Bummed

Got an email from Stephen R. Donaldson a few weeks ago, replying to a question sent to his Gradual Interview page on his site; he let me know that his touring schedule in the UK will mean he isn't coming to this year's World Fantasy Convention.

I'm bumming.

Not just that I was looking forward to hearing him read a bit from Fatal Revenant, the new Covenant book, or that I wanted another autograph (he's signed my first edition Covenant books and Runes of the Earth for me... I think).

No, it's mostly that I was looking forward to saying "thanks!" for returning to the Land and Covenant. It took me two or three times to dig into Lord Foul's Bane. I was a dedicated Tolkienite; Donaldson's work threw me hard, being the first epic fantasy I'd read that didn't derive a lot of its... well, everything from Tolkien. It went to new places. The dynamic wasn't good vs evil, it was health vs illness; wow, not even a "near hit" like Moorcock's Law/Chaos! It was an entirely new paradigm.

And frankly, Covenant was a bastard. That threw me hardest of all. How many people had trouble getting past page 81 (IIRC) in LFB? I did. The fact that he was a suffering bastard and his arc was about redemption was tough going for my 13-year old brain.

Now here I am, 30 years later, and my wife and I have white gold wedding rings because of SRD. He heard about that, too, at WFC in Madison back in '05. He got a laugh out of it and said, "Don't blame me if something happens!"

Well, I won't see him this time around but I hope he'll be at whatever future WFC we go to-- you have to say thanks when you have the chance, you know?

What am I reading now? And can I stop reading yet?

Well, finished reading/reviewing FATAL REVENANT by Stephen R. Donaldson and read THE UNNATURAL INQUIRER by Simon R. Green (lots of "R" middle names in what I'm seeing, huh?), which isn't due until January. And read BLOODLINE by F. Paul Wilson for review (have to write that one soon, even though Paul doesn't have an "R" initial).

For some reason, September was a very heavy review month for me. I was signed up for about seven or eight books and thought about taking on one or two more just 'cause (like Tony diTerlizzi and Holly Black's new Spiderwick book). Upshot: no writing time for Drew lately. Not for my own stuff, anyway.

That's why I'm basically passing on new things for November's SFRevu. Probably in December or January I'll pick up again but for right now...

Review Preview: Fatal Revenant (Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) by Stephen R. Donaldson

Linden Avery is not having a good time. Her adopted son Jeremiah has been kidnapped by Roger Covenant, the sinister son of her long-dead friend Thomas Covenant; he's also managed to kidnap his psychotic mother Joan. Shot down in a blaze of glory, all four have ended up in The Land, a fantastic place where Linden helped triumph over the powers of evil many years ago.

The Land is a mess. It's thousands of years after Linden's last visit and things have gone downhill--steeply downhill. The Haruchai who once served the Lords (scholars and defenders of the Earthpower and the Land itself) now call themselves the Masters and forbid teaching any of the lore that the Lords knew; all use of Earthpower is considered dangerous and ruthlessly suppressed as well. A haze called Kevin's Dirt even steals the "health sense" that all natives of the Land once took for granted. And the white gold possessed by Joan Covenant is spewing out wild magic, creating caesures (temporal cyclones) that destroy everything in their path.

To make things worse, Lord Foul is making another bid to break the Arch of Time and escape imprisonment. With Jeremiah in his power, he may actually be able to do it this time.

That's what happened in the last book.

In Fatal Revenant, Stephen R. Donaldson kicks the story into high gear. Linden has recovered the Staff of Law she created at the end of the Second Chronicles, just in time for Covenant and Jeremiah to catch up with them at Revelstone (the ancient home of the Lords of the Land). But Covenant is not the way she remembers him; he is cold, even cruel, and commands her not to touch him or Jeremiah lest she break the fragile magic keeping them substantial and present to her.

They induce her to follow them on a dangerous expedition, where Linden gains some understanding at a terrible price--and conceives a terrible purpose. Although she encounters figures from the Land's ancient past and learns much about the Land's history, this knowledge does not answer her most urgent needs. Instead, she sets out to reach the Hills of Andelain, where she hopes to find her answers... as well as an object that will let her master two antithetical magics at once. But what will she do with that much power? Can her friends and allies trust her, or will her choices damn the Land once and for all?

Donaldson sets the stakes higher in this part of the Last Chronicles, a four-part series which wraps up the story of Thomas Covenant. Linden takes a dark turn, with heartbreak and anguish conspiring to break her will, not to mention the array of enemies and obstacles in her path. From an insane Elohim (something like an archangel) named Kastenessen to a treacherous ally named Esmer to the suspicion of the Masters to a murderous Giant to... well, the list goes on and on, but Linden has far more enemies than allies this time around. And that isn't even mentioning the Insequent, a magical and enigmatic people who confound the Elohim and have their own designs on the Land.

The language used may daunt readers, in that Donaldson brings heavy-duty vocabulary into play here; the result is that some points of the story feel particularly opaque, leaving the reader in the dark as to characters' situation. This isn't a negative, but rather a characteristic of Donaldson's work (especially in writing Covenant). Anyone who can't ace the SAT after reading these books isn't trying hard enough.

Does it measure up to a trilogy that's become a fantasy landmark (no pun intended)? It sure does. Though perhaps not ideal for casual "skimmers" of fantasy, those who enjoy seeing issues of deep philosophy interwoven with magic and strange creatures will find much to love.

Read my full review October 1 on the SFRevu website! And go here to buy Fatal Revenant on Amazon.