Wounded Land [Hardcover]

Also, even though we get to revisit Covenant, we are 4000 years in the future of the land, and all the beloved characters we came to know in the first trilogy are gone. Donaldson does manage a brief, ghostly appearance by some of them, but they are missed. After all, Covenant is aptly named an ANIT-hero, and he is tough to like. So Donaldson, while also showing us how horrible things have become in the Land, has to also give us new characters to care about.

This time, Covenant brings someone with him from our time, the doctor Linden Avery. But she carries lots of baggage herself, and is also tough to warm up to...although she brings out a soft side in Covenant which is sorely needed. The author does a good job of introducing new characters to join on the new quest to save the Land from Lord Foul's machinations. Sunder and Hollian, two villagers who have learned all the history of the Land incorrectly, have their eyes opened to the truth by Covenant, and their plight of realization and acceptance is quite emotional. The character of Vain, a creature developed by the ur-viles to help Covenant, is fascinating and holds many secrets. I won't tell you too many more, because the book holds some delights in store.

But it isn't easy. The first half of the book feels a bit repititive, as Covenant and his growing band struggle to cross the Land to Revelstone (echoes of the first book), and we kinda get the point early on that it isn't easy going. But things really pick up once Covenant goes to Andelain and then on to Revelstone. There are some exciting chase scenes, one in particular dealing with The Grim, a malevolent "happening" sent to destroy the group from the false lords of Revelstone.

Donaldson has become an even more florid writer. His vocabulary is formidable...mine ain't too bad, but there is at least one word per page that leaves me scratching my head as to its definition, and I swear he's just made up a few. You can tell what they mean by the context, but they are distracting. He doesn't believe in subtle feelings...these characters are going through earth-shattering events, and they don't feel things mildly. They are torn, "riven", etc. etc. I still love the books, but sometimes it is a bit much.

If you've read the first trilogy and liked it or loved it...then you MUST read further. If you haven't read the first trilogy, don't start here. Go back to Lord Foul's Bane. And if, by some chance, you didn't care for the first trilogy, I don't think anything here will change your mind. You either love the Land and Donaldson's way of taking you there...or you don't and won't.

Covenant returns to the Land (where about four thousand years have passed) to find it shockingly wasted, as if the Apocalypse itself had hit it. The change was caused by the Sunbane, a sinister creation of Foul's. Covenant spends half the book just trying to figure out what the heck went wrong and how he can turn things around. Fortunately he finds that he can unleash the wild magic at will, or at least whenever he's upset (sort of like Nynaeve's channeling block in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series).

Each book of the first trilogy had a major resolution at the end. The Wounded Land is difficult to evaluate on its own because there is no real resolution or even climax. About two thirds of the way through the book, Covenant's party embarks on a major quest that clearly will not be completed by the end of the novel. The ending isn't really climactic, but merely segues nicely into the sequel The One Tree.

Donaldson's pace is generally slower in this trilogy than in the first one, but that's not to say that The Wounded Land doesn't contain plenty of action. Covenant barely escapes death a few times. The times when he uses the wild magic are exciting moments, and Donaldson is skillful at quickly heightening dramatic tension. Covenant's stay at Revelstone and his discoveries there are a high point in the novel. The page-turning trek through the treacherous Sarangrave Flats recalls the similar quest of the Bloodguard in The Illearth War.

I haven't read the two sequels yet, but this second trilogy is looking great so far! Highly recommended for fans of simple fantasy with a dark flavor to it.