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Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen Donaldson (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever: Book 1)
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Thomas Covenant, a novelist and happily married with an infant son is stricken with leprosy. After having the last two fingers of his right hand removed he is taught that leprosy is incurable and that his only chance of survival is to reject all hope of relief. He returns to his home, Haven Farm to find his wife has divorced him and fled to protect their son from his illness.
He struggles to go on living as a leper, an outcast unclean. He begins to suffer bouts of unconscoiusness in which he appears to have adventures in a magical realm known only as the Land. He is greeted in the Land as a reincarnated ancient hero due his missing fingers and a his wedding ring of white gold, a talisman of great power.
Covenant chooses to interpret this magical place as an hallucination and responds with Unbelief. The Land cures Covenant's impotence and leprosy and he rapes a young girl called Lena who has befriended him. The people of the Land refuse to judge him and Lena's mother Atiaran and the Giant Saltheart Foamfollower help him to fulfill his destiny.
The Land has an ancient enemy, Lord Foul the Despiser, who dreams of destroying the Arch of Time and the Lords of Revelstone seem incapable of defeating him. Both the Lords and Foul seek Covenant's allegiance to achieve their ends. Covenant grants his passive support to the Lords and with the aid of the lost Staff of Law defeats one of Lord Foul's servants and is is released from the Land.
This is a very complex piece of work and can not be read without your full attention and concentration. This is adult fantasy fiction and as such may take the casual reader a period of time to become accustomed to. The effort is extremely rewarding and if you like a story to involve an anti-hero this is a book for you.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (5) - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever: "Lord Foul's Bane", "Illearth War" and "Power That Preserves" (Amazon.co.uk)
Author: Stephen Donaldson
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 1168
Publication date: 1993-07-26
Publisher: Collins
RRP: £17.99
Lowest new price: £5.99
Lowest used price: £1.38
The acclaimed fantasy epic, together in one volume.
Product Description
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (Amazon.co.uk)
Author: Stephen Donaldson
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 1168
Publication date: 1993-07-26
Publisher: Collins
RRP: $33.05
Lowest new price: $19.67
Lowest used price: $11.20
The acclaimed fantasy epic, together in one volume.
Product Description
John from Huddersfield
I have tried to read this book 3 times but it's just too hard to get into. The writing seems unnecessarily complicated and in the end I just gave up. I did enjoy the descriptions of the Land though.
Robert from Folsom,CA
This book is different. If you want cute talking animals and friendly elves, pick another title. I highly recommend the series, but not for the faint of heart. A rating of 8 was awarded.
Eric from Sydney
Behind Tolkien, Donaldson is one of the Grandmasters of fantasy. Both the Covenant series are some of the most briliant fantasy writing I've read in 35 years of being an avid fantasy fan. Though the first book was difficult to get through, his Gap series was also an excellent foray into Sci-Fi.
James from Minneapolis
I read the Covenant series when it first came out and was less than impressed. To have this ranked so high on a top 100 list is a mystery to me. To not have Jack Vance any where on the list is a scandal. His "Lyonesse" series is so bright, creative and well written compared to Covenant it is pitiful.
Aucassin from Michigan
This is not what fantasy should be about. Fantasy is about hope. It is about a world where belief is possible and good always prevails (though not of course without a struggle against evil, and not without taking major losses). It is about characters who are willing to risk everything, even their own lives to do what is necessary. In life, our choices are confusing. In fantasy, they should not be. Tolkien knew this, LeGuin knows this, many of the other major fantasy authors both for teens and adults infuse this central theme in a wide variety of creative ways throughout their sagas. However, Donaldson creates a detestable "hero" who is pitiful, whiny, has lost all hope, and is only a few steps away from being evil himself. This, to me, is not fantasy. It is what much of our modern fiction has turned into, with a little magic added in. The writing style itself had its merits, but I was hugely disappointed in Thomas Covenant.
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