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46th out of 148 books
—
137 voters
The One Tree (The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant #2)
Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery begin their search for the One Tree that is to be the salvation of the Land. Only he could find the answer and forge a new Staff of Law�but fate decreed that the journey was to be long, the quest arduous, and quite possibly a failure....
Paperback, 0 pages
Published
June 23rd 1997
by Del Rey
(first published 1982)
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121st out of 722 books
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388 voters
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Sep 21, 2008
Valerie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Valerie by:
Jeff
Shelves:
cypresslibrary,
fantasy-sf
The original anti-hero, paving the way for all those who were not good by the conventional sense.
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*For those who read my reviews, I am re-using the same review for each of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I will include thoughts on all three novels in the one review. Cheers*
People say, all the time, how the second installment in a trilogy is usually the best or the darkest of the three. Donaldson did the "darker" bit in The Illearth War (Book 2 of the first Chronicles). But his second trilogy managed the same thing. Everything that was awesome about The Land in the first trilogy is...more
People say, all the time, how the second installment in a trilogy is usually the best or the darkest of the three. Donaldson did the "darker" bit in The Illearth War (Book 2 of the first Chronicles). But his second trilogy managed the same thing. Everything that was awesome about The Land in the first trilogy is...more
Yet again, a review of the whole trilogy rather than each individual book. No spoilers of the story variety. The gist, for those who want to skip the lengthy review: these three books are more action-packed and immediately engaging than the previous trilogy, and Donaldson continued to hold true to the strengths that made the first novels a pleasure to read.
This trilogy was the better written, for me. More action packed, more events-driven and easier to get into. The horrors being wrought on the...more
This trilogy was the better written, for me. More action packed, more events-driven and easier to get into. The horrors being wrought on the...more
When I was about 16 I saw this book in the local library and thought it sounded wonderful, but then realised it was part 2 of a trilogy, and THEN realised this was the SECOND trilogy of a pair.
I like a challenge, and I like big books and series, so a little later I bought and read all 6 books in about a month or so. That 2400+ pages surpassed even my enjoyment of Lord of the Rings.
Ah! Now I realise the book I'd MOST like to see as a film would be one of these (or all of them). That would be a mi...more
I like a challenge, and I like big books and series, so a little later I bought and read all 6 books in about a month or so. That 2400+ pages surpassed even my enjoyment of Lord of the Rings.
Ah! Now I realise the book I'd MOST like to see as a film would be one of these (or all of them). That would be a mi...more
To be honest - I picked up this book fully expecting not to like it at all.
'The Wounded Land' wasn't all bad - I loved Donaldson's gift for description, I loved how he couldn't let any of his characters 'sink' into perfection, and the Land was generally an interesting place. Ironically though, those very same imperfections made the book unbearably depressing - why would you care for the story if there's no reward for your emotional investment?
And that same gift for description led to pages and...more
'The Wounded Land' wasn't all bad - I loved Donaldson's gift for description, I loved how he couldn't let any of his characters 'sink' into perfection, and the Land was generally an interesting place. Ironically though, those very same imperfections made the book unbearably depressing - why would you care for the story if there's no reward for your emotional investment?
And that same gift for description led to pages and...more
[These notes were made in 1984:]. Bk II of the Second Chronicles. A group of assorted creatures -- giants, haruchai, our two humans, the strange black creature called Vain - set out on a giant-ship to find the One Tree and re-make the Staff of Law. They find the One Tree, but fail to remake the Staff, and what happens in-between is a great deal of peril from unfriendly people, and Covenant falling in love with Linden Avery, as she begins to find herself and her own particular powers. I thought t...more
I love to complain about this book, so full of great ideas but overwritten and overwrought like no other. Donaldson is in a class alone when it comes to squeezing every last melancholic drop out of a character; such considered, parsed, wrestled-with inner lives only exist on the page. How fortunate, then, that the setting is fantastical, since only in lands of imagination can such people survive.
Still, I admit I get a kick out of reading this overheated hooey. First read in my early teens, it i...more
Still, I admit I get a kick out of reading this overheated hooey. First read in my early teens, it i...more
Read when we were still wrestling for grubs...
