiser claims anything Covenant does will play right into his hands. Covenant buys none of this; his life since his diagnosis has been harsh reality, and so he spends the first three books both doing and not doing stuff he regrets while he decides whether the Land is real -- and whether it even matters.
In the Second Chrons, Covenant's experiences in the Land have changed him, but he still has work to do. Enter Linden Avery, a doctor new to town, but with a horrific past. As a child, her father forced her to watch him commit suicide; as a teen, she suffocated her abusive mother. She, too, meets up with the beggar, who tells her there is also love in the world. She is present when Covenant swaps places with his ex-wife, Joan, as the sacrificial victim of a cult. Both Linden and Covenant are then transported to the Land, where Lord Foul is in the process of destroying the ecosystem. Linden, it turns out, has a magical health-sense that allows her to use Earthpower to heal. Of course, the power can also be misused, and she has her share of missteps along the way. And she and Covenant fall in love.
The Last Chrons open again in the real world, where Linden heads the local mental hospital in which Joan is a patient. She has also adopted Jeremiah, a boy whose hand was damaged in the same ritual in which Covenant was killed and who consequently suffers from dissociation disorder. This time, a whole bunch of people suffer fatal injuries in a gunfight before their translation to the Land -- Linden, Jeremiah, Joan, and Covenant's son, Roger. Roger has been turned by Lord Foul and is using his mad mother to trick Linden into bringing down the Arch of Time so Foul can escape the Land. Roger also kidnaps Jeremiah, and Linden will do almost anything to get the boy back -- including resurrecting Covenant.
There's a lot to wrap up in this final book of the ten-book series, and Donaldson does an admirable job. As the book opens, Linden is coming to terms with Jeremiah's recovery, while Covenant must find his way back from the edge of the Sunbirth Sea where Joan died. The Worm of the World's End is coming -- it's beginning to gobble up stars -- and the Elohim mistrust Jeremiah's solution for protecting them. Covenant's leprosy is back, courtesy of Kevin's Dirt, and Linden is still kicking herself for not apologizing to Covenant's lost daughter Elena. And there's every indication that this journey in the Land is going to end where the whole thing began: in the bowels of Mount Thunder.
The Last Dark has everything Donaldson fans love him for: big words, big ideas, and extreme peril; noble horses, Haruchai, and Giants; and Thomas Covenant. And in the end, as that beggar told Linden, there is also love in the world. I can't wait to read it again.
***
This review was originally published at http://hearth-myth-rursday-reads.blog...
September 21, 2025
I admit it. I’m in a long relationship with Thomas Covenant. It has, at times, been illicit. I remember sitting in my workplace restroom reading Covenant’s adventures when I should have been working.
I introduced myself to Covenant when I was in graduate school in 1978. I was only a year behind Stephen R. Donaldson who published the first volume of the "First Chronicle of Thomas Covenant" in 1977. The three-volume work started with Lord Foul’s Bane. I devoured each new adventure as they came out in 1978 and 1979.
I grew depressed when I read the last book. No more Covenant. No more grouchy leper who unwillingly entered a land imbued with magic. Then, Donaldson came out with Covenant’s Second Chronicle only a year later. He introduced a rival for my affections, Dr. Linden Avery, who entered the same land. Imagine my dismay in 1983 when the Covenant Chronicles ended.
My dismay ended when Donaldson dug deep and published the first volume of "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" in 2004. Of course, I had to ask why it took twenty-one years for Covenant to come back into my life. And, what was it with this “last” business?
It took some more years for Donaldson to come out with the last volume of this last chronicle. This time, it would not be a trilogy. No, it would be a tetralogy--four books with three long years passing between each. Linden Avery is a key figure as is Covenant although long dead. The chronicle ends with The Last Dark.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received The Last Dark as part of Goodread’s "First Reads" program. When the UPS man delivered the thick package, I held the advance reading copy in my hands for a few moments. I opened it up and read, and read, and then read some more. Its over five hundred pages were a bit daunting even if some of those pages are a necessary glossary.
The Last Dark is a worthy end to my relationship with Covenant giving me a sense of closure. I recommend the book, the previous three volumes, and the two previous trilogies to anyone.
But here’s the thing with the Chronicles. One really cannot read any one random book in the separate sets. Each book and each set of books build on the next introducing characters, events, and concepts that have to be met and understood. Otherwise, one will be lost among Loric’s Krill, the Staff of Law, ur-viles, ranyhyn, white gold’s power, and more.
So do what I did; carve out a part of your life and read these books, but don’t start with The Last Dark. Who knows, I may renew my relationship with Covenant and even re-read his Chronicles if I can find the time.
I introduced myself to Covenant when I was in graduate school in 1978. I was only a year behind Stephen R. Donaldson who published the first volume of the "First Chronicle of Thomas Covenant" in 1977. The three-volume work started with Lord Foul’s Bane. I devoured each new adventure as they came out in 1978 and 1979.
I grew depressed when I read the last book. No more Covenant. No more grouchy leper who unwillingly entered a land imbued with magic. Then, Donaldson came out with Covenant’s Second Chronicle only a year later. He introduced a rival for my affections, Dr. Linden Avery, who entered the same land. Imagine my dismay in 1983 when the Covenant Chronicles ended.
My dismay ended when Donaldson dug deep and published the first volume of "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" in 2004. Of course, I had to ask why it took twenty-one years for Covenant to come back into my life. And, what was it with this “last” business?
It took some more years for Donaldson to come out with the last volume of this last chronicle. This time, it would not be a trilogy. No, it would be a tetralogy--four books with three long years passing between each. Linden Avery is a key figure as is Covenant although long dead. The chronicle ends with The Last Dark.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received The Last Dark as part of Goodread’s "First Reads" program. When the UPS man delivered the thick package, I held the advance reading copy in my hands for a few moments. I opened it up and read, and read, and then read some more. Its over five hundred pages were a bit daunting even if some of those pages are a necessary glossary.
The Last Dark is a worthy end to my relationship with Covenant giving me a sense of closure. I recommend the book, the previous three volumes, and the two previous trilogies to anyone.
But here’s the thing with the Chronicles. One really cannot read any one random book in the separate sets. Each book and each set of books build on the next introducing characters, events, and concepts that have to be met and understood. Otherwise, one will be lost among Loric’s Krill, the Staff of Law, ur-viles, ranyhyn, white gold’s power, and more.
