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A review by scheu
Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson
5.0
Five stars with caveats, five stars for giving me what I wanted.
If you have chosen to read this book, you have already read eight other Thomas Covenant novels. (If not, put that book down.) You know what sort of story you're getting into. This series is so far away from regular epic fantasy at this point. The quest hardly matters. The differences between the Land and our world fade. Even Covenant's leprosy has become an afterthought. These are the chronicles of Linden Avery, and her pain is the central part of the story; these are the chronicles of her retinue of Giants, Haruchai and men, and their struggle with the choices they have made.
My biggest issue with AATE is the pace of the book. It took me weeks to make any headway at the beginning. A hundred pages pass basically in argument and conversation. The early Covenant novels may have been more action-oriented, but SRD isn't telling the same story now. Judgement is coming, and those characters left at the end will have to come to terms with all of their actions, going back to the very beginning.
I eagerly await 2013.
If you have chosen to read this book, you have already read eight other Thomas Covenant novels. (If not, put that book down.) You know what sort of story you're getting into. This series is so far away from regular epic fantasy at this point. The quest hardly matters. The differences between the Land and our world fade. Even Covenant's leprosy has become an afterthought. These are the chronicles of Linden Avery, and her pain is the central part of the story; these are the chronicles of her retinue of Giants, Haruchai and men, and their struggle with the choices they have made.
My biggest issue with AATE is the pace of the book. It took me weeks to make any headway at the beginning. A hundred pages pass basically in argument and conversation. The early Covenant novels may have been more action-oriented, but SRD isn't telling the same story now. Judgement is coming, and those characters left at the end will have to come to terms with all of their actions, going back to the very beginning.
I eagerly await 2013.