White Gold Wielder: Amazon.ca: Books

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34 Reviews

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (34 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Covenant finally puts an end to it, Aug 30 2003

By

Ritesh Laud (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: White Gold Wielder (Mass Market Paperback)

White Gold Wielder is the final member of Donaldson's series of six Thomas Covenant novels. In this one, our hero finally gets around to fighting the Despiser himself. But first he has to take care of the Banefire burning from out of Revelstone. So in this book we get two climactic battles and they're both actually quite exciting with unexpected outcomes. I won't give anything away except to mention that the Sandgorgon Nom from The One Tree is back in fine form. Nom was possibly the most interesting character from that book. The One Tree is, in my opinion, the best novel in the second trilogy. White Gold Wielder, though satisfying, doesn't quite match it nor does it compare to The Illearth War (the second book of the first trilogy). It is, however, a much better finish than The Power That Preserves was to the first series.

Unfortunately, characterization takes somewhat of a nosedive from the previous books in the series (though not near as bad as the atrocious nosedive between the two books of Dan Simmons's Endymion series). The Giants in this novel are more than ever before like machines: impossibly strong and devoid of character flaws for the most part. Linden is a headcase and doesn't resemble anyone I know. The "romance" between Covenant and Linden, if you can call it that, seems ridiculously artificial and contrived. These two people never lighten up! They're stone-faced serious at all times and argue with each other more than anything else. Donaldson doesn't manage to convince the reader that they're actually lovers and I think that he should have abandoned the whole relationship from the start and just focused on the action.

The action is done very well and brings this book up to a solid four-star rating. As in all five previous books, Donaldson's development of the swords and sorcery is excellent. The first half of the book is somewhat slow, but the tension builds well as the party gets closer to the waiting enemy. The long sequence under Kiril Threndor will have you turning pages late into the night to find out what happens next.

I'm glad I read through this series. Though not quite as complex as some other offerings in the fantasy genre, the generally dark mood of the prose gives the Covenant novels a unique touch. I think that those in their late teens would get the most enjoyment out of these books.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, May 10 2003

By

Pedro Mendoza (Miami, Fla, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: White Gold Wielder (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the best stories I have ever read

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great Saga. In some ways better than Tolkien, May 10 2003