So do what I did; carve out a part of your life and read these books, but don’t start with The Last Dark. Who knows, I may renew my relationship with Covenant and even re-read his Chronicles if I can find the time.
March 16, 2014
Well, it wasn't as bad as the Donkey Kong finale of the Dark Tower series, but was definitely up there with Lost, and Battlestar Galactica.
In fact, it reminds me very much of Lost (the plot), where you think such intricacies, clues, and complexity abound, until the finale, where you realise this shit was being made up as things went on, and the only way to end it would require more than one betraying cheat:
God in the machine, glossoverphillia, pseudo-meta-abstract explanations, and a quazi-poetic style to create the illusion that there is ambiguity to interpret.
"Well that totally sucks", I love you he seemed to mean.
In fact, it reminds me very much of Lost (the plot), where you think such intricacies, clues, and complexity abound, until the finale, where you realise this shit was being made up as things went on, and the only way to end it would require more than one betraying cheat:
God in the machine, glossoverphillia, pseudo-meta-abstract explanations, and a quazi-poetic style to create the illusion that there is ambiguity to interpret.
"Well that totally sucks", I love you he seemed to mean.
October 31, 2013
Simply magnificent! What else can I say about this series that I haven't already said in my reviews of the previous nine volumes? Stephen R. Donaldson has finally completed a high fantasy decalogue that ranks with the very best of the genre, and has now become my favorite book series of any type.
I began reading the Thomas Covenant books in high school, just a few years after the first three books were published in 1977. Even then, I was struck by Donaldson's beautiful writing and his complex characters - even though at time the "hero" of this story acts in reprehensible ways. The deep mythology and detailed back story of the Land is truly a wonder to experience. It is this richness that only deepens with subsequent readings.
Having now read the first two trilogies three times, and the four books of the Last Chronicles twice (except the last one, obviously only read once), I am very happy to say that Donaldson's incredible imagination, talent, and work ethic has paid off. I found the culmination of the series to be extremely satisfying, although I am now experiencing the bittersweet emotions that go with finishing an epic journey that has brought so much enjoyment to me over the years.
For those who are so inclined, let me strongly endorse Scott Brick's unabridged audio version of the Thomas Covenant books (he has recorded the first trilogy and three of the four Last Chronicles, but apparently plans to eventually record them all). I cannot imagine a better narrator than Brick for these books. He himself is an avowed Donaldson fan who discovered the early books many years ago, and his love for the material clearly shows.
Bravo, Stephen R. Donaldson, for a job very well done, and thank you for the incredible experience!
I began reading the Thomas Covenant books in high school, just a few years after the first three books were published in 1977. Even then, I was struck by Donaldson's beautiful writing and his complex characters - even though at time the "hero" of this story acts in reprehensible ways. The deep mythology and detailed back story of the Land is truly a wonder to experience. It is this richness that only deepens with subsequent readings.
Having now read the first two trilogies three times, and the four books of the Last Chronicles twice (except the last one, obviously only read once), I am very happy to say that Donaldson's incredible imagination, talent, and work ethic has paid off. I found the culmination of the series to be extremely satisfying, although I am now experiencing the bittersweet emotions that go with finishing an epic journey that has brought so much enjoyment to me over the years.
For those who are so inclined, let me strongly endorse Scott Brick's unabridged audio version of the Thomas Covenant books (he has recorded the first trilogy and three of the four Last Chronicles, but apparently plans to eventually record them all). I cannot imagine a better narrator than Brick for these books. He himself is an avowed Donaldson fan who discovered the early books many years ago, and his love for the material clearly shows.
Bravo, Stephen R. Donaldson, for a job very well done, and thank you for the incredible experience!
March 30, 2019
9/10
With the series entering its final chapter, marking the long-awaited ending of Covenant and Linden’s journey, and of a great achievement in the field of the fantastic that managed to stand out in its own right and enthral millions of readers across the world, Stephen R. Donaldson brings his imagination to its culmination, taking us in The Last Dark, the fourth and concluding instalment of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, in a story of Ravers, Masters, Giants, great horses, faeries, august figures, monsters and ancient beings, but also in an adventure of purpose and hope, forbidding and extinction, and Despite and Creation; in a grand, epic finale.
Mere moments have passed since they fulfilled their quests, and the trials they endured; yet now, with the Worm of the World’s End – roused from its long slumber – to approach, seeking for its natural nourishment and the satiation of its hunger, the last crisis of the Earth is nigh, heralding the end of all things and the coming of darkness – but Linden Avery, having through her dismay which followed her actions borne the greatest burdens, making herself responsible for the world’s ruin and the death of her friends, has been standing with Jeremiah clasped in her arms.
Exalted by Jeremiah’s restoration, shocking her with too many and complex emotions, and regarding only him and his responses in her embrace, Linden will begin to try to identify the truths beneath her son’s presence, and to known him better.
Nevertheless, with his restoration to have vindicated everything that she did and endured in his name, redefining the foundations of her life and giving to the aspects of her relationship with him new meanings, when Kastenessen – wanting to hamper her and her companions – extends the bale of Kevin’s Dirt over the Lower Land, and the stars start to go out one by one, Linden will find herself following her impatient son across the Spoiled Plains, searching for the means to save the heart of the Earth’s life from its imminent peril.
Meanwhile, Thomas Covenant, having forsworn his promises, confronting the guilts that led his former mate to madness, and putting an end to her unending suffering, has been holding himself upright with every shred of his remaining strength.
But, with the extremity of his feats to have left him frail and wounded, yearning as never before to reunite with Linden and make things right with her, when an august figure – incarnated from the Haruchai legends – manifests in front of him, and a task of paramount importance is placed upon him, Covenant will find himself on a pursuit through vile swamps and corrosive waters, seeking to stop his wife’s possessor before it is too late.
At the same time, Jeremiah, having gotten out from the dissociation that he had hidden away to escape from his wounds after the flames of Lord Foul’s bonfire, denying him a normal process of growing up, and bringing the worst suffering on himself, will be faced with a conflicting moil of emotions, struggling to make his whole life worthwhile and to prove them wrong about him.
However, with their exceedings for their salvation to have hastened the World’s End, watching the Worm traversing across the Land with appalling speed, and to destroy everything in its wake, when it begins its feeding of the Earth’s substance, and their time runs out, Covenant, Linden, and Jeremiah will find themselves before their extinction, left with no other recourse than to confront their worst fears – fears which, if they leave them to break their resolve and submit them to the Despiser’s majesty and cunning, could bring the end to everything they hold dear.
