Robinett/Jones Family Diary

krobinett

well, here we go - time to fasten our seatbelts!! Shocked

[spoiler]

After breaking the Fall of the Demondim, Linden is restored by the vitrim of the waynhim...

And, with her friends, she goes off the dreaded meeting with Thomas Covenant and Jeremiah at the top of Furls Falls...

and good girl!! she questions Covenant and does not let him get away with those b.s. answers. Smile

and she has a good point - how could Kasty and the elohim possibly both want the same things?

I wonder if what Covenant tells her about Kasty could possibly be true? That in order to slip the durrance that he partially somehow becomes part skurge? that the pain of this has made him completely batpoop insane? if there is any truth here, that is a pretty terrifying truth, given the power of the elohim. Surprised

man, if an elohim is going around as an avatar of insanity and pain, mutilating things, the Land is in trouble. Shocked

Liand says a great truth - if Covenant loves Linden then why is he treating her friends like complete crap?

and in the middle of all this, poor Anele gets yet ANOTHER grass type possessor! Shocked

who the heck can this one be???? Shocked

after Linden's friends finally and reluctantly back off, Jeremiah and Covenant go on each side of Linden and start to raise up power...

But how can Jeremiah even HAVE any power?

And the ur-viles, whom Linden trusts 100% obviously do not like what is going on, as they attack! Esmer intervenes with HIS power to break up the fight which is about to break out between the haruchai and the ur-viles (and it is clear that the ur-viles are NOT attacking the haruchai, and since they serve Linden, it means that they have got to be attacking either Covenant or Jeremiah or both).

In the craziness, Covenant and Jeremiah form an arch over Linden, and send her to some unknown place and time!

[/spoiler]

krobinett

well...here are my impressions of chapter four...

[spoiler]

I think Linden shares my distrust of the Thomas Covenant and Jeremiah things. She even thinks that they are like puppets dancing and talking to the tune of an unknown puppeteer...

Yet, her bone deep self doubt makes her wonder - and deeply wonder - if the problem is somewhere inside of her rather than inside of them. Confused

So she does not use the Staff of Law to try to see or expose them... Confused

Her interview with them leaves her literally reeling.

Stave helps her to her room, and reluctantly goes to get the rest of the group...he is acting very un-haruchai-like in his concern...

Linden asks them about the Falls, for the things masquerading as her loved ones (and yes- I know I will look as dumb as dirt if they really are TC and Jeremiah Wink

) told her that even as she had seen Joan and her madness in the first Fall, the others would have seen Linden in the second. It turns out that no one saw Joan in the first other than Stave. None of the Ramen saw Linden in the second, but Stave saw her riding a Ranyhyn, blazing with wild magic. And Liand, who had been carrying the Staff of Law, saw the deep darkness inside of her. In fact- Liand more than sees her, he temporarily becomes part of her - and thus knows both her passion and her darkness...

Linden nearly falls apart when they are all still willing to be her friends even after that darkness is revealed.

And they say that they have seen how much good she does by committing evil (I would say her healing of the unwilling Stave would fall into this category...)

She tells them of her doubts of the twosome, and says that if they are still who they claim to be, that they no longer love her...

...and in that, the lost love, she understands the haruchai a bit better, in having to give up their women at various times (such as when they became Bloodguard)...and understands what a huge sacrifice Stave has made on her behalf...

And then her friends tell Linden that they went as a group to bathe in Glimmermere. And there, in the lush grass, Anele had been possessed by Covenant again! Shocked

And that he had cryptic messages for each of them!

After everyone gets a chance to sleep and eat, Linden goes forth to try to close down the Fall that the demondim are using to connect with the Illearth Stone. She is only able to do so with the help of the ur-viles and waynhim.

And the haruchai tell her that the Covenant thing had not wanted her to even attempt to do this. More treachery, perhaps? Confused

I do love how the harucahi hold so much honor for the waynhim...

if only the haruchai would stop being so stubborn... Confused

krobinett

Just finished chapter three. At this rate, it will take me longer to read FR than it took Jay to read Runes. Wink

And chapter three was an info packed chapter...I will probably reread it before I go on to chapter four! Shocked

HERE ARE SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER THREE!!! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!

[spoiler]

A lot of info gets dumped by Stave and Martiir right at the beginning of the chapter. I think some of this is pretty important, and I want to go back to reread it.

And the whole Covenant/Jeremiah thing... Confused

That is not Thomas Covenant. It cannot possibly be Thomas Covenant. He would never emotionally blackmail Linden like that, or demand back his ring like that. I think it is rather telling that Linden finds herself talking to him as if he is one of her psych patients, and that at one point he even makes her think of that crazy murderous creep Roger. And the red flames in the eyes continue. Whoever/whatever this is, he/she/it is a servant of Kastenessen.

And whatever thing he wants to do with Linden on the plateau has got to be something that will serve Kasty... Confused

And Jeremiah...if this is Jeremiah, then he is clearly possessed by something very powerful - and the lego creations, the racetrack, etc. in the beginning of Runes all probably came from the possessor. The eye ticking goes on...and the possessor is a hell of a lot smarter then the drunken Covenant thing... Confused

And probably a hell of a lot smarter than the ravers, too, as it is usually pretty easy to tell when they have someone... Confused

What are the wizards that the Jeremiah thing is talking about????? Not ravers, not elohim...what are they???? And is the Mahdout one of them?????

