Against All Things Ending
First edition cover
|
|
| Author | Stephen R. Donaldson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Sidonie Beresford-Browne |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant |
| Genre | Fantasy novels |
| Publisher | Putnam |
|
Publication date
|
Oct 19, 2010 |
|
Published in English
|
28 Oct 2010 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 624 pp. (English paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Fatal Revenant |
| Followed by | The Last Dark |
Against All Things Ending is a 2010 fantasy novel by Stephen R. Donaldson. It is the third novel in the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant tetralogy, and the ninth novel in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant overall. It was released on October 19, 2010 in the USA and on 28 October 2010 in the United Kingdom.
A preview of the book's first chapter is currently available in PDF form from the author's website
Thomas Covenant is resurrected by Linden Avery. He is once again a leper, and his mind slips in and out of human reality as an after-effect of spending millennia as part of the Arch of Time. As a result of the combined use of wild magic, Earthpower, and Loric's krill, the Worm of the World's End has been awakened, and is moving towards the Land to drink of the Earthblood. This will result in the destruction of all things, the breaking of the Arch of Time which encompasses the Earth, and subsequently the release of Lord Foul. The Elohim are fleeing to the farthest reaches of the Earth to avoid being eaten by the Worm.
Major enemies to Linden and Thomas include Lord Foul, the Worm, Kastenessen, Roger Covenant, Joan Covenant (possessed by a Raver), She Who Must Not Be Named, and other creatures loosed upon the land. Linden Avery, accompanied by Ramen, Giants, and Haruchai, seeks to find a way to stop Joan's caesures, find and free her son Jeremiah, and stop the Worm of the World's End.
After the resurrection of Thomas Covenant, his mind is fractured and often becomes lost among his vast memories of the Land's past acquired from existence as the Timewarden. Linden Avery resolves to find Jeremiah before confronting the newly awakened Worm of the World's End, when the Harrow appears and claims that he can take her to her son. It is the Harrow's purpose to confront the Worm, for which he requires the Staff of Law and the white gold ring; he demands to borrow them to use, in return for which he offers to retrieve Jeremiah. The Ardent, a representative of the Insequent, arrives to ensure that the Harrow does not betray Linden Avery. Thomas Covenant, who must struggle with his memories, takes the krill from its place in Andelain. However, his former wife Joan is able to attack Covenant with wild magic through the krill; also, without the krill's protection the skurj and the Sandgorgons (now controlled by the Raver samadhi Sheol) will lay waste to Andelain and the surrounding Salva Gildenbourne. Ultimately, with assurances that the Ardent – and, through him, the entire race of the Insequent – that the Harrow will not deal falsely, Linden agrees to the bargain, and surrenders the Staff and the ring. The Ardent is charged by his kindred to both constrain and assist the Harrow – which means that, by the innate law of the Insequent, his life is forfeit to failure as well.
...
Wikipedia