Lord Foul’s Bane

Lord Foul’s Bane is the first novel in the ‘First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant’ series by Stephen Donaldson. Stephen Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American fantasy novelist. He spent part of his youth in India, where his father was an orthopaedic surgeon who worked extensively with Lepers. It was after hearing one of his father’s speeches on leprosy that he conceived the character of Thomas Covenant. This was his publishing debut back in 1977. It was named Best Novel of the Year by the British Fantasy Society. He was also awarded the John W Campbell award as best new writer in 1979.

Stephen R Donaldson

This makes for an exciting alternative to your average fantasy novel. Thomas Covenant is not your standard hero. In fact hero is the one thing that he has no intention of being. He is a writer who is stricken with leprosy. He is made to feel an outcast by the locals. After meeting a beggar who refuses to take his white gold wedding ring he has an accident and wakes up in ‘The Land’, a classic fantasy world. This is no classic fantasy novel though. This is no cosey romp based on the romantic idyll. Covenant has no interest in being the noble knight. He cannot let himself believe in the land. He is the “Unbeliever”. He has to question the reality of the land in an effort to remain sane. He cannot believe in the healing power of the land. How can a leper be healed?
I remember reading this when I was younger and not finishing it. I think I wanted it to be that pure Tolkien world and the real world kept interfering. Reading it again I liked it for the same reason. In fact in the same way I couldn’t put Tolkien down when I read that as a child, I found it the same with The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. This is something more psychological as opposed to mythical. A different kind of darkness. A different reality.