The Second Chronicles: Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever books in order

Reading order

The Second Chronicles picks up Thomas Covenant’s story years after the first trilogy, with The Wounded Land (1980), The One Tree (1982), and White Gold Wielder (1983). Covenant returns to the Land to find it ravaged by the Sunbane, a corruption that cycles through destructive elemental phases. He is joined by Linden Avery, a physician whose perspective provides a counterpoint to Covenant’s despair.

The trilogy deepens the moral complexity of the saga, with Covenant confronting both Lord Foul’s continued scheming and his own past actions. The introduction of Linden as a co-protagonist gave Donaldson a character whose rational worldview clashes productively with the Land’s magic and Covenant’s self-loathing.