Stephen Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever is an epic fantasy trilogy first published in 1977. Its titular main character, Thomas Covenant, is from a 20th century town in our world. He’s a leper, and eventually he’s going to lose his limbs, his sight, and the feeling in his nerves. His wife has divorced him and the townspeople have gone so far as to home deliver his groceries so he doesn’t come near them. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, he’s then kidnapped by magical means and transported to the mythical world of the Land. There, his possession of a white-gold wedding band results in him being seen by the ruling authority, the Council of Lords, as the only man who can save the Land from destruction by the evil Lord Foul.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is infamous for one polarizing scene: Shortly after his arrival in the Land, Covenant befriends a beautiful young girl. Overcome by the Land’s rejuvenation of his leprosy-deadened nerves and believing he is trapped in a hallucination, he rapes her. From this early point in the trilogy, it is clear that Thomas Covenant is anything but a typical hero.
Also not to be missed is the 'Mordant’s Need' duology and if you are really up to the challenge his SF epic - 'The Gap’ series.
We’ve always preferred the UK artwork for the Covenant series, simply stunning.
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Lord Foul's Bane
(The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever #1)
He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself.
Yet the Land tempted him. He had been sick; now he seemed better than ever before. Through no fault of his own, he had been outcast, unclean, a pariah. Now he was regarded as a reincarnation of the Land's greatest hero--Berek Halfhand--armed with the mystic power of White Gold. That power alone could protect the Lords of the Land from the ancient evil of Despiser, Lord Foul. Only...Covenant had no idea of how the power could be used!
Thus begins one of the most remarkable epic fantasies ever written…
The GrimOak Press signed/limited first edition
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant:
Richard Drew - First Editions
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Collins - First Editions
The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Gollancz - First Editions
Putnam - First Edition
Mordant’s Need:
Collins - First Editions
The Gap Series:
Harper Collins - First Editions
The Gap Series:
Bantam - First Editions
Short Story Collections:
Bantam - First Edition Subterranean Press - Signed/Limited Collins - First Edition
Paperbacks:
TPB’s
B- Format’s
