Book Review: The Illearth War by Stephen Donaldson (The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever #2)

  Does morality only apply to a world that we believe is real?

Stephen Donaldson (perhaps unintentionally) provoked his readers to explore this question, in Lord Foul's Bane, the first book to The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. I thought Lord Foul's Bane had an interesting story, but I found it very difficult to read, because Donaldson's writing style was verbose and overly flowery. Yet, I decided to continue with reading this series, because the premise behind the story intrigued me. Furthermore, Donaldson named his fictional hero, Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. With a name like that (and what it may imply), I thought this series must contain some aspects of significance, for it to have achieved such a wholesome reputation.

At this point, I am happy to report, that I like the second book of this series, titled The Illearth War, ALOT more than Lord Foul's Bane. Today, I would like to provide a review for The Illearth War. If you have read Lord Foul's Bane but is uncertain if you would like to continue with reading this series, then feel free to read on. I hope my review will provide some useful information for your decision making.

Synopsis:

In Lord Foul's Bane, Thomas Covenant, an American man inflicted the dire disease of leprosy, was transported to a fantastic world known as the Land. He helped the Lords to retrieve the Staff of Law, an instrument to combat the evil Lord Foul. Upon the completion of the quest, Thomas Covenant woke up, and found himself returned to the “real” world. Covenant doubted the genuineness of his experience from the Land, he thought of it as an unreality, spawned from the depth of his tormented consciousness. Yet, he could not shake away those vivid memories from his mind. Nor can he ignore the overwhelming sense of responsibility and connections which he felt towards the people from the Land.

It has been a month since Covenant returned to the “real” world, Covenant has resumed his life as a leper. One night, Covenant once again found himself summoned to the Land for the second time. Upon his arrival, Covenant discovered that, 40 years has passed in the Land. During which, Lord Foul has gained possession of the Illearth stone, a source of ancient power. With this power in hand, Lord Foul marches unopposed, towards fulfilling the prophecy of doom. In their moments of helplessness, the Lords turned to Covenant once again for hope. However, Covenant lacks conviction, because he still does not believe his experience is a reality. Furthermore, Covenant is filled with self loathing and bitterness from his life as a leper. As a result, Covenant remains to be a wild card in the upcoming struggles against Lord Foul.

Will Covenant bring salvation to the Land? Or will he doom it for eternity?

What I think about this book:

In my opinion, The Illearth War is a much, much better book than Lord Foul's Bane. Perhaps I am getting used to Donaldson's writing style, but I found this book a lot easier to read than its predecessor. Whatever the reason may be, but the language in The Illearth War is not as verbose and pretentious as the one found in Lord Foul's Bane, and this book is more readable than the one before it.

This book is also structured differently compared to the previous installment, because the story in this book is narrated in the style of POV characters. The introduction of POV narration is a welcoming change, because it sheds new lights on the various characters who appeared in this book. Therefore, instead of constantly reading about Thomas Covenant's self loathing and bitterness as a leper, readers get to see the story from the perspectives of other characters in this book. More specifically, it is really interesting to see how other characters in the story viewed Thomas Covenant, i.e. how they marveled at the extent of Covenant's emotional wounds, therefore they are sympathetic towards Covenant although he continued to act like a jerk throughout the entire book.

The most intriguing aspect of this book, is the introduction of a new character called Hiles Troy, he is a major POV character in this book. In the story, Troy is like Covenant, who also (allegedly) came to the Land from the “real” world. Troy is an interesting character, because in many ways, he is what Covenant should have been, a courageous hero possessing convictions and certainty. Unlike Covenant, Troy is very sure about his beliefs, and he is unafraid of using available resources and powers for the benefit of his existing course. However, (without spoiling the story) it is for this reason that Troy is not, and can never be in the role that Thomas Covenant was meant to be in.

Thomas Covenant still occupies the spotlight in this book. I think Donaldson did an excellent job at portraying the character of Covenant. This time around, he is still the selfish, pathetic and bitter man who cowers in fear at the onset of every challenge. Yet, while I read this book, whenever I became frustrated at Covenant and despised him, I was also reminded that Covenant was a leper who tried to survive his ordeal. In fact, at several occasions, I was stunned by the extent of Covenant's emotional wounds. The wounds which he sustained from being branded as unclean, the wounds from being shunned by the people in the “real” world because he was a leper. Furthermore, Donaldson setup the plot quite well, so readers would eventually, at the moment of its revelation, grasp why Covenant's unbelief, despite being a doubled edged blade earlier in the story, is central to the story arc of this series.

At this point, I speculate the next book will probably contain the theme of power versus corruption. Meanwhile, I found The Illearth War to be a major improvement over its predecessor. I am glad that despite a somewhat frustrating experience with the first book, I hanged on and continued to read this series. I still spotted some problems found in the first book appearing in this book, such as the use of flowery language. Perhaps this is just Donaldson's default writing style, but compared to the first book, this book is more readable. Some readers may dislike this whole series, because Covenant is such a useless, whiny and pathetic creature. If this is you, then I suppose you would probably dislike this book as well. However, for those who found aspects of intrigues, in the premises behind the character of Thomas Covenant, may found this book to be an enjoyable read. As for me, I am looking forward to reading the third book, which is the final installment to The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, titled, The Power that Preserves.

Thank you for reading this book review. Until the next time, happy reading!