Book One in 'The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' trilogy.
Thomas Covenant returns unwillingly to a land ravaged by four thousand yars of Lord Foul's pestilence. Under the evil Sunbane, the people of the land submit to cruel sacrifices; the rulers of Revelstone are corrupt, the fields and forests laid waste; the healing Earth-power impotent. Accompanied by a woman from his own world, Covenant begins a new quest to save the land from the forces tht have all but destroyed it.