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Zusatztext Praise for The Runes of the Earth “A reawakening of a classic fantasy saga.”— Library Journal “Startlingly original antiheroic fantasy resonating with echoes of both Tolkien and Philip K. Dick.”— Publishers Weekly “An epic with page-turning intrigue.”— Detroit Free Press “Impressive...filled with splendid inventions.”— Booklist “The most important and original work of epic fantasy after Tolkien...Rich in paradox! metaphor! and symbolism! Donaldson continues his explorations into the psyches of his characters! as well as themes of estrangement! despair! guilt and responsibility. Intricately plotted...Donaldson’s writing remains one of the most original and intellectually challenging works to have graced contemporary epic fantasy.”—SF Site Informationen zum Autor Stephen R. Donaldson is the author of the The Great God’s War Trilogy and the original six volumes of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a landmark in modern fantasy. Every volume, beginning with Lord Foul’s Bane in 1977, has been an international bestseller. Donaldson returned to the series with The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, comprising The Runes of the Earth , Fatal Revenant , Against All Things Ending , and The Last Dark . Donaldson lives in New Mexico. Klappentext New York Times bestselling author Stephen R. Donaldson presents the first novel of the four-volume finale to the series that's become a modern fantasy classic: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Thomas Covenant lost everything. Abandoned by his wife and child, sick and alone, he was transported while unconscious to a magical, dreamlike world called the Land. Convinced it was all a delusion, Covenant was christened The Unbeliever by the Land's inhabitants-but gave his life to save this new-found world he came to regard as precious. Ten years after Covenant's death, Linden Avery still mourns for her beloved companion. But a violent confrontation with Covenant's son, who is doing the evil Lord Foul's bidding, forces her into the Land, where a dark malevolence is about to unmake the laws of nature-and of life and death itself. It is here that she comes upon Esmer, son of the Dancers of the Sea, a creature of strange powers who draws Linden backwards through time to witness Thomas Covenant's return to life, and to reinvent the mysterious, dangerous, and violent history of the Land. 1. Mother’s Son “No, Mr. Covenant,” she repeated for the third time. “I can’t do that.” Ever since he had entered her office, she had wished that he would go away. He gazed at her as if he had not heard a word. “I don’t see the problem, Dr. Avery.” His voice cast echoes of his father through her, flashes of memory like spangles off a surface of troubled water. “I’m her son. I have the right. And it’s my responsibility.” Despite the differences, even his features dragged a tangled net across her heart, dredging up aches and longing. “She’s nothing to you, just a problem you can’t solve. A burden on the taxpayers. A waste of resources you could use to help someone else.” His eyes were too wide-set, his whole face too broad. The flesh of his cheeks and jaw hinted at self-indulgence. And yet— If he were clay, only a slice or two with the sculptor’s tool, only a line of severity on either side of his mouth, and his cheeks would look as strict as commandments. A squint of old suffering at the corners of his eyes: a little grey dust to add years to his hair. His eyes themselves were exactly the right color, a disturbed hue like the shade of madness or prophecy. Oh, he could have been his father, if he had not been so young and unmarked. If he had paid any price as extravagant as his father’s— He was certainly insistent enough to be Thomas Covenant. He seemed to face her through a haze of recall, remind...