Yeah, I have got to go back and reread this info packed chapter... Shocked

[/spoiler]

krobinett

Just got done rereading the first two chapters again, and these are the things that really stick out in my mind with this reading:

[spoilers]

These are spoilers for the first two chapters, folks!!! You are warned!!!!!

[spoiler]

The first chapter really seems to be about two things: the falseness of Thomas Covenant and Jeremiah, and Linden's love making her blind - or wanting to be blind to that.

quote:
At that moment, however, neither Liand nor Stave impinged on Linden's awareness. They were not real to her.

quote:
With Linden, they had crossed hundreds of leagues - and many hundreds of years - to come to this place at this time. In her name, they has defied the reputation of the Masters who ruled over the Land.

But none of her companions existed for her.

quote:
They were her friends, but she hardly noticed them.

And yet - something - perhaps the telltale possession muscle twitches in Jeremiah - or in the constant mention of flames in Covenant's eyes - she knows something is very very wrong.

quote:
Between one heartbeat and the next, she seemed to find herself in the presence, not of her loved ones, but of hernightmares.

I think that might be the quote for the whole first section of the book. These are not going to be her loved ones as such - and they are going to turn out to be nightmares!

And with all of the mentions of flames in his eyes - and not argent flames, either - the Covenant being is going to turn out to be the servant of the fiery possessor.

I feel very sure of this - and yes, you guys can all laugh at me if I find out that I am wrong later in the book. Wink

The second chapter centers around the wonderful Glimmermere, one of my favorite places in all of hte Land.

The key action seems to center around Esmer - who, for once, seems to be in his good boy "son of Cail" stage. he brings a bunch of ur-viles and waynhim he picked up somewhere in the past to help Linden and from the sound of it, Revelstone against the demondim.

Linden wants answers, but nothing he says seems to be of any use. He lectures her about the viles and their corruption. the demondim and their corruption. the histories of the ur-viles and waynhim. The birth and early activities of the ravers. A bit about the Land in the ages of Berik and Damelon. he tells her that the fiery possessor is Kastnessen (so the Covenant figure must be in the service of Kastennessin then! (if my theory is at all true Wink

) And he tells her that she must be the first to drink the Earth Blood. Confused

Nothing that seems helpful on the surface...but with the time travel, a lot of this could be of crucial importance should Linden ever end up back in the time of Berek or Damelon. And Damelon was the one to set up Damelon's Door, and seemed to know all about the Earth Blood and set up the approach to it. So who knows - maybe she will end up in Damelon's time and end up going to Melenkurrion Skyweir...

So while Linden is frustrated with Esmer (and who could blame her at all??????????) - the things he told her might be the very things she might need to know - even if she doesn't;t know that yet.

As annoying as he is, he is clearly the Son of Cail rather than the scion of the Sea Wives in this chapter...

[/spoiler]

krobinett

This thread will contain extreme spoilers! You are warned!

My copy came in the mail yesterday while I was at work. And believe it or not, I only read the first two chapters. Smile

I chose to spend time with my husband instead. Smile

And - I guess this makes me a pretty rotten fangirl, but of those two chapters, I had previously only read the first one at Donaldson's website. I just do not care for reading long manuscripts online. Embarassed

So, the first chapter was known...the second one was new. And I have been busy doing housework today and have not gotten any farther, and when I do have time to read on my breaks tonight at work, I plan on rereading chapter two rather than heading into new territory. Confused

Why, you ask? Because in the one review that I have read that I trust (that would be berg's review at Amazon) , the reviewer said very explicitly that you had better be very slow and careful with the first few chapters, or you might not understand what is going on in the end. Confused

So, with that in mind, I am planning on advancing at a snail's pace in those first few chapters, and perhaps rereading them a few times before I get any further. Laughing

And besides, this is a new and very special treat, and I will not get any new Donaldson treats for two long years! o I am going to do my best to stretch it out and enjoy it. Very Happy

Anyway, here are my impression of the first couple of chapters, before I get back to the darned laundry. Razz

SPOILERS for the first chapter follow:

[spoilers]
There is no way in any world that the two riders could be Thomas Covenant and Jeremiah. Or - if by some wild chance that they are - there is something extremely hinky and bad going on with them. Confused

Linden cannot touch them? When other people like the haruchai who shared their horses touched them? No Staff of Law? When they already have enough power within themselves to hide from the eyes of the haruchai and the ramen? Confused

Sounds to me like these two beings are trying to keep Linden from seeing who or what they actually are. And Linden, blinded with love, is believing and going along with this load of horse hockey pucks... Evil or Very Mad

And my guess is that they have got to be evil - but not ravers because people would pick up on that fairly quickly. Perhaps in the service of the fiery being who possesses Anele when he is standing on bare dirt? Confused

The way the demondim act and the timing of their arrival at Revelstone would certainly suggest that. Confused

But what would the fiery possessor hope to gain by sending servants to Linden? Confused

What the heck do these ominous beings want? Confused

[/spoilers]

krobinett

Robinett/Jones Family Diary

Monday, October 29, 2007

Donaldson's Fatal Revenant part one chapter five

Donaldson's Fatal Revenant part one chapter four

Donaldson's Fatal Revenant part one chapter three

Donaldson's Fatal Revenant part one chapters 1&2, part two

Donaldson's Fatal Revenant Part 1 chapters 1&2 part one

Ahira's Hangar Fatal Revenant Informal Group Read Index

been obsessed lately

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