Runes of the Earth - The further adventures of your favourite leper

moridin

Has anyone else read it? Any thoughts / recommendations / dissapointments?

kencleary

Read it alright but I flew through it and really need to give it a re-read. Unsure at moment what I think of it really. I like it but not to the level of the First or Second Chronicles, though I found their first books to be the weakest too. I never really liked Linden Avery before but I do now even if the prologue was a bit long. The standard of writing is excellent and the imagery beautiful as usual.

***Spoilers***
The stuff with the Ranyhan and how they felt responsible for Elena was excellent. Having Foul & Covenant able to speak through Anele was a nice touch too. I'd rather there was more variety though, I think we've had too much of the ur-viles and Haruchai but then again I can't wait til they meet some more giants . The ending really sets up an interesting second volume but I saw it coming a mile off.
***End Spolers***

secret_squirrel

Finished it at the weekend - now desperately waiting for the next one - roll on xmas 2005!

Im a huge Stephen Donaldson fan - so bear in mind anything I say is really biased.

Agree with the previous poster is a fairly slow starter - very like the first books of the last 2 series.

You really get a feel for Linden Avery in this book - the fact that she seems willing to take crazy chances really cranks the tension up. Interesting cliff hanger ending too.

The Land is still possibly one of the best Fantasy worlds ever concieved - and one of the few that doesnt seem derivative of Tolkien.

I dont think this will win many new converts but if you like his previous works you'll like this - from memory its a little more accessable than the previous Thomas Covenant novels.

For me it confirms that Donaldson is still the best writer of high concept fantasy and sci-fi still writing today.

Fenster

Much as I loved the earlier books, he really annoyed me about "oh how much she loved Covenant this and loved Covenant that" and really patronised the reader in the first half of the book.

There's a recap of the previous books at the start-why the need to beat the plot of the original works into us in your new one?

Sorry, but this ruined the book for me. I hate Feist, Jordan and Clarke for this reason. Don't patronise your readers! :mad:

secret_squirrel

A recap seemed perfectly ok to me - what else could they do - short of insert a flyer for the first two series?

I think the love bit is deliberate - its was a bit too low key in the 2nd chrons tbh. Also I think its setting the scene - she's basically been pining for a dead man for the last ten years - Im sure Jeremiah's resemblance to Tom isnt a coincidence either. I think theres nice few emotional rollercoasters coming in the second book. You know how much SD likes to torment his hero's and heroines - I think Linden has had it easy so far.....
Mid series/trilogy is usually where he gets the thumbscrews out.

moridin

Fenster wrote:

There's a recap of the previous books at the start-why the need to beat the plot of the original works into us in your new one?

Sorry, but this ruined the book for me. I hate Feist, Jordan and Clarke for this reason. Don't patronise your readers! :mad:

I didn't find it patronising, in fact I found that it was quite useful to have a refresher on the previous six books before starting into this one. Couple of reasons for it, but mainly:

• for those readers who haven't read the first and second chronicles lately
• for those readers who haven't read the first and second chronicles at all!

You've got to consider that it is a very nice looking book, and will attract first-timers to the land to buying it. Also, if you don't know what's gone before you won't realise why linden is acting the way she is and the significance of some of the changes to the Land.

I'd agree with the others by the way, the book starts off slow (much like the other two early books), but seems to be picking up steam... I'm looking forward to the second

Sooner or Later

As a fan of the first two trilogies I was curious as to how he would carry off a new set of books given how the last one ended. I was pleasently surprised by Runes. But I hated how Linden kept going on and on about how much she loved her son. I get the point. Does it have to be mentioned in every single paragraph?

Seriously irritating.

moridin

But... she loves him... as only a woman who took in a crazy tool of Lord Foul can.