Following the story similarly to the previous instalments after the end of Against All Things Ending, having drawn the final pieces of his imagination and picking up again the plot-threads from where they left off, Stephen R. Donaldson explores for one last time the wonders of his world, taking us in The Last Dark back to the Lower Land, where hideous theurgies and slaughter of ages past have made the entire region into a wasteland, causing an imponderable devastation, and leaving the ground barren and lifeless; to Sarangrave Flat, where now the Feroce – descendants of the jheherrin – inhabit in the wetland, worshipping their High God: a monster created by the poisons leaking from Mount Thunder that have made it a tale of horror for millennia, and serving its will in every part of its realm; and to Gallows Howe, where once the guardian of the Deep – forced for centuries to watch the trees and all living things in his care perish – passed his judgment to the trespassers of the forest, burning to repay its ancient pain, and making it the emblem of his ire and bereavement.
But also to the Wightwarrens, where deep into their habitation the Cavewights have spent millennia nurturing their hatred and savagery, defining their race by the crudity of their delving, and resenting the peoples of the Land who had repeatedly foiled their singular dreams; to Kiril Threndor, Heart of Thunder, where lies the high chamber, holding in the mountain’s gutrock memories of terrible battles, and filling through its fractures the air with darkness; and lastly to the Lost Deep, where the Viles sought the life’s meaning according to the arcane dictates of their Weird, creating with their ancient magicks supernal masterpieces, and leaving behind a legacy both of mazement and of surpassing ecstasy.
A final novel in which Donaldson, taking once more his time to build the plot and his characters, working as before with meticulousness and deftness, and bringing his imagination to its closure, reaches the high point of both his career and life, creating an epic story of deep introspections, surprising twists, sweeping action, and intimate moments that cannot but leave you moved: sad and full of joy.
A grand finale which, interchanging between the three points of view, delving into the moral contradictions of Covenant’s and Linden’s promises and prices, loves and wrongs, and Jeremiah’s fears and pains, as well as of their straits throughout their journey that shaped their lives, forced them to extremities, closes uniquely, showing his mastery in the fantasy field, and culminating the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in the best, and most poignant way.
Finally, The Last Dark is a worthy conclusion of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, with Stephen R. Donaldson – reaching the high point of his life’s work – bringing the characters’ journey to its end, creating a final epic adventure full with all the elements that made him known in the field, and closing the series with a unique, powerful and moving finale. A great journey, indeed!
*Ελληνική κριτική:
“And betimes some wonder is wrought to redeem us.”
With the series entering its final chapter, marking the long-awaited ending of Covenant and Linden’s journey, and of a great achievement in the field of the fantastic that managed to stand out in its own right and enthral millions of readers across the world, Stephen R. Donaldson brings his imagination to its culmination, taking us in The Last Dark, the fourth and concluding instalment of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, in a story of Ravers, Masters, Giants, great horses, faeries, august figures, monsters and ancient beings, but also in an adventure of purpose and hope, forbidding and extinction, and Despite and Creation; in a grand, epic finale.
Mere moments have passed since they fulfilled their quests, and the trials they endured; yet now, with the Worm of the World’s End – roused from its long slumber – to approach, seeking for its natural nourishment and the satiation of its hunger, the last crisis of the Earth is nigh, heralding the end of all things and the coming of darkness – but Linden Avery, having through her dismay which followed her actions borne the greatest burdens, making herself responsible for the world’s ruin and the death of her friends, has been standing with Jeremiah clasped in her arms.
Exalted by Jeremiah’s restoration, shocking her with too many and complex emotions, and regarding only him and his responses in her embrace, Linden will begin to try to identify the truths beneath her son’s presence, and to known him better.
Nevertheless, with his restoration to have vindicated everything that she did and endured in his name, redefining the foundations of her life and giving to the aspects of her relationship with him new meanings, when Kastenessen – wanting to hamper her and her companions – extends the bale of Kevin’s Dirt over the Lower Land, and the stars start to go out one by one, Linden will find herself following her impatient son across the Spoiled Plains, searching for the means to save the heart of the Earth’s life from its imminent peril.
Meanwhile, Thomas Covenant, having forsworn his promises, confronting the guilts that led his former mate to madness, and putting an end to her unending suffering, has been holding himself upright with every shred of his remaining strength.
But, with the extremity of his feats to have left him frail and wounded, yearning as never before to reunite with Linden and make things right with her, when an august figure – incarnated from the Haruchai legends – manifests in front of him, and a task of paramount importance is placed upon him, Covenant will find himself on a pursuit through vile swamps and corrosive waters, seeking to stop his wife’s possessor before it is too late.
At the same time, Jeremiah, having gotten out from the dissociation that he had hidden away to escape from his wounds after the flames of Lord Foul’s bonfire, denying him a normal process of growing up, and bringing the worst suffering on himself, will be faced with a conflicting moil of emotions, struggling to make his whole life worthwhile and to prove them wrong about him.
However, with their exceedings for their salvation to have hastened the World’s End, watching the Worm traversing across the Land with appalling speed, and to destroy everything in its wake, when it begins its feeding of the Earth’s substance, and their time runs out, Covenant, Linden, and Jeremiah will find themselves before their extinction, left with no other recourse than to confront their worst fears – fears which, if they leave them to break their resolve and submit them to the Despiser’s majesty and cunning, could bring the end to everything they hold dear.
Following the story similarly to the previous instalments after the end of Against All Things Ending, having drawn the final pieces of his imagination and picking up again the plot-threads from where they left off, Stephen R. Donaldson explores for one last time the wonders of his world, taking us in The Last Dark back to the Lower Land, where hideous theurgies and slaughter of ages past have made the entire region into a wasteland, causing an imponderable devastation, and leaving the ground barren and lifeless; to Sarangrave Flat, where now the Feroce – descendants of the jheherrin – inhabit in the wetland, worshipping their High God: a monster created by the poisons leaking from Mount Thunder that have made it a tale of horror for millennia, and serving its will in every part of its realm; and to Gallows Howe, where once the guardian of the Deep – forced for centuries to watch the trees and all living things in his care perish – passed his judgment to the trespassers of the forest, burning to repay its ancient pain, and making it the emblem of his ire and bereavement.
