The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Book 4 - The Last Dark

I have followed all the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant with great interest. Stephen R. Donaldson is a very literate writer; one of the things I have heard of him is that he is a perfectionist in his writing, wanting to make sure every detail fits. It shows. The storylines hang together, and there are few inconsistencies visible to the naked eye. The Land is magical, and the people in it are vivid - sometimes (and often) more real than the real world outside of Covenant's dreams. The Last Dark is a fitting end to the Covenant saga, where Donaldson ties up the loose ends with a surprising revelation that feels right: The world is rarely good versus evil, but about blending the light and dark into the vivid colors that comprise Life. And ultimately, that is the choice that Covenant, Linden, and even Covenant's son face. Do we fight or give up? What is right and wrong? What are the choices we have? Life or a range of decisions that lead to something less?

Great ending to very long running series! I firmly believe that all of the Thomas Covenant Series are the best fantasy novels...beginning with Lord Foul's Bane which was written many years ago and ending the series with The Last Dark.

This ending did manage to have some surprises and exciting plot twists, but overall was less satisfying than I desired as often the characters' accomplishments seemed to be just one more event in a plotline rather than truly earned.

Enjoyed the ending of the Thomas Covenant saga - and it was all that I could have hoped for in terms of the manner in which the arc was resolved. Felt perhaps a bit rushed at the ending (without giving anything away about it) but in all a good ending to a tale I have been reading for three decades,

I began my journey with the white-gold wielder over 20 years ago and have finally managed the courage to see its conclusion. I will miss these adventures and believe this last novel touched upon the very best aspects of a human story. Thank you for the land and the love of the land.

I began my journey with the white-gold wielder over 20 years ago and have finally managed the courage to see its conclusion. I will miss these adventures and believe this last novel touched upon the very best aspects of a human story. Thank you for the land and the love of the land.

Thirty plus years ago, my supervisor gave me the first book of this epic series. It was so enthralling and well written that it launched me into reading many more novels in this genre. Although my bent in reading is varied, Stephen Doanldson remains one of the premier authors of the modern novels. This book concludes, I believe, the second best fantasy series ever written behind Tolkein. The characters, theme, plot and actual writing are so well developed that for one of the few times in my readings I am actually sad that all is over. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is a must read for any and all.

Like many of fans of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, I was first introduced to the series a long, long time ago. 1980 I believe. I was/am a huge fan. Having said that, it pains me to say that for me the series has been trending downward from the incredible standard Donaldson set in the first trilogy. I enjoyed the 2nd Chronicles but not nearly as much as the first. A large part of that was the introduction of Linda Avery. Also like a lot of other folks, I have never been much of a fan of her character. One very conflicted protagonist is enough. I truly though the story was over after the 2nd Chronicles. The first I knew of the final Chronicles was stumbling across the ROTE. At first, I was very excited, then I started thinking about whether Covenant would be part of the story. He had to be right...?

So I dove in, and sure enough, the first 2 books of the final trilogy were less than satisfying for me due to Covenant's absence. I don't believe it's a spoiler to confirm that he does show up in the 3rd book. To some extent anyway.
Well in the final book he is back and while there are still some things I wished Donaldson did differently, he does deliver big time with some major themes. Covenant is real and an active participant in the defense of the Land, not just watching Linda Avery do it all. That alone makes a big difference. And one unexpected development for me was that Linda Avery is more likable by the end of the story than she had been at any point in the first 6 books.
If you are a fan of the series you will not be disappointed in this book.

For me it was a strange experience. As I said, I totally enjoyed the story. How it wraps up has me a bit conflicted. Donaldson has never had any use for fairy tale endings and while I won't say he went that far, this is probably as close as he would ever get. I doubt he could continue the story even if he wanted to, based on where he left it. I won't say more for fear of revealing any important details. Foul's fate was handled too quickly and needed more explanation. Also, the lack of the Creator and a final explanation or show of appreciation on his part was definitely missed. My guess is that there was some serious chopping was done to the end of the book.

Thank you to Stephen R. Donaldson for doing justice to his finale. I hope it receives the attention it deserves.

