The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

Thomas Covenant is a leper, a bitter and solitary pariah who is mystically transported to another Earth where time moves differently than ours, one in which magic takes many forms. The Land is threatened by many evils, the most immediate of which is a maddened Cavewight whose subterranean excavations have unearthed the ancient and puissant Staff of Law. More dangerous to the free people of the Land is the Gray Slayer, Lord Foul, the Despiser, who intends to destroy the actual foundations of the Earth that he might wage war against the universe’s creator.

After scant days in his “real” world, Thomas Covenant finds himself again summoned to a strange world of magic and Earthpower. There, 40 bitter years have passed, while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moves to fulfill his prophecy of doom - his countless minions are already on the march, cutting a devastating swath of destruction across the Land. The Council of Lords find their spells useless, however, now that Foul the Despiser holds the Illearth Stone, the ancient talisman of evil.

Twice before, Thomas Covenant had been summoned to the Land, the strange, otherworldly realm where magic worked and his leprosy vanished. Twice before, he’d been dragged reluctantly into conflict against Lord Foul’s minions, with disastrous consequences for everyone around him. Now, Covenant is back. In a land blasted by war and drowning in despair, Covenant is the only hope against Foul’s imminent triumph.

Since their publication more than two decades ago, the initial six books in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series have sold more than six million copies and have been published in 10 countries around the world. Now, starting with The Runes of the Earth, Stephen R. Donaldson returns with a quartet of new Covenant novels that are certain to satisfy his millions of fans, and attract countless new followers.

Linden Avery, who loved Thomas Covenant when they traveled together to The Land 10 years ago, returns to this magical realm in search of her son, Jeremiah. There, not only does she find her son has been healed of the tragic mental condition that kept him mute and unresponsive for years, but she also finds Thomas Covenant himself, impossibly alive and frighteningly intent on carrying out a dark and dangerous plan.

Award-winning author Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant books have sold more than 10 million copies. In the third volume of this trilogy, Linden Avery confronts the consequences of using magical power sufficient to wake the Worm, which is capable of destroying the Land. And although the only hope may rest with Linden’s son, the boy could also bring disaster upon everyone.

Compelled step by step to actions whose consequences they could neither see nor prevent, Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery have fought for what they love in the magical reality known only as "the Land." Now they face their final crisis. Reunited after their separate struggles, they discover in each other their true power - and yet they cannot imagine how to stop the Worm of the World's End from unmaking Time. Nevertheless they must resist the ruin of all things, giving their last strength in the service of the world's continuance.