Like the 2nd book of the 1st trilogy, this book is a travelogue: there's a quest to re-create the Staff of Law and they take another boat ride. But, unlike that book, there is action (and sorrow) a-plenty in this volume.
At the end, rather than feeling like it was all just "setup", we have had a serious undertaking that ends in (I won't tell you, not even with a spoiler tag.)
Like book #1, this has a tighter structure to it that keeps your interest and...more
Like the 2nd book of the 1st trilogy, this book is a travelogue: there's a quest to re-create the Staff of Law and they take another boat ride. But, unlike that book, there is action (and sorrow) a-plenty in this volume.
At the end, rather than feeling like it was all just "setup", we have had a serious undertaking that ends in (I won't tell you, not even with a spoiler tag.)
Like book #1, this has a tighter structure to it that keeps your interest and...more
Felt that this was the weakest of the books in the series so far. Creation of the Elohim and of the wise-man Brinn battles seemed forced in the context of the story line. The culture and setting of the Sand people was mediocre. Ending of TC realizing Lord Foul is trying to have him use his power to such an extreme to destroy the Arch of Time? O.K. but not quite what I expected in terms of creativity. At least this story is consistent in not having a happy, happy ending.
The previous book in the...more
The previous book in the...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The Covenant set of series is a bit of a conundrum.
Pros: Vivid fantasy land with wondrous scenery and (usually) rich, compelling story.
Cons: The protagonists are hard to care about. Thomas Covenant is crazed most of the time and Linden Avery, well, let's just say she needs to be slapped upside the head. Donaldson tends use too many $10 words that throw the reader out of the story. He also tends to beat us over the head with emotion. Okay, we get that Linden is upset. We don't really need to wall...more
Pros: Vivid fantasy land with wondrous scenery and (usually) rich, compelling story.
Cons: The protagonists are hard to care about. Thomas Covenant is crazed most of the time and Linden Avery, well, let's just say she needs to be slapped upside the head. Donaldson tends use too many $10 words that throw the reader out of the story. He also tends to beat us over the head with emotion. Okay, we get that Linden is upset. We don't really need to wall...more
Of all the Covenant Books, this was my least favorite. At the end, I felt kind of cheated. Donaldson writes with the same intensity as before, but the story wanders, and in the end, I had the feeling the whole book was written just to fill the middle book of the trilogy. With all the power that Donaldson writes into his pages, it felt anticlimatic at the end of this book. The truth of the matter is, I feel this series could have been a Bilogy (is there such a word? If not, there is now) rather t...more
I picked up Lord Foul's Bane, the first book of the first Thomas Covenant series, while trying to recover from my first divorce. At first, the atmosphere seemed unpleasant. But the more that I read on, I came to realize that the image being portrayed strongly resembled my own life. I read on... and on... and became so totally absorbed in the book that I quickly found Stephen R. Donaldson's style and imagery to be something that I strongly related with. Within a matter of months I completed all s...more
I seem to remember this being a dark and depressing fantasy about someone transposed from the world as we know it, where he has a corrosive medical condition, to another world or dimension or mad dream where he makes very slow and torturous progress towards completing a quest or saving the world or something like that. Six books I read like this (2 trilogies) and guess what - I've bought the first book of the third trilogy.
I'll probably read through this trilogy too thinking the same thing as be...more
I'll probably read through this trilogy too thinking the same thing as be...more
THE ONE TREE ends inconclusively with the party having achieved nothing. This is my primary frustration with this book and the reason it is the only book in the entire series I did not like at all.
The pace of the book is ponderously slow with page after page of lugubrious introspection on Linden’s part. This book does develop her character a great deal. But she is revealed as a pitiful, mousy person full of self loathing. Perhaps Donaldson was trying to make her more pitiful than Covenant. But a...more
The pace of the book is ponderously slow with page after page of lugubrious introspection on Linden’s part. This book does develop her character a great deal. But she is revealed as a pitiful, mousy person full of self loathing. Perhaps Donaldson was trying to make her more pitiful than Covenant. But a...more
Thomas Covenant is seeking for the One Tree to forge a new Staff of Law in order to free the Land from the clutches of the Sunbane and defeat Lord Foul.