Donaldson is one of my favorite writers of all time and Last Chronicles was worth the wait -- and I'm sure I was the last person to finish reading this quadrilogy. The Thomas Covenant books are an amazing read and I waited till Last Chroniciles was finished before re-reading the entire series. The books lined up on my shelf one after the other waiting. Okay, wow that took a while for Donaldson to finish and then another for me to re-read the whole 10+ book saga. (the plus is for the short story that's part of the continuity) What a joy. Again.
Anyway; loved the series and specifically loved this book. It really fulfills the promises laid out for each character. My only complaint is that at the climax of the book when I wanted to understand so much more of what was happening to our heroes and the Land there was a weird sense that I'd skipped over a chapter. Maybe I was so spoiled by Donaldson's expansive breadth of detail in every other nook and cranny of this story I felt like we breezed through the climactic moment so severely that I want to buy the director's cut to find out what the publisher must have trimmed or lost. Did he mean for it to end so abruptly or is that just my selfish projections after having invested so much interest in the story. maybe I just wanted a little more than Donaldson had to tell me.

Donaldson's writing is excellent. The story brought together many of the themes from the previous series. Its a bit hard to keep up with all the different characters that show up, and new ones were introduced even late in the book. Regardless, I plan to read the entire series all at once now that I don't have to wait for each book. Not quit as good as Tolken, but still great.

A completely satisfying ending to the Thomas Covenant series. These books are so unbelievably complex that one can't really describe them in a short review. If you haven't read the other books, don't pick up this one until you have. Thomas Covenant's gradual and remarkable transformation cannot be appreciated otherwise, and nothing in the book will really make sense. When I read the first book (Lord Foul's Bane) I was appalled, first at Covenant's extreme antisocial personality, and at the fact that major characters died, often in graphically brutal ways. I'd never read anything like that before. I was also offended at Donaldson's use of Hindu divinities' names as appellations for Lord Foul's worst servants, the Ravers. As I stuck with the series, my understanding of the whole picture grew, and I began to appreciate it more and more.

A word about Donaldson's writing - his vocabulary is so astounding that you really need a good dictionary by your side when you read his books. I used to pride myself on my vocabulary until I read this series. If one is conversant with Eastern religions, it helps in understanding much of his body of work, not specifically the TC series. Transpersonal psychology also helps. I feel he is without compare.

Unlike the preceding volume, the first 100 pages of which were a bit of a chore to get through, this one moved a long at a much snappier pace. The introduction of Jeremiah as a point of view did wonders--the issues and doubts each of the protagonists went through really worked for me this time and I finally saw some point in the endless psychological navel-gazing that had gone on earlier in the series and found myself (finally!) caring about Linden Avery for the first time in a couple of books.

I also think his writing in regards to the characters and themes have improved vastly as the series has progressed over the last several decades. (Although some of the fight scenes seemed a bit computer-game-ish to me.)

Nocked it a star, though for the ending which was a bit unsatisfying. On the other hand, the main point is the journey, catharsis and salvation of the main characters' tortured souls, I get that: but it all seemed a bit too pat and perfect, as if it was ending another fantasy series rather than one of the darkest ones written. As all of the books in the Last Chronicles, recommended for fans who have read the others...

Donaldson's first two Covenant trilogies were masterworks. He could have stopped with White Gold Wielder and the volumes would rank up there with the great fantasy of the age. Unfortunately, there seems to be a Peter Principle effect in fantasy publishing, by which authors continue to expand their universes up until the point at which they ruin them.

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*SPOILERS BEGIN HERE*
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From Runes Of The Earth through Against All Things Ending, I kept reading a story that was well-narrated but had a fairly incoherent plot, reading on in hope that Donaldson would pull it all together in The Last Dark. In Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant, Donaldson builds up a dizzying array of characters, many of whom either have no particular impact on the plot (e.g. Liand, The Harrow) or serve among the multitude of blatant deus-ex-machina who zap in and magic up Ur-Viles/the Illearth Stone/caesures/a fake Thomas Covenant (e.g. Roger, Esmer, Kastennessen) whenever the plot demands it.

