Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson

 

A year ago, Thomas Covenant had a great life.  He had a wife and son he loved dearly.  He was an author with novels that had sold well.  Then he started feeling a bit off.  His feet and fingers tingled and he had a wound that wouldn't heal.  When he went to the doctor and had tests, the news couldn't have been worse.  Thomas Covenant had leprously.

His life changed immediately.  He went to a hospital where he learned how to handle his disease although nothing he learned there did anything to remove his horror and despair.  He returned to find his wife and son gone; the townspeople who had been his friends now shunned him.  Then he fell and hit his head...

And woke up in another land.  He was faced with a horrible presence who named himself as Lord Foul.  He gave Covenant a message to give to the land's lords and predicted that he would take over the entire world.  Then he disappeared, leaving Covenant shocked and not sure what to do.

As he traveled aimlessly, he came across a group of people who were stone workers.  They offered him shelter and food and a guide to the lords to whom he needed to give a message.  He repaid them by committing a crime so appalling that he would be stained with it for the rest of his life.  Along his journey to the lords, he met a giant who accompanied him.  The lords were shocked at his message and named him as The Unbeliever.  They believed that his wedding ring was magic and called him also White Gold Wielder.  They asked that he accompany him to get back a staff that Lord Foul had given a cavewright.  Can Covenant redeem his crime by accompanying him?

This is the first in the Thomas Covenant series.  I first read this series over forty years ago and wanted to revisit it.  Some readers may find it too violent and be triggered by some of the crimes.  Thomas is an unlikely main character to write a series about but he is on a trail of redemption and self acceptance that will appeal to many.  This book is recommended to fantasy readers.