But also to the Wightwarrens, where deep into their habitation the Cavewights have spent millennia nurturing their hatred and savagery, defining their race by the crudity of their delving, and resenting the peoples of the Land who had repeatedly foiled their singular dreams; to Kiril Threndor, Heart of Thunder, where lies the high chamber, holding in the mountain’s gutrock memories of terrible battles, and filling through its fractures the air with darkness; and lastly to the Lost Deep, where the Viles sought the life’s meaning according to the arcane dictates of their Weird, creating with their ancient magicks supernal masterpieces, and leaving behind a legacy both of mazement and of surpassing ecstasy.
A final novel in which Donaldson, taking once more his time to build the plot and his characters, working as before with meticulousness and deftness, and bringing his imagination to its closure, reaches the high point of both his career and life, creating an epic story of deep introspections, surprising twists, sweeping action, and intimate moments that cannot but leave you moved: sad and full of joy.
A grand finale which, interchanging between the three points of view, delving into the moral contradictions of Covenant’s and Linden’s promises and prices, loves and wrongs, and Jeremiah’s fears and pains, as well as of their straits throughout their journey that shaped their lives, forced them to extremities, closes uniquely, showing his mastery in the fantasy field, and culminating the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in the best, and most poignant way.
Finally, The Last Dark is a worthy conclusion of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, with Stephen R. Donaldson – reaching the high point of his life’s work – bringing the characters’ journey to its end, creating a final epic adventure full with all the elements that made him known in the field, and closing the series with a unique, powerful and moving finale. A great journey, indeed!
*Ελληνική κριτική:
July 22, 2013
Bloody hell what a romp. SRD did it again; what an astonishing ability to always render the last volume of a series the most satisfying. Laughed, cried--including a couple of messed pages--, surprised myself actually gnawing at my fingernails at one point, felt the struggles of the characters almost on an intimate level.... Despite the somewhat slow beginning and a couple of problems, one perkeleenmoinen novel.
October 10, 2013
So I was lucky enough to obtain an ARC of this concluding novel to the entire Thomas Covenant series. I just completed reading the entire Thomas Covenant series to refresh my memory prior to reading this novel.
Before I begin, I should give one caveat: even prior to this novel I haven't been a huge fan of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. While SRD does an excellent job portraying Linden Avery the Chosen, I've never been a fan of her character or her internal dialogue. As such, my favorite series is definitely the second chronicles of Thomas Covenant (which in my mind has a perfectly reasonable ending to the entire series, as does the First Chronicles when you get down to it). Anyway, on to the review.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and felt that it created a fitting ending to the entire series. SRD stays true to his thematic presentation regarding the necessity of freedom, the importance of intent behind choices, and hope in contradiction. The novel also stresses the importance of confronting our fears/inner demons. Winning is not necessary, only making the attempt, resisting evil, and never succumbing to despair. The ending follows these principles and SRD creates an appropriate ending to Lord Foul/The Land.
I was also pleased in this novel that we get more of a return to Thomas Covenant as the source of narration which I greatly appreciate. My main disappointment is not limited to this novel but rather the Last Chronicles as a whole. There seems (to me) to be a large amount of plot devices where new magic, abilities, etc are introduced without any history of lore just to further the plot. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it seemed to me to happen more and more throughout the entire Last Chronicles, almost becoming a theme. When a series as long as the Chronicles exists, it bothers me that so many of the important key plot points are talents/explanations "out of the blue". For example, Jeremiah's abilities while loosely tied to the artistry of the former Lords has no basis in lore and no explanation is made for his abilities as opposed to Thomas Covenant (white gold/leprosy) or Linden Avery (health sense, physician, white gold, creator of staff of law). My last complaint regarding the novel (minor spoiler) is that we never see a return of the Old Man (the presumed creator). In all of the prior series his advice as the characters were transported to the land were critical. In this final novel, I was hoping the ending would at least resolve some of the mystery regarding the Old Man and/or explain why he appeared to have no interest in the ending of The Land.
In conclusion, The Last Dark and the entire Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are a fitting end to the series and worthy of being read. The First and Second Chronicles are definitely superior to the final series and need to be read prior to attacking the Last Chronicles. Excellent reading for any fans of the Thomas Covenant series or SRD's other novels.
Before I begin, I should give one caveat: even prior to this novel I haven't been a huge fan of the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. While SRD does an excellent job portraying Linden Avery the Chosen, I've never been a fan of her character or her internal dialogue. As such, my favorite series is definitely the second chronicles of Thomas Covenant (which in my mind has a perfectly reasonable ending to the entire series, as does the First Chronicles when you get down to it). Anyway, on to the review.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and felt that it created a fitting ending to the entire series. SRD stays true to his thematic presentation regarding the necessity of freedom, the importance of intent behind choices, and hope in contradiction. The novel also stresses the importance of confronting our fears/inner demons. Winning is not necessary, only making the attempt, resisting evil, and never succumbing to despair. The ending follows these principles and SRD creates an appropriate ending to Lord Foul/The Land.
I was also pleased in this novel that we get more of a return to Thomas Covenant as the source of narration which I greatly appreciate. My main disappointment is not limited to this novel but rather the Last Chronicles as a whole. There seems (to me) to be a large amount of plot devices where new magic, abilities, etc are introduced without any history of lore just to further the plot. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it seemed to me to happen more and more throughout the entire Last Chronicles, almost becoming a theme. When a series as long as the Chronicles exists, it bothers me that so many of the important key plot points are talents/explanations "out of the blue". For example, Jeremiah's abilities while loosely tied to the artistry of the former Lords has no basis in lore and no explanation is made for his abilities as opposed to Thomas Covenant (white gold/leprosy) or Linden Avery (health sense, physician, white gold, creator of staff of law). My last complaint regarding the novel (minor spoiler) is that we never see a return of the Old Man (the presumed creator). In all of the prior series his advice as the characters were transported to the land were critical. In this final novel, I was hoping the ending would at least resolve some of the mystery regarding the Old Man and/or explain why he appeared to have no interest in the ending of The Land.
In conclusion, The Last Dark and the entire Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are a fitting end to the series and worthy of being read. The First and Second Chronicles are definitely superior to the final series and need to be read prior to attacking the Last Chronicles. Excellent reading for any fans of the Thomas Covenant series or SRD's other novels.