I love this book to tatters. Like all the other volumes in the series, it required a re-reading round before all the layers of psychological tension could unravel from beneath the complicated language (English is not my native tongue, but I like the challenge books akin to this pose, nonetheless) and actually sink in. I'm not one hundred percent...more
I love this book to tatters. Like all the other volumes in the series, it required a re-reading round before all the layers of psychological tension could unravel from beneath the complicated language (English is not my native tongue, but I like the challenge books akin to this pose, nonetheless) and actually sink in. I'm not one hundred percent...more
Not a bad book. One complaint I have is that there are too many instances where someone could have warned Covenant, but for whatever vague reason, they didn't and then he almost makes the wrong decision when he is stopped and the person that, for whatever reason, couldn't warn them before all of a sudden can warn them. Anyway, I do like Covenant and have learned to like the new character, Linden, but this, while interesting, is slightly less interesting than the original chronicles. Here's hopin...more
The way these books keep rolling along, I find that I just have to know how this whole thing ends. I found the ending of this book quite surprising, but I find that this is often the case with a Donaldson novel, particularly one in the middle of a series. I liked the new characters that were introduced in this book. I was also impressed by the continuing development of the major characters, Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery. I'm anxious to see what will pass as the story continues.
Arguably the best epic fantasy since JRR Tolkein (with apologies to Roger Zelazny and the Prices of Amber series), this is the second book in the second trilogy of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (read the other trilogy first to appreciate this trilogy). However, I must note that it starts off with a violent act and should only be read after your parents have signed off on the mature themes.
The One Tree ticks along in a dramatically different vein to the previous 3 books. The Sunbane is marvellously detailed - the description of the time between The Power that Preserves and Covenant's next visit 10 years (3000 years later?!) is tackled fantastically, culminating in his explosion of wild magic mid-way through the book is unforgettable.
There is a scene where Avery outsmarts a sorcerer that sticks in my mind years later for the way different pieces came together in a dramatic showdown.
This book shows more of Donaldson's world - evidencing an alternative creation story - and is more traditional fantasy adventure.
This book shows more of Donaldson's world - evidencing an alternative creation story - and is more traditional fantasy adventure.
I picked this up right after reading the previous one (The Woudned Land). I think this one might be even better. It moved from just being a page turner to bringing in deeper themes of power, morality, and manipulation. I'm reading the next one now... we'll see how it stacks up.
I didn't like this series (6 books) for one simple reason: the main character is a depressed whiner who refuses to believe in the fantasy world or his tremendous power. Even if it were all a dream, he should have used his power (for good) instead of being a coward.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Another series I did in one long weekend, this was probably one of the most influential series I read during high school. For some reason I absolutely hated the main character Thomas Conevenant (probably because he was an ass) and my one driving passion was to keep reading until he was killed off. Until of course the last book in the second series where I got over it and decided he should live and then he was killed off.
As an interesting aside, this series made it remarkably less likely that I...more
As an interesting aside, this series made it remarkably less likely that I...more
I continue to enjoy the series and the books. There are very few books that I have read twice. Read this in the 80's and again. Very much enjoyed it both times. For being as enjoyable, 2 decades later, 5 stars.
The main character is still annoying but that is the way he is and you can't help reading the story. Even though he is a whiney kind of fellow he still endeared himself to me. Great fantasy adventure!
Like the First Chronicles, the second book of each trilogy can seem drawn out and won't make any sense without reading the earlier ones. In context, it fits superbly and very hard to put down.
The fifth Thomas Covenant book and it gets more complicated. The sense of urgency builds in this book. Covenant begins to embrace his "heroic" status in his fantasy world.
This entire Series is nothing short of Fantastic! I can't wait for the fourth Book in the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant to come out!
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Stephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist. He earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and master's degree from Kent State University. He currently resides in New Mexico.
Stephen R. Donaldson was born on the 13th May 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled i...more
More about Stephen R. Donaldson...
Stephen R. Donaldson was born on the 13th May 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled i...more
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