The Power that Preserves
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 Cover of The Power that Preserves |
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| Author | Stephen R. Donaldson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
| Released | 1979 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 489 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-8050-1270-2 (USA hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Illearth War |
| Followed by | The Wounded Land |
The Power that Preserves is the final book of the first trilogy of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever fantasy series written by Stephen R. Donaldson. It is followed by The Wounded Land, which begins the second trilogy.
[edit] Plot summary
Back in his own world, Thomas Covenant is devastated by the loss of Elena, though he still maintains to himself that his experience in the Land was all just a dream. Tormented by this unanswerable paradox, he neglects his physical condition; he stops taking his medications and fails to treat his head wound, allowing his dormant leprosy to once again become active.
Wandering in the woods outside of his hometown, he comes upon a lost little girl suffering from a rattlesnake bite. At this point he is once again summoned to the Land, this time by the desperate High Lord Mhoram, who is in need of aid. Covenant finds that seven years have gone by since the Illearth War, and Lord Foul has enslaved the spirit of former High Lord Elena, who now wields the Staff of Law against her own people. The Lords have lost their most loyal defenders, the semi-immortal Bloodguard, and the Land has been cast into a perpetual winter. Furthermore, Lord Foul has rebuilt his army, which, under the command of the third Giant-raver Satansfist, now besieges the Lords' mountain-fortress of Revelstone.
Covenant demands that Mhoram release the summons in order to allow him to save the girl's life in the "real" world. Mhoram assents. Covenant does manage to save the girl, but at the cost of being poisoned by the rattlesnake venom he has sucked out of her. In this state and with the knowledge that the girl is safe, he accepts another summoning, this time made by Triock, Lena's some-time lover. Once back in the Land, Covenant is horrified to witness the depradations caused by Foul and his servants. Kidnapped by Ravers, Covenant is able to confront Elena and use the power of his white gold ring to dismiss her ghost, although this results in the destruction of the Staff of Law. Meanwhile Lord Mhoram, after a protracted battle, is able to break the siege of Revelstone and kill Satansfist. Afterwards Covenant and his friend, the Giant Saltheart Foamfollower, journey to Ridjeck Thome, the very heart of Lord Foul's dominion, where they succeed in defeating Foul; this act also repairs much of the havoc caused by Elena's breaking of the Law of Death. Covenant also uses the power of the wild magic to destroy the Illearth Stone: in the final cataclysm Foamfollower is annihilated and so, seemingly, is Covenant.
However, his consciousness remains, and while in a state somewhere between being and nonexistence, he is spoken to in the darkness by the voice of the old beggar from the beginning of the first book, who is in fact the Creator of the Land. Covenant asks the Creator to save Foamfollower, but the Creator regretfully tells Covenant that even he cannot undo something which has already occurred: otherwise the Arch of Time, the fundamental structure underlying the Land's universe, will be destroyed. The Creator then tells Covenant that he has a choice: either he can remain in the Land in full health, or he can be returned to life in his own world, where he otherwise would have died from an allergic reaction to the antivenin treatment applied to his unconscious body. Covenant, still unwilling to fully accept the Land, choses the latter and awakes in his hospital bed, weakened from his physical trauma, still afflicted with his disease, but happy to be alive.
[edit] External links
| The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever |
|---|
| Novels |
| The First Chronicles: Lord Foul's Bane | The Illearth War | The Power that Preserves |
| The Second Chronicles: The Wounded Land | The One Tree | White Gold Wielder |
| The Last Chronicles: The Runes of the Earth | Fatal Revenant | Against All Things Ending | The Last Dark |
