The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever: Lord Foul's Bane; The Illearth War; The Power That Preserves

by Stephen R. Donaldson

Book Overview

The acclaimed fantasy epic, together in one volume. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073942548X
• ISBN13: 9780739425480
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: SFBC
• Length: 863 Pages
• Weight: 3.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Like Swigging Half A Bucket of Heroin...

I first read Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series in the early eighties and its efficacy was approximately the equivalent of swigging half a bucket of heroin per book in the series. The man is an outstanding writer but I can see his use of language and description a little hard to take for those new or with entry level experience of the fantasy genre. If you persevere, you will be hugely rewarded believe me! On the other hand, you will of course find people who struggle with the characterization and plot and who will not restrain themselves from telling you so. If this should happen, look at it this way... it is without doubt one of the bestselling and most highly recommended fantasy series to date... tell them to shut up like you would a noisy neighbour and enjoy the read. if it's your first step into a somewhat contemporary and less D&D fantasy realm, I envy what will be your inspiring and unforgettable addiction ;o)

After LOTR, this is THE epic fantasy...

there is not really too much that I want to say about the thomas covenant series of books --- I love epic fantasy and after tolkien i think donaldson's 6 books plus of thomas covenant and "the land" is the next best read. truthfully, donaldson wrote the first 2 sets (6 books) in the late 70s --- I have read these 6 books perhaps 30 times since then --- I don't think I need to say much more than that... on top of everything, donaldson is a very down to earth and nice guy --- altho he is a bit harder to reach now after all these years --- the last book of thomas covenant (that would make 9) is coming out this fall I think... 5 stars is not enough for this epic --- i would do 5 stars for each of the first 6 books...

Interesting read but flawed to me....

Overall this is a good trilogy of novels. It is a very character driven series, focusing more on the inner workings of the main character than the plot. Overall, this is a strength to the series, not a weakness. The plot itself is solid enough. Essentially, Thomas Covenant is a leper and an author in our world who is pulled into another realm to help be the savior of the land. Covenant is a very wounded main character, the result of his leperosy in the real world. Here is what I disliked about the novel: Thomas Covenant is the biggest whiner I have ever read. The guy is so self centered and pathetic, its hard to care about him. I am a doctor, have been to leperosy camps, and have also suffered with cancer for 2 years. I have never met a patient with any disease who took it as poorly as Thomas Covenant does. It bordered on unbelievable to me that someone could tackle a disease as poorly as this guy does. Covenants first act in the new world he comes to is to rape an underage girl.... Wow, great way to make me care about the protagonist. Not only do I hate rape and the character who did it, but the act itslef was completely out of character from everything else Covenant does. While he is pathetic and whiny, he is not aggressive or a rapist. I just didnt understand this plot point. It had little to do with the overall story and really alienates the reader so far from caring about the protagonist... Also, he basically refuses to help out or do anything usefull for the entire 3 books. That is until the very end where he decides suddenly to go to the "dark lord's" territory and end everything. This sudden change of attitude made no sense and wasnt developed. I could go on and on about this, but I wont. So overall an interestnig trilogy. Recommended for those who like character driven fantasy (ie Robin Hobb, ect). Those people who hate these books almost universally feel this way because of the way the character of Thomas Covenant is written. Its not easy to read or care about him.

Let's Get Down to the Nitty Gritty

I've read all of the reviews here and have something to say to those with negative opinions of this series: for those of you who have relayed your reviews succinctly, I respect your collective opinions. This series is not for everyone. But to those who's reviews seemed to reflect confusion, please give this series another try. You obviously did not 'get it.' This series is not about a fantasy land within which Covenant travels, such as other fantasy books dictate - yes, it is a story of a man who travels through the Land, however it is mostly about what happens to a person (physically, emotionally, mentally) who contracts and suffers with leprosy. The Land was Covenant, literally. When you look back at the characters, at the nuances of the Land, at the abilities of the Lords and such, and then put these details to the variety of physical aspects of the body, you can see a whole other series and story taking place. Covenant was the Land. Though it is dreary and somewhat tiresome to read, the first book - Lord Foul's Bane - is the most important. It is where you, the reader, learn all you need to know about leprosy. Apply all that you learn there to the rest of this series, and the next three books, and you have a deeper understanding of Donaldson's genius. BTW: on a side note, Donaldson - a master of language - spent some time in India with his father, who worked very closely with lepers. His experiences there shine through in this series. The follow-up series' first book - The Runes of the Earth - follows the same pattern as this sets of series, except instead of leprosy the story follows a more psychological approach, mainly psychosis. I am anxious to read the next three books in the final series of this epic. When I read this series and the series that followed, I was so stunned by everything - the story, the characters, the method of Donaldson's writing - I could read nothing else for a year. It was roughly 12 months later that I finally broke down and bought the Myth series by Robert Aspirin to 'clean my pallet' so that I could once again read a serious fantasy series. And know that this series was written well before most of the fantasy series you have probably read.

The Land

I started reading Fantasy of course with JRR Tolkien's Lord Of the Rings. My second introduction to the world of Fantasy was Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.Thomas Covenant's by some strange stroke of Fate or perhaps calculated strategy, finds himself in The Land - a place of unsurpassed beauty where Earthpower is a source of power/energy that is tapped on by its people. Covenant is given a message of Doom and asked to deliver this message to the Council of Lords. But Covenant vehemently denies the existence of the Land' fashioning himself as `The Unbeliever' and his continuous battle with himself in this new but very real environment as well as the genuinely miraculous healing of his leprosy inflicted limbs, added to my wholehearted involvement in the novel. It was difficult to bear his continuous reluctance to accept The Land and shoulder the responsibilities handed to him - Thomas Covenant is not an immediately likeable character - in his rejection of The Land, he commits shocking acts and yet the reader is drawn to his vulnerabilities and his fierce struggle to above all, keep himself alive. I found myself urging him on - it was an extraordinary effect. The language of the Land is also intriguing, an `Old Style' English which I loved and as I got more engrossed in the book, found myself using in my everyday speech....All in all, a superb book, 14 years later, I am yet to find a Fantasy Book that rivals this. Enjoy!

The best epic fantasy I have ever read.

Of my favorite fantasy/science fiction novels, this is by far the best. Donaldson is absolutely amazing in how he describe his characters, such as my favorite, Vain. This gift spreads to an unknown realm, such that we know what it might be like to see the health, and inner beauty of other living things. The Chronicles have helped me to look at life a little differently, to appreciate beauty. Donaldson is an amazing writer. It is a shame that no more books will extend this story, as I believe it can. The only negative being that it is difficult reading. If you don't have a very large vocabulary, then you'll need a very large dictionary!