Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Stephen R. Donaldson (Author) "SHE came out of the store just in time to see her young son playing on the sidewalk directly in the path of the gray,..." (more)
Key Phrases: laval eyes, heartwood chamber, leper outcast unclean, High Lord, Lord Foul, Mount Thunder (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The first book in one of the most remarkable epic fantasies ever written, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever.
He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet he was tempted to believe, to fight for the Land, to be the reincarnation of its greatest hero....
THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT THE UNBELIEVER
Book One: LORD FOUL'S BANE
Book Two: THE ILLEARTH WAR
Book Three: THE POWER THAT PRESERVES


From the Publisher
These books have never received the recognition they deserve. It's one of the most powerful and complex fantasy trilogies since Lord of the Rings, but Donaldson is not just another Tolkien wanabee. Each character-driven book introduces unexpected plots, sub-plots, and a host of magical beings so believably rendered you'd believe you might bump into them on your way to the bookstore.
                                                --Alex Klapwald, Director of Production

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (June 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345348656
• ISBN-13: 978-0345348654
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (349 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #237,202 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you question life, this series is for you, November 30, 1999

By	Bryan Tannehill (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Book 1) (Paperback)

This series of books is remarkable. The characterisation of Thomas Covenant is detailed, tortured, and realistic. For anyone who has struggled in life with situations that are arduous , demeaning, and seemingly hopeless, Covenant's cynical thoughts ring true.

The world he finds himself in is a literary wonder. The prose with which Donaldson describes The Land is evocative. I first read this series when I was 13, and I still feel a sense of awe and longing every time I re-read them. The Giants of Seareach, the unending deathless service of the Haruchai, the vast impenetrable majesty of Revelstone, and the symbiotic relationship of the people to The Land inspire joy, melancholia, awe, wonder and longing. The emotions wrought by Donaldson's words are each vivid and distinct, yet varied and surprising.

What set this series apart from others was more than an unusual anti-hero protagonist or a richly described, memorable setting, or even the the well written characters like Saltheart Foamfollower. What makes them unforgettable is that if you read these books, you will be forced to think, or put the book down. The lines of thought are deep, and seemingly limitless. What is morality? What makes a hero? What would I do in a world that despises me? Would I accept things that could kill me? What is reality? Is reality dictated by what we perceive, or what we believe? Can your loyalty be to something that may have no meaning more than a fevered dream? What is courage? What is cowardly? Is pacifism the only way to respect life, or does the good of the many out weigh the needs of the few, to the extent of violence? Other books have asked similar questions, but only Donaldson allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.

In the end, this series is a classic on the order of Tolkien, Dostoyevsky, or JD Salinger. If you pay attention and savor the characters, images, emotions, and questions these books provide, they will remain with you for years to come. For the critics of this book, read through the other reviews. Notice how many readers have been profoundly affected by this series, and have read it over and over again, as I have? Perhaps you missed something important.

76 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lord, what a Foul Bane, May 28, 2008

By	John Caruso (California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After the first 50 pages of this book I felt that it was living up to or even surpassing its reputation, and I was completely enthralled. But as the story veered from the modern world into "the Land", there followed perhaps the greatest train wreck I've experienced in any novel I've ever read.

The first warning was the naming and language. Unlike Tolkien, Donaldson's attempts to create names are laughable--quite literally. I can't imagine how someone could read sentences like "Berek Heartthew's son was Damelon Giantfriend, and his son was Loric Vilesilencer, who stemmed the corruption of the Demondim, rendering them impotent" with a straight face. And here you also see more of Donaldson's weaknesses: the overuse of fantasy Capitals and the wretched abuse of compoundwords. In this book, when someone speaks of weighty Matters, you shall have the Knowing of it, for its Importance will be telegraphed to you with Capitals. We're always in the Hills, never the hills; people rarely craft but that they Craft; after all, it's all Stone and Sea to them. Does the mere Fact of this capitalization convey Depth to you? And do you accept it as a substitute for depth conveyed through, say, the power of the writing itself? If not, search well for another Book, for Off you this one shall surely Cheese.

And oh, those compoundwords. Are you a friend to Giants? No no, you're a "Giantfriend". Did you silence Lord Vile? Then "Vilesilencer" you shall be. An ocean lover, perhaps? Then as "Saltheart Foamfollower" shall ye ever be known! Are those berries to treasure? No, they're "treasure-berries". A "vital brew"? Let's call it "diamonddraught". Looking for stones? Nay, you're "stone-questing." Dirt that heals wounds? That's why we call it "hurtloam"! "Rockbrother", "proud-wife", "Earthfriend"--it's relentless. When you take an eyerest from longreading you'll think, hey, maybe I should have some tastyfood so I'll feel tummyjoy. And to be crystal clear, it's not just the fact of the compounds themselves, but the hackneyed mundanity of them; Donaldson unerringly settles on the most obvious and uninspired combinations, apparently convinced that they resound with exotic mystery, when in fact they're almost universally uncreative eye-rollers.

