Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Illearth War (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Bk 2)

The Illearth War (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Bk 2)
reviewed on + 28 more book reviews


This is the second volume in the emotionally and morally complex epic fantasy series, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Covenant is summoned back to the magical country of the Land two weeks after his previous visit--although 40 years have gone by there. The sinister Lord Foul now possesses the Illearth Stone, a powerful talisman of evil magic, which is distorting and injuring the life of the Land. Worse still (from Covenant's point of view), Covenant learns that his rape of the innocent young woman Lena produced a daughter, Elena, now the Land's High Lord. The Lords of the Land are preparing a desperate defense against Foul, but they believe Covenant is the key to their victory, because his white gold wedding ring possesses the wild magic capable of defeating Foul. Unfortunately, not only does Covenant have no idea how to wield the magic of white gold, he still refuses to believe that the Land is a real place instead of a hallucination he's having.