March 22, 2015
Well, I guess this kind of makes up for the frustration of the past several books. Still plenty of doubt to go round but with some character and plot progression. That being said, there was a lot of travelling around and several battles, numerous deaths and quite a few pages. Admittedly, I did not re-read any of the prior books due to frustration as described in earlier reviews.
Having reached the end and the final resolution, I think back to the previous books and wonder if this journey could have been done not quite so painfully in 3 volumes. I also admit to still finding Covenant's adamant need to remain a leper perplexing. Yes, it made holding the krill that much easier but I still fail to grasp how physical numbness correlated to facing Foul. And I still am not a fan of Linden although she did improve but, again, much of her past motivation/justification, even with some clarification, perplexed me (on a good day, frustrated the crap out of me on bad ones).
There were some good scenes here, Linden and the Manethrall together; Covenant finally started talking and became a real player; Linden's final decisions as they get closer to Foul; Linden and Covenant's interactions; and the giants, naturally (the Ranyhyn were just horses pretty much this time around though). Overall, much more satisfying than the last couple books as the characters seemed to act with more consistency here.
Interesting ending/epilogue, I suppose, although somewhat unclear as to just how it all came about. And after 10 books, it seemed that "finally, in the last few pages you deal with your issues"?
I suppose I might feel this is a 3.5 but given that it is the end and was less aggravating than the last 2 books - I rounded up.
Having reached the end and the final resolution, I think back to the previous books and wonder if this journey could have been done not quite so painfully in 3 volumes. I also admit to still finding Covenant's adamant need to remain a leper perplexing. Yes, it made holding the krill that much easier but I still fail to grasp how physical numbness correlated to facing Foul. And I still am not a fan of Linden although she did improve but, again, much of her past motivation/justification, even with some clarification, perplexed me (on a good day, frustrated the crap out of me on bad ones).
There were some good scenes here, Linden and the Manethrall together; Covenant finally started talking and became a real player; Linden's final decisions as they get closer to Foul; Linden and Covenant's interactions; and the giants, naturally (the Ranyhyn were just horses pretty much this time around though). Overall, much more satisfying than the last couple books as the characters seemed to act with more consistency here.
Interesting ending/epilogue, I suppose, although somewhat unclear as to just how it all came about. And after 10 books, it seemed that "finally, in the last few pages you deal with your issues"?
I suppose I might feel this is a 3.5 but given that it is the end and was less aggravating than the last 2 books - I rounded up.
February 27, 2013
Hurry up!!!!!!_
Please....I am waiting
_______-A-______
Please....I am waiting
_______-A-______
August 24, 2014
As ashamed as I am to admit that I read the final series at all, I am even more ashamed to admit that I was dumb enough to finish it.
June 6, 2023
There are 3 POVs in this book, One I enjoyed, One that I flip-flopped with, and one I didn't care about until the end. Thomas Covenant was the highlight of this emotionally charged volume. Linden Avery is a bit more balanced here even though I'm still not a fan. The story is what you'd expect but done in a way that I was not expecting even after reading the previous 9 books. I don't know what it is about Donaldson's writing but he can get me emotional even when he is not writing about anything intense, just the build-up alone is enough. As with every book in the series, there are parts where I wanted to pull my hair and scream at the characters in frustration but these issues are minor in comparison to the joy and emotion that this final book gave me.
August 1, 2022
4 stars - English Ebook
Review follows later.
Review follows later.
November 2, 2013
The Last Dark this the final book in the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and it completes an epic fantasy series that has spanned three decades.
Readers of the series have either loved it or hated it: it is either a brilliant foray into epic fantasy or a clunky, chunky story filled with strange words and even stranger characters. I am firmly in the former.
Reading The Last Dark was a joy and a tragedy; to visit one final time the Land and the many peoples and creatures that make it a wonder, yet to know that I would never return once I had finished. Such are the hallmarks of great fiction.
How does one complete a sage that has gone on for thirty-five years? Deftly, in the case of Donaldson. In The Final Dark, he sharpens a complex and meaningful plot to such a fine edge the words practically bleed of the paper. Covenant and Linden Avery, her adopted son Jeremiah and the Worm of the World's End and Lord Foul the Despiser: all are brought together as the very existence of the Land is imperiled. Through skilled craftsmanship and a keen understanding of pace and timing, Donaldson brings you to the edge of despair and then...well, you'll have to read it to find out. No spoilers here.
I found no plot holes--not that I expected any--and the story finishes for me in a very satisfying way. I've been a fan of Donaldson's for decades; his writing has influenced mine just as much as Stephen King or Clive Barker. He does not disappoint.
If you've read Covenant and like the novels, you'll love this one. If you haven't, give them a try. Just expect to use a dictionary a lot, and marvel at the wonder that is the Land.
Readers of the series have either loved it or hated it: it is either a brilliant foray into epic fantasy or a clunky, chunky story filled with strange words and even stranger characters. I am firmly in the former.
Reading The Last Dark was a joy and a tragedy; to visit one final time the Land and the many peoples and creatures that make it a wonder, yet to know that I would never return once I had finished. Such are the hallmarks of great fiction.
How does one complete a sage that has gone on for thirty-five years? Deftly, in the case of Donaldson. In The Final Dark, he sharpens a complex and meaningful plot to such a fine edge the words practically bleed of the paper. Covenant and Linden Avery, her adopted son Jeremiah and the Worm of the World's End and Lord Foul the Despiser: all are brought together as the very existence of the Land is imperiled. Through skilled craftsmanship and a keen understanding of pace and timing, Donaldson brings you to the edge of despair and then...well, you'll have to read it to find out. No spoilers here.
I found no plot holes--not that I expected any--and the story finishes for me in a very satisfying way. I've been a fan of Donaldson's for decades; his writing has influenced mine just as much as Stephen King or Clive Barker. He does not disappoint.
If you've read Covenant and like the novels, you'll love this one. If you haven't, give them a try. Just expect to use a dictionary a lot, and marvel at the wonder that is the Land.
October 22, 2013
I'm not going to review the actual book as I don't want to risk spoilers. Instead, I'm saying as a massive fan of the Thomas Covenant books - they would be my desert island books - I found this tenth & final book to be a fitting capstone completing the "story arch" built upon the 9 previous brick-like books.
If you have enjoyed the earlier books, then 'The Last Dark' will not disappoint. All the ingredients that make me love the Thomas Covenant books are in this final instalment (including having to reach for the dictionary to look up the meaning of archaic words I never seen before!) The story engaged my mind & emotions and real tears did flow down my face a couple of times.
