When the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant came out, I had already read the first Chronicles at least twice. I read The Wounded Land greedily and found it to be just as compelling as the first books. It was kind of tough having to wait years between books.
The Wounded Land starts off with our real hero, Linden Avery. A doctor who has a lot of secrets and has burdens laid on top of her from the moment she arrives in town. The first three chapters or so take place in the real world and the Second Chronicles breaks the tradition of returning home at the end of each book. Because in order to get to the Land this time, Thomas Covenant has to die.
This could have been called The Chronicles of Linden Avery The Chosen. Linden Avery is the one that gets a message from The Creator, can see as the people of the Land used to see, and she’s generally a lot more likable than good old Tom.
The Wounded Land might as well be set in a different universe from the first three books. The Land has been altered beyond recognition by Lord Foul and the three Ravers. Earthpower is still present, but it is called up through the shedding of blood to work the Sunbane. Covenant finds this all impossible to believe, but Linden takes it all in with a shrug.
The Land is still the Land, but there is now a power called the Sunbane, which remakes the world with each new sunrise. When I first read these books I didn’t question the logic of the Sunbane much, but now it seems to be a little more impossible than the powers we see in the first Chronicles. The population of the Land has never been great, but now that people have to sled blood to work the Sunbane, the population has dropped a good deal. Could this kind of carnage really have gone on for hundreds or years?
Then there is the general impossibility of endless gallons of blood being used to power the Banefire at Revelstone. We are told that the Riders of the Clave collect people and blood from the remaining Stonedowns and Woodhelven of the Land. Even with addition of the Haruchai, who they routinely kill, it seems a little tricky. How long can blood flow like milk once it is out of the body? Of course, in a world filled to the gills with magic of one sort or another, I guess this is a minor gripe.
Stephen R Donaldson can only tell tales of woe and sorrow. As with the first Chronicles, we are told that there were Glory Days in the Land-about a thousand years ago or so. Everyone was happy, everyone shared knowledge and power, and Lord Foul appeared to be gone for good. We never see these good old days, all we see is the evil of the Sunbane.
Still, I love the Wounded Land as much as I love the original three books. Sunder and Hollian are good characters, if a bit two dimensional. Vain and his mysterious ways is very interesting. The Giants we met near the end of the Wounded Land are among the best characters Donaldson ever creates. I even liked Membla, or whatever her name was, the Rider who gave her life to save Covenant and Company.
There are a number of touching moments, but our heroes tend to spend a little too much time running away from their problems instead of facing them. As Book One ends our story prepares to leave the Land behind and explore the greater world. This has always been a bothersome question for me, how did Berek Lord Father find the One Tree? And why is there no mention of the One Rock? Seems that the Land could use some more Orcrest as well a new Staff of Law.
A note on the Audio Book-I really hate the reader here-he makes Covenant sound like the gravel voiced Batman and makes the Giants sound like children on helium. He also tends to pronounce many of his words differently than I do, of course, that is always a problem with fantasy works.