These may seem like nits, but they're a constant annoyance, and in any case there's far worse. The story of dragging Thomas Covenant over the Land does just that--drags, and drags, and drags. The universally one-dimensional characters (including TC himself) sojourn across the one-dimensional Land, page after page after page, with little to make the journey worthwhile. The exposition is lengthy and yet still shallow, and increasingly mind-numbing as it plods along. What tension there is comes mainly from TC's continual tantrums and peevishness. If this doesn't exactly sound like compelling reading, you're right, it's not.

Also, to say this book is "derivative" of Tolkien is a serious understatement; it frequently feels like out and out plagiarism. A ring of power, Nazgul substitutes called "ur-viles", large creatures who take days to tell a story and feel our protagonist is too "hasty", a perilous journey to a council of the wise, Mount Doom vs. Mount Thunder--it goes on and on. The borrowing is frequent and overt. This isn't just surface similarity based on the fact that both are epic fantasy, but the wholesale lifting of major elements. Donaldson does embroider the story with some of his own additions, but I found them stereotypical and uninspired.

Even the most derivative work might still be worth reading if it's done well, of course, but Donaldson is far less concerned with telling a good story than he is about rubbing our noses in his protagonist's vileness, starting with the signal event of the book: his rape of a child. I hold authors responsible for their choices, and Donaldson never comes close to justifying his decision to ornament this turgid, plagiarized fantasy with the rape of an innocent young girl. Worst of all, later in the book he attributes this self-righteous thought to his rapist: "[Lord] Foul! The Wraiths were helpless! What do you do for an encore, rape children?" When I hit that sentence it was all I could do to keep myself from throwing the book to the ground and stomping on it. Was this dark irony, or foreshadowing, or perhaps just unintentional self-mockery? I couldn't care less. It was a repellent inclusion, given the author's cavalier willingness to commit sexual violence against one of his own characters.

Despite the length of this review, I've only touched on the major faults of the book (and I've omitted others entirely). If there's a prize lurking at the bottom of the remaining 1000 pages of this cereal box I won't be finding it; there are far too many better books in the world, and life's too short. If you must read it, do yourself a favor and get it from the library rather than paying for it, so you'll have wasted only time and not money.

44 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best modern fantasy I've found, January 7, 2000

By	Christopher Dudley (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Lord Foul's Bane" has many strengths to recommend it. It also has a number of shortcomings I would be remiss in not mentioning. I personally loved the series, moreso the second time around.

Donaldson's hero, Thomas Covenant, is a leper and an outcast in his own world. He has resigned himself to his life of disease (there was no cure for leprosy when this was written) and solitiude, and desires nothing more than to be left alone to live out his sentence. After an accident in town, he finds himself transported to a fantastical place known only as the Land where his disease is cured, and the most evil being in the Land challenges Covenant to stop him from destroying the world. Much of this first book in the series is spent on making Covenant as contemptible as possible, making him cowardly, a rapist, selfish, and inconsiderate, but most of all disbelieving in the world he has found himself in. Although Covenant just wants the nightmare to be over, he finds that people see him as a reincarnation of a long-dead hero, and put their faith in him. But in his contemptiblity, Covenant is pitiable. It's hard not to feel bad for him at times when people blame him for things that aren't his fault, or refuse to understand his remorse at things that are.

The weaknesses of the story lie in Donaldson's reliance on his Thesaurus and the fact that a contemptible character scares a lot of readers off. As to the language, he does at times go into a pointless string of synonyms, using words that no normal person uses in conversation. I think of this as a weakness in the novel, but not one that affects my overall view of it. More of a quirk of the author.

I've thought about the question of whether or not Covenant was actually taken to a fantasy Land or just imagined it in his diseased brain. Most readers I've spoken with believe that we, the readers, are to accept that the Land exists independently of Covenant and that he is simply taken there because he is their legendary hero. I feel, however, that there is no evidence to back this up, and there is a great deal of evidence to support the idea that the Land is all in his head, and all the people and parts of it are metaphorical representations of aspects of Covenant's mind.

Either way, the story is a great epic fantasy series, and I encourage people to put personal judgement of the character aside (he's SUPPOSED to be despicible!) and enjoy the series for its own merit.