Personally I liked this book the best out of the four 'Last Chronicles' (i.e. Books 7-10).
Now the question I'm left with is this... When am I going to find the time to start again with Book 1 and work my way through the ten books and thousands of pages to get to this point again? *searches for a caesure to go back a millennia or two*
If you have enjoyed the earlier books, then 'The Last Dark' will not disappoint. All the ingredients that make me love the Thomas Covenant books are in this final instalment (including having to reach for the dictionary to look up the meaning of archaic words I never seen before!) The story engaged my mind & emotions and real tears did flow down my face a couple of times.
Personally I liked this book the best out of the four 'Last Chronicles' (i.e. Books 7-10).
Now the question I'm left with is this... When am I going to find the time to start again with Book 1 and work my way through the ten books and thousands of pages to get to this point again? *searches for a caesure to go back a millennia or two*
February 9, 2014
Im going to pretend this series was never written. I love Donaldson's work. This series does for the Land, and it's characters what Episodes 1-3 did for Star Wars. Except, this was The Land, and meant something very important to me throughout my life.
No Creator (could have made him an Insequent), Foul sat on his but (AGAIN) and barked insults, so many characters died without a real reason, Jeremiah lost his purpose and function, She-Who... was a confusing diversion, and the end was as if someone sat around for a few months and said, screw it, let me wrap this up.
Well, everyone deserves a Mulligan, now and again. This was a big, expensive, and time consuming one. I hope Donaldson comes back to a typewriter and does something remarkable again. Its always been worth the wait, and it would be nice to get the feeing like I got reading The Real Story, The Wounded Land, or Lord Foul's Bane again.
No Creator (could have made him an Insequent), Foul sat on his but (AGAIN) and barked insults, so many characters died without a real reason, Jeremiah lost his purpose and function, She-Who... was a confusing diversion, and the end was as if someone sat around for a few months and said, screw it, let me wrap this up.
Well, everyone deserves a Mulligan, now and again. This was a big, expensive, and time consuming one. I hope Donaldson comes back to a typewriter and does something remarkable again. Its always been worth the wait, and it would be nice to get the feeing like I got reading The Real Story, The Wounded Land, or Lord Foul's Bane again.
November 13, 2013
I read in interviews that Stephen Donaldson had the idea for this third series of Thomas Covenant Stories already when he wrote the second chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but that he waited before writing the final chronicles because he felt he hadn’t reached the level of artistry he needed in order to be able to write them. I’ve never fully understood that, not while reading the first three books in this series at any rate. His writing style is not very different compared to the first two series (he still has many beautiful words and a ‘high style’) and it’s not as if the first series shied away from convoluted plots, harrowing events, emotional depth and filosophical, spiritual and theological theme’s. They’re among my favorite books for a reason (position 10 on my ‘book top 25’, which says something). I even agreed with some of the reviewers here and on other review sites that these last chronicles didn’t reach the same heights as the first, and Donaldson had ‘lost his touch’ a little bit. The plot was even more convoluted this time around (with many persons entering the Land along with Linden, and different threats that didn’t seem to be connected that much), with a lot of soul searching by a protagonist that didn’t seem that sympathetic - and why call it the chronicles of Thomas Covenant when he died at the end of the last series?). And then it seemed to become ridiculous, with the end of the world at stake.
This fourth book redeemed the series, I’m happy to report. There’s lots of Covenant (at last), surpises and confrontations (well decribed), lots of soul searching, and resolution (finally). It’s a fitting end to the ten book series! And I finally understood what Donaldson meant when he said he had to wait for years before he was able to start writing this series. I can’t be sure of course, but I think it was not his style he meant (Which was pretty accomplished from the start), and not the plot (not that much tougher than the first two), but it was because of the answers to the questions the protagonists pose. I suspect the author had to grow as a person, in his own struggles with self doubt and self hatred, with despite, before he could provide a final answer to the dilemma’s of Linden and Thomas. There are a lot of reviewers who think Thomas Covenant is despicable (which is what he thinks about himself!) and who don’t sympathize with Linden’s self doubt and struggle to forgive himself. I have never understood these commenters, as from the start I fully recognized what Donaldson wrote about, as I struggle with these emotions myself. I have as long as I remember, and I know they are persistant. And like the protagonists I have been struggling and wrestling with myself, with my self condemnation, and with the trust and love of others, in search of an answer.
An author cannot give his characters answers he does not believe in himself, or at least, they will ring hollow if he does so. Which is not the case in this book. I know critics are not supposed to speculate about the personal life of an author, but to write about self condemnation and judgment in this manner for ten books I cannot but suspect that the author has known his fair share of these personally. He has recognized Lord Foul in himself and has wrestled with him for his whole life. And now he has come to a point at which he feels confident to end the struggle for his protagonists. Maybe because he has won the struggle himself or (what I think is more likely) he finally sees what way the solution lies. And as is fitting the solution is not that convoluted. It’s in line with what I after many years have come to believe the answer is. Radical self acceptance, which is only possible because of radical grace. Yes. I think I can say this at last: the Thomas Covenant books give a deeply spiritual, religious answer, one that I can fully stand behind. I was touched reading this one and I will in the coming years start to read the three series again, and search for more truth and wisdom in the pages. I heartily recommend them to any readers looking for deep, true, sometimes hard but ultimately redeeming fiction.
This fourth book redeemed the series, I’m happy to report. There’s lots of Covenant (at last), surpises and confrontations (well decribed), lots of soul searching, and resolution (finally). It’s a fitting end to the ten book series! And I finally understood what Donaldson meant when he said he had to wait for years before he was able to start writing this series. I can’t be sure of course, but I think it was not his style he meant (Which was pretty accomplished from the start), and not the plot (not that much tougher than the first two), but it was because of the answers to the questions the protagonists pose. I suspect the author had to grow as a person, in his own struggles with self doubt and self hatred, with despite, before he could provide a final answer to the dilemma’s of Linden and Thomas. There are a lot of reviewers who think Thomas Covenant is despicable (which is what he thinks about himself!) and who don’t sympathize with Linden’s self doubt and struggle to forgive himself. I have never understood these commenters, as from the start I fully recognized what Donaldson wrote about, as I struggle with these emotions myself. I have as long as I remember, and I know they are persistant. And like the protagonists I have been struggling and wrestling with myself, with my self condemnation, and with the trust and love of others, in search of an answer.
