The Last Dark

August 26, 2013
The long-awaited 10th and concluding episode in Donaldson’s sprawling epic of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (after Against All Things Ending) opens with Thomas gravely injured but cured of the malady of mind that had impeded his ability to save the Land. In the meantime, the Worm of the World’s End and She Who Must Not Be Named have both been roused, and “the last crisis of Earth” is at hand. By the novel’s end, Thomas, his wife, and her son will all have made extraordinary sacrifices to rebuild and redeem the Earth, following the collapse of the Arch of Time and the liberation of Lord Foul the Despiser. Although richly allegorical, the novel’s great strength is the warm humanity of its characters, who distinguish themselves by repeatedly confronting and overcoming their personal frailties. Donaldson’s fans will find this a fitting finale 36 years in the making. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

November 1, 2013
The Thomas Covenant series comes to a lumbering halt after four decades. Donaldson (Against All Things Ending, 2010, etc.) opened the 10-book series in 1977 with Lord Foul's Bane, Lord Foul being, as his name suggests, a decidedly not-nice fellow whose job it is to bring misery to the Earth and The Land, the latter a place that exists if you click your heels together three times or otherwise believe. Like so many fantasy series of the era, Donaldson's labors under the heavy shadow of J.R.R. Tolkien, and at times, it reads like a lost million or so words from the Lord of the Rings as filtered through H.P. Lovecraft, who never met an eldritch sentence he didn't like. And Donaldson's series and this last book are as eldritch as they come, populated by the likes of magic-shunning warriors called Haruchai; horsemen, and not Japanese noodle makers, called Ramen; and Ravers, not MDMA-partaking hipsters but very, very unpleasant evil spirits whose nastiness is tempered only by the will of old Lord Foul himself. Thomas Covenant is an unusual hero to the extent that he's not really very likable, though he's got an interesting CV, including having survived a fearful bout of leprosy and every demon The Land could throw at him. Donaldson brings this tale to a close with an epic showdown between Lord Foul and Covenant, and it moves from Tolkien Lite to Tolkien Heavy: "Barnl...passed Bluntfist and Stonemage, drifted like a shadow among the Cavewights. With the rippled edges of his longsword, he seemed to reap creatures all around him. Howls became shrieks. Bodies fell." It's the standard good-versus-evil yarn, save that if evil is always evil, good is not always good. It goes without saying that a reader who enters the series without the benefit of the preceding volumes will be utterly lost. Definitively of a piece with what has come before; if you're a fan of Donaldson, this is indispensable. If not, of course, not.

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October 1, 2013
After 35 years and nine previous installments, Donaldson wraps up the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Epic in scope, this fantasy series ends with an electrifying bang as sometime partners Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery, two tortured souls on a desperate mission to save the alternate world known as the Land, are reunited. Discovering that the power they wield together may be strong enough to defeat the Worm of the World's End, they continue on their quest as the action ratchets up to an appropriately explosive climax. Readers who have faithfully followed the exploits of Covenant and company may be sad, but they will not be disappointed as this masterful, mystical fantasy series concludes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2013

Donaldson wraps up his epic ten-part fantasy series, begun in 1977 with Lord Foul's Bane. Here, Thomas Covenant is united with Linden Avery and Linden's son, Jeremiah, but the Worm of the World's End is making things look bleak indeed.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2013

Reborn through the extraordinary sacrifice of Linden Avery, Thomas Covenant returns to the Land for one last time. Fortified by the company of Linden, her newly awakened autistic adopted son Jonathan, his beloved giants, and the gallant steeds of the Ranyhyn, Thomas sets out to confront the would-be destroyers of the land, including his rebellious son Roger, She Who Must Not Be Named, and, finally, Lord Foul himself. VERDICT The tenth and final volume featuring Thomas Covenant provides a satisfying wrap-up to an opus that began in 1977 with Lord Foul's Bain and has garnered millions of fans. Donaldson's landmark historical fantasy series marks a milestone of epic storytelling and deserves the widest audience. [See Prepub Alert, 4/15/13.]

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.