Donaldson seems to recognize his mistake in Against All Things Ending, and begins methodically killing the superfluous characters off (I had particular hope for the story when he killed off Esmer, whose power and sheer randomness made everything arbitrary). Unfortunately, he does this in the quickest possible way - which often involves the actions of more deux-ex-machina (Roger, cavewights, sandgorgons, skurj, or ur-viles zapping in and impaling people), adding to the general incoherence of the plot.

But that is all What Has Come Before. Now we're done culling out all of the superfluous elements of the first three books and ready to get down to some real storytelling, right? The Worm is coming to The Land, the sun has failed to dawn, and the world has mere days left before the arch of time crumbles.

And the plot does advance, but again, it's all through deux-ex-machina. Covenant can't catch up with a raver - poof, he discovers how to Travel using his ring. Linden can't find the means to learn forbidding - poof, she goes back in time and Mahrtiir ("martyr") sacrifices himself to become a new forestal. This is great for transforming a character who was somewhat superfluous into a plot-driver - unfortunately, even as a forestal, Mahrtiir is still superfluous, with only a very minor impact on the plot.

As the book approaches its ending, things start to get plain ridiculous. The company just decides at some point to forget about the Worm and let the Arch fall; they want to go after Lord Foul instead. In the process, the company starts running out of giants, so Donaldson just whips up a new boatload of them - but by that point, there isn't enough time left in the story to start to empathize with them, so the emotional response is pretty flat when the cavewights again zap in out of nowhere and start impaling them.

So they reach Foul. Covenant looks like he might lose despite wielding the transcendent white gold with which he already beat Foul once, until She Who Must Not Be Named (why not?) comes out of nowhere and literally smacks Foul down with a huge God hand from the sky. This was vaguely satisfying for some reason, but a quite literal deus-ex-machina to top them all. Foul's taken care of, but the Worm can't be stopped, and the Arch of Time crumbles.

At this point, I had a strong expectation of what would happen which I had been harboring for the duration of the series: Covenant and the creator do battle with Foul outside of the arch, Foul is suppressed by/absorbed into the Creator (who can now touch the world, the arch having already been shattered), and a new arch free of Despite is fashioned.

That is *sort of* what happens. I say sort of because there is *no account whatsoever* of how the arch is restored. One moment it crumbles, and then we skip straight to the epilogue, set in a restored Land, where it's revealed that this is no biggie - Linden, Covenant, Jeremiah, et al. just magic themselves a new arch, somehow. We're told that everyone who was alive is still alive. *THIS INVALIDATES THE ENTIRE BOOK*, and is the most disappointing deus-ex-machina of all - if the characters can just magic up a new arch without consequence or even explanation, the Worm was never a threat and the series could have ended with Covenant's resurrection at the end of Fatal Revenant.

The characters are all beckoned by a random new Insequent (was this supposed to be someone familiar?) and disappear behind a rainbow (recalling the story of the Wounded Rainbow from the First Chronicles), saying they need a rest. And then that's it - it just ends there.

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*SPOILERS END HERE*
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I read through the Last Chronicles because I so dearly loved the first two, and because I had secretly hoped Donaldson would be able to turn it all around and deliver a great conclusion in this last novel. However, I found the plot and characters too incoherent to make the story engaging. I'd advise readers who are less driven to "see what happens" by the way Donaldson's writing was at its peak to just stop at White Gold Wielder. Your memories of The Land will be fonder if you do so.

After many years of following the adventures of Thomas Covenant and his band of heroes, this book provides a fitting end. It is epic in scope and grandeur, worthy of the long journey, but still personal and true to its roots from so many years ago. There is great action in this book, as well as great sadness, and while the ultimate triumph may not be what we expected or desired it is mostly satisfying and gives some measure of peace to both the readers and the characters we have loved and loathed for so many years and pages. I look forward to more tales from Stephen R. Donaldson, and even more set in THE LAND. Despite this book being the Last Chronicles of TC, there is undoubtedly more to the story. I anxiously await that "more", but even if it never comes I leave this saga forever grateful for some of the best writing (dare I say, "poetry") and storytelling I have ever encountered. Thank you, Mr. Donaldson, for a tale well told. "Joy is in the eyes that read!"

