Genre : Fantasy Format : Paperback Pages : 480 Published : 1977

“You must fight and change this orientation . You’re intelligent creatures , each of you has a brain . Use it . Use it to recognize your danger . Use it to train yourself to stay alive . “

Summary : Let us meet Thomas Covenant . He was once a happy man , a husband , and a successful author . Now he is none of those . You see , the poor soul is now a leper and has to constantly remind himself of that to survive . It means his marriage is over ( for his wife fears him ) , his career is put on an indefinite hold , and the once happy man is now just a bitter shell of what he once was . Now this man that can’t afford to be imaginative is transported to a fantasy realm . He encounters weird beings , finds himself part of a prophecy , and starts to feel in his dead nerves … and he can’t believe in any of it .

“Everybody fails . But I am going to survive – as long as I can .”

Review : So have you ever heard that joke about an atheist being stuck in a fantasy world ? Well , this book is essentially that played terrifyingly straight . Honestly one of the most depressing fantasy stories I’ve ever read and I mean that in a good way . The main characters grief is felt in pretty much every line in the book . Overall , the fantasy world is well written if a little bit generic , the plot is smooth , but where this novel excels is the character work. The novel deals with dark subject matter such as realistic depictions of the life of a leper and rape so the book is not going to be for everyone but I would recommend it extremely highly as it’s the best fantasy book I’ve read all year .

“I do not believe it . It may be that your world – but the Land – ah , the Land is real .”

Book Recommendations :

1. Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz
2. Witch World by Andre Norton
3. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
4. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
5. The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker
6. Beyond Rejection by Justin Lieber
7. Elsewhere by William Peter Blatty
8. Splinter in the Eye’s Mind by Alan Dean Foster
9. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
10. The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb

Song Recommendations :

1. It Ain’t Me Babe – The Turtles
2. Prayer – Disturbed
3. Place in this World – Michael W. Smith
4. Let The Madness Begin – Fozzy
5. Thoughtless – Korn
6. Monster – Skillet
7. Tear Away – Drowning Pool
8. Can You Heal Me – Soil
9. If I Had A Heart – Fever Ray
10. Enter Sandman – Metallica

Movie Recommendations :

1. Army of Darkness (1992)
2. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
3. Hellraiser (1987)
4. Shutter Island (2010)
5. Soloman Kane (2009)
6. The Descent (2005)
7. Silence (2016)
8. Dark City (1998)
9. The Cube 2 (2002)
10. 1408 (2007)

Lesson : Don’t walk off to isolated areas with people you don’t know .