WHITE GOLD WIELDER

Book three and last of The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (The Wounded Land, 1980; The One Tree, 1982). Unlovable, despairing hero Covenant, with weak-kneed sidekick-lover Linden Avery, has failed to obtain a new Staff of Law. But he has learned that any attempt on his part to use the "wild magic" (actually a sort of fire-bolt, conferred on him by his white gold ring) will rage out of control, because of the evil Raver's venom flowing in Covenant's veins; it will even bring down the "Arch of Time." (What this means isn't clear, but it's evidently bad news since the diabolical Lord Foul the Despiser wants it to happen.) Covenant and Linden fight their way across the polar ice and past various noxious creatures to Revelstone, where Covenant—aided by a convenient Sandgorgon—defeats the resident demon, Gibbon Raver; the corrupting venom is thus burned away. But the Sunbane still remains to blight the Land, so it's off to Mount Thunder and a final, riotously confused showdown with Lord Foul. Farcically implausible plotting, excruciating prose, lifelessly unevocative description, endless soporific interior monologues: the same recipe as before, in short, and strictly for Donaldson enthusiasts (of whom there are, inexplicably, hordes).