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The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson

"Find Me." When Linden Avery, the protagonist of The Runes of the Earth, is in between our world and the realm of The Land, she hears what might be the voice of Thomas Covenant: "Find Me", he says. It could be the character calling to the writer as he finds his way back into the world he created so many years ago -- mostly succesfully, but with a few stumbles along the way.

It is ten years after the events in White Gold Wielder have drawn the second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever to a close. Or perhaps it is thousands of years; the dual chronology of the system of worlds used in Donaldson's masterful yet strained fantasy epic is only distracting, not confusing. Drawn to the land along with Joan and Roger Covenant, the son and ex-wife of the late Thomas Covenant, Linden is set on a quest for the Staff of the Law. The staff is a geegaw that can heal ruptures in the fabric of The Land, and it is needed. The Bloodguard, formerly the Land's most faithful protectors, have become its overlords, policemen, and censors. And there is a force at large preventing anyone from seeing the extent of the damage this has inflicted.

Much of the writing in the Thomas Covenant books has always been filled with cliches in the making, strained analogies, and hopeless similes. The Runes of the Earth is no exception, right down to the title. However. The power of Mr. Donaldson's writing is such that this book sucks you in completely. Even as I was noting how trite a particular turn of phrase or dialogue was, the same words still moved me.

Some characters -- Linden's son Jeremiah, the Covenants (Mother and Son), and Liand the Stonedowner leap to mind -- obviously have their more significant moments to come in future books, but for now the scraps we've gotten are sufficient. More immediately intimate characters such as the madman Anele and the bloodguard Stave are drawn out primarily in strokes of tension and misunderstanding, a trademark of the author. However, as wonderful as these players are, the character of Linden Avery is stretched almost to breaking. I find it difficult to believe that the self-assured woman we grew to like in the previous three books would be so filled with self-doubt, so quick to tearful emotion. Perhaps Mr. Donaldson will enlighten us further, but this remains to me the largest flaw in this story.

Does this book stand on its own? I sincerely doubt it. Its cliffhanger ending all but ensures that readers will have to continue buying the series. And the central message of the series, that of hope in the bastion of free will within the paradox of civilization, is still unresolved. The author attempts to encapsulate some of what has gone before in both a summary before the story starts, and in an introductory frame that allows us to catch many glimpses of the past. Yet this doesn't succeed entirely; the book is slow to start, and indeed in places feels like it could have used a good editing job. It does get better as it goes along, leading the reader to the hope that future volumes will be tighter, more controlled, and less prone to vast conflagrations of straining similes.

The first book of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is, despite its flaws, very good. If you've enjoyed the previous books, you'll like The Runes of the Earth very much. I found it to be very enjoyable, in some ways more mature, yet obviously dealing with difficult concepts and characters. Reccomended to readers of the series.

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