The Runes Of The Earth

New York Times bestselling author Stephen R. Donaldson presents the first novel of the four-volume finale to the series that’s become a modern fantasy classic: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Thomas Covenant lost everything. Abandoned by his wife and child, sick and alone, he was transported while unconscious to a magical, dreamlike world called the Land. Convinced it was all a delusion, Covenant was christened The Unbeliever by the Land’s inhabitants—but gave his life to save this new-found world he came to regard as precious. Ten years after Covenant’s death, Linden Avery still mourns for her beloved companion. But a violent confrontation with Covenant’s son, who is doing the evil Lord Foul’s bidding, forces her into the Land, where a dark malevolence is about to unmake the laws of nature—and of life and death itself. It is here that she comes upon Esmer, son of the Dancers of the Sea, a creature of strange powers who draws Linden backwards through time to witness Thomas Covenant’s return to life, and to reinvent the mysterious, dangerous, and violent history of the Land.

Linden Avery returns to the Land in search of her kidnapped mentally ill son, whom she discovers fully healed and at the side of her believed-dead beloved, Thomas Covenant, leading an attack on Revelstone.

“Covenant is [Stephen R.] Donaldson's genius!”—The Village Voice He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, because he dared not believe in this strange alternate world on 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 the Despiser, Lord Foul. Except that Covenant had no idea how to use that power. . . .

Compelled step by step to actions whose consequences they could neither see nor prevent, Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery have fought for what they love in the magical reality known only as "the Land." Now they face their final crisis. Reunited after their separate struggles, they discover in each other their true power--and yet they cannot imagine how to stop the Worm of the World's End from unmaking Time. Nevertheless they must resist the ruin of all things, giving their last strength in the service of the world's continuance.

“The Thomas Covenant saga . . . will certainly find a place on the small list of true classics in its specialized field.”—The Washington Post Book World After scant days in his “real” world, Thomas Covenant finds himself again summoned to the Land. There, forty bitter years have passed, while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moves to fulfill his prophecy of doom. The Council of Lords find their spells useless, now that Foul the Despiser holds the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. At last High Lord Elena turns in desperation to Covenant and the legendary white gold magic of his ring. . . .

A continuation of the adventures of Thomas Covenant that began in The Wounded Land and The One Tree.

“The hottest fantasy writer since J.R.R. Tolkien!”—The Washington Post Thomas Covenant, accompanied by Linden Avery, begins his search for the One Tree aboard the giantship Starfare's Gem. Armed with the knowledge given to him in Andelain by his trusted friend, the Forestal Hile Troy, Covenant was determined to succeed. He was the last hope for the salvation of the Land. Only he had the power to forge a new Staff of Law and return to the Land to stop the encroaching desecration of the Sunbane and the bloody sacrificial rites of the Clave. But fate decreed that the journey was to be long, arduous, and fraught with danger as Covenant and his companions are assailed by powerful forces whose sole purpose is to ensure the failure of their quest.

" A trilogy of remarkable scope and sophistication." LOS ANGELES TIMESTwice before Thomas Covenant had been summoned to the strange other-world where magic worked. Twice before he had been forced to join with the Lords of Revelstone in their war against Lord Foul, the ancient enemy of the Land. Now he was back. This time the Lords of Revelstone were desperate. Without hope, Covenant set out to confront the might of the enemy, as Lord Foul grew more powerful with every defeat for the Land....

This work allows readers to discover the gateways to the faerie realm and explore this mysterious landscape and its denizens. Folklorist and poet Ari Berk provides the secret meanings of the runes in Brian Froud's paintings and the power they offer us is made manifest.