Book I of The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.  Thomas returns unwillingly to a Land ravaged by four thousand years of Lord Foul’s pestilence.  Under the evil Sunbane, the people submit to cruel sacrifices; the rulers of Revelstone are corrupt; the fields and the forests are laid waste; the healing Earthpower is impotent.  Accompanied by a woman from his own world, Thomas begins a new quest to save the Land. Cover aart by Peter Goodfellow.