An author cannot give his characters answers he does not believe in himself, or at least, they will ring hollow if he does so. Which is not the case in this book. I know critics are not supposed to speculate about the personal life of an author, but to write about self condemnation and judgment in this manner for ten books I cannot but suspect that the author has known his fair share of these personally. He has recognized Lord Foul in himself and has wrestled with him for his whole life. And now he has come to a point at which he feels confident to end the struggle for his protagonists. Maybe because he has won the struggle himself or (what I think is more likely) he finally sees what way the solution lies. And as is fitting the solution is not that convoluted. It’s in line with what I after many years have come to believe the answer is. Radical self acceptance, which is only possible because of radical grace. Yes. I think I can say this at last: the Thomas Covenant books give a deeply spiritual, religious answer, one that I can fully stand behind. I was touched reading this one and I will in the coming years start to read the three series again, and search for more truth and wisdom in the pages. I heartily recommend them to any readers looking for deep, true, sometimes hard but ultimately redeeming fiction.
November 7, 2013
I have been a very great fan of Thomas Covenant for a very long time. I first read 'Lord Foul's Bane' when I was about ten years old (too young, I think, for some of the themes), and was instantly captivated. I remember writing long praise-poems (a kind of early fan-fiction?) in grade six, in the hallway where I had been sent on account of the fact that I was reading Donaldson's novels instead of paying attention in Geography class. 'The Power that Preserves' was the first novel that actually made me weep out loud. I guess I was about twelve years old.
None of my friends (even those interested in fantasy fiction) ever read the books, so I have never really been able to have a conversation about some of the most important books in my life. They made a huge impact on me, which is probably why my review of 'The Runes of the Earth' was lukewarm. I always thought Covenant was the lifeblood of the series, and though I appreciated Linden in the abstract, I never really felt that Donaldson had managed to create a living, breathing woman in her character. I was not looking forward to four books without Covenant. As I continued reading, I was a little put out by certain clumsy phrasings and cliches that Donaldson had allowed to creep into his writing in the twenty years or so since the Second Chronicles. I was appalled by what had become of the Haruchai, and there were no giants, either. Everything I liked about the first two series was absent. And I was not convinced that the addition of the new elements would make up for it. I didn't care about the Insequent. I skimmed whole chapters, and didn't bother keeping track of characters and their motivations. By the end of the second book, I was a little more optimistic, but I still thought that the two books would have benefited from being combined into a single, shorter volume that got to the point a little faster. The third book was a lot better, and I started to get the 'feel' of the new series a bit more. The long delays between volumes didn't help matters much; I still wasn't clear on some characters' motives.
Then came this book, the last of the Covenant books that I had adored since I was ten years old. I am now approaching forty. I got it in the mail and tried to explain to my wife why I felt that this was a special, sad, bittersweet, almost holy moment. She hadn't read them, so I don't think I got it across. I was full of anticipation, and a little trepidation. I wanted my childhood memories to be validated.
They were. This is a marvellous book, and the ending to the whole series is exactly as it should have been, exactly how it had to be. I was riveted to the book, just like I had been when I was young, staying up late at night with a flashlight under the covers to read one more chapter before I fell asleep. I was even late to work one morning when I couldn't put the book down before I knew how the Haruchai would deal with the Lurker and the Raver.
I still feel like this ought to have been a trilogy. But Donaldson has given me the gift of an uncorrupted childhood back, when I and my generation have been so disappointed and jaded by the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies of late. I am really grateful. Thanks, Stephen -- I mean that from the bottom of my ten-year-old heart.
None of my friends (even those interested in fantasy fiction) ever read the books, so I have never really been able to have a conversation about some of the most important books in my life. They made a huge impact on me, which is probably why my review of 'The Runes of the Earth' was lukewarm. I always thought Covenant was the lifeblood of the series, and though I appreciated Linden in the abstract, I never really felt that Donaldson had managed to create a living, breathing woman in her character. I was not looking forward to four books without Covenant. As I continued reading, I was a little put out by certain clumsy phrasings and cliches that Donaldson had allowed to creep into his writing in the twenty years or so since the Second Chronicles. I was appalled by what had become of the Haruchai, and there were no giants, either. Everything I liked about the first two series was absent. And I was not convinced that the addition of the new elements would make up for it. I didn't care about the Insequent. I skimmed whole chapters, and didn't bother keeping track of characters and their motivations. By the end of the second book, I was a little more optimistic, but I still thought that the two books would have benefited from being combined into a single, shorter volume that got to the point a little faster. The third book was a lot better, and I started to get the 'feel' of the new series a bit more. The long delays between volumes didn't help matters much; I still wasn't clear on some characters' motives.
Then came this book, the last of the Covenant books that I had adored since I was ten years old. I am now approaching forty. I got it in the mail and tried to explain to my wife why I felt that this was a special, sad, bittersweet, almost holy moment. She hadn't read them, so I don't think I got it across. I was full of anticipation, and a little trepidation. I wanted my childhood memories to be validated.
They were. This is a marvellous book, and the ending to the whole series is exactly as it should have been, exactly how it had to be. I was riveted to the book, just like I had been when I was young, staying up late at night with a flashlight under the covers to read one more chapter before I fell asleep. I was even late to work one morning when I couldn't put the book down before I knew how the Haruchai would deal with the Lurker and the Raver.
I still feel like this ought to have been a trilogy. But Donaldson has given me the gift of an uncorrupted childhood back, when I and my generation have been so disappointed and jaded by the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies of late. I am really grateful. Thanks, Stephen -- I mean that from the bottom of my ten-year-old heart.
September 20, 2014
Right, so, what can I say about this book or about the whole ten book series? I think I should start by saying that the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are the literary equivalent of Marmite (for those of you who do not know what Marmite is, it's a spread made out of the waste from the brewing industry. You either love it or you hate it), when I started eating Marmite I didn't particularly like it—now, I love it. The last chronicles of Thomas Covenant had much the same effect on me.
I am not going to lie and say that this book is perfect. I really struggled with the first quarter of it as the main protagonists moaned and worried and winged their way through various situations (hint- if you don't like character driven stuff, this really isn't for you). Also, it is only really when using Thomas Covenant himself in POV that the writing truly sparkles (IMHO), but fortunately T.C. has a lot to do in this book.
