The One Tree was published by Del Rey/Ballantine in 1982, the second volume of the Second Chronicles. The novel shifts from the ravaged land to the sea: Covenant, Linden Avery, and a company of Giants (the warm, brave, story-loving race from the First Chronicles, here represented by a new generation) sail aboard the drmond Starfare’s Gem to find the One Tree — the mythic tree from which the original Staff of Law was made, and from which a new Staff might be crafted to oppose the Sunbane.
The sea-voyage structure allows Donaldson to expand his world geographically while narrowing the narrative focus to the relationship between Covenant and Linden. Their dynamic is the novel’s engine: Linden can perceive sickness (she literally sees the Sunbane’s corruption as sensory assault) but struggles with her own traumatic history (her father’s suicide, her mother’s abuse); Covenant carries power he dare not use (the wild magic of white gold, which Lord Foul needs him to unleash) and guilt he cannot resolve.
The Giants — Donaldson’s most beloved creation, a people who express grief through laughter and celebrate life through enormous, passionate storytelling — provide the novel’s warmth. Their First Mate, Pitchwife (a deformed Giant who nonetheless embodies joy and generosity), and their captain, the Storesmaster Honninscrave (whose brother has been possessed by a Raver), give the seafaring sections a life and personality that counterbalance the bleakness of Covenant’s internal struggle.
The novel culminates at the One Tree itself, where Covenant faces a trap designed by Lord Foul: a situation in which using his power would accomplish Foul’s ends, but not using it would mean the Land’s destruction. The resolution is devastating and leads directly into the final volume.
Collecting The One Tree
First edition (Del Rey/Ballantine, New York, 1982): Hardcover, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $15–$40
- Signed first edition: $40–$100
- Without jacket: $5–$10
The middle volume of the Second Chronicles. Values track primarily with the complete six-book set of both trilogies.