Thomas Covenant----O M G!!!

Sangre

I have finally finsihed the two Thomas Covenant Trilogies!!

Well I really like the first trilogy, especailly with Troy, the blind man, and with the war.

But the second trilogy completely dragged for ages, there didnt seem to be any goal for ages. I was tempted to just leave it but I would have kicked myself?

What do other people think of it?

I dont want to go into too much detail as it would be very easy to get sucked into a huge rant

Lucutus

The first Trilogy is fantastic, The Land is full of the joys etc.

As for the second, I felt the same, but look at it this way, if you'd never read it, you'd never have met Nom

Luc

Zuperstar

i though the first set was brilliant, its up there with LOTR.

the 2nd set did drag but i still enjoyed it, if more so because of the first set and knowing the history already but i still would recomend the 2 sets to any1 who is intrested in reading that type story

DeVore

The problem is that the first trilogy sets up a (not unreasonable) expectation that the second trilogy will be more of the same (after all thats what we've had engrained into us by Hollywood).

So, you feel disappointed when you dont get what you thought was coming!

I too felt the second trilogy wasnt as snappy and on the ball storywise as the first but it was a different type of story I felt and once I started to accept that I grew to like the second trilogy as a trilogy of its own.

Plus the Giants rock

DeV.

Sangre

I agree on the whole giants/Nom issuse, but imo they spent to long on the ship, with a vague goal for them which they fail. Not even the charachters know what to do, that is relisitic but not great for a story, nothing to hold the reader.

Although I did enjoy the Linden/Thomas realtionship, very complex if confusing at times.
I read the first trilogy much quicker, during the 2nd book (the war) I was flying through it during the summer, but the 2nd took a lot longer only a few pages before bed.

I do enjoy Donaldson ability to plan out the ending, everything has a purpose and meaning, reminds me of Great Expectations (studying for school btw)

Are there any other good Donaldson books out there along the lines of the first trilogy


P.s the question mark at the end leaves it open for another trilogy...goodie

Thanx 4 The Fish

Have started the Second series twice or three times but have left it down, I find that it is almost a labour. Am running out of anything to read now though so I suppose I will have to give it another go soon.

The first series was very well written and had some excellent characters and from all reports above the second does not live up to all that one would expect after the first.

Illkillya

ya the second series is a labour, its miserable and very disappointing but at the same time its v.good. Just stick with it and you'll be glad by the end, because its just as good as the first series imo, just not as nice.

Big Ted

Is Donaldson ever going to give us the third trilogy?

Stuff Nom. Vain is The Man. Nekhrimah!

DeVore

Donaldson wrote another set of books (two I think) about mirrors and mages who use them for creating things. Very good.

Jesus I have them in my book collection but the names have escaped me now...

DeV.

DeVore

...one swift google later...

Mirror of her dreams.
A Man Rides Through.

Theres also the Gap series but I heard they werent so good so I havent read them yet (anyone confirm or deny?)

DeV.

Illkillya

"Mordant's Need" i think... i never read it altho a nice brand new hardcover version of one of the books in the series "the mirror of her dreams" appeared in my house a few years ago and nobody knew where it came from

DeVore

Oh yeah, Vain is teh w1n
I love his uncompromising stance on things hahah..

DeV.

s0l

While on holidays i found the second trilogy ina book shop, so i read it within a week while lazing beside the beach
I recently bought the first book of the first trilogy, it was a mistake to read the second one first though i think =/ but i did
love the second, maybe it was not having read the first trilogy first that allowed me to enjoy the 2nd so immensly

Carpo

I read the Gap series last year, but like the second chronicles I have mixed feelings on it.

I loved the first chronicles, and although I enjoyed the second it wasnt nearly as well written (imo). It just seemed a bit thrown together and kinda aimless. Gap is similar in that the story meanders around quite a bit and doesnt really seem to know where its going. Having said that though, it always moves at a fast enough pace (as in the 2nd TC series) and theres always something going on to keep you reading. Anyway, I've read worse.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Alrighty, second chronicles done and I suppose about the best I can say about it is that it is finished... Well that may be going a bir far, it is a good story I suppose, a bit more of a love story too, I think I had the Vain bit sussed but didn't figure on that Elohim being involved.