The book is not accessible (i.e. you need to be able to read and be willing to refer to a dictionary from time to time in order to understand what is going on) you do get the feeling that Mr Donaldson always has a thesaurus handy when writing and tries to find the most obscure word possible to describe something but, you know what? I quite like it (even though it does take a bit of getting used to).
The world of 'The Land' is vast and deep and layered, not only by the previous nine books but by the enormous effort and detail that the author has put into the work. I have read that it takes him about three years to complete each book and I am not surprised. The characters and peoples of the Land are great (what's not to love about the Haruchai?)
OK, I'm rambling. Will you like it? I can't guarantee that, but if you do 'click' with it you are likely to walk away believing (as I do) that Stephen R. Donaldson is one of the greatest living writers of fantasy. My advice? Check out the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, start from the beginning and read all ten books in order. You will hate and abhor Thomas Covenant and the other main protagonist (Linden Avery) a lot of the time, but in the end you will root for them and for the many, varied, and wonderful peoples and races that you encounter along the way in this truly vast and epic tale.
I am not going to lie and say that this book is perfect. I really struggled with the first quarter of it as the main protagonists moaned and worried and winged their way through various situations (hint- if you don't like character driven stuff, this really isn't for you). Also, it is only really when using Thomas Covenant himself in POV that the writing truly sparkles (IMHO), but fortunately T.C. has a lot to do in this book.
The book is not accessible (i.e. you need to be able to read and be willing to refer to a dictionary from time to time in order to understand what is going on) you do get the feeling that Mr Donaldson always has a thesaurus handy when writing and tries to find the most obscure word possible to describe something but, you know what? I quite like it (even though it does take a bit of getting used to).
The world of 'The Land' is vast and deep and layered, not only by the previous nine books but by the enormous effort and detail that the author has put into the work. I have read that it takes him about three years to complete each book and I am not surprised. The characters and peoples of the Land are great (what's not to love about the Haruchai?)
OK, I'm rambling. Will you like it? I can't guarantee that, but if you do 'click' with it you are likely to walk away believing (as I do) that Stephen R. Donaldson is one of the greatest living writers of fantasy. My advice? Check out the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, start from the beginning and read all ten books in order. You will hate and abhor Thomas Covenant and the other main protagonist (Linden Avery) a lot of the time, but in the end you will root for them and for the many, varied, and wonderful peoples and races that you encounter along the way in this truly vast and epic tale.
October 18, 2013
3.5 stars
With The Last Dark, Stephen R. Donaldson draws to a close not only his most recent tetralogy, but his entire ten-book epic centered on the travails of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, certainly one of the longest-lasting and most significant and influential characters in modern fantasy. No matter one’s feelings on the book itself (and mine were definitely mixed), the series as a whole stands as a towering achievement, one of those classic/canonical works of fantasy that any student of the genre has to wrestle with. Though I confess to some disappointment in these final few novels, the very ending left me feeling both satisfied and saddened. Satisfied because Donaldson ends the novel in an entirely fitting fashion and saddened because it is an ending.
As in the prior books of this LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT (and I’m going to assume you’ve read those so will be ... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
With The Last Dark, Stephen R. Donaldson draws to a close not only his most recent tetralogy, but his entire ten-book epic centered on the travails of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, certainly one of the longest-lasting and most significant and influential characters in modern fantasy. No matter one’s feelings on the book itself (and mine were definitely mixed), the series as a whole stands as a towering achievement, one of those classic/canonical works of fantasy that any student of the genre has to wrestle with. Though I confess to some disappointment in these final few novels, the very ending left me feeling both satisfied and saddened. Satisfied because Donaldson ends the novel in an entirely fitting fashion and saddened because it is an ending.
As in the prior books of this LAST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT (and I’m going to assume you’ve read those so will be ... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
October 28, 2013
First, let me say I loved the first two trilogies! The Land and its wonders/horrors seemed so new in every book. I even purchased the electronic copies to re-read. In this series, however, everything was just rehashed, and the characters were so flat I couldn't find anything about them to care about. Even so, I hung in for four more books because I wanted to see how Donaldson was finally going to end the story. After having done so, I truly hope this is the Last Chronicles of the Unbeliever. It will be the last for me anyway.
January 6, 2019
So in 1985 or thereabouts, I began the journey that is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. 33 odd years on, today, I completed the journey... wow... it’s taken a while, and it feels like I have gained a lifelong friend in Thomas Covenant .. an incredible story thank you #stephendonaldson
April 30, 2020
So, there we are, finished. I was fourteen or fifteen when I borrowed The Illearth War from a friend; I read it and the rest almost without putting them down. Then I went out and bought the first one, and read them all again. And again. And some more. They were my ‘go to’ space at that age, and I’ve loved them ever since. They’re also one of the few series that has stood the test of Time - re-reading them at fifty bought all the magic back, with added layers of subtleties that must have been lost on my younger self.
To go back to something like that, new stories, a new saga... that’s a tall order. The first book left me with doubts - too jumbled, too many characters and not enough drive - but the story has unfolded through Time and saga wonderfully, with some glorious insights, continuities and set pieces, and an ending I couldn’t read thanks to eyes overflowing. I think the last book that made me cry that much was The Last Battle, when Aslan tells Peter to close the door.
From fifteen to fifty, and a tale of my youth finally coming to a close. Truly, the tale of a lifetime.
To go back to something like that, new stories, a new saga... that’s a tall order. The first book left me with doubts - too jumbled, too many characters and not enough drive - but the story has unfolded through Time and saga wonderfully, with some glorious insights, continuities and set pieces, and an ending I couldn’t read thanks to eyes overflowing. I think the last book that made me cry that much was The Last Battle, when Aslan tells Peter to close the door.
From fifteen to fifty, and a tale of my youth finally coming to a close. Truly, the tale of a lifetime.
November 5, 2013
To get this out of the way... I received this book as an uncorrected advanced reader copy through a Goodreads giveaway. Now that that is done... What a way to end the Cronicles of Thomas Covenant! I loved every moment of not only this book but of the entire series, though I will say that this book was by far the best. The only downside to this novel is the fact that it finishes the entire series that started over 20 years ago and that makes me a little sad. But, all good things must come to an end right? This book, like the ones before it, was masterfully executed as it drew the tale of The Land to an epic conclusion. I highly recommend all of these books, especially if you are a fan of high fantasy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 367 reviews