I think, expectations build, the longer it is the better chance we have to be disappointed. I read some reviews, before I purchased my 1st ebook on a new Kindle. So maybe I was expecting worst case. It wasn't his best ending but his writing is still the same. I love his style.

The story was excellent as always... it just became an issue of how could the conflict be resolved this time. And I couldn't see any way to top the previous resolutions to the conflict in earlier trilogies and, for me it wasn't a "more exciting" resolution. But, very good.

Having read all three chronicles and enjoyed every written word, I am going to miss visiting the Land and all it's wonderful characters, both good and bad. In particular I will miss giants and haruchai. From banner of the blood guard to stave of the masters, they have been the hero's of the hour.

I started reading about Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever way back in the day....remember Lord Foul's Bane? And this ending to a 9 book series (is it 9 or is it 12?) Wow! The ups and downs that Stephen R. Donaldson puts us through are most enjoyable. It's a shame to see Thomas Covenant "go off into the sunset" if you will.
I guess I'll just have to pick up my old copy (original hardback) of Lord Foul's Bane and start all over again, and revisit some old friends!
See you Bannor of the Bloodguard!

What a powerful finale to this series. This final book was almost a complete contrast in writing style and pace to the predecessors in the final series. Where the previous books had built on the dark and ever growing likelihood of desolation and despairs and in that sense was a mire of information and painting of the characters frailties and conflicts here there was almost a tangible change in the tone of the writing, a quickening of pace that pulls you into the story more and more, racing and growing towards its impending climax. At times offering hope but then reminding one that surely the ending has already been revealed right from the start and we are just tracing out the path that leads to it, here there can be no hope for our heroes or the Land? Literally, this story can leave one breathless. Each time I would put it down I felt it impossible to escape reviewing what I had just read, over and over, eking out everything from it which I could. And was the ending inevitable? Let's not say what happens but once again, twists and turns and outcomes never imagined all get drawn together as the remaining pages dwindled and led to that final showdown. It was a surprise to even have the Last Chronicles and the ending was just as surprising and challenging. Donaldson does not disappoint in the slightest (other than that this is the end) and to not have a lump in one's throat by the end of this book is a tough challenge.

I've read the Thomas Covenant Chronicles for seemingly endless years…and that's how this book felt: seemingly endless. Specifically, the constant self-recriminations, guilt and angst of the main characters gets old. The ways in which Linden Avery and Jeremiah face their "greatest fear" and integrate all their past experiences were satisfying to me. Covenant's completion left me wanting. Although, sometimes the biggest problem has a very simple, if cliched, answer. I read and enjoyed all the books but I was getting tired and just wanted it to end. I think all the characters in the book felt the same way.

The book suffers from all "long overdue" conclusions - the ending is too "nice". I started reading the books over 20 years ago and always felt that this was the ultimate fantasy series, so was slightly disapointed with the final book.

OK, I must preface this with the statement that I think the Covenant series is second only to LOTR, so I am slightly biased.
After having read the original dual trilogies at least four times, I intentionally waited until all four of the tetralogy books were completed before reading them, and binged by reading all 10 back to back in one giant daily reading fest. I can only saw AWESOME!
If you like Covenant at all, you will love the completion of the story of the Land and the deeper understanding of much of the history of the Land. More than worth the time to read, and absolutely astounding as a giant binge read. FIVE Stars!

I started reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever in 1979 and was hooked. The journey these books take you on is not for the average person, but for the emotionally-deep thinkers. Anyone who has experienced personal struggles, dark times, and who also loves fantasy novels, with a touch of sci-fi will love this series, but do yourselves a favor and make sure to read the complete series in order or you will lose so much of the intricacies of the evolving epic.

Donaldson has a way of conveying humanity at both its darkest and brightest, so prepare yourself for an emotionally-fantastic roller coaster ride of imagination and reality.