The Runes of the Earth
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | Stephen R. Donaldson |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Book 1 of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant |
| Publisher | Putnam Adult |
| Honors | |
| The Runes of the Earth opens ten years after Covenant’s companion, Linden Avery, witnessed his death. When she returns home from work one evening to find her adopted son constructing images of the Land with his toys, she realizes that the Land, and her beloved Thomas Covenant, are more than just a memory. Soon she will come to understand that evil is unmaking the very laws of nature—as well as the laws of life and death. | |
The Runes of the Earth opens ten years after Covenant’s companion, Linden Avery, witnessed his death. When she returns home from work one evening to find her adopted son constructing images of the Land with his toys, she realizes that the Land, and her beloved Thomas Covenant, are more than just a memory. Soon she will come to understand that evil is unmaking the very laws of nature—as well as the laws of life and death.
Honors
Reviews
Barnes and Noble
In 1977, Stephen R. Donaldson began his bestselling Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever saga with the publication of Lord Foul’s Bane. After two wildly popular trilogies (which have sold more than 6 million copies worldwide), Donaldson—much to the dismay of his fans—ended the series in 1983. Now he returns to where it all started in The Runes of the Earth, the first book in a projected quartet that will make up the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
The story picks up approximately a decade after the tragic death of Thomas Covenant, an ill-fated writer afflicted with a strange form of leprosy, who had been transported to an alternate universe called the Land—where an epic battle for the realm’s soul was being waged. Linden Avery, Covenant’s companion who briefly traveled with him to the Land, is now working at a psychiatric hospital taking care of mentally disturbed patients who include Covenant’s ex-wife, Joan, who has a “lost mind.” When Covenant’s son Roger enters the hospital and demands the immediate release of his mother, a violent confrontation ensues. A few hours later, after he has forcefully removed his mother from the hospital and kidnapped Linden’s adopted son, the police—and Linden—track Roger to his father’s old residence. In the midst of a powerful thunderstorm, shots are fired, and…Linden finds herself back in the Land, where Lord Foul has not only allied with Roger but also has control of her son!
Breakneck-paced, richly described, and replete with intriguing plot twists, this long-awaited return to the Land will enthrall fans of Donaldson’s previous Covenants novels. —Paul Goat Allen
