The Birthgrave
core novel 1975 The Birthgrave Trilogy
Record
| First published | 1975 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.78 (1,838 ratings, collected 2026-08-27) |
| Page count | 408 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780879976729 |
Synopsis
The Birthgrave, published by Tanith Lee in 1975, opens the Birthgrave Trilogy. A mysterious woman awakens with no memory of who she is inside a dormant volcano in a brutal, ancient world, uncertain whether she is mortal, demoness, the last heir of a vanished race, or something closer to a goddess. Cursed, as she comes to believe, with a face too terrible to show, she veils herself and sets out from the mountain to find answers among the scattered peoples living in its shadow. Her journey carries her through a series of towns and tribal societies, each with its own customs and dangers, as she tries to piece together fragments of a past she cannot remember while others react to her with fear, worship, or desire depending on what they believe she is.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Birthgrave Trilogy
- Series: The Birthgrave Trilogy core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Tanith Lee
Notes
- From the series record (The Birthgrave Trilogy): Tanith Lee's debut trilogy, an early and influential entry in sword-and-sorcery fantasy with a shapeshifting, amnesiac protagonist.
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 Birthgrave Trilogy: position 1 of 3: next Vazkor, Son of Vazkor (1978)
Sources
← The Birthgrave Trilogy dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.