Product Description

The second volume in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, now part of the Voyager Classics collection. After scant days in his 'real' world, Thomas Covenant found himself summoned once more to the Land. There, forty bitter years had passed while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moved to fulfil his prophecy of doom. The Council of Lords found their spells useless, now that Foul the Despiser held the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. High Lord Elena turned in desperation to Covenant and the legendary white gold magic of his ring. Nobody knew how to use the white gold -- least of all Thomas Covenant.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #705431 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Customer Reviews

The Illearth War (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliev
Book 2 of one of the most original, imaginative and best Fantasy series’ out there

I have given this four stars because I believe that Tolkiens work is beyond the star rating and this series is below the rating I would give to Jordon’s Wheel of Time series (so far up to book 4) and Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. However I was extremely impressed with Donaldson’s original and imaginative fantasy world.

Donaldson does a very different take by creating such an unusual hero as Thomas Covenant, the Leper (and you don’t forget this throughout the books). Donaldson has created a fantasy world that you can begin to visualise and become immersed in – a sign of excellent fantasy. Covenant is from the real world and is transported into this other fantasy world, which was refreshing for a change. This world is dark, bleak, depressing and there seems to be little hope for it. In fact, you can draw parallels with it and the life of Covenant, who is a leper.

Thomas Covenant finds himself in another world whenever he becomes unconscious, which he therefore thinks is just a dream and refuses to admit that the world is real. He is seen by the inhabitants as some sort of incarnation of a past saviour of their world and revered despite the fact one of his first acts is to rape an innocent young women that has helped him. Covenant’s wedding ring is made of white gold and in this dream world it is the source of “wild magic”, a great power that even the most powerful being in the books is afraid off. However, Covenant does not know how to unleash this power, whenever it is unleashed it is not through deliberate self-will. Covenant’s continuous moaning and self-pity does not endear the reader to him.

Throughout the books you begin to feel the desperation of the world and people who are trying to defend themselves against the domination of the ultimate evil force, Lord Foul. You don’t actually come across Foul till the last book, but since even his minions are so terrifying and powerful you begin to get a sense of an ultimate struggle between good and evil of world and universal proportions, but where “Satan” is much more powerful and the Creator is constrained and has to work through VERY WEAK intermediaries. The three “Ravers” are Lord Foul’s main henchmen (like Suaron’s Black Riders in the Lord of the Rings). The Writer is able to effectively portray them as powerful, depraved creatures that are single-mindedly following their master’s destructive bidding. (these nasty pieces of work you definitely would not like to meet in a dark alley; even if you had all your mates with you).

The Illearth War
Is the second book in the first Trilogy/Chronicles. The book deals primarily with the War, 40 years after the time Covenant was last there, although in the real world only days/weeks have elapsed. You are introduced to another character from the real world, Hile Troy. He has a much more positive view of this world because he was blind but can see here. I slaughter of the Giants is such a tragedy and you know something awful is going to happen as a result of the the Bloodguard keeping a piece of the Illearth Stone, at the close of the book

I am surprised... in fact, shocked that there are so few reviews out there about this series of books. Donaldson’s world building is vivid and powerful through the creation of so many peoples, creatures and history. I especially enjoyed the reference to the historical events and characters of the world. This is powerful writing and imaginative and I would recommend any fantasy buffs out there who have not read the series, to do so.

It is definitely one of the best fantasy series’ out there today.

Seventies 'Prog' fantasy
This is my second outing into Donaldson's 'The Land' and I have to confess to having very mixed feelings about the place.

On the plus side it is beautifully written, Donaldson writes in an original style and has great ability to take you into the tortured mind of our anti-hero Covenant and describe his emotions in vivid detail.
I also felt this second volume was much better paced than 'Lords Foul's Bane'. There is another epic journey in this book which Donaldson illustrates by describing the effects on the troops marching rather than an endless description of the journey itself as he did in LFB.

Also the introduction of Troy Hile was very welcome. He is a sort of anti-Covenant. He is also summoned to the 'Land' from our world and suffers an affliction (blindness) which is also, like Covenant's leprosy, is cured by the magic of the Land. Unlike Covenant he embraces the culture of the new world, is brave, spirited and has risen to the position of leader of the Lands armies due to his natural grasp of strategy.

On the negative side the similarities to Lord of the rings which are many where even more pronounced in this book than the the first which I will not go into for spoiling reasons, but safe to say those who have spent as much time in Middle Earth as me will recognise plot elements and settings that appear here.

The big difference is Covenant. Whilst pretty much all the cast of LOTR are noble and heroic, Covenant is anything but. He is self obsessed, selfish, cowardly, rude and as this story progresses increasingly scheming. However he is not Machievalian, as he is also constantly agonising about his failings but is seemingly unable to change his behaviour. Now this at the time of writing would have been a very original take on 'heroic' fantasy and reading other reviews listed above is an element many readers enjoy.
I have to say personally I found by the end of LFB Covenant tiresome and by the end of this volume loathsome! I think if I'd heard him cry 'don't touch me' one more time I may have used the book to light my next fire! We are now some 800 pages of (small print) on in the trilogy and yet his personality has not really developed at all and unlike LOTR's there is not a cast of thousands so you spend an awful lot of time with him!

Last time I revewied Donaldson I compared his work to the self indulgent prog rock albums of the seventies (when this work was written) after this second volume I felt this was even more relevent. This is a work very much of it's time which can still be appreciated today but is somewhat out of fashion with the more visceral and faster moving fantasy works of the moment.

great book!
The chronicles of thomas covenant are the only books that make me feel good when I'm reading them. Some of the best character development and most interesting plots that I've ever read.