Lord Foul's Bane
core novel 1977 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Record
| First published | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.71 (50,508 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 480 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780006152392 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Thomas Covenant, a novelist whose diagnosis of leprosy has cost him his marriage and standing in his own town, is struck by a car and wakes in a vivid, sensation-rich world called the Land, so unlike the numbness his illness forces him to live by that he refuses to believe it is real and names himself the Unbeliever. Its people treat him as a prophesied hero because of the ring of white gold he wears, and he is brought before the Council of Lords in the city of Revelstone. There he learns the malevolent Lord Foul intends the Land's ruin within decades unless the ancient Staff of Law, held by the corrupted creature Drool Rockworm, can be recovered first, and that his own disbelief may be as dangerous as anything Foul commands.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
- Series: The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Stephen R. Donaldson
Awards (verified)
- British Fantasy Award (August Derleth Award (Best Novel)), 1979: won; Awarded to the First Chronicles trilogy collectively.
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 1978: nominated; Awarded/nominated as the First Chronicles trilogy collectively; lost to Fritz Leiber's Our Lady of Darkness.
- Gandalf Award (Book-Length Fantasy), 1978: nominated
- Balrog Award, 1979: nominated; Awarded/nominated as the First Chronicles trilogy collectively.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: position 1 of 3: next The Illearth War (1977)
- Internal chronology, within The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: position 1 of 10: next The Illearth War (1977)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant
- https://sf-encyclopedia.com
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Foul%27s_Bane
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