It thoroughly exposes the artifact of the normal fantasy secondary world as a stage-set for the deeds of protagonists whose every act is deeply patriotic, deeply land- and folk-affirming. This unbelief is perhaps the author's most original single invention, for it radically transfigures every moment of the first sequence and profoundly contradicts the reader's normal expectations about the relationships between the hero and the Land, the Quest and his Companions, plus the overall relationship to the decorum and moral requirements that define the condition of being a Hero. ''''The first (and more impressive) of the two sequences, now entitled The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, comprises Lord Foul's Bane (1977), The Illearth War (1977) and The Power that Preserves (1977), assembled as The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (omni 1993 UK) The first sequence concentrates on Covenant's slowly waning refusal to believe in the reality of the secondary world into which he has been catapulted. Cover art for all three volumes by Peter Goodfellow. These three British paperbacks preceded the first British hardcover editions by two years. First three volumes in the long-running SF/Fantasy series, first published in hardcover in the US a year earlier.
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