Rating: 
Summary: captivating high fantasy
Review: This is a phenomenal book. Full of action, dialogue, as well as inner monologue. This is heavy reading and not for the faint of heart. Well worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Epic, original, creative, masterful storytelling
Review: This is Donaldson's best book -- the best of the Covenant series and better than any other fantasy written in the past 20 years. It's that good. Continuing the story from Lord Foul's Bane, the reluctant anti-hero leper Thomas Covenant returns to the mysterious Land, where he is again called upon to save it even as he must deny its existence to try and maintain his sanity. Of course, there is the added twist that he doesn't even know how to use the awesome power of the white gold wedding band at his wrist, even if he wanted to. Meanwhile, in the "real world," life is getting even tougher for Covenant. The forces of evil are at work in both worlds, with a titanic war splitting the Land and threatening to destroy it utterly. It's rare these days for a fantasy to be truly fantastic. Too often, hacks like David Eddings or Terry Brooks simply recycle plots from their earlier days and write hack and slash 'em pulp novels that are read one day and mind-flushed the next.Donaldson's novels sear themselves into your brain, so that you remember them for years, decades after you last read them. The characters -- Foamfollower, the Bloodguard, Lord Mhoram, Lena -- each is deep and rich with emotional scars and a quiet strength and courage. Covenant in comparison can't help but appear bad, yet somehow, through his travels in the Land, he slowly, slowly manages to find his humanity again that had been stripped away by leprosy and VSE. If you haven't read the Covenant series, do yourself a favor and go read Lord Foul's Bane, then the Illearth War and the rest of the books. They are the treasure of modern fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: My favourite book/series.
Review: This is my favourite book/series. It's not your normal fantasy as it's quite dark and doesn't follow the standard formula that most fantasy books do nowadays.
Rating:
Summary: Review of The Illearth War
Review: This is one great book filled with complex characters,very beautiful settings, and a great plot. I highly recommend this book to all the fans of the fantasy genre. Just Remember to read Lord Foul's Bane first.
Rating:
Summary: One for the collection...
Review: This is one of those fantasy fiction novels that is read and reread and loved by many. It is a new-age fantasy fiction novel--the antithesis to the enjoyable, but repetitive, sword-and-sorcery novels, such as Conan and Lankhmar. This book deals more with the politics and thought than the blood and gore. Anyways, READ IT...it will be classic fantasy...as much as the Lord of the Rings is.
Rating:
Summary: I think this is the greatest trilogy ever written.
Review: This is the second book in a series of books about Thomas Covenant. This book picks up where the last book left off, seamlessly they are blended together leaving no room to skip a book. In this book Thomas travels back to the mystical land to aid in another battle against the evil that is coming upon the land. This book is a bit more distressing than the previous one, in that the characters are a bit more somber. But don't let that make you turn away, this is book two, and it sets everything up for book three, the best in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Illearth War
Review: This is the second book of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series by mind-over-matter author Stephen R. Donaldson. This book is wonderous. The synergy between characters and the sometimes animosity makes a for a great read. The descriptive nature, the verdurous veritas of setting makes this book a playground of the imagination. If you've read Lord Foul's Bane, you are bound to read this one. First-rate piece.
Rating:
Summary: and they thought they were in trouble before
Review: this plot can be divided into two: 1) the general war between the "nice" and the "bad" (where D. shows that he can also describe tactics and war) 2) Covenant's travel (it's written more or less from his point of view. there is a quest for a solution to defeat the enemy). sound unoriginal, doesn't it? well, it's not. D has a way of writing, a way of developing a plot, a psychological angle, and particulaly a way of describing and building up the event, that makes his books refreshing and very original.
Rating:
Summary: and they thought they were in trouble before
Review: this plot can be divided into two: 1) the general war between the "nice" and the "bad" (where D. shows that he can also describe tactics and war) 2) Covenant's travel (it's written more or less from his point of view. there is a quest for a solution to defeat the enemy). sound unoriginal, doesn't it? well, it's not. D has a way of writing, a way of developing a plot, a psychological angle, and particulaly a way of describing and building up the event, that makes his books refreshing and very original.
Rating:
Summary: Unparalleled characterisation and truly epic fantasy...
Review: This story continues immediately after Thomas Covenant's return to the "real" world after the events of Lord Foul's Bane. His guilt and self-torment due to his shortcomings (both percieved and real) and crimes committed during his adventures in the Land is only magnified when, after a couple of weeks, he is again inexplicably returned to the Land, where forty years have passed. Once again, the Land is facing a crisis in the war against Lord Foul, and the Lords have summoned Covenant to the Land to try to convince him to use his wild magic to aid them. Covenant is, again tormented by the fact that he believes the Land to be nothing more than an escape from reality for his wounded and grieving mind and spirit. He cannot accept that the Land may be real and deserving of his aid. He knows that he will eventually have to "wake up", and if he gives in to his dreams, his existence defined by loneliness and leprosy will be unbearable. Stephen R. Donaldson, once again, does a magnificent job of creating a lush, wondrous world peopled with unforgettable characters. The most interesting character in the book is Hile Troy, a blind man from the "real" world who, through his uncanny tactical skill and leadership, has risen to command the Warward, the army of the Lords. Unlike Covenant, Troy has accepted the Land as reality and is striving to aid the Land to the best of his ability. Troy considers Covenant a coward because of his reluctance to aid the Land. But Troy can no more comprehend Covenant's inner conflict any more than the native people of the Land. There are many other well-drawn characters introduced here, including High Lord Elena, Lords Hyrim and Verement, and the inscrutable and mysterious Amok. Also, more flesh is added to the characters of Bannor of the Bloodguard and Lord Mhoram, returning characters from the first book. It's tough to talk about the plot too much without risking revealing too much to those who have not read it. But this book is a much more complex plot than the fairly straightforward quest in the first book. The different subplots of the military conflict between the Warward and Lord Foul's army and High Lord Elena's (and Covenant's) quest to gain new power to fight Lord Foul are both compelling and well-written. But, perhaps the most gripping part of the book are the two chapters dealing with the efforts of the Lords to give aid to the Giants, who have mysteriously dropped out of sight just when the Land needs their aid the most. This book is both a continuation of and an improvement on the story told in Lord Foul's Bane. It's just as full of obscure words, though, which does make the reading of it a little difficult. Donaldson is truly a master of epic fantasy.
|