Read Mirror of her dreams and a Man Rides Through recently too and was not really impressed, still for €2.50 each I suppose it was not an expensive couple of nights entertainment (great second hand bookshop here )

WhiteWashMan

i havent read these in about 10 years, but i thought the first series was brilliant.
i mean, you get rape in the first 17 pages, and it goes downhill from there. its just such a wonderful series.

however, everyone seems to think the second series was dull and boring and slow. but i think that is actually well written and the fact is that the land has been blilghted, its people murdered and brainwashed and everything good has been soured and twisted into something horrible. and the way the book is written reflects the fact that all is not well. its a lonely, cold, grey book.
and i think a lot if it has to do with the fact that thomas covenant is a bit of a twat

MrNuked

Read all his books I think.
Agree that the Gap series isn't great. Really liked Angus Thermopylae though. The first book of the series is good too... Never even finished the last one.
Mordant's Need is very good. Personally I preferred the second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant to the first, and am surprised most people seem to feel otherwise.
He's also got a couple of collections of short stories which are very good too. "Daughter of the Regals" is the name of one of them as I recall.
Seems not to have written anything for aaaages...

echomadman

Theres also the Gap series but I heard they werent so good so I havent read them yet

I love the gap series, I reread it every couple of years,

The mirrory ones were the Mordants Need series, They were good too,
I loved both Thomas Covenant trilogys, the second trilogy is better the second and third time round, Its a bit of a chore at times the first time you read it.

He has a very similar themes throughout all his novels, with deeply flawed principal characters, and no cut&dried heroes. Which IMHO make for more compelling reading than the the supericially "dark" or "complex" protagonists prevalant in most fantasy/sci-fi.

Boro

I think im pretty much in agreement with echomadman there, read the Gap series, really liked them. Enjoyed the mirror ones. I thought it was really refreshing to read fantasy that wasnt about a superman who brained people with sharp bits of metal. It was good the way in the TC series, imperfection was embraced rather than being the sole territory of the bad guys.

Definitely worth a read.

Beruthiel

can someone please tell me if these are the first books in the Thomas Covenant series?

This complete "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" contains the books "Lord Foul's Bane", "The Illearth War" and "The Power that Preserves".

Trojan

Yes they is. LFB is the very 1st book.

Beruthiel

egggcellent
thanks Al

echomadman

The first book of The Last Chronicles is out now,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399152326/qid=1106578661/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-6267451-1483855
I haven't read it yet, but it's gotten mixed reviews.
Hopefully it should arrive next week.

joc_06

My god its 9 -10 yrs since i read these books and im 21 now. Im getting old!
I loved them, I hated his other books and i wasnt happy again until i read The wheel of time which left me really unfulfilled and i havnt read a sci fi fantasy book since number 10 of that never ending series.

When the bloodguard took on the giants who had been taken over by the 3 bad dudes whoever they were, that will stick with me forever and when covenant woke up and summoned nom. unreal stuff.
I cant reall remember much else apart from the fact i loved them.

I cant see a third installment bringing much else to it. I mean it like rocky 8 without rocky. I dunno. I fell out with books long ago but my god i used to love them. I read every series in Easons in limerick ni their fantsy section from gemmel to eddings to pratchett jordan etc and of course good old jrr whom i read when i was 7 no Bull. Still have original hobbit with date stamp on it that i "borrowed" from my primary school library. I was reading the silmarillion in 6th class. My god what a wierd youngfella i was...

Blub2k4

It's nearly twenty years now since I read that :O.
I consider it to be up there with Tolkien, Both series are great.
Loved them, absolutely captivating from pick-up to put down.

LoLth

Absolutely loved this series (and for you roleplayers out there who may not know, while D20 is based on Tolkien, Arcana Unearthed by monte cook is an expansion of alternative rules based on the Chronicles of TC).

Definitely despised the ending of the second trilogy though. A huge let down. Must read these again come to think of it.

One thing though: anyone else notice that Stephen Donaldson *always* uses a rape as a plot driver?

Gap series - book 1
mordants need - book 1

(not a full rape but very close to it, certainly a mage that uses his power to take advantage of young ladies)

And the chronicles - book 1 agian wasnt it?

They are the only books of his I have read but 3 out of 3, just my random choice or are his other books the same?

cajun_tiger

i have had three set of cronicals for years! i'm on the 6th book and have another 3 to go...

cajun_tiger

is this new book not the fourth cronical>?i must check to be sure .....

echomadman

LoLth wrote:

One thing though: anyone else notice that Stephen Donaldson *always* uses a rape as a plot driver?

Who doesn't

Indeed, He does recycle themes, but at least its not like Gemmell/Eddings/Jordan, where each book is esentially a rehash of all their other books.

cajun_tiger, i think you're a bit confused
Donaldsons books are as follows

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
1: Lord Foul's Bane
2: The Illearth War
3: The Power That Preserves

The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
1: The Wounded Land
2: The One Tree
3: White Gold Wielder

The Gap Series

The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story
The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge
A Dark and Hungry God Arises: The Gap Into Power
Chaos and Order: The Gap Into Madness
This Day All Gods Die: The Gap Into Ruin


Mordant's Need

1: The Mirror of Her Dreams
2: A Man Rides Through

and
Reave the Just and Other Tales