Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

The long-awaited sequel to The Runes of the Earth returns readers to the Land-and opens with the reunion of Linden Avery and Thomas Covenant! Linden Avery, who loved Thomas Covenant and watched him die, has returned to the Land in search of her kidnapped son, Jeremiah. As Fatal Revenant begins, Linden watches from the battlements of Revelstone when the impossible happens-riding ahead of the hordes attacking Revelstone are Jeremiah and Covenant himself, apparently very much alive.Here in the Land, Jeremiah is healed of the mental condition that had kept him mute and unresponsive for so many years. He is full of life, and devoted to Covenant. But Covenant is strangely changed. Sarcastic and bragging, he no longer seems like the man whom Linden adored. And yet he says he has a plan: he will take her and Jeremiah to a place where they can find a pure source of Earthpower and, after he has achieved his own purposes, Linden will be free to use that great power to go home, to take Jeremiah home, or to do anything else she sees fit. Even though she distrusts the seemingly different man he has now become, how can she make any choice except to follow him? Their journey will cover unimaginable distances through the Land-even through time itself-and will test Linden's courage again and again. In the end, fulfilling her destiny will call for a terrible leap of faith: Can she give up everything she thought had been restored to her, for the sake of the Land?

My God, what a slog this was. I think it took about 18 months to get through. It kind of felt like a book I knew I should read and was making myself read but finding it a chore, a bit like reading Russian lit at university – fantastic books but a real slog at times. Yes, I read War and Peace.

I love the first and second chronicles, particularly the second. In fact love might not be a strong enough word for the second chronicles. There's barely a day goes past that I don't find myself thinking of the Sunbane. Hellfire! Even my website is sunbane.com. I'm not a Linden hater - I know there are many of you out there, but I'm not one. I find her inner struggles to be quite relatable. Not sure what that says about me, but there you have it. She struggles with self esteem and self confidence and is acting out of love. She herself is a bit of an ‘unbeliever' - Covenant didn't believe in the land so felt he could act with impunity; Linden doesn't believe in herself, despite her earlier achievements in the second chronicles. But now there's love of a child and that's her motivation for seeing her decisions through, even though she's not sure that they are the right ones.

Is the decision she saw through at the end the right one? I really don't know, but it's sure going to make for an interesting book 3.

I love the history that we get in this novel – I wonder how much of it was already in Donaldson's head during the writing of the previous books. Did he always plan this story right through I wonder? I guess some of you might know. Let me know if you do.

I put the book down for months and months and picked it up again right as the giants appeared, then battered through to the end. I don't know if it was the story that drew me in and hooked me on the last 100 pages, or maybe it was just my state of mind, that I was ready for the book where I hadn't been before. I don't know.

I did actually groan a bit when the giants appeared. Like ‘Really? You're bringing giants in at a seemingly random point?'. It felt a bit like - ‘I know. Lets put some giants into the story right here cos giants are awesome'. And yes; giants ARE awesome. So I got over that and started to enjoy them, even though some of the names are pretty ridiculous.

And talking of ridiculous – that vocabulary. Seriously. That's the worst thing about these books. Some of the words aren't even in the Kindle dictionary and some that are I find myself looking up again and again because I just can't get my head round them. There really is no need for it. I read and loved the Gap series without a dictionary. I looked up only a few words in Mordant's Need and the other one - demesne being one that I recall. But this? Mansuetude? I mean come on. That's just silly.

So - history - yes.
Story - kinda.
Editing - nope; Too long.
Vocab - ridiculous.
Plot - okay.
Giants - awesome.

Will I continue? Naturally. I'm expecting another slog, but a worthwhile one. Maybe not as worthwhile as Les Miserables, but worthwhile nevertheless.

One can never be sure, one can never be certain, but one must decide and act anyway.

It is hard to imagine a writer of fiction who struggles more authentically and helpfully with the crises of being human better than Donaldson. I am so glad I decided to continue reading the Last Chronicles. I was nervous, thinking “How can he improve upon perfection?” but he has not disappointed.